Minutes for January 14, 2013
Meeting Date: Monday, January 14, 2013
Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Place: Whole Foods Community Room, 3313 University Avenue
Attendance: 9 people
1. Topic: Update on Hoyt Park area plan
Lead: BJ
- Next meeting for the Hoyt Park Area Joint Steering Committee:
- Monday, January 28, 2013
- Time: 6 p.m.
- Place: First Baptist Church, 518 N. Franklin Avenue
- The consultants (Vanderwalle) and the city made changes recommended by HPAJSC at previous meetings and the 2nd Draft Plan will be available.
- Please try and attend! Your presence makes a difference.
- To read Rocky Bluff’s initial response to the plan in July 2012, here’s a link: http://www.cityofmadison.com/planning/HoytParkPlan/documents/RBNA_Response.pdf
2. Mid-Block Walkway
Lead: BJ
- BJ contacted Brenda Stanley with City Engineering and reported the crumbling and overgrown walkway between Bluff and Stevens Streets.
- Brenda said that there isn’t anything publicly recorded that requires the property owner to have a path in the location described.
- There is no official easement.
- Rocky Bluff would like the walkway cleaned up. Maybe if and when the Friends of Quarry Park gets going, an event could be organized to trim the bushes that are overgrowing the path andclean up the path.
3. Friends of Quarry Park
Lead: Nathan and Betty Bauhs
- BJ relayed information he received from Nathan:
- Nathan contacted Jule Stroick re: forming Friends of Quarry Park. Jule forwarded the email to Laura Whitmore with
- Madison City Parks and Nathan hasn’t receive a response.
- Nathan emailed Jule again and Jule forwarded the email to Laura again. Awaiting response.
- Betty contacted Friends of Hoyt Park to learn about their organization and spoke with two people: Helen Baldwin and Bob Downing
- Started in 1995
- Incorporated
- 150 – 175 members
- Annual dues
- Monthly meetings
- Website: http://www.hoytpark.org/
- Has a Board
- Organizes work days and events
- From Bob Downing, he helps with Reservoir Park which is more akin to Quarry Park.
- They don’t have dues, less formal, meet 3 – 4 times a year at a person’s home.
- Good starting points for Friends of Quarry Park:
- Have 4 – 6 core members to get things going
- Organize 2 – 3 work days/year, for example:
- Pulling garlic mustard in the spring
- Clean up day in the fall
- With spring garlic mustard pulling:
- RBNA can send an email to members requesting volunteers on a Saturday
- Put up simple signs around the neighborhood to ask for volunteers
- Have scheduled times/place to meet (for example, 9, 11 a.m. 1, 3 p.m. at Quarry Park entrance) if you don’t know what garlic mustard looks like and get assigned an area
- Betty will contact Liz Vowles in Sunset Village about coordinating garlic mustard removal
TO DO:
- Carolyn/Phil: Send Betty the email address for Liz. Also send Betty the names from Quarry Park walkabout email list.
- BJ: Send Betty the email address of John, the mountain biking guy
4. RBNA website
Lead: Barb Wagner
- Barb did research into other neighborhood association’s websites and what the city could offer:
- Got information from Sarah Edgerton, City Webmaster who recommended WordPress and it is free. Someone from the city could help set it up.
- Barb showed us examples of other neighborhood association’s web pages and who they were hosted through
- Gunnar knows Dylan who does web design
- One website had drupal – looked this up and drupal is a content management system. We would still need to pay for website hosting.
- Group agreed to go with WordPress
TO DO: Barb will look into WordPress a bit more
- Website name options:
- 1st choice: www.RockyBluffMadison.org (this name is similar to our Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/RockyBluffMadison)
- www.RockyBluffNeighborhood.org
TO DO: Barb will check on name availability
- Things we’d like the website to do:
- Display documents, like meeting minutes or pdf’s
- A moderated community bulletin board
- Post events
- Link to our Facebook page
- Provide history and stories of the neighborhood
- About RBNA – mission, constitution, by-laws, officers, geographic boundaries
- Links
- Contact us
- Photos
5. Membership Drive before April 8 Annual Meeting
Lead: BJ
- BJ will be on vacation during the annual meeting and Vice-President Toby will lead meeting
- Meeting Location:
- First Baptist Church on Franklin Avenue was suggested to accommodate more people
TO DO: BJ will contact First Baptist Church and see if we can reserve the lower level meeting area
TO DO: Develop a handout with April meeting information on it. Make it similar to the “Welcome to RBNA” handout. Carolyn and Toby can work on this closer to the meeting.
- Street Liaison Officers:
- Email handout to street liaison officers to print
- Go door to door one week before meeting to introduce RBNA (if people don’t know about it) and encourage attendance.
- RBNA Mailing List:
- In early April, send email with agenda/meeting details and to encourage people to attend and to talk it up to their neighbors
- Sandwich board sign:
- BJ will ask Mike Martin to put up sandwich board with meeting info in his absence
- Ideas for Annual Meeting Agenda:
- Background of Rocky Bluff Neighborhood Association
- Founding father Phil in May 2012
- Mission and Constitution/By-laws
- Geographic boundaries
- Introduce officers
- Meet on the second Monday every other odd numbered month – usually at Whole Foods
- 2012 Accomplishments
- Developed a Constitution/By-Laws, had a public meeting, elected officers
- Logo designed
- Involvement in Hoyt Park area planning process
- Facebook page
- Looking into RBNA website
- Looking into establishing Friends of Quarry Park
- See if our alderperson, Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, can attend the meeting to learn more about what she does and discuss ways we can work together on common goals
TO DO: Julianne will email Shiva to check on her availability on the evening of April 8 - Quarry Park and garlic mustard collection
- Check with Street Liaison Officers regarding their geographic areas – Too many houses? Need help? Any areas needing a liaison? Split up geographic areas more?
- Any amendments to the Constitution?
- More flexible meeting dates
- Special meetings
- Ability to cancel a meeting
- Open it up for general Q and A and brainstorm ideas
- Background of Rocky Bluff Neighborhood Association
6. Street Liaison Officer needed for Bluff Street
Lead: BJ
- Rebecca Laird will be the liaison
- NEW: Need a liaison for Schmidt to East Harvey – current person no longer can do this
7. Nominees for Treasurer
Lead: BJ
- Put on March 11 meeting agenda
- Need nominees by March so that we know if there is more than one person interested.
- Treasurer will be elected at April annual meeting
Additional Topic from Toby:
- FYI…Shorewood Hills is having public information meetings in regards to the Marshall Court Improvement Project (new apartment building going in)
- Place:
- Village Hall, 810 Shorewood Boulevard
- Dates/Times:
- Thursday, January 24 at 3:30 pm
- Monday, January 28 at 5:30 pm
- http://www.shorewood-hills.org/calendar.htm
Next Meeting: Monday, March 11, 2013
TO DO: Judith contact Whole Foods and reserve community room from 6:30 to 8 p.m.