Meeting Notes: General Membership – June 24, 2024
Attendees: See sign in sheet
Minutes:
Call to order: 7:00 PM
Andrew Epps welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order.
Officer Updates:
- NPO:
- Officer Bell is back from medical leave.
- Break ins and the rise in homelessness is ongoing.
- 817 944 1316 – Officer Bell’s city cell number
- Always call 911 if in doubt. The same people who answer 911 calls, answer the non-emergency number.
- They have a script of questions to go through to determine priority of calls.
- Weapons? The best answer may be “I don’t know” if you can’t see everything or if the individual has a bag of items, for instance.
- Several meetings have been happening with business coalitions and agencies providing resources to address the homelessness.
- Note that the office building on the corner of Hemphill and Magnolia has their own private security officer on site, but they do also call 911 if there is any immediate need.
- The skate park/ Fire Station Park has a cooling station during the summer, so there may be longer hours of people in the park.
- Code Compliance:
- Not in attendance
- Deputy Constable:
- Not in attendance
- District 9 Representative:
- Anthony Rojas from Councilwoman Beck’s office is in attendance.
- Numerous meetings about homelessness have been had at the city level, especially about
- Reminder to sign up for the district 9 newsletter – Google it and click the big button on the city of Fort Worth website.
- Note that fireworks are illegal in the city of Fort Worth
- Do not call 911 to report
- Call 817 392 4444 or report on My FW App
- ConnectFW.com – Submit budget items, concerns, or projects you want to see prioritized
- Master Transportation Plan – “Moving 1 Million”
- Consolidating all previous master plans and ensuring all needs current are included
- Tomorrow 6/26 4-7 PM Open House at Fire Station Community Center
- New app for the parks department – Download RecFW App for all park related items
- Pet adoption event – July 28 1002 S Main 10AM – 2 PM
- Jail Diversion Center questions for Councilwoman Beck:
- County-funded facility and staffed by Tarrant County deputies
- People from all over Tarrant County can go here
- If someone leaves voluntarily, they walk out into Fort Worth (and sometimes Fairmount)
- According to Anthony, more detailed questions should be directed to the County, since they run the center
- Meetings with the city and county have not been happening
- FNA wants to go through Elizabeth Beck’s office to communicate with the county about the jail diversion center and promises that were made to the community early on
Fort Worth Bites: Taylor
- New idea for Fairmount and Near Southside
- Selecting struggling or new location restaurants, bars, and bakeries to be nominated
- June: King Tut and Lockwood Distilling for June
- June 27 at 6:30 PM – Fairmount neighborhood meet up. To be part of the community table, let Taylor know ahead of time.
- Fairmount Bites Facebook page has 100 people
- $35 for shirts and a pin (but still working on the pin idea)
- fairmountbites@gmail.com – email to join, with shirt size
- If you go to these restaurants at anytime, tag Fairmount Bites
Community Garden Update: Brandon Wilson
- The 2 new plots have been rented out
- Working on transferring 2 perennial plots into rentable plots, going from oldest to newest people on the long waitlist.
- The lock to the shed was cut last week. Likely nothing was stolen since there was nothing to steal, but it was vandalism regardless.
- fairmountcommunitygarden@gmail.com
- Note to attend the garden workshops that are put on as they are very informative.
Community Library Update: Kat Valentine
- Keep the lights on fundraiser mentioned last time was successful and exceeded the goal
- 30 different programs happened in April
- Meowtown Cat Café was this last week – looking to make this a more permanent event
- Any hobby needing a location – come talk to the library about hosting
- Need volunteers during open hours to greet people or check books in. 1-2 hour stints. Reach out via the website.
Note the Si-Na-Ca fundraiser that is on-going. Ice cream social was this past Saturday.
Board Updates:
- Home Tour Update: Andrew Epps
- Biggest money maker for the neighborhood
- Gross: $25,578 – this is $500 less than last year
- Profit: $19,754.17 – this is $2,200 more profit than last year due to trimming down on expenses
- Fourth of July Softball Game: Joe May & Lewis Villanueva
- July 3rd at 6 PM
- Fairmount Ferals vs Ryan Place at Daggett ES
- Festivities start at 6:30, game starts at 7
- One treasury used with Ryan Place and will split totals in the end
- Lots of food trucks will be there –
- Gus’s will be donated.
- Gusto’s and Kona Ice will be there.
- Magnolia Wine is a major sponsor and serving wine and beer.
- Hot dogs will be available.
- Ryan Place working on a DJ potentially.
- FNA has a social budget and may also have a July 4th SB game budget, so we may be able to donate. Will discuss further with the team.
- Last year, about 200 people attended
- Fairmount Ferals are working with Ryan Place to find a singer for the national anthem
- Public Safety:
- Ray is out this week, but Glen notes that he is the most active patroller in Fairmount and could use more volunteers
- Spread awareness about the Code Blue program
Volunteers needed for the FNA Board Nominating Committee:
- FNA cycle begins in end of September
- After home tour, the board needs to look for new board members and start planning the budget for the next year
- Need a nominating committee to look for people to fill board positions. Commitment is 2 meetings in July/ August. This is a great way to get involved with the community without a 2-year commitment.
- 3 general members
- 2 board members
- Board positions to fill: All are 2-year positions, unless noted otherwise
- Communication
- Finance
- Historic Preservation
- Public Safety
- Promotions (1 year)
Dog Park – It is part of Fire station Park and kept up by the city.
June 8 Membership Social was successful (about 30 people, including new people). Ideas for social locations – alternate locations between people’s homes, restaurants, the library, or tack onto the next Fairmount Bites event. FNA could sponsor appetizers, for instance.
Streaming the FNA general meetings on Facebook will continue in the future. Meeting minutes can also be found on the Fairmount website – typically posted on the day after a general meeting.
Adjourn: 7:58 PM
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