WPA General Monthly Meeting Minutes

WPA General Monthly Meeting Minutes Monday, January 5, 2015 Start Time: 7:30pm

Meeting Location: St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church 155 North St. Jersey City, NJ 07307

Attendees: Nick Caballero - President Tony Bianchini – Guest John McKeegan – Guest Mory Thomas – Trustee Vilma Cabrera – Trustee Lianna Grey – Trustee Officer LaBruno – Guest Cynthia Renta – Guest Bob Boudreau – Trustee Tom Tredway – Guest Lucas Gordon – Member Lisa Blando – Trustee Jay McVey – Trustee Peter Basso – Member Doug Fleisher – Member Eric Nadler – Member Terri Neuner – Secretary Wendy Paul – Vice President

Quorum Present December 1, 2014 General Monthly Meeting Minutes have been ratified

President’s Report - Met with River View Arts District Spearhead group to continue dialog on Palisade Ave Re-zoning, Re-redevelopment or Rehabilitation. Group split into 2 groups one to help catalog existing dwellings and structures and the other to help with community out-reach. - Prepared the final LAP Grant report for 2014 (WPLIVE) and Submit the report on December 6th to the HC Division of Cultural Affairs with the Assistance for the remaining 25% balance owed to the WPA of $1,250. Special thanks to Katherine Crawford-Gray and other trustees. for their assistance and input during the process.

- Met with Jo Cechinni, Randy Vonier and Charlene Burke regarding the payouts of the green Acres Grant and the Picnic area project.

- Had a phone call with Director Richardson regarding MITP2016 and the possibility of the WPA heading up the Series again this year. I shared with her that the board would discuss and vote on it.

- Prepared NJ Charities Registration and met with our new accountant several times to get our 990 Tax return submit and a copy was for the WPA permanent files before the renewal was put in the mail by WPA VP Wendy Paul on 12/31/14.

Note - Our new Treasurer and I will be working with Katherine and possibly and new accountant to enable us to submit early returns.

Vice President Report -Attended Hudson County Legends Ball honoring Gary Greenberg Principal at Great Futures Charter High School, also WPA planting partner

-Also attended a Hudson County Chamber of Commerce Meeting; in 2015 there will be a focus on non profit chamber members

Treasurer's Report 1.5.15 - Nick Caballero for Ben Duronio

- AIG $1,000 match guaranteed 12.30.14 - Annual Budget to be distributed next week

Secretary’s Report

- As whole, Increased time and organization needed due to the additional team members. We’ve basically doubled in size. We will also work to enhance some of the general monthly processes for meetings and communications. - Process improvements and basic monthly tasks. This will continue over the next few weeks as we get more acclimated to the increased team size into 2015. - As new process improvements are implemented, all will be notified. - Working with Nick through out the month to organize 2014 files and required documents. - Snowball – Arthouse Productions – - Please sign in.

Police Report - Officer LaBruno Compstat stat period: 11/16/14-12/13/14

Total Adult Arrests: 94 Guns Recovered in time frame: 0 Total guns recovered 2014: 13 Shootings/Shots fired: 0 Stabbings: 0 Moving Violations: 417 Parking Violations: 340 Curfew Violations: 2 City Ordinance Violations: 108 Grand total Summonses in time frame: 865

Jay McVey – Question - 3 Shots outside of Supremo? Corner of South and Palisade – Juvenile robberies Before holidays – a lot of Juveniles activity/ robberies No fights today

Peter Basso – Time of year with spike of graffiti. Do we still have a response team. **Who is in charge f the Mayors quality of life? Oran Dabney**

7:49 Recognize Priscilla Renta Mory Thomas 2nd

CPG - Clean up of the Passaic River - Issues with parks along river - Map showing part of river that will be cleaned. - Cleaning will pull out 2 feet of sediment and replace with clay. - This is not the best way to clean. - Primary polluter – Diamond Alkali factory – Used to make Agent Orange for Vietnam war - Cleaning by Lyndurst will create traffic issues for the next 2 decades. - 1.7 Billion $ to complete. - Rail travel, roads and roads will be affected - Boating groups have expressed their concerned - “Cap” is a mixture of sand and concrete to create barrier between bottom of river and water/ humans… - 10 bridges throughout area would be affected. - Old bridges 100+ years old. - Must be raised and lowered for barges - EPA plan to dredge entire river - CPG has identified hotspots which could be focused on. - Title river - Peter Basso – Why are you here? o We can help? Hudson County is directly affected by this. Talk to o What is the Source of 1.7 Billion $ - Occidental – PRP – o Has EPA done similar projects? – No. Closest thing is Hudson River. o What happens if we leave the river the way it is? Hotspots would not be recovered. No clean refill in o EPA - Creating false perception of creating jobs. Union workers and some out of state workers. o Are the ports involved? – Not as far as they know. o Fish exchange program. o Where is the group’s expertise from? o Who is involved? Turn of century a lot of manufacturing used to be on the river. BASF, Honeywell, Sun Microsoft. When these companies purchased, they took on liabilities. o Lyndhurst program, Riverside County Park pilot, o CPG is looking for other ways to clean. o Alternate budget 30-40 million $’s o CPG reach out to community to see what they want. o What are next steps. Call your senators and work with the EPA. o CPG wants WPA to support the idea. o Guanas Canal is an example of another large scale river bed dredge.

o Top benefits . More pollutants out of the river faster . Method without serious disruption to people. Less disruptive.

Committee Discussion Grant Writing: (search for grants to support WPA programs and organizational needs: staffing, etc.) Vilma, Liana, Beverly, Katherine, Wendy, Priscilla Website/Newsletters: Vilma, Liana, Lisa, Terri, Membership: (membership drive, PayPal buttons, follow-up with new members, welcome packet, Vilma, Terri, Wendy Diversity: (build a relationship with other ethnic community groups, partnerships for WPA programs) Liana, Lisa, Wendy, Nick, Priscilla Fundraising(ers)/Sponsorships: (cultivate community reinvestment staff from banks, sponsors and donors, Foundation Search) Liana, Beverly, Katherine, Robert, Wendy, Nick WPLIVE: (set time and action calendar, break committee into areas of focus, hire a project manager) Erin, Wendy, Nick, Priscilla Arts District: (PS 8 partnership, Palisade Ave zoning, JC Fridays, Artist in Resident Program, Artist Live work spaces, gallery) Erin, Beverly, Terri, Irene, Robert, Nick, Priscilla Sustainability: (Planting In The Park Program, Rain Gardens, Tree & plant selections -- Overlap with Art and Diversity) Erin, Beverly, Irene, Mory, Robert, Priscilla Nominating Committee: (Cultivate new and influential trustees and officers for succession planning) Lisa, Terri, Parking Pilot Program: (Pilot program for the area surrounding WP that’s been directly impacted by the Irene, Nick, Peter

Terri Neuner - Motion to table Fundraising – 2nd Wendy Paul

Green Acres Peter Basso - Put in Oct / Nov supplemental funds – New update – - Meeting with parks division – Tax obligations – Dir. Advised that we have funds, but has not followed through. - He has been asked to get specific.

Motion to Table JC Friday – Nick Caballero – 8:53pm - Mural Project - Place Making - Vote to join JCP Cooperative - 2nd Terri Neuner

Visitor- YMCA Afterschool programming Through Jersey Looking for mentors – Mostly Men JC satellite office – St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Problems facing Liberty State Park – Assemblyman Secaucus- Under control of Hacksack Meadowlands consolidation – Threat to Liberty State Park. Battle to commercialize the park. Part of legislation – take funds from LSP business and gives to Meadowlands. Star Ledger article.

Eric Nadler- Discussed FabLab. JCfablab.com Jan 15th Open house 3pm- 8:30pm ½ day for Public School System Open 195 New York Ave – 4th Floor

Cynthia Renta – Creativity – Artist or anyone who want to unblock their Creativity Jan 10th Sat 1-3pm Indiegrove - 120 Newark Ave

Motion to Adjourn 9:03pm 2nd – Terri Neuner