PRESENT:  Matt Ruben, President; Steve Richman, Treasurer; Janet Finegar, Secretary; Avery Amaya;  Michael Coyne; Jacek Ghosh; Joe Mikuliak; Don Phillips; Amy Sweeney; Renya Wasson; Kevin Wilkins.

ABSENT:  Claire Adler, Vice-President; Kristen Ainscoe; Melanie Coffman; Barbara Saverino; 

ALSO PRESENT:  Kenny Cooper, student reporter for the “Philadelphia Neighborhoods” website

The meeting was called to order by the President at 6:37 p.m.

Motion: By Jacek Ghosh, seconded by Amy Smith-Sweeney. “To approve the minutes of the November Board meeting as presented.” Passed 10-0-0

President’s Report: Matt Ruben: written report attached and reviewed.

NLNA President’s Report, December 2019

1. PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT, AND POLICY

• Construction Impacts – See Germantown Sewer Project.
• Business Improvement District (BID) – Update at our meeting.
• Amendments to the Central Delaware Waterfront Zoning Overlay, plus implications for upcoming development – Update at our meeting.
• Germantown Sewer Project – On December 5 we will have a general membership meeting on December 5 where the Water Dept. and others will be able to share the latest, in some detail, with the community. Right now it’s looking like a 10-week closure of 2nd St at Germantown is unavoidable. The detour plans, however, are a bit better than they were initially. Already the email and Facebook notices have generated concern from neighbors, which is of course understandable.

2. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

• Office Management/Oversight – Updates in the Operations Committee report.

3. EVENTS AND OUTREACH

• December 5 General Meeting: I anticipate solid attendance because folks are concerned about the closure of 2nd St, the main agenda item. While 2nd St businesses are of course quite concerned, they have been involved in discussions for some time via the BID. So I am guessing that the main topic of concern at our meeting will be residential neighbors’ concerns about the detour routes, which will impact George, Wildey, and nearby areas.
• Operation Santa. Dec 19, 20, and 21. Update from Janet and Don at our meeting.

4. OTHER ITEMS

• Annual Appeal – Kevin has supplied a list of addresses for an expanded postal-mail component this year. Michael has worked on the mail-merge, and Kristen on the letter text and design. Updates from them at our meeting.
• Board Polls – Ratification of any online board polls since last month’s board meeting.

Motion: By Amy Smith-Sweeney, seconded by Avery Amaya. “To ratify any and all Board polls taken in the previous month.” Passed 10-0-0

Treasurer's Report: Steve Richman: written report distributed and reviewed.

TREASURER’S REPORT – DECEMBER 2019

A. 2019-20 Budget: November Financials - tables attached

1. For the two months ended on November 30^th  All Funds Income was $24,644; this was nearly $3,100 more than projected. All Funds Expenses totaled $27,727, which was about $3,700 less than anticipated. Current Year Net Income was -$3,083. This was a smaller negative balance than anticipated.
2. If we limit the calculation to income and expenses from the General Fund and Liberty Lands accounts, our two major operating funds, our financial position after the first two months of the fiscal year is as follows:
   1. GF & LL Income (rounded): $24,600 -- $3,100 more than anticipated.
   1. GF & LL Expenses (rounded): $26,100 -- $4,600 less than anticipated.
   1. GF & LL Net Income: -$1,500 – a smaller negative balance than anticipated.
3. Significant variations from budgeted projections through November include:
   1. Lower than anticipated income from the Fall Fest (-$1,169). The shortfall in this category was partially offset by higher income from the Annual Appeal, entirely attributed to recurring monthly donations.
   1. Higher than anticipated income from administrative fees (+$1,697). Garden Hub, a program we co-sponsored and was funded by Penn Treaty, did not fully expend its grant. We were able to apply a portion of the unexpended funds to administrative expenses incurred by the NLNA in support of the program.
   1. Refunds totaling $953 from prior year purchases. The most significant portion of this ($918) was for yard equipment that arrived damaged.
   1. Lower than anticipated spending for professional services (-$2,567) and program services (-$1,042). Several factors contributed the lower level of spending: staff vacations; part-time staff not yet hired; and delayed billing.

B. Other Items

1. Accountant’s 2018-19 Financial Report and Tax Preparation – Our accountant started work in November on preparation of our annual Compilation Report and Tax Return.

Motion: By Michael Coyne, seconded by Donald Phillips. “To accept the Treasurer's report as presented with some semantic revisions to be made during the month.” Passed10-0-0

Communications & Marketing Committee:

There was some conversation about the proposed changes to our NLNA website and the staffing of both the new design and content updates. Avery and Steve will meet to discuss contracts.

Fundraising & Membership Committees Report: Michael Coyne: written report attached and reviewed.

NLNA Fundraising – December 2, 2019

Fundraising Committee:

• Annual Appeal:
  • The appeal letter is finalized.
  • It will be printed sometime this week.
  • We should have them in the mail within a week. Slightly more than 800 letters will be mailed to businesses and individual households combined.
  • Thank you to Kristen Ainscoe for her help with this project.
• Winterfest 2020:
  • I reached out to Oron and his staff via email about the 2020 Winterfest. The Super Bowl is February 2^nd. I suggested the 9^th or the 16^th.
  • I will follow up next Monday with his staff.
  • Quaint Oak Bank, will be opening a new branch office at 117 Spring Garden Street. Imani Green of Quant Oak contacted Matt about sponsoring the event. I responded via email to Imani and told her we’d be delighted to have them sponsor the event and that I’m free to meet with her in person to discuss
    • How much do we think the sponsorship fee should be?
    • What should be included with the sponsorship?
      • Flat screen TV ads during the event
      • Signage
      • Sponsorship highlighted online, posters etc.
      • Table(s)
• Giftwrapping Fundraiser at the Center:
  • Janet Finegar suggested this and Renya Wasson graciously stepped up and offered to organize this fundraiser.

Liberty Lands Committee Report: Janet Finegar: written report attached and reviewed.

Liberty Lands Report – December 2019

Meetings:

• Due to scheduling conflicts, the  December Liberty Lands meeting will be on WEDNESDAY, December 11 at 7 p.m. at the community center. 
• Maria took  on planning for the January meeting  – which we are hoping will bring out lots of people to  discuss a new management  plan for the park. We will hold the  meeting on Saturday, January 25 starting at 10 a.m. Please put it on your calendar!

Overall park:

• At the November meeting, those gathered agreed on the proposed policy on homeless people at the park. It is attached again at the end of this report and the committee requests that the NLNA Board ratify/approve it as official policy.
• Liz is working on a written timeline of events this summer/fall related to Sokka so that we'll have a record of actions taken and lessons learned. The last of his things had been in storage in Oron's garage and were discarded at the end of November. 
• Tom reported that there was a renewed problem with neighbors dumping their household trash at the park during November. A social media reminder not to do that seems to have helped, and new signs for the corral arrived this weekend. The “extra” trash service on Tuesdays has been shut down for the winter months; Tom will continue to take out the trash for city pickup.
• New volunteers Al and Justina attended two days of training for the City's Neighborhood Compost Initiative and met with Janet and Liz to discuss plans and logistics for the new compost piles. They are thinking they will accept compost drop offs during Farmer's Market hours starting  in the  spring.
• Jesse De, who met with  Janet in the spring to discuss Christmas tree sales at the park, returned to discuss it for this year. After some discussion of logistics, they agreed that the Community Center yard made more sense as a tree lot location, and he is set up there.
• Christmas  tree collection and chipping will happen this year (courtesy of sponsorship from Penn Treaty SSD); we'll accept trees until January 13 and the park pruning  of trees will happen on that day as well. If there is a warm day in the meantime, it would be great to pull any large limbs out of the compost piles for chipping BEFORE they are frozen in.
• Parade of  Spirits will happen on December 14 and Shazanna is doing a  small winter Farmer's Market on that same  day. As always, Janet will shut off the park water after the Parade.
• The November 9 Love  Your Park workday went very nicely, with a small dedicated group of volunteers from outside the neighborhood. Among the tasks completed was a heroic cleanup of the trash corrals by Barbara Saverino. Becky noted that the litter pick up crew did find needles stashed near the mural wall – fortunately they were quite out of  the way and cleaned up safely.
• A pile of wood chips left over from Love Your Park is at the 3rd and Wildey intersection and can be used by anyone who needs mulch.

Playground:

• Warren Wilson installed the replacement spring and got the sproingy seahorse back into action!!! Thank you Warren!
• The racecar panel is still in the shed and we need to make plans for installing it and two new panels.

Policy on Homelessness for ratification:

• Basic precepts:
  • DAYTIME use without leaving things at the park is just use. There should be no distinction between users we believe to be housed or homeless. No one should use the playground equipment in a way that monopolizes it or makes it off-putting for children to use (sleeping on it, having a party on it, etc.). No one other than gardeners should be off the paths in the public gardens. No one should make a mess of the trash cans. A person sleeping on a bench during the day, on the other hand, is just a park user.
  • NIGHTTIME use of the park is forbidden to everyone other than for specific, park-authorized activities. Being in the park at night is against the rules for everyone.
  • Actions at the park that are illegal or threatening are an issue for the police regardless of who is doing them. (This actually includes having a dog off-leash, which is illegal in Philadelphia.)
  • Breaking park rules – doing things that are not allowed at the park but that are generally legal and non-threatening (like misusing the trash containers or being in the park at night) – require enforcement by park volunteers, and we hope that signage and social pressure will mostly keep people from doing these things.
• Actions:
  • Reduce incidence of issues:
    • Keep the existing “no camping” signs up. Improve other signage to highlight no nighttime use
    • NLNA regularly make basic information available to neighbors about best practices to help/respond to homeless people (calling hotline or 911)
    • Continue to not stress out about nighttime uses with no stuff left and no damage/threat
  • Respond immediately to any left items:
    • If there are dangerous items like needles, discard them immediately (they should be put in a plastic bottle with a lid and disposed of into a trash can, not recycling). If possible, talk to the person directly to deliver an immediate eviction. Bag any non-dangerous items left behind and leave them nearby with a 5-day note. Notify the police of the full interaction. (A 5-day note should include the date it was left, say that items can't be left at the park and that there is no camping/use of the park at night, and give the date when the things will be thrown away.)
    • If only non-dangerous items (like bedding) are left, bag them up and leave them as close as possible to where they were found with a 5-day note.
    • Check bagged items daily: if abandoned, discard after 5 days. If opened/moved but still at park, go to hotline/eviction notice/etc.
  • Respond immediately to anyone regularly there at night/camping:
    • Call hotline immediately and include the fact that there's no night use allowed (follow up to confirm contact with outreach workers if possible)
    • If possible, have a conversation with the person and make clear that no night use is allowed
    • If the same person returns/stays after contact with outreach, contact the District Captain directly to ask for police intervention.

The Board reviewed the committee's recommended policy on homeless people at the park and agreed that it seems reasonable. 

Operations Committee Report: Barbara Saverino: written report attached and reviewed.

NLNA Operations Committee – November 20, 2019

Attendees: Monika, Amy, Lara, Jacek, Kristen and Barbara

• Barbara thanks the committee for being flexible with the delayed start time due to engine trouble on the train.
• Tree Sale in Yard: Committee discussion on the process. Moving forward committee would like to review agreement. Barbara said she would share updates. Lara walked Jesse and Goda from the Neighborhood Tree Company through the security protocol and also provided keys.
  • Here is some additional information:
    • Neighborhood Tree Company
    • November 22 through December 24 (or earlier if sold out)
    • Hours: Wednesday-Friday between 2-9 PM and Saturday-Sunday between 9 AM and 9 PM.
    • Fee: Waived in recognition of User;s donation of a position of its sale revenue going to Prevention Point.
    • End of each day the facility must be left in a clean and safe condition. Will remove all waste material at the end of each day.
    • Music at reasonable level.
    • Lighting - can connect but must be disconnected at the end of each day.
    • Must remove all items at the end of agreement
    • NOTE: We did not request removal/clean up of tree needles.
  • ACTION: Will ask Neighborhood Tree Company to give NLNA brochure to each customer (we will check to make sure we have them). Barbara will also connect Don and Neighborhood Tree Company so they have contact information.
• Yard Furniture: Thank you to Amy and Jacek for taking the initiative – they cleaned and moved the tables and chairs from the yard and put them away for winter. They are now stored in the basement.
• Old Business
  • Signage - Kristen shared that she is working to get all the signs for NLNA (including the parks) ordered and printed. Barbara and Kristen are going to do a walk around and decide placement on December 14. We will then get them hung.
  • List of tradespeople - to do maintenance. Monika will take lead on collecting as part of Operations Manual.
  • Small fridge - working better after Lara defrosted.
  • Office computer - Lara has done some work and seems to be operating better.
  • Website - Kristen shared that NLNA has not yet moved forward on this. Barbara is going to follow up. Kristen also shared that some of the proposed work might be done by part-time office position as well.
  • Filing cabinet replaced - Lara is going to follow up to get cost/see about removal of broken one.
• New Business
  • Winterizing - Lara is going to turn water off for outside faucets.
  • Lightbulb replacement - Barbara is going to follow up with Don to request this be done.
  • Air filter replacement - Barbara is going to follow up with Don to request this be done.
  • Looking at more motion lighting for outside - very dark at night for those closing up.
  • Lara will share information on her work schedule during the upcoming holidays.
  • Yard is going on hiatus in winter and will reopen on March 1.
• Next meeting is scheduled for December 18 at 7 PM.

Public Safety Committee:

Joe reported from the 6^thDistrict PDAC meeting that he has offered the NLNA Community Center as a site for a “PSA” community meeting. When a date is set for that meeting we will publicize it.

The Board noted that there was a string of burglaries in local businesses over the holiday weekend. Sgt. Massi from the 26^thDistrict is working on investigations. 

New Business

• Don reminded the Board that Operation Santa is underway for this year and encouraged Board members to help out with wrapping and deliveries. 
• Don also told the Board that Orkney Park will be holding a caroling session  at the park on the afternoon of the  21^st.
• Joe announced that there will  be a story slam on January 23^rdat 7 p.m. with three workshops preceding it. 
• Steve announced that the American Institute of Architects awards dinner this Thursday would include an award to Kieran Timberlake for their work on the Community Center Yard. (This news is private until the award is presented and therefore has not been publicized in advance.)
• Matt drew the Board's attention to the  recent reporting in the Inquirer suggesting  that City Council will  be cutting tax abatements for new residential  construction.

The meeting was adjourned by acclaim at 8:02 p.m.

Addenda:

Zoning Committee 

There was no meeting in November. A revision of the motion regarding 1020 North 2nd Street was ratified by the NLNA Board of Directors; the revised version is copied below. 

Motion re: 1030 North 2^ndSt. as amended, November 21, 2019

We will support a special assembly license and amusement permit for a new restaurant at 1030 N. 2^ndStreet when the following is agreed to in writing by the owner and becomes part of their conditional LCB license:

1. The subject premises must sell at least 50% food to its patrons in comparison to alcoholic beverages, verifiable in writing by certified public accountant hired by the Licensee.

2. Amplified sound cannot emanate beyond the property line of the subject premises.

3. Licensee shall not permit dancing, live performances, stage shows or live acts at any time; nothing herein shall prohibit the Licensee from broadcasting music through electrically amplified in house speaker system only.

4. No lines of customers outside the restaurant nor shall License permit patrons to loiter outside for any reason.

5. Outside promoters cannot rent or use the restaurant.

6. Seating at chairs with tables for a minimum of 50 patrons shall be maintained.

7. Daily trash pick-up with all trash and recycling kept at the rear of the building.

8. DJs will not bring in additional sound equipment; they can only use the in house system only.

We also support outdoor seating for the restaurant on Liberty Walk and on the sidewalk next to the restaurant’s wall along 2^ndStreet. Five feet of open sidewalk must be maintained.

We need to have the floor plan of the restaurant that includes the tables and bar, outside and inside. This agreement, signed by the owner, and the floor plan must be attached to the letter of support from the NLNA.