TLNA Council Minutes –August 21, 2003

TLNA Council MembersPresent: Jim Zychowicz, Gay Davidson-Zielske, Diane Brusoe, Bob Shaw, MargaretBergamini, Richard Linster, Sandy Ward, Pat McDonnell, Teena Browder, KathleenRideout, Alfred Meyer, Carol Weidel. Guests Present: Jeff Hanson, Jason Standish

July Minutes - Richard movedand Gay seconded to approve the July minutes with a few corrections to thesafety report. The motion was approved. Dianne will email the corrected minutes.

Traffic Islands - LarryNelson from City Staff could not make the meeting to discuss traffic calmingislands but will be present next month. Bob Shaw asked for reimbursement for $62.09 for plants he and Carolplanted on the traffic islands at E. Mifflin/N.Baldwin. Margaret moved and Sandy seconded andthe motion was approved. JZ proposed for discussion with LN a formal process(outlined in the August agenda) for notifying TLNA about maintenance to preventlast-minute threats to pave over any traffic-calming islands.

Group Home - Jason Standish from Brighter LifeLiving would like to site an adult family home at 924 E. Mifflin Street.

The home would accept fouradults. These four adults willpossibly have the following conditions: dementia, emotionally disturbed andpossibly other conditions, but will always be evaluated before Brighter LifeLiving accepts them as clients. Jason Standish (owner and operator) will do theevaluation to ensure client fits into Brighter Life Living’s programstatement and Brighter Life Living can provide clients’ needs; if notplacement will not accrue. Thehome is a two story flat with large common areas, two kitchens, threebathrooms, six bedrooms, three on the first floor and three on the second. Jason has worked with Tellurian in thepast and currently works as a caretaker at 1155 Williamson Street.  His paperwork is in with thestate. All residents would bemale. Margaret expressed concernabout the level of staffing. Jasonsaid it would be his full-time job and he would live on the premises.  Jason has contacted Brenda Konkel abouthis proposal. He doesn’tneed TLNA approval for the home but indicated he wants to work with TLNA.  Jason gave a reference: Kelly Finiganat Tellurian – 258-3446.

Margaret made the followingmotion and Sandy seconded: Move consideration for Brighter Life’s projectuntil the September meeting (September 18) so council members can do furtherinvestigation. Motion carried.

Policy for Sympathy Cards:Should TLNA send out a sympathy card for every death in the neighborhood or forthe occasional person? Gay said weshould not do it spottily. Gaysuggested putting a notice in the newsletter and Richard said he would take responsibilityfor keeping track of the individual. It was decided to make it more inclusive and include notices formarriages and births. Gay made themotion and Alfred seconded: for all marriages, deaths, and births in theneighborhood, names will be posted in the newsletter and Richard will take responsibilityto get the names to the editor. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report -Alfred reported that the treasury is in good shape with $14,218.50 in itsaccount as of 8/21/03. Much ofthis good fortune is due to Richard’s dedicated membership fundraising andhe was thanked.

Neighborhood Planning GrantProposal – JZ and Sal are working with Susan Duren and Diane Brusoe on agrant to obtain funding a consultant to work with us on updating and revisingthe TLN Neighborhood Plan. Theletter of intent is due next month, and we will get back to TLNA on this. Eventually we will need a steeringcommittee for the Plan.

Historic Marker –Margaret has a friend who is a landscape architect who might work on the site,but it may be months before he can work on a design. In the meantime, it was decided to use Gary’s memorialmoney to replace a decrepit bench by the old bathhouse in Tenney Park with anew one with a plaque. Carol movedand Richard seconded to use the $1000 for the new bench. Motion carried.  Bob and Margaret will do the planning.

No alder’s or policereport.

Committee Reports:

Social – Gay said“nothing happened”. Council meeting October 16 with the mayor. Spaghetti supper will be the following week on Thursday,October 23.

Business –Construction on E. Johnson Street is a mess – work is proceeding veryslowly. Yoga business will open inSeptember above art supply store. JZ asked TB if she would ask the E. JohnsonSt. Business Association to ask the city to plan construction/deadlines withlocal businesses in mind, since the current approach hurts business in areaslike ours.

Community Service –Diane is working on the welcome packets. 500 will be distributed. New renters will be targeted.

Safety – Sandy onlyhad two responses for neighborhood priorities. Please send her ideas before the next meeting and she willcollate the responses. As towelcoming new people, it would be a good idea would be to invite new neighborsover to our homes, if possible.

Traffic – Kathleenthanked Carol and Bob for their work on the traffic islands atMifflin/Baldwin. She also thankedJim and Sal for their hard work.

Publicity – Bob willset up a neighborhood blog for neighbors to express opinions about neighborhoodissues. Deadline for Fallnewsletter is September 15 for delivery the first two weeks in October. This will be his last issue and thenomination committee is looking for a new editor.

Parks – Margaretreminded members to water newly planted street and park trees. On September 25 two groups ofvolunteers from Edgewood will be at Tenney Park. On September 28 Friends of the Yahara River Parkway willhave its annual meeting/potluck at Tenney Park. The pier at Giddings is getting closer to becoming areality. David Strandberg and cityparks are reaching agreement on the kind of pier. Margaret made the following motion and Kathleen seconded it:TLNA will contribute up to 10% or $400 to the cost of the pier.  Motion carried.

Margaretasked about a TLNA list-serv, and JZ mentioned that Brenda offered to doso. MB to contact Brenda, since MBis willing to set up the list-serv.

Membership – Linsterreported 30 members paid $192.

Announcements: Jim went toMarquette Neighborhood Association Council meeting and said they wereappreciative of his interest. JZand SC have been expressly invited to attend a meeting Wednesday with the mayorregarding grocery store sitings in Madison. (The meeting is invitation only.) JZ, SC, and Brenda have aformal meeting with Luis Yudice and the Central District Police next week aboutnuisance houses and approaches to take in dealing with them. Also, East Washington meetings arecontinuing.

Linster moved and Sandyseconded to end the meeting. Motion carried.

Meeting ended at 8:55p.m. - BobShaw (secretary du jour)

Return to TLNAMinutes

Return to Home Page