November‘s meeting came to order @ 6:35 PM. The meeting was held at PCYC, located at 2210 Oliver Av. N., Mpls.. The attendees were Daniel Rother & Polly Peterson, co-chairpersons of the H&D committee, Lynn Riskedal, Eric Johnson & Amy Blenker (members of the JACC board & H&D committee), Chic Hanssen & Deb Wagner (members of the H&D committee) and Betsy Smith, Roger Smithrud & Kathleen Gulley, residents of Jordan neighborhood, Georgianna Yantos, from the Hawthorne neighborhood and Stacy Sorenson from NRP.
Novembers’ agenda was reviewed by members of JACC’s H&D committee, a correction was made ( the amount of funding to be discussed for the Jordan Advantage Program stated in the agenda was $320,000 and was changed to $130,000 as was discussed in Octobers’ meeting) and then the agenda was approved.
The Octobers’ Housing & Development Committee meeting minutes were also reviewed by the committee. A correction was made for the amount of gap funding ($60,000 instead of the $30,000 stated) for NSP rehabs and the spelling of Stacy Sorensons’ name was made, then the meeting minutes were approved.
First on the agenda was the Bike Walk Center/ Pohlad Proposal. Dan Rother stated that the Pohlad Family Foundation responded to the request for proposal for a Bike Walk Center by the Mpls. Health & Family Support Department. The proposal was due by 4PM, October 27th 2010. The Pohlad Family Foundations’ proposal asks for the Center to be located at the southwest corner of Penn Av. & 26th Av. N. in an existing building owned by St. Annes’ church and to be run by the owners of the Behind Bars bicycle shop located in NE Mpls.. The Pohlad Family Foundation is asking for Jordan neighborhoods’ support for the center by writing a letter of support for the proposal to the Health Dept. and by supporting a change in zoning for the property from R4 to C1. A discussion began about the proposal. Kathleen Gulley was concerned about the actual opportunities at the Center for youths. The bike center will have 2 full time employees and 4 internships. The Pohlad Family Foundations’ proposal is being supported by other non profit organizations which intend to support the northside with other opportunities for northsiders (not defined). A second proposal for the Bike Walk Center ( not located in the Jordan area) was made to the Dept. of Health & Family Support but was not made available to Jordan even after inquiries by Dan Rother. No other comments about the second proposal was made. At the end of the discussion Amy Blencker made a motion to send the H&D committees’ support for the Pohlad Family Foundations’ proposal to the JACC board stressing concern for youth employment and youth outreach. Roger Smithrud seconded the motion. The motion was voted on & passed unanimously.
The next item on our agenda was a discussion about Jordan creating an Advantage Program for prospective homeowners in the Jordan neighborhood and the amount of its funding. Eric Johnson wants to use the remaining Jordan NRP major housing development funds in the amount of $130,000. After comments about any need for these funds being available for other housing development uses it was agreed that the total amount of these funds could be used for Jordans’ Advantage Program. A Program Guidelines draft (exhibit A-10) was presented, with changes, to the committee for comment. The program would help approved buyers (homesteaders only) with a $7500 loan, forgivable after 10 years, for the purchase of a home in Jordan ( single family or duplex). The program could help approximately 17 prospective homeowners while helping Jordan fill home vacancies. Stacy Sorenson from NRP brought a letter from Glennis Ter Wisscha of Northside Housing, a communication from HUD about possible conflicts of interest in the Jordan organization with the program that they might be concerned with. Stacy said she would work with Jordan and HUD to remove any concerns of conflict of interest. Eric made a motion to move forward with the program to get it available as soon as possible. Amy Blecker seconded the motion. The motion was voted on with 1 no vote, 1 abstention, and the rest yes (6) votes. The motion passed.
The last issue was an application by The Ackerberg Group to vacate part of the dedicated alley east and adjacent to 2009 James Av. N.. There weren’t any representatives from the Ackerberg Group to comment on their application. It was noted that Jordan should communicate with The Ackerberg Group to find out the reason to vacate the alley. Roger Smithrud suggested we find out what’s going on with the property to the east of the alley.
Announcements:
There will be a Bottineau Transit Discussion Wednesday Nov. 17th, 2010 from 6PM to 8PM at UROC.
Polly mentioned that the fire dept. is giving away fire alarms.
Stacy mentioned “By the People” series to be shown at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Av. NE on Nov. 14th @ 6PM. Films showing what the neighborhoods and the NRP have been doing for the last 20 years.
The meeting adjourned @ 7:45 PM.