122 Street Block Association

BA122 Meeting Minutes - May 18, 2010

Date: May 18, 2010		
BA 122 Public Meeting - held at CPSR
Meeting Minutes

I. Roll Call: Cator Sparks (President), Fialka Semenuik (Treasurer), Rod 
Keenan, Walter King, Haja Worley, Dave Kane, Jed Fix, Rev. Ron Sullivan
II. Adoption of Meeting Minutes: Cator moved adoption of the 
March 23/2010 Meeting Minutes as submitted; Rod seconded that motion.

III. Board Report 
TREASURER'S REPORT
Activity from Mar. 23/10 to May 17/10
BEGINNING BALANCE:$2,729.22
+ Revenue: $1.63 (bank dividends)
- Expenses:32.48 (Charities Bureau annual filing fee $25 &
photocopies/postage for appl $7.48) 
ENDING BALANCE: $2,698.37

a. BA122 Inc is now registered with NY state Charities Bureau; 
annual filing fee has also been submitted to the Charities Bureau.
b. Fialka announced that she is planning to relocate and would like to 
hand-over Treasurer duties as soon as possible. She nominated Pat Fuqua 
to take over as Treasurer and has asked Pat to consider the position. Anyone 
else interested in Treasurer or Secretary duties is invited to contact Fialka 
or Cator as soon as possible. This is a great opportunity to get involved 
in your community!
IV. Ongoing Business 
a. Discussion of Goals for BA for upcoming year
  i. General Maintenance of Block 
-Request for Speed bumps: Penny sent a letter to the DOT April 24/09 
and re-sent it via email in June/09.  DOT stated they had a backlog of requests. 
Awaiting further update from DOT. 
-Care of street trees on our block – Mini workshop was held at this meeting. 
See 'New Business' item  below.
- Dog waste problem: Cator found the culprit! If you see a brown German 
Shepherd wandering alone on our block again, please follow it back to the 
neighbor's house and complain. He lives on 121st Street. 
- Corner lot – where construction has halted, leaving an open basement: 
The corner of 122 Street and Frederick Douglas Blvd is still messy and a 
hazard. (2272 FDB). Hans said that he can see from his apartment that they 
are not pumping water out of the property and that can be a MAJOR problem 
this summer for mosquitoes. Please call 311 and report unsanitary conditions. 
To reach the owner/property manager, call 212-997-1234.

  ii. Support for Education 
-Target support for Project Harmony programming: Cator read a letter 
from Project Harmony which reported on the accomplishments of last summer's 
2-week “Environment Education Workshop” for teens. Last year's $500 gift from
the Block Association went towards the students' stipends. Project Harmony is 
proposing to run a similar workshop this summer.
- Fialka moved that the Block Association donate another $500 gift to Project 
Harmony for educational programming. Rod seconded that motion. Vote taken: 
all attendees responded in favor.

  iii. Funding above goals: 
	- Membership drive –  Our key source of funding is membership fees. 
However, payment of fees so far this year has been slow. As such, Fialka 
sent out an email to block residents with a sample invoice, inviting all to mail 
in their dues. Deadline for this mail-in fund drive is June 20/10.  
	- As discussed at previous meetings, application for grants could also be 
another source of funding. Available grants may be researched at the 'Foundation 
Center' database. If there is interest in applying for a  'Love your NYC Block' grant, 
from Citizens Committee for NYC (next deadline is Sept.), Fialka noted that she 
has a template that may be helpful in putting the application together. 
(The 'Love your NYC Block' grant  is specific to projects involving volunteer hours 
from the community, which can be completed within a 6-month period.) Perhaps a 
street tree care project (tree guards/tree beds) would qualify for such a grant. Haja 
suggested that perhaps local banks/businesses could also be approached to help fund 
a street tree care project.
		
b. MTA service cuts-  Elimination of Student Fare cards is still up in the air. 
See www.straphangers.org for updates and how to voice your opinion on the matter.

d. Children’s' artwork from last year's block party to be used for street tree signs:
Selected artwork is to be combined with tree facts and 'please curb your dog' comments. 
Cator suggested that different tree facts be shown on different trees for variety/interest. 
Rod suggested laminating 3 signs together  per tree trunk. All attendees were in 
agreement with these suggestions. Dave offered to help Cator with the signs. 
Cator suggested having the signs hung in time for the Block Party.
 
V. Block News 
a. Precinct Meeting - Precinct Meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month. 
b. JD Wilson Garden Updates – see www.projectharmonynyc.org
c. Block Party Dates/Information – Rev. Ron Sullivan of CPSR was in attendance 
at the beginning of the meeting and shared information about the upcoming Block Party 
to be held July 10th. Reverend invited the Block Association to once again be a co-sponsor, 
and will let us know of the next planning meeting that CPSR will be hosting. So far, they're 
planning the following:
- having the Hollis Service help to market/advertise the party
- asking corporate sponsors to pay for the children's amusements, so that children can play for free
- asking local restaurants to participate in 'taste of Harlem', where attendees pay one fee 
to have access to tastings from food vendors
- presenting the Annual Harlem Healer's Award
- having a health fair/ health screenings
- information/service providers can set up for free
- vendor fees are $25 per resident or CPSR vendor table and $50 per non-resident vendor 
table (all vendors need to bring their own tables)
Dave said he may be able to help with a sports workshop for kids. Dave also suggested 
inviting the local bicycle shop 'ModSquad' to get involved in the party.  Haja stated he'd 
like to set up an information table on behalf of  'Emergency Preparedness'. Cator has been 
in discussion with 'Target' about their possible involvement with the block party. 

VI. Old Business 
1. BA 122 Tote bags are still available for $15 each.
VII. New Business 
a. Street tree care: Fialka and Dave shared information learned at the October tree bed care 
workshop, hosted by Million Trees NYC at Cindy & Haja's. Hand-outs on tree bed care were 
distributed and discussed, noting that street trees suffer most from compacted soil (so please 
take the opportunity to loosen up the soil). Also stated was that dog urine can kill the trees 
(so please curb your dog) and soil in the tree beds should never be raised more than half an inch 
(otherwise the trunk will suffer girdling).  Dave noted that the two trees whose beds he tended 
last fall were among the first to bud on the street, showing how just a little bit of care makes 
a big difference. Dave volunteered to possibly spearhead an organized approach to caring for the 
block's trees, and showing hands-on tips to block residents.
Fialka also shared tree fence information found on the Trees New York website www.treesny.org 
and suggested that putting up uniform iron fences/tree guards on the block's trees could be a 
project the Block Association may want to adopt in the near future.

ADJOURNMENT

minutes submitted by
fialka semenuik