Meeting called to order by Ana at 7:34 pm
Introductions of new neighbors
Voting rules
VOTE: Budget PASSED by unanimous vote.
Keith Lamar: Zone 6 Community Prosecutor
- Stats: 104 crimes last year, 31 this year (corresponding weeks)
- Initiative: Citizen Gang Task Force – Ideas about areas to target; be proactive before the summer season. If you want to participate, email keith.lamar@fultoncountyga.gov. June 10 city-wide meeting. Not just gang activity; about making the whole community better.
- Contact Keith about Court Watch.
January meeting notes at bottom of agenda. Will vote to approve tonight.
Proposed Bylaw Change from January 2014
- Article 2, Membership eligibility change. Adding bullet for business membership.
- VOTE: Motion PASSED by unanimous vote
Brian Harrison: Renewal of Fulton Co. Garden status. 10 year plan for tax break. Requesting letter of support. Motion to support.
- VOTE: Motion PASSED by unanimous vote
Amanda Blocker: ACS Run with the Wolves, April 19, 2014. Route change this year. New map will be posted to SAND web site and Facebook page.
800 Glenwood Ave Development Plans. Developer submitted special administrative permit; approved by city planning department. Councilmember Carla Smith submitted legislation to change zoning; City council approved rezoning Sep. 2013. Fuqua and LaFarge filed suit against the rezoning legislation. Appeal of special administrative permit was denied. Judge has taken both cases together for summary judgment.
- Neighborhood leadership in contact w/developer. Asking to rezone from MR5A to PDMU zoning, more in line with solution developed by developer, GPNA and SAND. To realize this plan, property needs to be rezoned.
- New rezoning legislation to be voted on tonight.
- Rick Hudson: LUZ chair for GPNA. Lauren Rocereta: president of GPNA. Working w/developer on compromise on what we want w/beltline overlay as well as giving developer what he needs to move forward.
- Advised that we will not prevail w/appeals. If we do not, we will get the original proposal. Industrial, no residential.
- Atlanta Beltline Inc. Is now partnering with us on this. #1 thing that will bring transit to the area is office. #2 is residential. #3 is retail.
- VOTE: On PDMU zoning with amendments: PASSED by unanimous vote.
Keith Parsons: Board member of South River Watershed Alliance will be having many events this summer, including paddling outings. For more information, look up South River Watershed Alliance on the web and on Facebook.
Brenda Muhammad: Thank you for support for 16 years on ABE. Moving on, running for Fulton County Commission. Opportunity to provide services for children and families.
Angela Stovall: candidate for State Senate, district 36.
Robb Pitts: candidate for Fulton County Commission.
VOTE on minutes: PASSED by unanimous vote.
Adjourn 9:43 pm
EACA Monthly Meeting Minutes
Opening: Welcome new members & neighbors Tony Crump and Paige Huertin on membership committee. Rise of hands for 2 year, 5 year and 10 years living in the neighborhood. This year’s membership drive is going well. We have as many new or renewing members as we did for the entire last year. Please encourage your neighbors to join EACA and come to the meetings.
Minutes and treasurer’s report approved.
EAV Farmers Market starts this Thursday, April 10. Lolly represented the EAVFM. She served beet/ginger/mango/hibiscus smoothies. Opening day is from 4-8 pm with special events and music going on. The market accepts cash, credit/debit and food stamps/SNAP benefits. Lolly does outreach for the market to schools or community events. Encourage involvement in EACA booth by community members. Chef Travis from Midway will do chef demo this week utilizing local produce. Lily and the Tigers band will be playing. There will be a tree planting also. Email president@eaca.net if you want to be a community cook at the market.
Committee Reports / Announcements
LUZ ,Andy Schneggenburger: 1 variance application to vote on: 1525 May Ave, corner of May and Paisley. No representative for the applicant at meeting. This is a short sale or foreclosed home. A builder has purchased and is seeking to renovate it. It is a corner lot and they are not going to expand the footprint of the building. The variance is needed because the existing house is over the setback. This is a common variance. NPU voted to approve with one condition: that the renovation would not expand the existing footprint. It is a cut and dry, straightforward application unless neighbors have a specific concern. Motion to approve variance with same condition that NPU and seconded. No feedback from the affected neighbors. NPU meeting is the 4th meeting of this month, 7:30 pm. landuse@eaca.net
Parks, Alex Levy : How many people have seen the new owl and bat houses at the south end of Brownwood? On March 16 along with pulling invasives, we had a tree climber come in to install the houses. It improves habitats for the bats and also reduces mosquitos. Not doing a Stewardship Sunday this month. We will be continuing them in the next few months. You can also ask parks to come to your own yard to provide guidance on what needs to be removed. We applied for a Love Your Block Grant to install a 9 hold Frisbee golf course. Want to get involved? parks@eaca.net
Events, Jeanne Fore: Frolics are starting up again this Saturday. Usually they are the third Sundays of the month, but we are doing it this Saturday in conjunction with Kids Club and Fringe Festival. 11AM egg hunt, 1PM art/ scavenger hunt (you find it you keep it). We will be taking donations of art at farmers market on Thursday. There will be picnicking, music and other activities. We are also developing a solstice dragon party on June 21. May 2 at Burgess is the inaugural chicken dance, plant sale, chef demos from 3-7. events@eaca.net
Public Safety, 1/3 of all burglaries occur through unlocked window or door. Tip o’ the month: Install window pins to discourage entry. Boil water advisory for small part of East Atlanta until 7 pm tomorrow night.
Branding Update We have been talking on and off for the last year about branding, logos and street signs. At the last meeting we announced we would have something to show at this meeting. While we like the submissions, the board did not feel like it was expressing enough about the neighborhood. So the board decided to restart the process. Will be reordering old signs in the interim. We want to open up the design process to anyone in the neighborhood.
Natalyn Archibong, City Councilmember: No injuries at the fire at Gordon School
150th anniversary of B*ATL. Kick off on May 3 at Carter Center. Two trolleys will be taking people around the community for events.
Art legislation: Natalyn appreciates the commentary and is working with Monica, Living Walls, through a very frustrating city process. The idea was to do something more seamless and streamlined for artists and city. Natalyn is not supporting the legislation as it is. Need artists to be involved and Natalyn wants that to happen.
Blue Ribbon Efficiency committee was formed. This group will be looking at the city for any savings to be realized and income generators. Meetings will be public and notices will be going out. If you have a great idea, Natalyn will take them and bring them forward. A number of employees have become whistleblowers and they have been retaliated against. A group of them got together and went to the mayor’s office and city council. The law department, Chief Turner from police and HR department are launching an investigation independent of the watershed commissioner. There will be a 90 day period where there will be no personnel actions. The police department is involved because there may be some criminality in the retaliation. Watershed is a cash cow but citizens pay for it. Hope is that an investigation will uncover waste and improve culture in that department. The difference between this investigation and others in the past is we have police, law and HR working together. The next step is involving the FBI. There are council people and big business but no citizens on the efficiency committee, up to this point. Mary Norwood set up a website to give suggestions. You can sit in the meetings or send suggestions to Natalyn. We are also working with GA Tech to get a report about the snow storm. A question was raised whether GBI, Fulton County was being actively included in the investigation of the watershed. Natalyn getting the report every two weeks and if it does not sound probative or that we aren’t getting information, then we will move in that direction. The timeline is 90 days and every two weeks we will get a report.
13th Tire Round Up: April 26, 8:45 meet up at Armour Tire
11th East Atlanta Beer Fest: May 11 Please volunteer or attend. Road closures will start as early as 8 am Portland between Brownwood and Gresham and Joseph. Main closure will take place at 11 am. We want to preserve the residences of those who live around the park. Volunteers: eastatlantabeerfest.com. Tickets can be bought there are well. $40 gen/$75 VIP. We want to draw 3500-4000 people this year. Ed would like to know about any issues people have with the festival. We would like to prevent any problems in advance with the residents if possible.
Public Safety Update, Major Peek: Wanted to receive concerns on things. Robberies are very consistent lately. We believe most of the crews are associated with each other. There have been 11 burglaries since the last meeting, about 3 a week. There seems to be an issue just east of Brownwood Park; mostly cars getting broken into. Trying to implement and advertise a clean car campaign. Please don’t keep anything of value in your car. Made identification on a home robbery in the last month. Need victim to make identification. A resident was solicited by a woman in the middle of the day near Moreland and Memorial. Major Peek The hotel at 277 Moreland is a trouble spot. Report will be made to the vice unit.
There is an issue with people not stopping at the stop sign on Maynard Terrace & Glenwood. There is sporadic enforcement there as with other areas of the neighborhood a resident reported 6-8 gunshots in the middle of night. Major Peek said it doesn’t matter how many people call but give as much information as you can. Dispatcher will ask if you want to speak with an officer if you want to provide even more information.
Fit Wit, Hank Sforzini: Sees some folks who are members of Fit wit and is here tonight to talk about it. FitWit runs group fitness classes in 4 locations in Atlanta. One of the locations is in Grant Park at Boys & Girls club. It is a cross between traditional boot camp and CrossFit. They do more dynamic workouts using kettlebells, sandbags, etc. and feel they are much more accessible than CrossFit. The month of May is national physical fitness and sports month. He is inviting everyone out every Tuesday for a free workout. Register so we can let trainers know how many people will be attending. FitWit is very involved with the community; part of the proceeds go to fund the FitWit Foundation which provides fitness and leadership opportunities to underserved youth in the community. FitWit locations are Decatur, North Druid Hills, and Grant Park.
Toastmasters, Kalecia Wright: Kalecia is a community member who lives on Van Epps in same house she grew up in. Toastmasters is about public speaking and leadership. They started last year in the community and are located at First Iconium Baptist Church. Meetings are the first & third Thursday of every month, 6:15-7:45. April 17 is “bring a friend” day. You don’t have to join, just come check it out.
Ed Gilgor introduced Kyle Williams, candidate for 42nd Senate District. The top of East Atlanta is part of his district. Kyle lives in Oakhurst and is running for the seat that Jason Carter currently holds. Came to meeting to introduce himself. His #1 issue is education. Background is LUZ. He doesn’t see a plan in a lot of the education plan. He doesn’t believe right decisions are being made at Gold Dome. May 20th is the democratic primary for East Lake, Kirkwood, Decatur, Druid Hills, and Emory Corridor. He wants to be a progressive advocate and cheerleader for things we build in all communities, not just a democratic. Kylewilliams2014.com.
Other business EACA needs a communications chair. Email president@eaca.net if you are interested in getting involved. We are trying to do social things with EACA, so we will be patronizing our local establishments after the meetings. Join us for some beverages and fellowship at Elder Tree.
Jarrod Jordan is running for the DeKalb County District 3 School Board. He is running because we have to ensure that all children in DeKalb County have decent education. For those of you who live in unincorporated DeKalb, this would apply to you. We need a transformational superintendent, high quality teachers in classroom, and to reduce dropout rate as well as how to implement best practices of high performing schools in our low performing areas.
B*ATL Announcements, Tony Crump: Volunteers with B*ATL organization. Passing around a card with event dates on it. This year there will not be a traditional reenactment, but a civil war and civil rights program, will be partnering with local theater group. More info is in the newsletter or follow on Facebook. If you want to contribute any funds, check out power2give.org. COA is matching dollar for dollar for every dollar raised for performing arts. The event includes tours of neighborhood and performances. They are also raising money to restore two monuments to the generals in the neighborhood. Monument money from Kroger community awards goes to this. Opportunities to volunteer will be announced soon
Closing: Meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.
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