January 21, 2019
11 neighbors present (on a very chilly evening)
Mark welcomed the group and called the meeting to order.
Leah Schubel was introduced as the new Secretary.
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, Mark shared a quote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Joy shared the Treasurer’s report on behalf of the Treasurer, Davis Barry.
Guest Nikki D’Adamo-Damery of the Maggie Walker Land Trust spoke about the partnership the Trust has with Habitat for Humanity and Project Homes. 5 new homes in the Maymont neighborhood will be part of this land trust (3 are on New York and 1 is on Kansas, ?? on the 5th one). She briefly described how the Maggie Walker Land Trust goes about acquiring properties, specifically noting that tax delinquent properties are easier to acquire for their group because there is less competition. There will be a potential homeowners meeting on January 30.
Guest Parke Richeson of Maymont shared good news that Maymont had given over 19,000 tours through the holiday season and 7,000 students had participated in their holiday programs with many of those students being Title 3. The Jazz Festival is scheduled for the second weekend in August.
Guest Amy Robbins who works for Councilman Parker Agelasto highlighted several key dates for the group. The James River Parks System Master Plan will be revealed and discussed on Thursday, February 7 at 6pm at the Patrick Henry School. On February 28 at 6:30pm, Parker will hold a meeting at the Round House in Byrd Park to answer questions pertaining to the North of Broad Coliseum project and provide tax relief applications. She said Parker’s cleanup dates around the area would be forthcoming and the speeding problem in the neighborhood and the increase in car break-ins were on his radar.
Bill (last name?) and Ryan Ginsberg gave an extremely informative presentation on invasive plants. They shared an alarming case study on the James River showing the harm of invasive plants. They are part of the invasive plants task force and provided the anyone present with a book illustrating which plants are native and which are invasive to this area. They host a variety of volunteer events and gather weekly at Reedy Creek between noon and 3pm to pull out invasive plants. For additional information, www.jamesriverpark.org/invasive or email invasiveplanttaskforce@gmail.com. The week of February 24 is National Invasive Species Week and there will be a variety of activities everyday that week so they encouraged the group to look into any activities of interest. They also encouraged each person to remove English Ivy from trees in their own yards (the proper removal technique is to cut the vines around the base of the tree and a chunk about shoulder height and it will die on its own).
The Board will provide neighbors with notice prior to running races or other events taking place in the neighborhood which may cause disruption or additional traffic.