BUENA VISTA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Meeting Tuesday, June 26, 2012 the home of John and Marisol Leyba at 323 Mayellen Street
Meeting called to order at 7:19 PM
PRESENT: [9 people present] Members: Brian Habekoss (President) John Leyba (Vice President and NAC Representative) Loui Tucker (Secretary)
Sabine Zappe (Treasurer) Jose Gonzalez (Director) Shelby Palms (Director)
INTRODUCTIONS
Robert Solis (Director) Brian Ward (Director)
Charley Guptill representing Pierluigi Oliverio’s office
Charley Guptill introduced himself. He is the representative for Pierluigi Oliverio’s office for the summer.
THE MINUTES
The minutes of the May 22, 2012, meeting were posted on the website and the yahoo group files section. Loui will not be attending the meeting next month, so someone will need to take and prepare minutes of the meeting. The minutes as prepared were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT
The current balance is $892.66 of which $534 is the CAP Grant. An invoice for mailing the newsletter of $575.33 was submitted. The bill for printing the newsletter will be approximately $230. A new grant proposal has already been submitted for $1500 for next year. We will be hearing within about a month how much we will receive.
NEWSLETTER
The newsletter was printed and mailed to 1590 addresses. This is the first newsletter produced in both English and Spanish. It has also been scanned and it available on the BVNA’s website.
STREET TREES ON MENKER
There are three large trees on Menker Avenue across from the Menclair Apartment that are posted for potential removal. The signs say the property owner made the request June 20. They are Liquid Amber trees, which can damage sidewalks and their fruit can be dangerous in the fall. The property owner is within his rights to request permission to remove them, but he has to replace them. There is a $1000 fine if they remove a tree without a permit.
The issue is pending and a hearing is being scheduled. When contacted by phone, the arborist did not express any opinion on the tree, just said “We received some protests so we’re scheduling a hearing. We hope you can make it.” Loui said she will try to make the meeting since she has time during the day. We will have to wait to see when the meeting will be held. Anyone can email the City Arborist at arborist@sanjoseca.gov.
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting 6-26-2012 Page 2
COMPARING THE LIST MADE AT THE FEBRUARY MEETING WITH CURRENT PROGRESS
1. Park expansion continues to move along slowly. 2 The banner has been printed and it will be put up once it has officially approved by the City.
The Ice Cream Social is on for June 30.
Reducing Neighborhood blight? We have promoted the anti-graffiti software, both San Jose
Clean and CitySourced. We have had two trash pickups (missed May), and we will do more in
the future. We have also added two more trash cans on Scott and Willard.
Long-term goal is to get more people involved. We had talked about going door-to-door, but that
not been done yet. We should plan to talk to neighbors during the Ice Cream Social and encourage them to get involved. We can offer to put them on the yahoo group, and ask them to volunteer for the park, etc. We can also talk to people who show up at the July 4th Block Party.
THE ICE CREAM SOCIAL
The permit is in and the official times are 2:00-4:00 PM. We will be giving away otter pops and ice cream sandwiches. John estimated it will cost less than $50 for all the ice cream Sabine will reimburse whoever buys the ice cream as soon as they present the receipt. We will meet to set up at 1:00 PM. We will need an ice chest and an extra garbage can for the wrappers. Brian and Pepe, John, Robert, and Shelby will be able to work the booth. Sabine and Loui can help setup but will need to leave for another event by 2:00. Pepe is going to print 100 newsletters to pass out.
We need to spread the word. We need to visit the park on Friday evening and Saturday morning and tell a few kids about the ice cream being free in the park, and the word will spread.
THE JULY 4TH BLOCK PARTY
Ruth White is letting the BVNA take over part of the administration of this annual party. Brian had a list of items needed and he will get that list out on the BVNA yahoo group list. They will need 60 hot dogs and buns. Loui agreed to go to Cash & Carry and get the hot dogs and the buns and deliver them on Wednesday morning.
FARMERS MARKET ON SATURDAY
John talked about supporting the Farmer’s Market on the corner of Hanchett and The Alameda and about how they will take food stamps. Loui and Sabine have been attending regularly and say there is plenty of produce to go around and it deserves our support.
SAN JOSE PARKS FOUNDATION
John Leyba announced that he is now a member of the San Jose Parks Foundation Board. The Buena Vista Park account currently has $8,000 in the San Jose Parks Foundation fund.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:17 PM.