EACA Meeting Minutes March 10, 2015 7:00 PM - Introductions and Welcome New Neighbors 7:05 PM- Ralph Green , Approve April Minutes and Treasures Report, and EACA Budget Vote 7:10PM Public Safety Police Representative 7:15PM- NIN Poker tournament 7:30 -Principal Robbins BPA – State of the School 7:40-PM Tony Crump – EACA Membership Survey Results 7:50PM- Joe Perry and Jack Grundler – Infrastructure Bond Vote 8:00PM- Andy Schneggenberger- All things Land Use and Zoning 8:10- Park Pride Park tour and Brownwood Park Community work day 8:20- East Atlanta Farmers Market 8:30 – Adjourn The President, Mary Yetter called the meeting to order at 7:10 and welcomed all new neighbors and guests. New neighbors introduced themselves. Announcements: East Atlanta Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2015 beginning at 11:00 a.m. (participants should gather at 10:30 a.m. at the Brownwood Park Rec Center) Volunteers are needed for preparation prior to the event as well as the day of the event and donations of pre-wrapped individual candy would be appreciated. Will hide 800 plastic eggs and 13 dozens hard-boiled eggs. Donations of either can be dropped off Friday or Saturday morning. For more information email: [email protected] or call 404-627-8050. On March 21st Scott Peterson will be giving a tour of The Old Atlanta Prison Farm and will meet all who are interested in going at 10:30 am at Key Road and Fayetteville Road. Check FB page “Save the Old Atlanta Prison Farm” for further information. Will host a get together for people to become more familiar with Prison Farm project on April 16 th at El Mexicano Restaurant. Details to follow in the newsletter. (Note: the date of this event was changed after the community meeting was adjourned. The new date of the event at El Mexicano is April 22, 2015.) The Minutes and Treasurer’s Report for February were approved. Treasurer, Ralph Green re-presented the 2015 Budget for questions and approval, which was passed. Public Safety: Lieutenant Tim Carter of APD reported that there was one aggravated assault and 3 or 4 vehicle larcenies in the 612 district in the last 28 days. He reminded residents not to leave valuables in their car while they are away from their vehicle whether it is locked or not. There has been a high incidence of guns being stolen from vehicles. Also, please keep your garage door closed and do not leave your car unattended while warming it up in the morning. Lt. Carter reiterated if you “see something, say something”. There was a concern mentioned regarding beat patrols of the Burgess Peterson Academy area to deter people from parking illegally in front of school. There was also a concern mentioned regarding what was assumed to be celebratory gun fire in the neighborhood. Please report any shots fired to 911. There is no way to tell if someone is shooting a gun in the air or if it is injurious gunfire or not. Thank you to the neighbors, residents and business owners for the continued vigilance of the East Atlanta community. Resident participation and partnership with APD is one of the reasons for the drop in crime in the area. Councilperson Natalyn Archibong announced that she recently escorted Mayor Reed to the Old Atlanta Prison Farm to garner his support to save the prison. Matt Garbett, a consultant on “Tactical Urbanism” (which is described as “a collection of low-cost, temporary changes to the built environment, usually in cities, intended to improve local neighborhoods and city gathering places), invited the community to attend a planning meeting to target the potential of the intersection of Bouldercrest and Flat Shoals Roads on March 19, 2015 at First Mount Pleasant Church (816 Maynard Terrace) at 6:30 p.m. More details can be found on the Facebook page “East Atlanta Corner Project”. The meeting will focus on brainstorming creative ways to capitalize on and reuse already existing resources and materials to utilize the proposed space, engaging the property owners to improve the property, demonstrate viability and embrace the value of community enrichment. Build date is TBD. Funding is coming from Councilwoman Archibong’s office. Transportation: There was a reminder about the March 17 special $250 million Bond Referendum for City of Atlanta voters. The two bond items, if passed, will fund transportation and public facility improvements. There is currently a backlog of projects to be funded by the $250 million proposed bond: $134 million would address city wide horizontal infrastructure (projects such as roads, bridge and overpass improvements, street repaving, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, traffic signal coordination, ADA compliance, etc.), $64 million would address city wide vertical infrastructure (projects such as municipal building and facility upgrades and maintenance, fire and police stations, a video integration center to collect footage from public and private surveillance systems, recreation centers, public art, etc.). The bond is intended to address only existing projects, no greenspace or new projects are included. The two items (horizontal and vertical projects) will be separate issues on the ballot. A sample ballot is available at: http://fultoncountyga.gov/images/stories/RAE/2015/Elect/SPCOA/COA_SP_SB.pdf . The proposed list of projects is available at: http://www.infrastructuremap.org but the list is not yet approved by city council. Of the monies that will be split between the council districts, $5.5 will be for horizontal infrastructure and $1.3 million for vertical infrastructure. Ms. Archibong is primarily looking at ways to leverage this district’s allotment of that money. Please lobby your city council member to see projects that you have an interest in added to the list and approved. There was a request for a crosswalk at Maynard Terrance and Glenwood Road. Councilwoman Archibong said she would have a traffic engineer go out and access the area. The community expressed their thanks to the City of Atlanta and MARTA for the new sidewalks along Flat Shoals Road. Principal Robbins of Burgess Peterson Academy thanked EACA for all the support, engagement and involvement in the school over the last 7 years and gave a state of the school review from the last couple of years as well as a preview of upcoming events. Land Use and Zoning: An application for sub-division of the parcel of land at the corner of Flat Shoals Road and Newton Avenue was presented and discussed. Sub-division applications are not a voting issue so the community was not asked to approve the application. It was noted that the NPU suggested to the representative of the builder that the configuration of the 3 proposed structures be changed so that 2 structures face Flat Shoals Road and 1 structure face Newton Avenue. The developer’s proposal is to have all 3 structures facing Newton Avenue causing the west side of the corner structure to face Flat Shoals Road, which is inconsistent with the parcel layout pattern along that stretch of Flat Shoals. An item for general knowledge and discussion regarding neighborhood and community vision-associated zoning and the various Master Plans of interest to the East Atlanta community will be introduced at the April 14th EACA meeting. All who are able are invited to stay after the meeting to participate in a more in depth exchange. Please see the newsletter or EACA website for current Master Plans. Neighbor in Need: The annual fund raiser Poker Tournament will be held on March 28, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at Midway to benefit NIN. Last year’s tournament raised $2,000 for projects designed to help senior members in our community. Players are still needed. Parks and Recreation: The Beautification Committee, in conjunction with the City of Atlanta, is planning to make some repairs in Brownwood Park prior to the March 23rd Park Pride Conference Event, “Public Spaces & Forbidden Places: Southeast Atlanta Tour,” which will include a tour and presentation of Brownwood Park. The handrails, which were taken down in order to remove an unsafe tree, need to be replaced and the gates to the tennis court need repair. They need many hands/wheel barrows and possibly the use of a Bobcat to move the mulch that has been delivered for use in the park. If you can help in any way, please meet at the Pendleton Road entrance to the park from10:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm on Saturday, March 14th. Membership: A survey concerning EACA membership concepts, activities and values was developed earlier this year and made available to EACA members as well as newsletter recipients to garner opinions about how effective the community association is in its pursuit to represent East Atlanta. The survey period has ended and the results have been tallied. A summary of the responses is now on the EACA Facebook page and a link to the responses will be available in the next newsletter. A second survey may be planned for later in the year regarding the vision of community. The Membership Reward program needs more sponsors if you know of someone who can offer a discount on their goods and/or services, please let the membership committee know. It was suggested that highlights of survey be published in the Porch Press. To date, membership renewals and new memberships are up to 173 household (representing 372 members, 78 of those being new members). 2014 had @ 200 memberships, but actual residents in each household were not counted by the membership committee until this year. Meeting adjourned at 8:36.
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