BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES – Meeting of July 12, 2021

PRESENT:      Claire Adler, President;  Steve Richman, Vice-President; Janet Finegar, Secretary; Caitlin Antrim; Alex Boland; Shakirra Clark; Jeff Hornstein, Chastity Houston; Joe Mikuliak; Matt Ochs; Don Phillips; Matt Ruben; Barbara Saverino;

ABSENT:       Jacek Ghosh, Treasurer; Kevin Wilkins.

ALSO PRESENT:       Larry Freedman, Zoning Committee Chair (for Zoning report)

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

Motion: By Matt Ruben, seconded by Jeff Hornstein.“To approve the minutes of the June Board meeting as presented.” Passed 12-0-0

President’s Report: Claire Adler. Written report attached and reviewed.

There was some conversation about the plans for the Spring Garden greenway; Matt reminded the Board that several years of work have gone into the planning for this and that data from those processes is available in the  NLNA records online.

NLNA President’s Report, July 12, 2021

1. PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY

• Parking Regulation Change: The NLBID is still working to initiate the pilot program.
• North Delaware Zoning Overlay: Larry and I met with Councilmember Squilla. He is supportive of the NLNA motion on the overlay and is working to convene other civic groups before moving forward.
• Spring Garden Street Improvement Project: The City is seeking funding in order to move forward with this project and the NLNA as a supporter and stakeholder submitted a letter to help secure grant funding.

2. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

• Website: The website revamp has been slow-going and we will likely loop in another outside contractor to speed up the process.
• New hire: Rachel Mitchell has been hired as the Office Assistant/Rental Lead and will start in August. More from the Operations Committee.
• Lara vacation: Lara continues to be out of the office until the end of the month.

3. EVENTS AND OUTREACH

• Meet-and-greet: The Membership Committee is scheduling a meet-and-greet for some time in October. More discussion and updates from Membership.
• Musicfest: Musicfest is back and scheduled for September 11.
• E-Waste and Shredding: Huge thank you to Kevin Wilkins and Don Phillips for making the shredding and e-waste event a success last month.

4. OTHER ITEMS

• Board Polls – Ratification of any online board polls since last month’s board meeting.

Motion: By Joe Mikuliak, seconded by Matt Ruben. “To ratify any and all Board polls taken in the previous month.” Passed 13-0-0

Treasurer's Report: Jacek Ghosh. A truncated written report distributed and reviewed.

TREASURER’S REPORT – June 2021

A. 2020-21 Budget: June Financials – no tables for June available at this time

B. Other Items

Annual Appeal

• Recurring Donations: In June, we had 54 recurring donations totaling $630 for the month – slightly down from May (56 donations totaling $660)
• Individual Donations: In June, we had 3 individual donations totaling $143.20.

Liberty Lands

• Potty Club Membership: In June, we had 2 membership payments totaling $101.43.
• Event Rentals: In June, we had 8 party rentals booked totaling $387.97.
• Support LL: In June, we had 8 individual donations to LL totaling $504.03.

Fire Relief Fundraiser

•  In June, we had 2 donations totaling $55.00.

Motion: By Matt Ruben, seconded by Don Phillips. “To table the Treasurer's report for this month.” Passed 13-0-0

Communications & Marketing Committee: Caitlin Antrim. Written report attached and reviewed.

Communications/Marketing Report

• We had our first ever Comms/Marketing retreat on Saturday (7/10) and it felt very useful and productive! In attendance were: Caitlin Antram, Matt Ochs, Barbara Saverino, Claire Adler, Alex Boland, Joe Mikuliak, Monica Carty (community member)
  • Agenda:
    • Overarching Goals:
      • Mission Statement: focuses on today and what the organization does.
      • Vision Statement: focuses on tomorrow and what the organization wants to become.
      • NLNA Comms Strategy: Website Copy and Email blast format
    • 10:00am - 10:30am Arrival, introductions, and goal setting
    • 10:30am - 11:45am Deep dive into survey results  Collective brainstorming around identity and language
    • 11:45am - 12:15pm Break for Lunch
    • 12:15pm - 1:00pm Defining a mission and vision statement
    • 1:00pm - 2:00pm Rapidfire Comms strategy session
    • Website language update; Social media goals; Email blast update; Community center windows
• (We spent our 3rd session continuing work on refining the statement so the topics of the last strategy session were deferred.)  Our primary objective was to reformat our existing mission statement into a more concise and "elevator pitch" friendly version and the whole group contributed thoughtfully to make it happen. For the consideration of the board, here is our proposal:
• Mission Statement: "As a volunteer-led organization serving all residents and business owners of Northern Liberties, the NLNA maintains Liberty Lands & our community center, connects neighbors to information and resources, and advocates on their behalf. Together we seek to cultivate connection, belonging, and a sustainable quality of life in our neighborhood."
• Visitors to our new website will encounter this mission front and center, but more details regarding what we do will be easy to find as well. (Website copy is another dragon to tackle, but one thing at a time.)
• Saturday's format felt very successful and productive for comms collaboration. I plan to host more meetings/retreats around specific comms/marketing topics like: website language, social media goals, email blast formatting, and utilizing our community center windows. Please let me know if you have an interest in participating.

Matt Ruben, seconded by Matt Ochs. “To adopt the mission statement (as amended with capitalization) proposed by the Communications committee at the retreat. Passed 12-0-0

Education Committee Report: Jeff Hornstein.

• There was not a June meeting, but there will be another one soon. Neither Ludlow or Kearny are summer school sites, so the Committee will be reaching out to the schools, particularly Kearny, to see what support they need for the fall.
• Chastity asked if the hours for schools will be changed in the fall: Jeff will look into it.

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

Liberty Lands report  July 2021

• Playground:
  • Mike Simons looked into fixing the broken chain ladder in the big kid playground. Replacing it with the same climber will be about $1,000 because the connectors have to be replaced as well. Before we buy a new one, we're asking if people have strong feelings about it.
  • One job that did NOT get done Saturday is weeding the playground of the thorny Tropical Soda Apple plants that are spreading. This is a great job for volunteers to do on their own.
• Community Gardens:
  • Jeanne, Katherine, Liz and Janet paid a visit to the Spring Gardens to learn about their organizational structure and brought back a lot of information about how they handle volunteer hours and committees that are useful for both the garden and the full park. Jeanne and Katherine are pursuing some new ideas.
  • City Harvest is making weekly donations to Sunday Love Project and the Mama Tee community fridges, thanks to an organizational spreadsheet and a lot of work from Mary Claire. She got a massive  garlic harvest in the last month as well as many many greens.
  • The community gardens next happy hour will be  July 30 – watch for an invite.
• Park maintenance:
  • Ken Grono's company Buckminster Green has finished the stage repair and it's both beautiful and SOLID thanks to metal supports (thanks, Seth!), plus all the electricity works now. Thank you to Penn Treaty SSD for funding these repairs. We plan to thank them publicly at the September music festival. If you go look, you'll notice that there are lights built into the base – these are for event use ONLY and no, they aren't park lighting.
  • FOUR fantastic new volunteers showed up in the past two weeks and are taking on various projects at the park including rehabbing the trash corrals and the children's garden! Big welcomes to Gloria, Alex, George, and Delaney!
  • Ana continues to handle reservations, and we continue to limit it to one party at a time and only at the swing tables. There are several groups holding outdoor exercise and yoga classes at the park through the summer. Please DO let Janet know if you see events advertised at the park – they aren't always reserved!
  • The workday with people from Volunteering Untapped was very successful – about 40 people came out from the group, which allowed for a ton of work to get done at Orkney and Orianna Hill Parks as well as at Liberty Lands. The American Street fenceline got cleaned up with a bunch of weed trees removed; a lot of tree pits were weeded, the children's garden was cleared out for new planting, and a heroic crew dug out the hill at the 3rd Street garden as the beginning of the stormwater pond there.
    • The “stormwater pond,” by the way, is a project to get rid of the puddles that form where the brick paths and concrete pad meet at 3rd Street. Now that the weedy hill is gone (and two mockorange shrubs moved out to the 3rd Street sidewalk line), the next step is to build a retaining wall along it out of salvaged keystones donated by Orkney Park. Janet will put out a call for people to help with that in the next week or so. The final product should be an attractive seating/play area when it's dry and an out-of-the-way puddle when it's wet!
  • Weeder's Club is going along nicely: a small group led by Liz Saturday morning got a lot of the community garden fenceline cleaned up and weeding in a few other areas. The next meeting is July 24 from 10-12, led by Janet.
• New Projects:
  • Janet and Liz will meet sometime this week or next with Justin and Adam from PHS, who will handle design/project oversight for the completion of the brick path (we're looking at a brick hexagon that will complete the path and “lead” out to the rest of the park. There is private funding for this project from good friends of the park.
• Organizational/Office work:
  • The semi-annual circus of the Water Department trying to update the meter is going on again and should be completed Tuesday – it always takes 3-4 visits and multiple notices from the WD because the aaccount address is 913-61 N. 3rd Street but the meter is off Bodine Street (in the ground, in a circular manhole covered meter pit, just south of the  Little Free Library). In other news, the attempt to settle our Water Department bill continues, because nothing is easy with them.
  • The committee tasked with developing a new park organizational structure is doing research on their own through the summer and will next meet in the early fall.
• Upcoming Events:
  • Don and Larry are moving ahead with a Music Festival for September 11: bands are booked!
  • We have a date set for a memorial for Jesse Gardner: September 25. We are anticipating a fairly quiet event focused on sharing stories and seeing old friends. No schedule or time yet.
  • Steering Committee meeting Tuesday July 13: https://zoom.us/j/96263511406pwd=VDltcEJxQ0VNTFpRMk9NWndSOUJFZz09
  • Weeder's Club July 24, 10 a.m.
  • Weeder's Club August 7, 8 a.m.
  • Weeder's Club August 21, 10 a.m.
  • Music Festival September 11
  • Memorial for Jesse Gardener September 25
  • Animal rescue fundraiser October 9
  • Fall Children's Festival October 31

Membership Committee Report: Shakirra Clark.

The committee met recently to discuss logistics for the meet-and-greet to keep it COVID safe. October 6 or 7 are the proposed dates and membership will settle on a final date.

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

Don and Kevin both expressed how beautiful the yard is and the importance of this space for the community.

NLNA Operations Committee Meeting  June 16, 2021

Participants:  Jacek, Lara, Monika and Barbara

• NLNA Update
  • Barbara provided quick update on Office Assistant/Rental Lead. Rachel Mitchell has accepted the offer and will start August.
  • Reminder for E-Waste and shredding event.
• While Lara is Away:
  • Barbara and Lara  met to review processes
  • Lara shared contact information for contractors
  • Mail – will be checked twice a week, share bills and payments with Jacek and Steve
  • Phone when in office will be checked
  • Email can be remote
• Yard
  • Barbara will open and close
  • Need to check ground each and rake as needed to fill in holes from the birds
  • ACTION:  Need to identify landscaper. Will do outreach to Janet, Liz and Liberty Lands for recommendations
  • $15 an hour

• New Business
  • We have 4 recycling bins and lids.
    • Committee was going to suggest removing from website.
    • Before we do that, asked to get a sense of how they sell and if we should purchase more to sell to neighbors
• Old Business
  • Need to follow up with Timberlake and/or re-stain/polish the bench.
  • Security camera system
  • Get contractor to look at exterior of building/water damage
  • Still looking for Committee member(s)
• Next meeting – Wednesday, July 21 at 7 PM

Public Safety Committee Report: Matt Ochs. Written report attached and reviewed.

Matt Ruben noted that Kristene Kennedy had a meeting with a new public relations officer from the 26^th District, and feels that there may be some headway being made with improving our relationship with them.

Safety Committee Report 7/12/21

Nothing to report other than Kris Kennedy delayed the community Town Hall between the 26^th and 6^th districts, and residents and business owners until after the summer due to extreme weather and lack of available attendees.

Zoning Committee Report: Joe Mikuliak. Written report attached and reviewed.

Motion: By Janet Finegar, seconded by Chastity Houston.“To ratify the recommendations of the Zoning Committee in the matter of  985 N. Randolph St, i.e.: ''We support the 2 car parking as proposed as long as the slope of the apron is kept as minimal as possible and cars cannot extend onto the sidewalk when parked.'” Passed 11-0-2

Motion: By Caitlin Antrim, seconded by Chastity Houston. “To ratify the recommendations of the Zoning Committee in the matter of 633-35 N. 5th St., i.e.: 'Thank you for your presentation. We support the proposal as presented as long as the balconies on the east façade are removed and replaced with a setback, or the balconies are reconfigured so the line of sight is toward the South instead of the East.'” Passed 13-0-0

Motion: By Barbara Saverino, seconded by Steve Richman.“To ratify the recommendations of the Zoning Committee in the matter of 435 Spring Garden St, i.e.: 'Thank you for our presentation. We support your proposal for up to 50 outdoor sidewalk seats. If the plan changes from the one presented, the revised plan will be presented to the zoning committee.'” Passed 12-0-0

Chastity raised the question of when the restaurant use of parking spaces on the street will be removed. Currently the use is permitted through the end of 2021 and City Council is discussing (with campaigning by the restaurants) whether it will be extended past the end of the year.

There was some conversation about parking blocked by construction, including at 5^th and Spring Garden and on the 300 block of Poplar Street. The Board discussed how to research parking permit restrictions by construction sites and who issues those permits (Streets Department and the City) and how to encourage the developers to remove the blockades at an appropriate time (no one knows how to). Claire has been in a dialog with the developers on Poplar Street and will reopen the issue.

New Business

Joe reported that Kristene Kennedy has put together a meeting with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning commission (including inviting Zoning Committee members), to make some plans in advance about the thousands of new neighbors who will be coming in during the next few years. Few answers were offered, but the group will continue to meet and try to involve other organizations as well.

Don told the Board that the September 11 music festival will be the usual kinds of wonderful, but also an opportunity to dedicate the stage rebuild and thank PTSSD for the funding. Caitlin reminded Don (and everyone else) to send her information as soon as it's available for social media. There was a brief discussion of Kevin Wilkins' idea to create some special programming for kids at the music festival (with Janet noting that moon bounces aren't allowed at Liberty Lands this year, and that all kid programming needs to be done with an awareness that the  under-12 population is wholly unvaccinated for COVID.

Claire reported on the bill that was recently put through by Council President Clarke that would include a height limit on Girard Avenue from 2^nd Street to Broad Street (so, including our community). This bill was introduced without any discussion with the community, and Claire and Larry have a meeting with the Council President on Wednesday to emphasize the need to meet with the neighborhood before making changes that affect us. There was apparently some confusion even within Clarke's office about whether the bill was intended to affect Northern Liberties or not, but it does.

The meeting was adjourned by acclaim at 7:55  p.m.