Executive Board Meeting minutes

November 11, 2019—Attending: Janice Merrill Brown, Janet Oliver, John Barber, Tracy Bier, Diane Snell.

Janet: treasury report. Two increases in annual bills: the fee for using the plot of ground where the Brenton Memorial went up from $170 to $176. The cost of renting the postal box at Park Postal went up from $180 per year to $190.

Janice: Holiday Party update: she will be contacting the Friends of Garfield Orchestra tomorrow to engage a quartet and she will be buying the food for the event. Diane agreed to contact Yousef for wine and to obtain the state license for serving alcohol.

Janice will arrange a coffee date with Randy and Bud to present their Star awards as neither could attend the annual meeting.

January program: should we skip, as the 1st is on Wednesday. Diane said we usually don’t meet in January for that reason, but she thinks there is a need for a special meeting which she will discuss when it is her turn.

Diane is term-limited and cannot run again so we need to look for a person who would like to be secretary before the annual meeting in May.

Trevor: Suggested Tax assessor John Wilson for speaker at general meeting. Diane suggested February when we have no speaker and households will have rec’d that valuation card and may have questions. Agreement.

John and Diane: presented their proposal for the Flo Ware event. Due to the length of the meeting, it was not discussed but comments will be requested by email. Katie Busby has approved the draft. John said that Diane Morris was on the Senior Center Board but did not want to go to the meetings. John Barber is willing to take her place, but we don’t know the process. Diane will draft a letter for Janice to sign broaching the subject.

John and Mark (neighbor) have been battling a big stand of blackberries at the Dearborn street end. It is on a slope and there is not enough room for more than two workers at a time, so he has not put out the word for more volunteers; they are slowly making progress. Both the Leschi Natural Area and Frink Park are getting more plants and will need volunteer help to plant them.

Tracy: There is an uptick in car prowls, and they are not being reported; this is data which the police dept. needs. She would like to have another meeting on Crime Prevention with our community resource person, Joseph Elenbaas. April is an open meeting month. Janice asked about a follow-up on emergency preparedness; June is the next open meeting as May is the annual meeting for elections and Star awards.

Diane: She and Tracy have concerns about the proposal for a mural at Jackson and 31st on the big curved retaining wall. Few people know about this in the community and they think that we need to have a public meeting. January is proposed. Janice will contact Dian Ferguson about a good date for that meeting and Diane S will contact the artist. Tracy is willing to distribute flyers in the neighborhood and Mt. Baker should also be invited.

Newsletter issues: the new format is saving us the $200 in trimming and stapling fees, but other costs have risen: the postage is about $20 more and Kirsten is charging $50 more as it is taking her longer with the new format. This might resolve itself as she gets more familiar with the new format. The big advantage is that we get the newsletter earlier as it is ready right off the press and should get mailed in time to be in home before the scheduled meeting. Diane needs help picking up paper and going to BMC. Janice offered to do it again and John said he could be back-up.

Deadline: Nov. 18 for the December issue.

Douglas Barnett, son of Powell Barnett and father of Maisha Barnett died and John Barber did get to the service on Sunday. He spoke of all the talented people there as Douglas Barnett had been a leader in the Black Arts groups.

Resources

PublicSpace@seattle.gov (contact them when you are wanting info on a project in the public space)

PRC@seattle.gov (contact them if you are requesting a meeting on a topic of importance to the community)

Flo Ware Event Draft

Write to Rev. Manaway to explain the event and invite the children of Tabernacle to participate. Efforts to work through the church’s outreach worker have been unproductive. Try to coordinate time of event with the church letting out. Ask if there is an elderly church member who knew Flor Ware and have that person speak BRIEFLY.

Produce flyers which should be posted in this community (small stores, church etc. Girls School). Resume putting a Flo Ware bio in that month’s newsletter, so folks understand the importance of the event. Have a Leschi Community Council presence at the park and warmly welcome guests from the church.

Possible small presentation: John Barber could explain the renovation project of the park and the efforts to recognize the activist part of Flo Ware. Perhaps some children could read her words inscribed in the tiles; I thought if we just had two children each read one inscription, maybe others would pay attention and start reading them. Keep all presentations BRIEF as the day is for kids and they will not have long attention spans.

Consider giving a Small Sparks grant to pay for kids’ activities. We now have a reliable face painter and our cotton candy person if we catch her soon enough! We need to know the date early on to write a grant.

Enlist local merchants in getting food for event. Try to get some kids’ music from Meter Music School.

Katie reviewed the draft and felt it was a good start. She wondered if Odessa Brown has an outreach person as they do a lot for both Leschi and Madrona schools.

Katie suggested June 14 as the date for the 2020 event.

~Respectfully submitted by Diane Snell