BROOKFIELD HERITAGE NEIGHBORHOOD
BOARD MEETING, JANUARY 31, 2011
The January meeting of the Brookfield Heritage Neighborhood Association was held on January 31, 2011, at Sally Lloyd’s home, 216 Oakland. Members present were Dawn Parker, Jan Bernsten, Carl Lira, Susie Engelhart, Rhoda Wolff, Sally Lloyd, Kristin Rosenbrook, and Judy Cunningham. The meeting was called to order At 6:30 P.M.
1. The secretary’s report was given by Judy Cunningham. Minutes of the September meeting were read, corrections made to the date of this evenings meeting, approved, and stood as read.
2. Jan Bernsten presented the treasurer’s report. She reported that we have a savings account balance of $1,811.89, and a checking account balance of $397.07, for a total balance of $2,208.96. Since October, $330.00 has been added to our account, $300.00 from dues collected, and a $30.00 donation to the tree fund from the Poli family. In response to the mailings that were sent out to all residents, (15) fifteen more households sent in dues, which brings the total number of households who have joined and paid dues to fifty-one (51) of ninety-four (94) households.
We also discussed some ways to encourage people to pay dues at the annual meeting through incentives like selling t-shirts, or something else along that line.
3. OLD BUSINESS
Last fall, Peter Knupfer wrote a letter to the city of East Lansing and to MDOT expressing our concerns about the short left turn cycle of the light at Hagadorn and Grand River. That light cycle has been increased to allow more left turns to get through.
In November, Carl Lira and Sally Lloyd attended an open house at the Hannah Community Center to discuss the Michigan Ave/Grand River CATA issues regarding our section of Grand River Ave. They expressed our feelings about the bottleneck that would be created by the plan of 100 feet width in our area. Three alternatives are under consideration, Bus Rapid Transit, Light Rail Transit, and Modern Streetcar.We will be hearing more about this from CATA.
Jan Bernsten went to a Wardcliff neighborhood meeting to offer some tips to help them begin a neighborhood association last fall. They welcomed her input.
4. NEW BUSINESS
Carl Lira reported that Stuart Blythe is working with him and with our web site. He reported that we need to renew our web site and that our domain privacy had expired. After discussion, we moved, seconded, and voted to renew our web site for one (1) year .The cost for one year will be $9.00/month.
Rhoda suggested having a link from Facebook to our Website. Response was favorable.
There was discussion about having a progressive dinner or garden tour, both to be discussed at the April board meeting. These would be fund raisers for the neighborhood.
Rhoda attended the mayor’s meeting of neighborhoods and came away with lots of
great ideas of things being done in East Lansing neighborhoods. For example, Emergency Response Training, a 20 hour course offered to people in the community to learn how to respond to all types of emergency situations. The mayor also wants to initiate neighborhood watches, and to start walking teams that would compete with other cities.There wasn’t time to get involved with the walking right now.
It was moved, seconded, and passed after some discussion that we update our e-mail list and create an announcement list. This would be used for neighborhood news, warnings, lost dogs, break ins, etc. Dawn Parker, Communications, will send news out to all on the list.
The vacancy created by Tom Wibert’s move to Texas will hopefully be filled by a volunteer. Susie Engelhart, Vice President, has volunteered to talk to anyone interested in filling Tom’s position.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Judy Cunningham
Secretary