Tuesday, May 30, 2006

LONA Meeting Minutes of May 8th, 2006

LONA Meeting Minutes of May 8th, 2006

Meeting Began at 7:04pm

Announcements:

-           We need volunteers for the Sector 3's National Night Out on July 31, and to help with LONA’s National Night Out on August 1st!

-           see April’s Minutes correction - see Meeting Minutes of April 10th, 2006

Burglary / Robbery Report:

-           4 robberies in our area used guns - this is unusual for our area!

-         Lee Rd. doctor’s office had a door damaged in attempted break-in

-         3 more burglaries in the Stenson St. area - very unusual for our area!

NET’s CPO Steve Boily:

-           Lieutenant Wood is still at our NET

-           parking issues and drugs on Michigan St; CPO has conducted "knock and talks"

-         it’s been busy at the NET with the preparations for our "clean sweep" on May 13th

-         CPOs have been busy with illegal gun possession and drug arrests

-         there is a rumor about a special PAC-TAC patrol around the PAETEC Park during their events

-         re: Dana St. - police are working on the situation, re: Sherman St - CPO will stop and visit them

-         please call and give CPOs detailed information to help with drug dealers and loitering, 428-7344

-         Glide St: business owner was chatty/helpful to the prostitutes; he was asked to stop aiding them

-         Property owner on Glide St. was "with" a prostitute when his wife was on her way home

-         710 and 738 Glide St have sex offenders living there

Housing Report:

-         Top 15 List was discussed

-         NET’s Chuck Stechna reported on the progression/regression on work schedules the NET is given by the property owners at various locations

-         wires hanging at railroad tracks are CSX’s; they will remove them from the ground

-         they are from telegraph poles, not RG&E or telephone poles

-         excellent response by NET on Norman St; Mary went to machine shop and got the spill cleaned

-         Emerson/Santee St brick building will be demolished; working on the asbestos right now

NET Report:

-           "Clean Sweep" from 9am-12pm on Saturday May 13th

-         Jose Cruz and Chuck Stechna went to the Genesee St area’s clean sweep last week to prepare for our event

-         refuse is collected from the curb everyday during the week; call NET for big/special pickups

-         there are 40 different project sites planned

-         attendance has been increasing at each clean sweep event; expecting over 600 participants

-         performance by "Airplay" which is a comedy/juggling act

-         t-shirts had to be reordered because of the overwhelming response! (Hurray!)

-         business walks will continue; the police chief required all police at his meeting, so they weren’t able to attend the most recent walk

-         NET office will be open until 8pm on Wednesdays, but only 4 people will be in the office, and inspections can be scheduled up to 6pm on Wednesdays

-         Lyell NET’s regular hours are 8am-5pm on Mon.,Tues., Thurs., and Fri., and Wed. 8am-8pm

-         they are beginning to talk about plans to clean in the fall as well, since this program has been so successful!

-         Lyell Business Association is starting the "Adopt-A-Block" program

-         450 houses have been demolished so far

Bob, LONA Vice-President:

-           tree planted in Sebastian Park, which is near Most Precious Blood Church

-         no changes from last month’s report on re: Brownfield information

Pam, LONA Secretary:

-           attended the LA230 group’s 2-day event; discussed the brainstorming ideas to combat this issue

-         participants voiced interest in raising the penalties for the "johns", especially public notification

-         group members also wanted the penalties raised for first time and repeat prostitution offenders

City Councilman Bob Stevenson:

-           spoke on the success of court watch and the drug court program

-         no public health department for the city of Rochester; went under the Monroe County Board of Health many years ago

-         prostitution is a public health problem; spreads AIDS, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis A & B, and STDs

-         Dr. Andy Doniger was the chairman of the LA 230 sessions; Mr. Stevenson attended both of the 3 hour sessions on Friday night and Saturday morning

-         Mr. Stevenson explained the science behind the problem at Durand Eastman Park Beach; that harmful bacteria prevents safe swimming in the water at the Charlotte Beach most days in the summer months, but those conditions aren’t as prevalent at the Durand location.

-         estimated costs range from $5 - $8 million to open the Durand Beach to public swimming, with all the necessary basic safety needs like life guards, restrooms, and parking

-         the city of Rochester owns the land, but Monroe County operates the park

Monroe County Legislator Carla Palumbo:

-           still working out the details of the county budget; no dispute that a deficit is in the future - how to solve it is up for debate; sales tax increase and "tax intercept" were both possible solutions

-         ideas to restructure how the county sheriff’s department is funded caused conflict between towns that only use sheriff patrols, and those who pay for the dept. but don’t get the same coverage because they also pay for their own town police dept.

-         idea to restructure the water authority’s surplus to help the city was not warmly received

-      idea to streamline village and town courts was instantly met with disdain

Mike, LONA President:

-           fund-raising at the concession area at PAETEC Park; need 2 months advance notice

-         longtime LONA member, Mrs. DiAngelo, passed away; held moment of silence in her honor

Meeting adjourned: 8:22pm

Sunday, May 7, 2006

LONA Meeting Minutes of April 10, 2006

Lyell-Otis Neighborhood Association Meeting Minutes of April 10, 2006

Meeting Began at 7:01pm

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

-         many members are absent as they are attending the mayor’s "1st 100 Days" meeting

HOUSING / PROPERTY INFO:

Top 15 List - the four LONA officers drive the whole LONA area each month to report on code violations and safety concerns

-         drug houses / information is turned over to Officer Minnik at the Lyell NET Office

-         spring clean-up: please volunteer! Our area’s "Clean Sweep" is on Saturday, May 13th

-         meet at the Edgerton Recreation Center at 9am

-         pick up your t-shirt and enjoy a continental breakfast

-         sweep with your team until 1pm, then reconvene to enjoy a picnic lunch

-         garbage will be collected everyday from May 8th - 13th

-         if street light is out, or trees need trimming to clear power/phone lines, call 428-5990

NET NEIGHBORHOOD WALK:

-         was supposed to be from NET office on Lyell Ave to Austin St, up to Otis St, over to Cameron St, and back down Lyell Ave to the NET office

-         this walk did not happen; only walked on Lyell Ave

CORRECTION: The NET is currently walking and talking to the businesses on Lyell Ave. They do intend to walk and talk with neighbors on the residential streets after the businesses project is completed. - Thank you Chuck S. for this correction!

PAETEC PARK:

-         plans to demo homes on Broad, Saratoga, Grape, Smith and other streets to improve the aesthetics of the area

-         the "Clean Sweep" will be working with the PaeTec Park folks as well

-         rumor has it that PaeTec Park will have special PAC-TAC patrols; notyet verifiable

BURGLARY / ROBBERY REPORT:

-         3 incidents where a gun was involved; Rockview Terrace location was a repeat; happened while resident was unloading groceries after work at 1am

SEX OFFENDERS:

-         two more Level 2's moved into our neighborhood; Edgardo Ortiz and Jonathan Mallory

DRUG HOUSES:

-         "what to do" info sheet distributed to meeting attendees

-         NOTE: do NOT approach the house!

-         CPO Steve Boily is new to our NET office, but has worked in our area for 10 years in Maple Section, Josana and Westside area

-         looked forward to becoming involved in our neighborhood group

-         contact him at 428-7344 (Officer Vaghn’s old number)

-         Michigan St drug house has lots of cars, people counting money and passing items back & forth inside cars or in front of house (left of downstairs apt.), all different times of day

-         parking on wrong side of street; this is happening all over our neighborhood!

-         Makes it very difficult for other cars and school buses to pass; one offender is the handicapped van service that is there between 3pm-3:30pm near Bloss and Saratoga Sts

NEW MEETING LOCATION / CALENDER INFORMATION:

-         next year’s meeting location will be the Lyell Branch Library

-         there will be a big kick off on August 14th, 2006

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT:

-         Our LONA neighborhood’s event will be on the official National Night Out on Tuesday, August 1st

-         Our entire Sector’s event will be the day before, Monday, July 31st at the Edgerton Recreation Center

BROWNFIELD INFO:

-         1 ½ years ago, Sector 3's Brownfield areas were discussed / studied

-         12 properties in our sector (only a few in the LONA area) had been condemned / contaminated

-         there had been previous ideas on how to clean and how to improve the environment

-         find out more about this online at: http://www.nyswaterfronts.com/BOA_package.asp

COOKBOOKS:

-         books are still available for only $6.00

UPDATE FROM SUSAN JOHN’S OFFICE:

-         the budget was passed on-time for the second year in a row!

-         funds were requested to send LONA rep to PAC-TAC convention

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS:

-         Any Lieutenant at the NET yet? - no, there is a rumor that a Sargent will be assigned soon, as a regular officer does not have the authority to arrange other officers for needed operations

-         RE: PAC-TAC; if you want to join, call the NET office; a copy of the information from previous convention - which was over 500 pages of items, went to the CPO at the NET, another copy went to LARC; a report should be given to the group

-         there hadn’t been any follow up on the "school report" or the "safety for children report"

CAMERON COMMUNITY MINISTRIES:

-         lunch program is serving more people;up 17% in the past six months

-         met with NET’s new administrator, Jose Cruz

-         Mayor Duffy is planning to visit CCM before the end of April 2006

-         State Senator Robach is the honorary chair of their fund-raising golf tournament

Meeting Adjourned at 8:31pm