PRESENT:  Claire Adler, President; Steve Richman, Vice-President; Jacek Ghosh, Treasurer; Janet Finegar, Secretary; Alex Boland; Shakirra Clark; Jeff Hornstein, Chastity Houston; Joe Mikuliak; Matt Ochs; Don Phillips; Matt Ruben; Barbara Saverino; Kevin Wilkins.

ABSENT:  Caitlin Marrazzo

Jeff has a new puppy, Miles, who was appropriately admired. 

The meeting was called to order by the President at 6:35 p.m.

Motion: By Jacek Ghosh, seconded by Matt Ochs.“To approve the minutes of the October Board meeting as presented.” Passed 13-0-0

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

Matt Ochs, Kevin Wilkins, and Jeff Hornstein volunteered to work with Claire on kicking off the Annual Appeal. Don volunteered to help with tabling for the NLNA at the BID's holiday market (more volunteers are needed). 

There was conversation about the need to make very clear to Mural Arts that we would like to be able to see a draft form of the mural proposed for the Fire building and make sure that community feedback about the mural is integrated in the design. 

NLNA President’s Report

1. PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY

• Rec Center Playground Update: The City has assigned itself liability for the crumbling wall at the Rec Center Playground, meaning that the construction is able to move forward. Clarke’s office has said it intends to get other playground improvements during the wall restoration. The mural will have to come down. We may have the potential to have the same artist make a new mural in the neighborhood—or even on the NLNA Community Center. Discussion at our meeting.

2. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

• Annual Appeal: Letter in progress; set up planning meeting for next week.

3. EVENTS AND OUTREACH

• Kearny School Event 11/20: Details from Education Committee
• General Meeting on Murals: General meeting for public input on a proposed Mural Arts mural on The Fire at 4th and Girard and to discuss potential mural at NLNA to “replace” Rec Center Playground mural.
• Parade of Spirits 12/11: Parade in costumes at Liberty Lands
• Holiday Market at North Bowl: NLBID event 12/4-5, 12/11-12; 11am-4pm. The BID has asked the NLNA to table on 12/11.
• Committee of Seventy Council Redistricting Meeting 12/13: Not an NLNA event but good to be aware of/related to our support of having an open redistricting process. Requesting to push back our board meeting to 7pm on 12/13 so board members can attend if desired.

4. OTHER ITEMS

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

Treasurer's Report: Jacek Ghosh. Written report distributed and reviewed.

Motion: By Janet Finegar, seconded by Matt Ruben. “To accept the Treasurer's report as presented.” Passed 14-0-0

TREASURER’S REPORT – OCTOBER 2021

A. 2021-22 Budget: October Financials - tables attached

• For the month ending on October 31, All Program and All Funds Income was $9,300 - $1,774 more than budgeted.
• All Program and All Funds Expenses totaled $22,519 - $4,780 more than budgeted
• All Program and All Funds Current Year Net Income was $13,219> - $3,006 more than budgeted.
• Reviewing the General Fund and Liberty Lands accounts (our two major operating funds) our financial position after one month of FY 2021 - 2022 is as follows:
  • GF & LL Income: $9,300 - $2,067 more than budgeted.
  • GF & LL Expenses: $22,201 - $4,795 more than budgeted.
  • GF & LL Net Income: <$12,901> - $2,728 more than budgeted.
• Variations from budgeted projections through October
  • On the Income side
    • The income of $9,300 is inflated by $1,913 because PayPal donations/payments from the month of September were entered in October.

B. Other Items

• Annual Appeal - October
  • 49 recurring donations totaling $596.
  •  4 individual donations totaling $662.
• Liberty Lands - October
  • Potty Club Membership: 4 membership payments totaling $203.
  • LL Individual Donation: 3 individual donations totaling $97.
  • Party Rentals: 3 party rentals were booked totaling $165.

C. CDs  Details of the 8 CDs held by the NLNA were given to the Board.

Education Committee: Jeff Hornstein. Written report attached and reviewed.

Jeff noted that the meet and greet at Kearny will be Saturday November 20 from 10-12. He urged Board members to attend if possible. 

NLNA Educational Committee Report 

• EdComm met on Sept 20. Sana Bango joined the committee, representing the AKWD pre-school community. He is fired up about persuading his fellow parents to send kids to Kearny for kindergarten.
• The committee is focusing on two core strategies this year:
  • Outreach to pre-schools to boost Kearny kindergarten enrollment. Are organizing a meet-n-greet between AKWD parents and Principal Feggins and kindergarten teacher Ms Mole.  Sana is working with Keiko and Stephanie to make this happen before the November transfer deadline. We will do a pilot at one pre-school this year and if successful try another.
  • Fundraising
    • Since COVID makes it impossible to plan a large fundraising event, we decided to start small: distribute information at existing NLNA events on 10/17 and 10/31, followed by a donuts-and-hot cider meet-n-greet on Kearny playground on Sat Nov 13
    • To make the event more fun and to kick off a celebration of Kearny's 100th anniversary we will aim to have a Kearny 100 banner placed at the school prior to the event and seek some donated swag (t-shirts, commemorative cups) to sell to raise money
    • We will aim to have a more robust in-person fundraiser in Liberty Lands in late April or early May, hopefully to celebrate the matriculation of a larger group of new Kearny kindergartners...
• Asks for the NLNA:
  • Can NLNA cover the fee to open the play yard/school for a few hours on a Sat morning? Likely $250
  • Can NLNA cover the costs of a Kearny 100 th banner?
  • Any suggestions for getting cheap or donated Kearny 100th swag?

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

Janet added to her report that Mike Simons has repaired the playground chain ladder with locking rings capable of bearing 700+ pounds. We will see how they hold up through the winter and repaint with the specialized rubberized paint in the spring if it holds up. She also noted that neighbors Liz Briggs-Fandek, Jessica Tyler, and Sara Hirschler were responsible for the very successful Fall Festival and that Jessica O'Neill has volunteered to help with the Water Department bill SUSFU.

Liberty Lands Board Report   November 2021

Park Management: 

• Farmer's Market and City Harvest have ended for the season. Many thanks to Mary Claire for her efforts with City Harvest through the year!!! And we look forward to having Shazanna and Steve, our CSA/Market farmers, back in the spring. 
• It is also time to do end-of-season checkins with the community gardeners. While we will need a new garden coordinator(s) for 2022, we have postponed officially looking for that person until we have a better sense of what the overall park coordination structure will look like for next year. (Any gardeners interested in taking on the role should contact Janet and Liz, though.) 
• The Northern Liberties Action Committee (the non-profit that holds deed to the park and community center) will hold its annual meeting on Nov. 22. The NLAC's board is made up entirely of Northern Liberties residents who are active park volunteers and/or NLNA Board members. 
• The October meeting of the Liberty Lands succession planning group went well. The group is moving toward a recommendation of hiring a part-time park manager and volunteer coordinator to take over for Janet and Liz. The group established several committees to work on logistics for this recommendation and will meet again on Nov. 17^that 7 p.m.
• We are still talking, slowly, with PHS about renovating the path area near the south end of the community garden. 
• Ongoing problems with the Water Department bill, and Janet could really use some help with it after months of phone calls and emails have failed to sort out the problems. 
• There's been no more public conversation about the 3^rdStreet parking changes in the last month and NLNA/Liberty Lands have not received messages about them. Over the month, Janet recorded the parking situation on the block at a variety of times and days and found that there was at least one available spot on the block every time, including early morning. Midday on work days there were regularly 8+ spots available. Janet also observed at least 8 occasions of the loading zone put to its intended use by park volunteers and users through October. 

Park Maintenance:

• As the weather cools, things are shutting down at the park. We'll reduce trash hauling, stop mowing for the season, and event reservations will stop coming in. The water is on until the Parade of Spirits on Dec. 11 at which point we'll turn it off for the winter. 
• The construction site at the north end of 3^rdStreet broke the stormwater sign that was there (they did the damage in the spring of 2021 but it just broke off totally). Presumably the Water Department will have it replaced/fixed but someone needs to call and make that happen. 
• No update about fixing the chain ladder. A few people have mentioned an interest in participating in a playground committee and been referred to Joe Mikuliak, who is leading this effort. 
• The October 16^thworkday was very successful: huge thanks to Katherine Oniskey for organizing it, to Tony Michaels for much hauling support, and to a cadre of volunteers for doing the grunt work. The massive Compost Pile from Hell was hauled away for recycling, revealing a great deal of excellent (if weed-seedy) soil at the bottom: gardeners and neighbors should feel free to take and use that soil. Gardeners also got the garden paths woodchipped for the winter. The remaining pile of woodchips is for the American Street area under the pawlonias and will be spread in the next few weeks. 
• High winds took out the sour cherry tree in the community garden: the tree was fairly old for a fruit tree and pruning had made it top heavy, so it is not terribly surprising but still very sad, as that was the most productive of the garden fruit trees. Gardeners and neighbors were able to remove the wood the same day it came down. We planted four new sour cherry trees of a shorter variety several years ago as a memorial to a park neighbor – three of those are thriving. 

Events:

• November 20 is community tree planting day, with 12 new trees going in around the neighborhood, including a new oak tree to fill an empty spot along the 3^rdStreet tree line. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Janet. 
• The October 31 Little Halloween Parade/Fall festival was lovely. It was VERY well attended with lots of great costumes. People seem to really enjoy the blanket trick-or-treating (both families and the neighbors who came out just to give out treats) – we should maintain that element for future events! The festival's costs (mostly for the band) were covered by a Penn Treaty SSD sponsorship. 
• Also on October 31, Jesse' Gardener's family gathered with Liz at his memorial bench and planted a garden of spring bulbs. His siblings (who are not local residents) were very impressed and moved by the beauty of the park and to see all the neighbors out enjoying it. 
• Nancy Haas, realtor and new neighbor, held a very successful “dog parade” event on October 9 and raised $500 for the park (plus $500 for Street Tails!). 

Upcoming Events:

Nov. 9                  7 p.m.                  Steering Committee meeting
Nov 17                 7 p.m.                  Succession group meeting 
Nov. 20                10a.m -12 p.m.    Weeder's club/Tree planting
Nov. 22                6 p.m.                  NLAC meeting 
Dec. 11       4 – 6 p.m.    Parade of Spirits 

Membership Committee Report: Shakirra Clark.

Shakirra reported that the “Welcome Wagon” at the Fall Festival spent $328 in total on invitations and goodie bags and got 66 people signed up at the event – some saw the invitations and others wandered past. 

Despite this being a successful model, Shakirra still hopes to be able to do a dedicated walk-through welcome event in the future.

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

Joe asked whether the NLNA was keeping a log of office staff interactions with neighbors and if data about that could be shared. Joe also asked if the NLNA has a privacy policy for capturing addresses of those who interact with the NLNA through email or at meetings: Barbara referred this issue to the Communications committee.

Operations Committee  October 20, 2021

Attendees:  Lara, Rachel and Barbara

• Office Update:
  • Repairs from leak have been completed
  • Crease in roof fixed
  • Need to get quote for roof
• Mike/Mailbox Store
  • Emergency work complete but still need to coordinate for paint and HVAC
  • Lara to verify drywall status
• Water/faucet service scheduled for annual maintenance this month
• Trash/Recycling Person
  • Barbara will ask Claire to update position description for $20 rate
  • Create interim coverage – include asking Board members
  • Update: Individual has been hired. Another one is on file for future.
• Snow Removal
  • Rachel is meeting with contractor, Mauricio
  • Mauricio did provide service to us last year – salt and shovel
  • Lara to follow up with him regarding payment process and will also ask about mulch delivery in Spring 2022
• Welcoming Bench (yard)
  • Committee reviewed feedback/recommendations for care from Kieran Timberlake designer
  • Rachel order cover for winter
  • Barbara follow up with Bill Russel for thoughts/bi
• Property Management
  • Looking at model/samples
  • Committee wants to be a good landlord and provide service to renters in timely manner
  • This will be discussed more at November meeting
• Old Business
  • Water Heater (Basement) needs to be replaced
  • Office will follow up on getting bid for painting/rust removal of fence for Spring 2022
  • Barbara follow up with Jacek – contractor/lead for stucco/roof?
  • Security cameras are working again.  Lara shared that a refund is also coming
• November meeting is November 18 --- there is a Liberty Lands meeting that day. Can we move our meeting to November 17 or 19?

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

Safety Committee 

• No updates from the issues on the 1100 Block of N. 3rd
• 6th district PD received candy donation.
• Looking for names of families in the neighborhood who might benefit from a free turkey basket this season. Open to suggestions.
• Major crime (reported) in PSA 1 (Vine to Poplar) made up half of those of the entire 6^thdistrict. 12 officers are now assigned to the housing projects west of 6th after three murders there in the last four weeks.
• New legislation passed by city council replacing a traffic stop with mailing a ticket (for things like a broken taillight) reportedly includes no longer stopping a car with no license plate.
• Brett reports nothing notable from the 26th district.

Zoning Committee Report: Matt Ochs. Written report attached and reviewed.

Motion: By Kevin Wilkins, seconded by Jacek Ghosh. “To ratify the recommendations of the Zoning Committee in the matter of 1117 N. Hancock St. , i.e.: 'Thank you for your presentation. We support the use as described below: Use would be the display and sale of artwork. Additionally, business and professional office and artisan industrial use, defined, via proviso, as artist studio for painting and drawing only, in basement of existing structure. Hours of public operation would be no earlier than 12 noon, no later than 8pm. Open days not to exceed Tuesday to Sunday. Capacity 40 people.'” Passed 13-0-0

Zoning Committee Minutes   Monday 11/1/21

Members present: Larry Freedman, chair, Kenny Grono, Joe Mikuliak, Matthew Ochs, Ira Upin, Scott Sperry, Sharon Richman, Christine Furman, Charlie Abdo, Philip Hensley, Kristine Kennedy  

Members absent: Abbey Spector, Jonathan Sher

1) 1117 N. Hancock St. - RSA5 - Chris Curchin - A return visit with a proposal for a first floor art gallery.

Previous motion from 1/27/20 - Please return with drawings of the interior, exterior, and the sign. Include dimensions. - Use would be the display and sales of artwork, - Hours of operation would be no earlier than 12 noon, no later than 8pm - open days not to exceed Tuesday to Sunday - Capacity 40 people

Motion: Kenny, 2nd – Joe. 11-0-0. Thank you for your presentation. We support the use as described below: Use would be the display and sales of artwork. Additionally, business and professional office and artisan industrial use defined, via proviso, as artist studio for painting and drawing only, in basement of existing structure. Hours of public operation would be no earlier than 12 noon, no later than 8pm. Open days not to exceed Tuesday to Sunday. Capacity 40 people.

2) 200 Spring Garden & 412 N. 2nd St. - CMX-3 - Peter Epstein - The developers and marketers for the above projects are seeking feedback & ideas from the community to discuss the “South of Spring Garden” neighborhood’s characteristics and marketing plan. Neighbor discussion: Branding this area as something different than Northern Liberties is not advised. Embrace the historical and technical inclusion of this area in the neighborhood and call it Northern Liberties. More retail uses, diverse uses, business incubator. Some neighbors also pointed out historical names Pegg’s Run and North Bridge.

Old Business

Claire reported that she reached out about the parking issue on Spring Garden Street median and that while there has been discussion there is nothing concrete to report. 

New Business

The issue of returning to in-person meetings was raised. After some conversation, there was agreement that we should remain virtual for December but look at going in person for the January meeting. 

The meeting was adjourned by acclaim at 7:53 p.m.

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