MINUTES

HOLS board meeting
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Paige’s apartment

Who’s at the table?

Ransom
Stone
Allen
Paige
Adam
Katy
Ashley
Jules
John

Old business

Approve previous meeting minutes:
1. July 2019 minutes

New business

October meeting: State of the Neighborhood (Paige & Katy):
1. Venue: Davis Theater
2. Date: Saturday, 10/26
3. ACTION ITEM: Paige & Katy to start dividing and conquering this week the email list to invite speakers. Start local, alderman first.
Treasurer’s report (Allen):
1. Allen filed/renewed our non-profit status.
2. Have about $1,600 in funds.
3. Still looking for solid membership reconciliation & renewal process.
4. Considering offering a year-end discount, maybe $30 that will cover Oct. 2019 - Dec. 2020.
Committee shenanigans
1. Beautification (Ashley)
  1. Planting days- The Beautification Days at Giddings & Oakley in September went extremely well.
    1. 9 people showed up to volunteer on Saturday.
    2. Smaller crew showed up for the really hard root removal on Sunday but everything worked out.
  2. Funding needs for the Beautification Days --
    1. We got $80 in donations online for plants through our social media/email ask.
    2. We had a $150 budget originally.
    3. The project when fully built out was estimated to be $800.
    4. But THANKS TO SO MANY AMAZING DONORS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS AND BUSINESSES, it cost only approximately $100. What an amazing, supportive community we live in.
    5. Thank you to the Rockwell Gardening Group.
    6. A BIG THANK YOU as well to City Grange Gardening Center and Lamanda Joi.
    7. Ransom is working on a beautiful sign to recognize the beautification project.
  3. Future projects-
    1. Learning from this project, for future projects to remain viable/successful we will need members to nominate locations then water and maintain the areas after the project is installed.
    2. So if any members have any desired locations they’d like to see beautified, contact our beautification committee.
    3. ACTION ITEM: Paige to add page to website for our gardening/beautification efforts.
2. Planning & Development (Adam, Stone, Jules, Paige)
  1. First developer presentation & discussion
    1. The first meeting took place to discuss the parking lot next to Roots about a dispute over Affordable Housing requirements.
    2. 14 people attended
    3. Committee is looking to having additional meetings in the future without developer presentations that will focus on education and policy review to strengthen the committee.
    4. Reaching out to find out about any future developer presentations in the pipeline.
    5. One developer has tried to reach out directly to the Association President, but we redirected them to the Alderman.
  2. Leland Greenway involvement
    1. Community Presentation: 9/24, Dank Haus, 6 pm
    2. ACTION ITEM: Paige to email out the comments to the Board from the Walking Tour of the Greenway before the community meeting.
  3. Interaction with 47th ward ZAC and 40th/47th ward in general
    1. Didn’t discuss this meeting.
  4. Future initiatives
    1. Western Brown Line plaza- didn’t discuss this meeting.
    2. Other Master Plan stuff
      1. ACTION ITEM: Adam is to reach out to the SSA to ask about getting Teska & Associates to give a presentation about the master plan.
3. Outreach/fundraising
  1. First outreach committee meeting
    1. 5 people in attendance.
    2. Social Media and other discussions took place.
    3. Held the meeting at Ravenswood Station and it was a big hit with its $3.99 all-you-can-eat spaghetti.
    4. Committee will be looking for another potential meeting in the future.
  2. Informal events
    1. Maybe looking at Safety Meetings in the future or at minimum sharing with membership the Beat Meetings held by CPD #19 & #20.
    2. Katy will continue to monitor even the Nextdoor app to share those meetings if safety concerns pop up.
    3. ACTION ITEM: Katy to email Sheila to start scheduling some Happy Hours.
  3. Meeting/partnering with other neighbor associations
    1. Didn’t discuss this meeting.
4. Paige cried at 8:04 pm with tears of happiness of how well the committees are working this year.
Communications
1. What’s your take on how often we are communicating with members?
  1. Newsletter
    1. Everybody thinks it is good.
    2. Monthly is great.
    3. Keep up the great work.
  2. Social Media
    1. If the board needs anything posted, send to Paige and either she will post it or will teach you how.
[TIME PERMITTING] Survey to current opt-ins RE: HOLS in 2019
1. Review current results
2. Brainstorm based on findings
  1. Do survey at year-end and spin more to the positive:
    1. What event did you enjoy this year?
    2. What event did you attend?
    3. By the way, you want to renew for 2020?
Miscellaneous discussion + airing of grievances
1. Some discussion started over the possibility of a holiday party or gathering in January when everyone’s schedule starts to calm.