ASNA Minutes 2006-Jan-06
January 10, 2006
7:00 P.M., Christy Residence, 1747 W. Carmen Ave.
President Kevin Thompson called the meeting to order at 7:07 P.M. Also present were Chris Bayard, Stephen Christy, Gary Forell, Kathy German, Camilla Krueger, Kate Robinson, Erich Schrempp, Linda Wallace, and Sara Wetzel.
Approval of Minutes
Motion by Bayard, Schrempp seconds, approving minutes of November 18, 2005 meeting. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Nordstrom being absent, Thompson reported that she told him there is a little over $1000.00 in the general account, not counting the landscaping balance which Christy reported is about $200.00.
Wallace noted that Howl-o-ween was a great success with expenses of $505.09 and revenues of $548.65, for a balance of $43.56, said balance to be applied to the Ravenswood Parkway Beautification Fund. Linda said she felt ASNA should repeat the event next year, and all agreed.
Committee Reports
Membership/Communications
All present agreed this committee deserved a “pat on the back” for its accomplishments in 2005. The committee’s report is attached.
Thompson noted the difficulty in getting folks living on Ashland or Foster involved in ASNA. Nonetheless the group agreed, having reviewed the committee report, to do the same events again next year, only better.
A brief discussion of future newsletter issues found Krueger suggesting a column on recycling and German a regular feature on artwork by neighborhood children.
Social
Robinson noted the need to plan at once for a winter party if ASNA still wished to have one. She had done some investigating of locales, finding Ebenezer Church now too expensive, and the Edgewater Historical Society’s party room rent reasonable, but only available for catered events. Hopleaf Bar is also available for $200.00.
She further noted T’s has its back room available for free with a cash bar and the cost for any food provided. T’s will also buy back any unsold drink tickets. Those assembled liked the concept of T’s but agreed the event should not be a fund-raiser. Motion by Thompson, Bayard seconds, setting a $300.00 cap on ASNA costs to sponsor an ASNA mid-winter party from 3-6 P.M. on either February 12 or 26, with a minimum $5.00 donation requested at the door. Motion passed. Robinson will proceed with this directive.
Community Development
This committee is inactive; Thompson will seek a new chair for same.
Greening
Christy reported no activity due to the winter months; however he will send out solicitation/support letters to local businesses soon as is done most every year.
Old Business
By-Laws
Wallace will work with Noel Suarez to get the proposed new by-laws posted on the web site; Bayard has a few last-minute revisions and will forward same to Wallace. The Board will approve these new by-laws at the next meeting unless someone raises any issues regarding same.
Other Business
Gang Issues
German and others have noted increased activity by idle youths on Carmen Avenue, accompanied by an increase in discarded “love gloves” and liquor bottles and, most recently, graffiti on sidewalks. Thompson noted that he had contacted the City’s graffiti blasters who should be on-site soon, and also suggested ASNA invite the District Commander to the next ASNA meeting. German agreed to get the address of the landlord of the building emanating these problems.
2006 ASNA Calendar
The assembled group agreed with Thomson projected future dates, as follow:
- Annual Meeting: March 13
- Midwinter Blahs Party, February 12
- Board Meetings: second Monday of each month, except no meeting in February due to party at T’s.
- Next Newsletter: April
- Neighborhood Cleanup/Greening: May
- Garage Sale: June 3
- Block Party: July 15, on Ravenswood or Carmen (Thomson to look into mechanics of partly closing Ravenswood)
- Howl-o-ween: October 28
- Holiday Event: December 10
Adjournment
Motion by Bayard, Wetzel seconds, to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 P.M., with the date and location of the next meeting to be determined pending the date of the mid-winter get-together at T’s.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephen Christy
Membership/Communication Committee Report
–Linda Wallace, chair
Meeting 12 07 09, Suarez residence
Present: Camilla Krueger, Noel Suarez, Linda Wallace
What we’ve accomplished:
We accomplished our major goals of increasing membership and communication. The personal outreach via door-to-door blitz was very successful. The neighborhood party also gave us a big boost. Our thanks to everyone who helped on both of these. We ended the year with about 25 percent of Andersonville households as paid members. We may have been overly ambitious on the 50 percent membership goal but 25 percent is pretty darn good! There has been more and better communication thanks to the email list, newsletter (published twice) and-ta da-our website, thanks to Noel.
Newsletter
- Post the latest newsletter online.
- Keep the large format-it stands out more.
- Make it useful, timely
- Try to improve photo reproduction
- Contact new members who expressed an interest in the newsletter.
- Check the alderman’s email newsletter for items of interest to include.
- Start now to work on the spring newsletter, e.g. articles/ads.
- Approach Julia/Stephen about doing an environmental/gardening column with practical tips for area residents.
- Post newsletter ads on the website for additional visibility.
- Start now to get ads for spring (and hopefully, fall newsletter).
- Have back ups for volunteer designers: Julia, Noel and maybe Kathy
Next year/next steps:
Follow the same game plan. Do it better. Keep promoting the website. We strongly recommend that ASNA adopt a calendar for next year’s events early in the New Year so publicity can be planned accordingly.
Draft Calendar 2006???
February-Winter Blahs party
April-Spring Newsletter (with 2005 annual report per bylaws) publish in late April with news about Greening/Clean up Day
May-Door-to-door Membership Blitz
Greening/Clean upDay
July 15 Neighborhood Party
September-Garage Sale
October-Howl-O-Ween
December-Holiday Event