meeting minutes
- March 17, 2009
- BA 122 Monthly Minutes & Annual Potluck
I. Roll Call: The meeting was called to order at 7:50pm by Cator Sparks. Members in attendance: Fialka Semenuik, Cindy Nibbelink-Worley, Haja Worley, Lucy Lang, Rod Keenan, Rukaye Overo, Jubal Battisti and Mario Pinto
II. Adoption of Meeting Minutes: Main Items in last month’s minutes included IRS approval of our 501(c)(3) status and discussion of Amendments to our Bylaws. Haja moved that the February Minutes be adopted as submitted. Cator seconded that motion.
III. Board Report
- a. Treasurers report-
- $2,841.40 money market account (interest bearing)
- $50.00 share deposit account
- $26.00 cash on hand
- $2,917.40 total
- *please email fialka_s@yahoo.com to arrange for payment of membership fees.
IV. Ongoing Business
a. Discussion of Proposed Amendments to BA122 Bylaws: One addition was proposed to the definition of ‘voting members’: that if requested due to financial hardship, sponsorship of membership fees can be considered on a case-by-case basis. Lucy moved to accept the amendments as proposed; Mario seconded that motion. Final amendments are to be presented and voted on at the next meeting.
b. Continued Discussion of Goals for BA:
i. General Maintenance of Block -Looking to request speed bumps on our block: Penny and Fialka attended Community Board 10’s Transportation Committee meeting on March 10/09 to raise the concern. Dept. of Transportation officials at the meeting confirmed that a letter requesting the bumps needs to be sent to the DOT Commissioner. Penny has volunteered to draft the letter.
Other news from the Community Board Meeting included:
-DOT presented their traffic study and proposal to extend the bike lanes on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd from 118th St. up to Macomb’s Dam. In both directions, the number of car lanes would be reduced from 3 to 2, a bike lane with buffer would be added alongside the parking lane, along with a buffer along the median for left hand vehicle turns.
-Improvements to better facilitate pedestrian access to Harlem River Park have been proposed by a special task force.
-MTA proposed budget cuts includes elimination of several bus routes. Of particular impact to our neighborhood is the proposed elimination of bus line M10. The Community Board is discussing how to respond to this proposed cut.
ii. Educational or Camp scholarships - Rukaye suggested to focus on a particular age group: grades 6 to 12. Lucy suggested that flyers be posted to advertise that the BA has a financial gift available to students, and invite them to submit a 1-page essay describing a project and/or particular need to which funding would be applied. Essays would then go through an assessment/selection process to decide which would receive awards. Targeted deadline for awards was suggested to be September or earlier. Discussion is to continue.
iii. Contributing to Project Harmony Programs - Presentation by Cindy on Programming: Cindy explained how in the past, the Environment Rangers summer program for the kids had run for weeks at a time. However, with costs running several thousand dollars to cover teachers, food, field trips and supplies, the program has been scaled back. For the upcoming summer season, Cindy is thinking of limiting the program to organized field trips, on designated dates. Field trips may be local, for example to identify trees or visit other community gardens, or they may be upstate to visit the CSA farmer. The goal is to offer the field trips free of charge to the kids. While the programming is still in preliminary planning, Cindy explained that a per diem cost is in the range of $100 for a certified teacher plus expenses of supplies and/or travel for the kids. In the past, Project Harmony has advertised on CraigsList for student interns to help teach, which resulted in lower costs. NYU has also sent student volunteers to work with Project Harmony, although that usually happens once the summer kids’ season is over. Discussion continued on how to attract more volunteers to help with the teaching/supervising of the kids’ program.
Other programming that Project Harmony has implemented in the past and is planning to continue includes Story Hour in the garden for toddlers and young children once a week, as well as summer music concerts for the community. In the meeting, Lucy offered to volunteer for Story Hour; Jubal offered to take photos of events in the garden; Cindy noted that Casimir (who started the cat rescue program in the garden) is also thinking of hosting an arts/cultural day for the kids. Last year, Project Harmony also hosted an ESL tutoring program. As for general garden maintenance, Cindy noted that NY Cares sends volunteers once a month to help with pruning/planting in the garden.
iv. Partnering with CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) via Project Harmony - update from Mario re: CSA’s meeting on Feb. 19th: Membership will be increased to 44 shares and will be open to members from the B.A and others who would like to participate. There has also been discussion of a possible sliding price scale to help offset costs for those unable to afford the regular share price.
-Re: BA contributing to travel costs for local kids and their parents to visit the CSA farmer in Orange County. Discussion in the meeting clarified that trips would be best organized by Project Harmony who has liability waivers for the children’s parents to sign. The BA could contribute directly to Project Harmony to help cover the travel costs. Currently, public transportation is being considered.
v. Create BA122 events calendar to be emailed to membership - pending
vi. Fill all BA executive committee positions. - pending
c. BA Tote Bag - update from Jubal: As the desired bag style on ‘Zazzle.com’ appears to be out of stock indefinitely, Jubal ordered a prototype canvas bag from the website: ‘Printfection’. The cost was $17 plus shipping. Jubal was expecting the bag to be delivered within a few days, and will present it at the next meeting.
d. Setting up new BA website - Cator has found website host ‘DreamHost’ that provides its service for non-profit charities free of charge! Our new website should be up and running next month.
IV. Block News
a. Precinct Meeting - No report.
b. JD Wilson Community Garden Update- A Property appraisal was completed recently upon request by NY Restoration Project. Project Harmony is waiting for them to provide an update.
V. Old Business
a. Donation to Explorers Club: Fialka left message for Officer Snead re: proposal to donate funds for one child’s uniform.
VI. New Business
- No new business was discussed.
Adjournment
Thanks to all who attended and shared their delicious potluck dishes!
minutes compiled by Mario Pinto and Fialka Semenuik
