Community Garden—Bonnie thanked recent donors to the garden:

• Penny Spittler for the lovely cast iron bird bath
• Lee for supplying electrical out to the new bird bath to run a fountain feature
• Salley Trefethen and Lissa Hammett for the wrought iron glider bench and large cobalt blue planter

Adopt a Park—The Grants led the clean-up in June which went well with the hula hoop activity following drawing several families.  David

Design Guidelines—Landmarks Commission lead, Mary Ellen Hennessey, reviewed the next steps for implementing the proposed design guidelines for our neighborhood and other area historic neighborhoods.  She needs to schedule a public hearing now that our Board has approved the guidelines and suggested that August would be the best time to do that. Mary Ellen will post the proposed guidelines on the City website and Salley Trefethen, the HHHDA webmaster, will create a link on our site to the guidelines.

Historic Tree Project—Nick Kuhn, the forester for the City, explained a new project he hoped we would help him pilot.  He wants to create an online tree tour of our neighborhood, featuring special trees and their stories: oldest, biggest, most unusual, etc.

HHHDA leadership—Joaquin announced that he needs to pull back his work for HHHDA due to family and business obligations.  He is willing to step aside or, if the Board wishes, he would continue to conduct meetings but will not be able to do any work between meetings.  Amberley declined when asked if she would be willing to take over leadership. No one else was willing to take over leadership.

Lead Coal Project—Construction is still slated to begin in May and continue for 18 – 24 months.  Environmental soil samples along the corridor tested “clean.”  The only remaining decision is the color of the light standards: fir green, black-red, or black.

The first vote was split between fir green and black-red.  After a brief discussion, the Board agreed on black-red.

First Baptist Church – Art School—Albuquerque Public Schools has an option to buy this property to use as an art school. The Board supports this use for the property.

OLD BUSINESS

Dickens—Ann reported that although profits from this year’s event were still not finalized, it was clear that less profit was made than in previous years.  In addition, guests reportedly missed the ambience created by visiting historic homes that had been decorated for the season.  Kay reported that certain aspects of the event were easier for volunteers: using a professional kitchen; not having to arrange for houses to host the dinner.

Agenda item: Dickens

Discussion: Ann reported that there were 62 paid attendees, including 30 for the Ball.  Overall, the profit was between $600 and $700.  (Only an estimate was available since not all bills had been submitted and paid.)  Ann noted that in previous years, the event had netted about $1200.  Ann and Cindy Carson summarized comments from attendees indicating that they preferred the previous event, held in historic homes in the neighborhood, to the current year’s event held at the Greek church.  Attendees also noted that they preferred the menu in previous years to this year’s menu.  There was a brief discussion of the extent of decorations this year compared to previous years, and whether it might be possible to resurrect some sort of carriage ride in future years, even if the horses we used in the past were not available.

Agenda item:  Minutes from October 7, 2009

Discussion: Members asked if Liam was still interested in serving on the Board.

Action: Minutes were approved by a unanimous vote.

 

Agenda item: Property Concerns – 402 Broadway SE

Discussion: This vacant commercial building on the corner of Lead and Broadway is a magnet for crime in the area. Neighbor Kat Owensby has asked the Board for help.  Options were discussed. Amberley reported that the current owner of the building, Brian Rothman, is looking for a buyer.

Action: Karen volunteered to call Bill Hoch, former Board member and current member of the Safe City Task Force, to see what he recommended.

It’s election time for the new year and the new and returning officers are as follows:

President, Joaquin Garofalo; Vice President, Amberley Pyles; Secretary, Bonnie Anderson; Treasurer, Ann Carson

We appreciate all of the volunteers that give their time to serve the Neighborhood Association.

Our largest fundraiser is fast approaching. Dickens of a Dinner that is now combined with the Victorian Ball, is scheduled for December 12^th.

As many of you may have noticed, there is a new fence around the Preservation Station as part of our efforts to make the site a meeting area for the association. Part of this plan, is to split some of the costs with TACA, who own the Station. An agreement is being written that will clearly define both of our financial obligations so that there will be no misunderstandings. We hope to start next year on doing some gardening to enhance the space and make the exterior an option for outdoor meetings.

We have been notified that there will be a request for 119 Arno SE to issue a variance for surface parking on a temporary basis. Our goal has been to eliminate as many surface parking lots as possible, but this is how the lot is used currently and a change may provide an improved situation for the immediate neighbors. We still feel that surface parking lots attract a certain amount of undesirable activities, but we may be able to help both the developers and the Neighborhood

We held a very successful workday at the Preservation Station to get things in better shape for our neighborhood meeting place. There was cleaning, painting, wiring, organizing and the scraping of very many layers of old paint off of the tiles in the bay. We had some very tasty scones to start the day and Joaquin provided pizza and soft drinks for the crew’s lunch. He is also looking into an easier way to remove the many layers of paint from the tiles in the bay. Despite all the hard work, we had a wonderful time and look forward to our partnership with TACA