Northern Liberties Neighbors Association

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Board of Directors Minutes – October 7, 2019

PRESENT: Steve Richman, Treasurer; Janet Finegar, Secretary; Avery Amaya; Melanie Coffman; Jacek Ghosh; Joe Mikuliak; Don Phillips; Barbara Saverino.

ABSENT: Matt Ruben, President; Claire Adler, Vice-President; Kristen Ainscoe; Michael Coyne; Amy Sweeney; Renya Wasson; Kevin Wilkins.

The meeting was called to order by the Treasurer at 7:06 p.m.

Scott Sperri joined the meeting briefly to introduce himself and answer any Board questions related to him joining the Zoning Committee.

Motion: By Joe Mikuliak, seconded by Janet Finegar. “To ratify the recommendations of the Zoning Committee in the matter of addingScott Sperri to membership on the ZC.” Passed 8-0-0

Motion: By Janet Finegar, seconded by Jacek Ghosh. “To approve the minutes of the September Board meeting as presented.” Passed 8-0-0

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

NLNA President’s Report, October 2019

1. PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT, AND POLICY

  • Construction Impacts – No updates: Things are thankfully pretty quiet on this front of late.
  • Business Improvement District (BID) – The efforts noted in last month’s report are still underway. Of note, the PPA completed a parking study of the neighborhood. I will see if I can get the results to circulate to our board.
  • Germantown Sewer Project – The Water Dept. continues to work to minimize the duration of the closure of 2nd St next year, while the BID, stakeholder businesses, and the NLNA continue to insist that a plan to avoid any long-term closure has to be the goal.

2. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

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

3. EVENTS AND OUTREACH

  • October 24 General Meeting: Sadly I have been unable to get a voting machine demonstration for October: The City Commissioners’ office has a goal of limiting themselves to 3 demonstrations across the city on any given date, and they already have ended up with 9(!)  demos on October 24. They did say they’d be happy to do a demo for us in the lead-up to the 2020 primary and/or general election. We have a major agenda item on homeless issues slated for the 24th, which is great – but ideally I’d also like us to have a briefer, different kind of agenda item too, to broaden the draw of that meeting. As always, I am open to ideas.
  • Story Telling Workshops and Story Slam. Another successful event, thanks to Caitlin Antram and Joe Mikiliak, along with Amy Sweeney and others. Update in Old Business.

4. OTHER ITEMS

  • Liberty Lands Homeless Situation – Janet will update the board in the Liberty Lands report, but briefly, I want to let the board know that as per our clear consensus from last month, a firm deadline has been set for Sokka to be removed from Liberty Lands if Janet, Liz, et al are unable to get him to leave voluntarily by then. Liz and Paul Cherashore have worked hard to get intensive city outreach to Sokka, and he is exploring alternative shelter situations. We are hopeful he will avail himself of that before the 10th. But we have notified Captain Campbell of  the 26th District that we want him and his belongings removed on the 10th if he is still present. So there is a firm end-date to this.
  • Board Polls – Ratification of any online or online board polls since last month’s board meeting.

Motion: By Joe Mikuliak, seconded by Janet Finegar.“To ratify any and all Board polls taken in the previous month.” Passed8-0-0

Treasurer's Report: Steve Richman: FY20 proposed budget distributed and reviewed.

Prior to review of the budget, Avery Amaya reviewed the Marketing Committee's recommendations for the coming year. Steve noted that the budget was revised from the September draft to include funding for the  Committee's recommended changes.

Motion: By Janet Finegar, seconded by Barbara Saverino. “To accept the Treasurer's report and Budget as presented.” Passed 8-0-0 

There was some brief conversation reminding the Board that we should be aware in the coming year of the results we should be seeing from the increased expenses approved for marketing and communication. It was also highlighted that communication between committees is essential.

Communications & Marketing Committees Report: written report attached & reviewed

  • Janet reminded the group of the idea of holding a “Gift Wrapping” fundraising event in December.

NLNA Marketing Report, October 2019

WEBSITE, DESIGN AND RENTALS

  • We are moving forward with hiring Jake Pettit. Jake is going to migrate the current website onto a new host with new emails and a new cart/payment option so that everything that the NLNA needs is coming from one site. The design will be more modern and easier to navigate and use. As soon as this is complete, we will show everyone a draft of the site. Moving forward, when a committee has information that needs to go out to the neighborhood the following people will need to be copied: Kristen (if you want a poster/flyer or other graphic), Matt (Newsletter), Claire (social), Jake (to post on the website), Lara/Barb (if there is community center/location use). 

SIGNS

  • Signs for the Yard, Community Center and static signs have been ordered. 
  • Park/Statue/etc.
    • Who/which places would like a static aluminum sign? (Doughboy and Liberty Lands are already on the list) 
    • I want these to be uniform. Do you want some history or facts on these signs? Those in charge of each, can you please send me copy for what should appear on the sign. 
  • Sign/Poster/Flyer requests should be made to Kristen (Kristen.ainscoe@gmail.com) 
  • Signs will be available for events. If you need a specialty sign for your event, please make sure to submit with one month’s notice to ensure that there is enough design and proof time. Any signs that are coming out of the marketing budget are subject to marketing committee review and approval.  

STYLE GUIDE

  • How to Use • Logo Usage • Fonts • Colors • Posters/Flyers Templates 

GOOGLE DRIVE

  • Over the next month, Kristen will be merging and organizing the Google Drive. If your committee currently uses a folder or multiple folders on the Google Drive, please notify Kristen of which ones so that they can be properly merged.

FORMS

  • Reminder – there is a social form for events that need to be posted on any of our social media accounts. 
  • Operations Form – see attached. 

NLNA Operations Committee   September 18

  • Attendees:  Kristen Ainscoe, Jacek Ghosh, Amy Sweeney and Barbara Saverino
  • Yard Signage:  Barbara shared the images that the Marketing Committee created for the yard. There was a question regarding including logos for supporters.  Barbara will check with Steve and follow up with Kristen so the signs can be printed.  Recommendation made to revise "no smoking" with "no tobacco" messaging. Jacek will share example.  We will also look at creating a sign for private events and/or use sandwich board signs that are being suggested by Marketing. 
  • Yard trash containers:  Barbara will follow up with Lara to confirm that they have been ordered (or will be done by September 30).
  • Gate/Security:  Monika met with safety professional regarding our current yard layout and access.  The donated gate on 3rd Street can not have an exit bar or button added to the gate.  The exit doors also do not open out.  At this time, recommendation is when rentals/yard is in use for events the gate on 3rd Street is open.  If a private event, we will utilize signage informing community.
  • Yard Opening & Closing:  Reminder that we are now moving forward with the schedule below.  This will be shared with community via Matt's update and on the website. We appreciate the help in allowing our neighbors access to the yard.  If you are unable to cover your slot, please get someone to cover for you.  We are looking for morning to dusk access. The schedule will begin on Sunday, September 22.  
    • Sunday - Don open and close
    • Monday - Lara open/Amy close
    • Tuesday - Lara open/Amy close
    • Wednesday - Amy open/Lara close
    • Thursday - Amy open/Don close
    • Friday - Lara open/Amy close
    • Saturday - Don open/Don close 
  • ACTION for Committee/fellow NLNA Board Members:  Request to fill out the process/form that Kristen had created and shared to help us understand process (request includes key information - participants, time of year, expenses and revenue).
  • Next meeting: Wednesday, October 16 at 7 PM.

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

  • Janet noted that she has filed the closeout paperwork for the DCED grant for the sidewalk and establishment of the BID.
  • There was an update from Kurt August of the Mayor's Office for Criminal Justice – “Alli Elkin, from Prevention Point  has met with Sokka and is working with him to obtain his 3 forms of ID, and safety planning for the transition to another living spot, on the street. Co-Responders will go out again Wednesday. We'll coordinate with Captain Campbell for Thursday"
  • There was conversation about controlling public perception on Thursday and about memorializing the lessons learned from this situation.

Liberty Lands Board Report   October 2019

  • The most significant issue at the park for the past two months has been the man who has been camping at the park (Sokka). Many other things have happened during September too, though, so let's go through them first.
  • The community gardens held a cleanup workday on Sept. 28 which had a pretty good turnout. Highlights: aisles were weeded/cleared, morning glories and other vines pulled out, junk and trash was disposed of, the gaps under the northern portion of the fence were blocked with stones (we may want to do more to close those, but it's an improvement at least), and the tool shed was cleaned and reorganized (many tools were moved to the garage). Some gardeners also cleaned up their own plots. Plus, a smaller group of us had lunch with Sally McCabe, who provided lots of fall-gardening suggestions and other tips. The garden looks a lot neater than before!
  • NE Fence came out and did repairs on the various gate handles (following Jacek Ghosh's repairs which were more timely and really seem to have fixed the  problem  – just sayin'): the  handles seem now to be working and let's hope they stay that way. Seth and crew re-graded the northeast garden aisle that is the “machine entrance” and it is now a sturdy gentle slope for wheelbarrows or any equipment that needs to come in.
  • The City Harvest program has  continued to do well this season. Margeaux Murphy from the Sunday Love program  has been regularly harvesting from the Garden in addition to donations to Bebashi.
  • Gardener Tony Michels has volunteered to cut off the various pieces of rebar sticking out of the ground along 3rd Street!
  • We're hoping to be able to use a donated truck from Fine Garden Creations (and Liz) to dump the accumulated compost pile for significantly less cost than getting a dumpster for it. This is a project for the fall.
  • The garden committee appointed Maria Bell to the 2019-21 garden co-coordinator position, partnered with Len Reiser (2018-20 co-coordinator). Many many thanks to Laura Siminoff (2017-2019 co-coordinator), who bravely took over garden coordination with Brian Turcich in 2017 and has shepherded the  community garden through the first cycle of rotating leadership!!!
  • Rachel Kimmich (and a few others) have heroically watered our trees through this dry summer and fall.
  • A new volunteer, Jessica O'Neill, took over reservations from Megan Stokely, who did them through July and August: the transition went well and we continue to have a regular stream of parties and reservations at the park.
  • The “sproingy seahorse” in the toddler playground broke in mid-September. It appears to be natural metal fatigue on the spring. Some research revealed  that the horse is a much sturdier metal toy than the standard ones being produced today, and given that we know that adults do “ride”  that toy, it makes sense to replace the spring  rather  than the whole unit. We have decided to order a spring made for that particular toy (rather than the standard modern replacement springs, which are half  the cost but also made of significantly thinner metal). JD Alpert has volunteered to install the new spring when it arrives, and in the meantime a bench and traffic cone are protecting the area where two bolts protrude from the ground.
  • Eileen Gallagher from the PA Horticultural Society met with Liz and Janet to discuss the next project the Legacy Landscapes program (which gave us the new fence) will  take on at the  park. They agreed to pursue continuing the brick path within the park at its eastern end, putting in some type of paved hexagon  to cap the path and address erosion in that area.
  • Eileen, Liz, and Janet also looked at the broken sidewalk along American  Street and agreed that Liberty  Lands  should apply to Penn Treaty SSD for funding to repair that. Eileen  will bring in Mark Romaniew from Ventura to consult and bid on those two projects. **Anyone interested in helping with that project/grant application would be very welcome!**
  • The family foundation that last year provided the park with some operating funding and funding to develop an after-school program has moved on and will not be  funding the after-school program. However, they are probably going to  give us one more substantial grant to  fund ID tags for the trees and renovation of the mural by Dennis Haugh. *Anyone interested in working on either of those projects?*
  • It's increasingly clear that we need to get permit parking  along Bodine and 3rd Streets  to make it possible  to  get access for park work  and events. Jacek Ghosh began the process of talking with the neighbors about this, and we now need someone  willing to circulate a   petition on those blocks. *Anyone able to help with that job would be welcome!*
  • The Farmers' Market  has had quiet but steady business for the farm vendor (Vegetable Power Farm owned by Market organizer Shazanna Goff). Other vendors have been less steady.
  • The Friends of Liberty  Lands page on Facebook has had a conversation about re-drafting the park signs to better convey our rules.  Katie Poe Bayes and Mindy Rowe offered to help with graphic design and several suggestions were put forward. We have two clean versions of the “old” signs  that can be  hung while we work on designing and making great new ones.
  • Michelle Lipson, who made the wooden gates that were broken in the spring, has suggested an idea for rebuilding them that will work with her busy schedule: she will cut out the wood parts and have volunteers help assemble the gates at  her shop in February. The new gate would be in the same style but with metal strap hinges that would substantially reinforce them over the old ones. Michelle will put  together a quote for this. 
  • While not a park event, the E-waste/document shredding on the 28th went well. That said, Kevin  Wilkins and Janet agreed that the next time we  hold the event it should be at the Community Center, on  Fairmount Avenue, and we should close off enough parking to  allow for the trucks and also  for people to be able  to pull over safely to unload.
  • The last big Work/Play Day of the year is the Love Your Park workday on November 9 from 9-1.
  • Finally: an update on Sokka. For clarity, this report reiterates some information previously given to the Board. At some point during July, Sokka began sleeping regularly at Liberty Lands, spending a significant amount of time there during the day, and leaving some clothing and other items at the park. He was present at the park off and on through early August, but at some point in mid-August he moved his regular sleeping location to the rain garden and began accumulating significantly more things. A few neighbors reported uncomfortable conversations with him, but in general the “problems” associated with his presence were aesthetic and concerns that the area would become a multi-person encampment.  Reports that he had a gun were found to be incorrect (there were plastic water guns) and no one has reported drug paraphernalia. 
    • From the first reports of him staying at the park, Liz Reed has been in frequent contact with Sokka and has been able to assure the community that he did not present a threat to park users. She and Paul Cherashore reached out to the various Homelessness service agencies in the city to try to get meaningful and useful help for Sokka that he would accept. As part of that process, they learned many of the the various policies the City, Parks Department, and other public spaces use in similar situations, and also about some of the limitations to the services available. A variety of different outreach professionals have spoken with  Sokka during his time at  the park.
    • On Sept. 8 Janet and Liz bagged up and discarded the things Sokka had left in the rain garden. After  a few  days, he began accumulating things again, storing them first near a tree at the southern end of  the park and then again in the rain garden as well as a few other places. On Sept. 20, Janet and Liz put notices at all the locations where items were left in the park saying that they must be removed within 5 days or that they would be discarded. At the same time, Paul emailed Brian Abernathy with concerns about Sokka's increased reactivity and asking for additional support from the city: he responded quickly and connected David Holloman (Chief of Staff at the Office of Homeless Services) with Paul and Liz. David Holloman recommended giving Sokka an official eviction notice with a two week period. He also recommended putting up clear “no camping” signs at the park, which has been done.  Jonathan Juckett from Project Home and Kurtis August  from Police Assisted Diversion have been out to  see Sokka, and a second team of outreach workers from Prevention Point, led by neighbor Alli Elkin, also came to see Sokka. Both teams promised to visit him almost every day for the two week period  to encourage him to accept services.
    • On Sept. 25, Sokka was given an official eviction letter from the NLNA and Captain Campbell from the 26th District was notified of his eviction. She has agreed that these notifications are sufficient for the police to remove him from the park at the end of the two weeks. On the 28th, Liz and Paul moved some of Sokka's belongings into storage in the garage to help ease neighborhood tensions. As of today (Oct. 6) Sokka is continuing to sleep in the rain garden, but we  hope that the imminent deadline on Thursday will cause him to leave by himself before the police take action.
    • Finally, this situation has demonstrated that we need clear and effective policies for the park to address several different issues: people sleeping at the park during the night; possessions left at the park; and persistent problematic/inappropriate behavior at the park (during the day). The Liberty Lands committee can draft and propose a set of such policies, but they should be ratified by the NLNA Board as well.  

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

NLNA Fundraising &  Membership Reports – October 7, 2019

Membership: Meet & Greet last Thursday, October 3rd: Special thanks to D’Olivia evoo Pizza & Grill located at 1009 N. Bodine Street for their incredibly generous donation of 7 or 8 pizzas, 2 boxes of garlic knots, a large Caprese salad, and a large pan of penne pasta with a pesto sauce. Kudos to Kale Yeah! located at 301 Spring Garden Street provided a beautiful platter of sandwiches which I hear were delicious.  I’m definitely going to support both businesses. I want to acknowledge the following amazing group of women who work so hard and diligently to pull this off roughly every six months: Shelley Marcus, Michele Brown, Paula Gansky, Mary Galgon, Sasi Judd, Danielle White, and Maria Bell. They managed to enlist the help of husbands/significant others to pull this off. Thanks, as well to Don who lent a hand even though feeling a little under the weather. The feedback I got was positive and I heard the turnout was pretty good in spite of the weather.

Fundraising: I’m starting to think about the Annual Appeal and would like to get that whole thing going soon. Very. A perennial problem we have is keeping a clean list of the businesses in our neighborhood. This results in too many appeal letters being returned to the office as undeliverable which a waste of time, effort and of course, money. Keeping the list accurate and up-to-date list is quite an undertaking as things change all the time. I’d like to enlist the help of the board and others by creating a Google Sheet listing the businesses in our area, that we can access and edit. I’ll ask that an “X” or initials (and date) be put in columns of the sheet so that edits can be logged and tracked. Any thoughts, input and helpful ideas about this process would be greatly appreciated. As soon as we think we have a good list we can get the appeal letter printed and ready to mail ahead of time.  In the Appeal we want to again emphasize the ease and benefit of giving an amount on a monthly basis through PayPal. Kristen Ainscoe did a fantastic job last year promoting that idea and I think it may be starting to catch on. One of my neighbors started to give monthly last year as a result of the appeal.

Zoning Committee Report: Joe Mikuliak; written report attached and reviewed.

Motion: By Barbara Saverino, seconded by Melanie Coffman. “To ratify the recommendations of the Zoning Committee in the matter of 201-17 Spring Garden St., i.e.: 'We will support the construction of a five story addition at the rear of the existing apartment building and a new, five story building at 2ndand Spring Garden if they are built with the following changes: 1) Limit height of all buildings to 55 feet, 2) Both curb cuts should be no greater than 18 feet wide. Also, we will need you to continue to include a minimum of 13 parking spaces and have no roof top decks.'” Passed 8-0-0

The Zoning Committee suggested that the Design Committee be disbanded as a formal committee, since it has not met in the last two years. It was agreed that the issue should be discussed at a meeting with more attendance.

Old Business

The issue of NLNA support for Kearny School was postponed until November.

Joe reported that the next Story Slam will be January 20th, with three additional workshops in January.

Steve noted that PTSSD honored Matt with its Service award last week.

New Business

There was unanimous agreement to Steve's proposal to send Paula Gansky a gift (such as food or a fruit tray)  upon her release from the hospital; the Board members expressed their concern and support for her.

The meeting was adjourned by acclaim at 8:43 p.m.

Addenda:

Zoning Committee Minutes of September 23, 2019 

Members present: Larry Freedman chair, Joe Mikuliak rec. sec., Kenny Grono, Charley Abdo, Sharon Richman, Ira Upin, Melissa Magness, Christine Furman, Jared Foreman, Jonathan Sher    Members absent:  Abbey Spector, Chris Isaacson.

412 N. 2nd St. (NW corner of 2nd & Callowhill) - A request for a temporary permit for a 4 day event, October 10-13.  Presentation by Steph Irwin, who was hired by House of Vans to produce this event. She used the digital projector to deliver a powerpoint style presentation with information about the request. House of Vans is an international company involved with skateboards, snowboards, clothing, and accessories. It has promoted itself with this kind of event in other cities and wants to do it in Philadelphia.  There will be live music and DJ’s, workshops, craft vendors, food trucks, and a bar. It will run from Thursday to Sunday and close by 11pm each night. All music and the bar will be inside the building. A 21 and over policy will be strictly enforced and alcohol will not be taken away from the bar area. There will also be a skatepark inside the building. All vendors are to be located on the property, not on nearby streets and sidewalks. The capacity has not been set by the city but there could be as many as 700 people there on Thursday and Friday nights. The workshops and dj will draw a smaller crowd. There will be adequate security, toilets, and clean-up of the location and surrounding area.  All L&I codes and regulations of the Philadelphia Department of Health will be followed. This is a “Free community event for all ages.” It is a one-time event and money made at the bar will be donated to SkatePhillly, a local non-profit that is trying to build a skatepark. Steph agreed to share her .pdf with the committee so it can be used in our response for the request for the permit.

Motion by Melissa Magness, 2nd by Ira Upin  That the NLNA send the following to Anne Kelly at the office of Councilman Squilla: “If it is set up and run as presented to the community on September 23, 2019, we will support the permit for a one-time only event by the House of Vans at 2nd and Callowhill Streets from October 10 to 13, 2019.  More specifics are in a document titled “House of Vans Philly Community Event.” Steph Irwin, the producer of the event, has also committed to all music being indoors; adequate security being present, an 11PM closing time, and the thorough clean-up of streets and sidewalks around the venue each day and at the end of the event.  Passed 9-0

201-17 Spring Garden St. - A proposal to erect a five story addition at rear of existing apartment building and a new building at the NW corner of 2nd and Spring Garden.  Presentation by Stephanie Boggs from the law firm with Ron Patterson. She handed out drawings of the project, in contest with surrounding buildings, and with dimensions. 1. The addition. Five stories tall (64 feet.)  It would be built where the one story section of the existing apartment building is at Green and American. Exterior would be “White brick at his time,” have the same height, and compliment the style of the existing building. A new curb cut on Green would take away one on-street parking space to provide parking for seven cars.  2. The new building. Five stories tall (58 feet.) Exterior would be “Light colored brick at this time.” On the first floor would be 1040 sq. feet of retail commercial and parking for six cars. Upper floors would have 8(?) apartments. Trash and recycling bins would be out-of-site inside the garage. Would use the existing 24 feet wide curb cut. It was previously approved by L&I as a “By-right” project in 2014 but it now requires a zoning variance because they replaced the canopy connecting it to the older building with an open courtyard with planters and trees. Both the new building and the addition would have balconies for each unit. Most units would have two bedrooms. Currently there are 17 units and 17 parking spaces there. With the new construction, they propose 31 units and 13 parking spaces. Larry told the committee he was only told about the addition when he made up the agenda, that the new building was a surprise. That’s because they received a use permit for the building when the zoning changed to CMX2.5 We weren’t aware of that but there wasn’t anything illegal. The important variances required are for the height (55 feet max height allowed), two curb cuts, no commercial on American Street, and two buildings on one lot. Their ZBA hearing is October 16. Eight neighbors attended. They did receive letters from the developer about tonight’s meeting. Two neighbors living in houses on Green objected to the height of the addition because it would put their homes into shadows for part of each day. Everyone had concerns about living with construction nearby.

Motion by the group:  We will support the construction of a five story addition at the rear of the existing apartment building and a new, five story building at 2nd and Spring Garden if they are built with the following changes  1. Limit height of all buildings to 55 feet.  2. Both curb cuts should be no greater than 18 feet wide. Also, we will need you to continue to include a minimum of 13 parking spaces and have no roof top decks.        Passed 9-0

Updates:

  • 332-334 W. Girard Ave. – New restaurant. Our motion to support required them to show Larry new plans with trash storage in the basement instead of on the sidewalk. larry has been in touch with their attorney. Their hearing date is Oct 2.
  • 1114 Galloway  -- Larry brought committee members up-to-date on the NLNA hiring a lawyer and requesting a reconsideration of the ZBA approval of the new house on this lot.

Application from a neighbor to join the Zoning Committee: Scott Sperri, who lives at 406 Fairmount Avenue, was at tonight’s meeting and asked to join the committee. He has been to many ZC meetings and wants to participate in how the neighborhood is developed. He has no conflicts of interest with committee business.

Motion by the group : To recommend Scott Sperri to the NLNA Board of Directors for membership on the ZC.  Passed unanimously

Scott will attend the next board meeting to answer questions and have his application voted on by board members.

Meeting adjourned.