July 2016 – General Meeting Minutes

August 8, 2016 Meeting Minutes

Fairmount National Historic District General Meeting

July 26, 2016

Meeting Called to Order by Pat Bradley – 7:00 p.m.

Introduction of New Members – two new member households: Matt & Ashley on 5th; Ashley on Lipscomb.  Welcome!

AGENDA

Neighborhood Police Officer Update – Sergio Guadarrama (FTW NPO OF THE YEAR!)

  • Introduced drive-along rookie Officer Dwayne Lee joining us on Day Two out of the academy. Welcome aboard Officer Lee!
  • Community policing will include two officers per car for the short-term
  • June 28 – July 26:
  • 5 habitation burglaries (inc. 2 garages & tools from one home under renovation)
  • 8 burglaries of vehicles: 5 on the night of July 22/23 – all cars reportedly unlocked. 2 others had broken windows
  • 5 auto thefts: 1 from the Boys/Girls Club; 1 on S. Adams – car had key for the third car also taken.

 

 Dillon Burns – University United Methodist Church (Director of Children’s Ministries)

  • Aug. 1 – 3: “GO H2O” at Fairmount Park & local pool
  • Games, experiments, t-shirts, water bottles and watery fun for kids

 

 Doug Widger & Lindsey Cloer – Academy 4

  • Mentor recruitment: looking for volunteers once a month on predetermined Fridays from 1:30p – 3p. Need 60 mentors this year.
  • Will need to complete FW ISD background check
  • Orientation on Aug. 19 and Aug. 26 (attend one day)
  • First meeting is Sept. 23
  • Mentor a 4th grader. Spend quality time (encouraging, listening) while also enjoying fun classes (guitar, crafts, stilt walking)
  • 4th graders still enjoy adults and are developmentally shifting from concrete to abstract reasoning. It’s a pivotal point in child development
  • 1000 students have been mentored through Academy 4 since its inception

 

BOARD UPDATES

Melanie Dotzour – Finance (approximate amounts)

  • Checking account = $15,321.69
  • Savings account = $17,750.44
  • Garden account = $3,106.58
  • CD = $15,280.84

Kim Worley – Administration

  • No report

David Thrapp – Infrastructure

  • Come hear Buddy’s Big Band – First Fridays at Preservation Hall
  • Also come to Preservation Hall on Saturdays from 7:30a – 12p for assistance in cleaning public areas (alleys/green space/etc).   Work program team available for free.
  • Report street light outages on MyFortWorth app and/or FTW Transportation & Public Works website

Geri Cotton – Safety

  • Citizens Police Academy – starts August 18. 4 hours, once a week (Tuesdays) for 8 weeks
    • Have SWAT & weapon range, classes & ride-alongs
  • Distributed Citizens on Patrol pamphlet
  • Always report a crime, no matter how small. Call 911 for all crime reporting.
    • Also call in all suspicious people.
      • The police can’t be everywhere at once, and rely on us for reports
      • Report people using the alleys
  • If you carry a weapon in your car, it should be in a lock box bolted to the frame
  • Watch for/report package thefts

Martin Dahl – Historic Preservation

  • Being a part of a historic district gives a great sense of community. We hear this, too, from our sister communities around the nation (school involvement, events, etc.)
  • We are FTW’s best example of how a historic neighborhood should work
  • City Council person for Stop 6 area considers historic neighborhoods as a detriment to growth
    • Efforts are being made to remove the historic designation from the Stop 6 area
  • Liz Casso, previously our contact at the Historic & Cultural Landmarks Commission has taken a similar role in Dallas.
    • New contact to be name shortly.
  • Spoke to the realtors of the Greater FTW Association about what it’s like to be homeowner in a historic district, and why it’s important to mention Fairmount’s designation at the early home viewing stage
    • Many folks move in and then are surprised when they may not be allowed to make changes to the exterior of their homes
  • Code Compliance has been busy lately. Martin hopes to bring a code officer in to discuss guideline compliance

Alex Thieroff – Promotions (Stacy Lueker reporting)

  • Pick-up softball games are now occurring every other Monday @ DeZavala. Next game will be on Aug. 8

Stacy Luecker – Communications

  • No report

Carrie Carter – Membership

  • 31 renewals since the beginning of the year
  • 85 active members
  • 50 expired members
  • Building welcome bags now. Please let Carrie know if you have a new neighbor, and Carrie will deliver a welcome bag

OPEN DISCUSSION

Pat Bradley

  • Congratulations to the Bowdens and The Rosen House for securing their license for another five years of B&B excellence.
  • Please let up know what you would like to get out of these meetings and/or what you would like for us to include in our meeting and social calendars. Also, please share any ideas you may have regarding how we may interest younger residents (20’s & 30’s) in membership
  • Please pick-up previously ordered Ferals shirts at Pat’s home
  • Elections are next month. Please see Steve Halliday, Richard Riccetti or Kelly Bowden with nomination ideas for Finance and Historic Preservation.

Sara Karashin

  • Going to monitor need for FNA Meeting baby-sitter services currently offered by the library for one more month. If the need for this service doesn’t increase, the service will be discontinued.
  • Support the Fairmount Library by doing your Amazon shopping at www.smile.amazon.com

Richard Riccetti

  • Transportation engineers biked with the Hemphill Corridor Task Force to continue to consider need for bike lanes/parking needs/etc.

Adjourned: 8:05 p.m.

Submitted by Kim Worley, 8/8/16 (Still removing Rosen House celebratory frosting from her face!)

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