Meeting Notes: General Membership – January 22, 2024

Attendees: See sign in sheet

Minutes:

Call to order: 7:00 PM

Andrew Epps welcomed and called the first meeting of 2024 to order.

Officer Updates:

• NPO (Neighborhood Police Officer) – Officer Bell (Temporarily, Ryan Rockwell)
  • Officer Ryan Rockwell is filling in for Officer Bell while she is on medical leave. This is temporary for about 2 more weeks. His phone number is: 817-988-1042.
  • Shooting on Elizabeth Ave. on January 15, across from Daggett Park:
    • Suspected vehicle is a grey 4 door sedan. Shots from a 9mm gun were taken from the car and caused damage to a house.
    • The incident seems random, but there is an assigned detective working on it.
    • Ryan to follow up and let the neighborhood know once there are any updates. The PD has watched lots of camera footage from the day and time, but it was dark and hard to see.
  • 30 offenses for January total. 1 violent crime (the shooting)
  • Don’t leave stuff in your cars. If nothing of note is visible inside the car, people will typically leave it alone and move on.
  • Not in the neighborhood, but there was a burglary recently at the 2901 Travis Ave apartments. Note to not enter your house if you notice that something is awry. Call the cops to clear your house, just to be safe, in case someone is still in your house when you get home.
  • There was a robbery on Allen Ave gas station. The incident was a homeless guy trying to steal some food, but since he touched the clerk, it is officially considered a “robbery”.
• Anthony from Councilwoman Beck’s Office:
  • Send an email to councilwoman Beck’s office if you have any questions/ comments/ issues.
  • Community engagement for the 2026 bond will be starting this year. Sign up for the District 9 newsletter on the city’s website to get updates on this. Email blasts will be sent every 2 weeks on Mondays.  

Community Garden Updates:

• Nothing much is going on since the recent cold weather.

President’s Welcome:

• There will be lots of good stuff coming up in 2024, so stay tuned.
• We will be focusing on building committees around the directors this year and will be needing volunteers for various items, depending on your interest.
• Note that directors serve 2-year terms (odd and even year terms)

FNA Promotions Director Update – Kelci Cox:

• Kelci has recently moved away from the neighborhood and will be stepping away from the Promotions position but will be serving as a consultant.
• Let Kelci and/ or Andrew know if you are interested in stepping into the Promotions position or helping in any way.
• There are approximately 18 months left on this director term, since it just started late last year.
• Planning Home Tour is a big part of this position:
  • Home Tour planning (Mother’s Day weekend) has started already.
  • Next week, Tuesday, January 30^th at 6PM at Rosen House: The first Home Tour Committee meeting. Announcements to be sent out via communications channels.

Director Spotlight: Communications Director – Cristina Gore:

• Communications responsibilities include keeping up with social media (Facebook & Instagram), the FNA website, emails, and newsletters (print & digital)
• 1800 copies of the last newsletter were distributed through the community. There will be many future opportunities to help with newsletter distribution.
• We welcome any volunteers interested in communication and marketing, design, or have any interest in contributing a story or written piece to the newsletter.
  Email communications@historicfairmount.com with anything.

Director Updates:

• Finance – Lauren Wu:
  • FNA made $3,300 from this past Festivus. This is $800 more than the year before.
  • Festivus is also put on by Promotions.
  • $1,500 will be donated to One Safe Place. This donation is separate from any direct donations made to One Safe Place.
• Communications – Cristina Gore:
  • Girls Night Out is tomorrow (Tuesday, January 23) at 7PM at Cristina’s house. BYOB and bring a snack or treat to share.
• Public Safety – Ray and Carol Feyen:
  • Public Safety director works closely with the NPOs and police department
  • Call for volunteers for Citizens on Patrol. Contact Ray for more information. Receive training from the PD and a one-day course.
  • Beginning March 5^th, FWPD is putting on a Citizen’s Police Academy.
    • 12-week course, where you go once a week to the police HQ and listen to a 1–2-hour lecture on a specific department to gain a better understanding of how the PD works.
    • Free, but need to apply. Contact Ray for more information.
    • At the old police department on College St by the river (6-9PM)
    • Med star and the Tarrant County prosecutors used to have a 12-week courses pre-pandemic.
• Membership – Barbara Crotty:
  • The responsibility of the Membership director is to keep a database of membership, make welcome packets for new residents, and put on monthly neighborhood socials.
  • The membership committee includes 2 people – one each for putting together welcome packets and keeping up the membership spreadsheets.
  • Current 2024 membership is 61.
  • 2023 membership total was 130.
  • Memberships all renew on January 1^st. Remind your neighbors to renew.
  • The February social will be Sunday, February 25^th as part of the Cowtown Marathon Cheer Station, like last year.
    • We will provide mimosas and set up a bounce house (from the Firestation Park). Additional ideas are welcome – send to Barbara.
    • Martin and Linda typically help with the day-of set up.
    • Brenda works on the marathon set-up through the whole city.
    • Breakfast from Waffle House to be provided.
    • Runners come through Fairmount Park about 8AM – noon ish.
    • Cheer station, portapotties, and DJ typically provided by the marathon.
    • The park is not an official water station, but Martin will typically make sure that water is provided.
    • This station is about a halfway point for the marathon and important for runner morale.

Misc:

• Infrastructure – Kristin Klade:
  • Working on getting a third quote for the new sign at the green space on Allen Ave.
  • Make sure to be reporting any infrastructure issues on the My FW App. This helps the city with planning for the 2026 bond coming up.
• Historic Preservation – Preston Patry:
  • Coming up around March, we will begin 2024 imaging of the neighborhood.
    • This will be 3-4 photos of each house.
    • Volunteers will be needed. More info to come when we get closer to the date.
    • We need to keep images of all homes so that the neighborhood has a record of any exterior changes or modifications made to homes.

Adjourn: 7:50 PM