McKnight
Neighborhood Council, Inc.
Board of
Directors Meeting
Tuesday, August
14, 2012: 6-8 pm
Rebecca
Johnson School, Music Room
55 Catharine
St., Springfield MA
AGENDA
6:00 – 6:15 pm: OPEN MEETING, WELCOME
o
Introduction, Board of Directors
o
Audience Introductions
6:15—6:30 pm: GUEST
o
Melvin Edwards, Springfield City Councilor,
candidate for State Senate.
6:30—6:45 pm: GUEST
o
Gary
Faiman, owner of 368 St. James Avenue.
6:45—7:00 pm: OFFICERS’ REPORTS
o PRESIDENT’S REPORT: (Walter
J. Kroll)
o VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT: (Demetrios
Panteleakis)
o SECRETARY’S REPORT: (Jesse
Lederman)
·
Minutes of July 10, 2012, meeting (see attachment)
o TREASURER’S REPORT: (Liz Stevens)
·
Budget amendment for insurance
·
Monthly financial report
7:00—7:15pm: New Business—Board of Directors
7:15—7:30 pm: New Business—Open to Floor
7:30—7:50 pm: COMMITTEE
REPORTS – Any committee updates (5 minutes each)
o
Standing
Committees
·
Rail Trail (Liz Stevens)
·
Public Safety (Walter Kroll)
§ National
Night out event
§ Safe
Park initiative at Magazine Park Aug 18
·
Housing & Code (Demetrios Panteleakis)
§ Follow
up on SMOC property on Bowdoin Street
§ Disposition
of Peter Proud house on Cornell Street
·
Good Neighbor (Ceil Lewonchuk)
·
Communications (Corey Singleton)
§ Ben
S reporting on Neighborhood Councils Collaborative
o
Ad Hoc
Committees
·
Debate (Jesse
Lederman)
§ Walter K reporting on State Senate primary debate
7:50--8:00 pm:
Wrap Up—Final Business, Open to Floor
8:00 pm—Close Meeting
Next
McKnight Neighborhood Council Meeting
Tuesday,
September 11, 2012
6:00-8:00 pm Rebecca
Johnson School
Approved September 11,
2012
Minutes McKnight Neighborhood Council
Board Meeting: August 14, 2012
Meeting
Called to order 6:00 p.m.: (WK verified
quorum present)
Board Members Present (9): Walter
Kroll (Pres), Demetrios Panteleakis (Vice Pres), Jesse Lederman (Secy/Clerk), Liz Stevens, (Treas), Brandi Gamble-Lucas (Asst Secy), Ceil Lewonchuk, Synthia
Scott-Mitchell, Ben Swan, Jr, Stephen Thibeau. {Elizabeth Lederman,
Adm. Staff}.
Board Members Not Present
(4): Lloyd Creswell, Donna Jordan, Ed Kelly, Corey Singleton (Asst Treasurer)
Neighborhood Members: Elliot Stratton, Warren
Clark, Liz Willis-O’Gilvie, Tim Kirk, Bokul Khuiya, Stephen White
Guests: Paul
Martin, Raymond Ray, Gary Faiman, John Wojcik
Welcome
by Walter K; board member introductions; audience introductions.
GUESTS
o
Melvin Edwards, Springfield City Councilor, candidate for State Senate—standing
in for Councilor Edwards who is incapacitated due to an injury, campaign
manager, Paul Martin—who outlined the campaign issues and took questions from
the audience.
·
Emphasized that this election is Springfield’s opportunity to gain real
representation in the Mass senate from a Springfield leader who can adequately
represent the city and its interests—the current senator and opponent is from
West Springfield and has not provided vigorous representation for Springfield.
·
Candidate Edwards will not sit back and let things happen—has a real
talent for coalition building—pointed to his work as the organizer of Keep
Springfield Beautiful; the biomass incinerator opposition, and the foreclosure
moratorium he helped sponsor at the city government level.
·
Received endorsement from the Sierra Club
·
Sees the homeless problem in Springfield as a local issue which can be
solved at the local level by utilizing abandoned and unused property assets
while assisting people to move into productive and independent lives
·
Neither opposes or supports the casinos—but if they are going to be
built here should maximize the benefits
·
Sees job creation and economic factors as the basic underpinnings of the
violence problem in the city.
o
Gary
Faiman, owner of 368 St. James Avenue—presented information about the
background of his purchase and attempted renovation of the property.
·
Realtor who sold the property did not inform him
that the property was zoned for single family only.
·
City building department did not initially
inform him that it was a single-family property when he pulled some of the
permits
·
Has already completed the outside renovation,
removed the front door and put in two separate entrances, and two electrical
meters.
·
Has since been informed by the City that he
cannot complete the renovation as a two-family, and is seeking support from the
Council to be able to do so.
·
Board members questioned Mr. Faiman and
established that he was an investor who was not intending to live in the house and
an experienced contractor. The
prevailing opinion of the Board was that he should have done his homework, and
recommended that he complete the project as a one-family in compliance with City
zoning ordinances.
OFFICER
REPORTS
o
PRESIDENT’S REPORT: (Walter Kroll)
Observed that the
recent shooting death on Bay Street was of concern to everyone and that we
would discuss it later in the meeting, along with general public safety issues.
o SECRETARY’S REPORT: (Jesse Lederman)
Brandi G, in the absence of secretary Jesse L who
had to leave the meeting early, submitted the minutes of the Board Meeting July
10, 2012, for acceptance. Call for corrections or additions.
MOTION: (DP moved) to accept as presented;
(SS seconded); (WK called ;) Unanimous vote to accept.
o TREASURER’S REPORT: (Elizabeth Stevens)
Liz S reporting that the bookkeeper had not
forwarded the report she requested for the past month.
·
Also reporting that Fiscal Solutions has been notified that Bokul K will be taking over the bookkeeping responsibilities.
·
IRS request for 2011 form 990—document being completed by the CPA who
did the MNC audit in 2011.
·
Budget amendment submitted to
Board to adjust insurance payment for the year from $700 to $737.
MOTION: (LS moved) to accept budget
amendment as submitted; (DP seconded); (WK called the question); Unanimous vote
to accept.
NEW BUSINESS— Open to the Floor
o
Tim K reporting that he had received a notice from the City Election
Office informing him that he had been moved to the inactive voter
list—distributed a copy of the letter.
Had been dropped despite the fact that he has been an active voter and
had filled out the yearly census form.
General concern that such letters may discourage residents from voting
in the upcoming elections.
·
Staff assistant to send out email to neighborhood alerting them to the
situation, and to contract the City election office to register Council’s
concerns about the situation; and what to tell residents to do if they are
turned away at the polls.
·
Ceil L volunteered to follow up with the press to see if this is a
widespread issue and bring attention to the situation.
o
Liz O spoke on the following:
·
Has been working on a proposal whereby teachers could be attracted to
the city by offering affordable home ownership through a partnership with the
banking community and the City—has
contacted the School Dept and City Councilors with the idea. Demetrios P requested that she outline the
proposal on paper and submit it to the Council.
·
Vacant lot next to her house on Dartmouth and Bay—has been maintaining
it. Willing to buy it and donate it to
Gardening in the Community, but that organization felt it was not viable for
that purpose. Looking for input on the
use of lot—willing to partner with the Council for an appropriate use.
o
Elliot S spoke on the following:
·
Encouraging dog walkers to carry two bags—one for their dog, and
another to put trash in as they go.
·
Has recently become involved with a community gardening project;
interested in seeing McKnight becoming more involved so residents can help
develop food security.
o
General discussion on the use of vacant lots in the neighborhood;
WMECO lot on Bay and Bowles; lots on Westminster, and the lot on Thompson
Street behind the River Inn.
o
Synthia S contributing that she is the head of the Food Policy Council
and that a there is a lot of work going on with community gardening and food
access. Walter S appointed her as chair
of a new ad hoc committee—Food Access.
NEW BUSINESS—Board
o
Demetrios P submitted a draft proposal, re: Springfield Gaming
Consideration, should a casino venue be developed in the city, outlining benefits
to potentially accrue to McKnight to compensate for the impacts on the
neighborhood—with the Council taking no position pro or con on supporting the
casino.
·
Initial proposal including funding for a community center, completion
of the McKnight Rail Trail, and an annual donation to promote and maintain
programming for the benefit of the neighborhood.
·
General discussion on the asking points.
·
Additional suggestions to be emailed to Demetrios.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
STANDING COMMITTEES
o Rail Trail (Elizabeth
Stevens, Chair)
·
Meetings with Pat
Sullivan in Parks will be continuing.
Visited the Cape Cod Rail Trail.
o Public
Safety (Walter Kroll, Chair)
·
Discussed the
shooting on Bay Street. Started with a
loud party. Stressed the importance of
calling in loud parties rather than waiting until they get completely out of
control. Encouraged everyone to attend
the Watch and Police Beat meeting—more information should be available about
the Bay Street situation.
o Housing
& Code (Demetrios Panteleakis,
Chair)
·
Meetings will begin again in September. Anyone interested please email Demetrios..
o Debate (Jesse Lederman)
·
Walter K
reporting—Senator Welch unwilling to commit to proposed debate with Councilor
Edwards. Debate plans discontinued.
8:00 ADJOURNMENT: MOTION:
(BS moved) to adjourn; (LS seconded); (WK
called); motion carried.
Submitted
by Elizabeth Lederman, Administrative Staff, 09/11/2012
