December 2009 Minutes

Welcome by Bill Davis

Announcements by Bill Davis:

• Welcome new board members - Click here to see last month's minutes.

• Proposed updates to bylaws - Click here to see last month's minutes.
  

Business by Bill Davis:

• Motion to accept proposed bylaws - Passed.

Mayor's Office Update by Shawn McDonough:

• Mayor's Office Hot Topics - click here to view all the topics.

• Shop locally - Support small businesses & decrease motor vehicle emissions.

• Downtown streetcars - Downtown city streets, once the site of bustling trolleys, may soon be the home of streetcars. The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City will host an open house to seek comment on several routes being considered for an initial downtown streetcar line. The public is invited to attend the open house on Monday, Dec. 7 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. on the First Floor of the City & County Building, 451 South State Street.
  
  
• Public safety building - Salt Lake City residents are invited to a community workshop to discuss site evaluation and analysis for the new public safety building. Earlier this year the City hosted 11 open houses regarding the location of the proposed public safety building. Ten potential sites were presented to the public for review. Based on the information gathered and evaluated this past spring and summer, the preferred site was Block 35 Plat B (the block on the east side of 300 East between 400 and 500 South). Public participation is encouraged at the workshop which will be held Monday, Dec. 7 at the Salt Lake City Main Library, 212 East 400 South, Conference Rooms A, B and C, from 6 to 8:30 in the evening.
  

• Free parking - Downtown parking meters are bagged to allow free parking for the holidays.
  

Salt Lake Police Department Update by Detective Potter:

• Crime stats for November - Click here to view the report (we are the column labeled "PEF"). Car prowls went way up the day after Thanksgiving. Keep your packages out of sight in the car and lock your car doors, especially in parking lots.

• Winter driving tips - Keep tire pressure at the maximum recommended amount for your tires. This will give you the optimal traction on slippery roads in cold weather. If you are driving on a wet road in cold weather, watch the tires of the car in front of you - if you see water or snow flipping off the tires, then the road is just wet and not frozen. If the road appears wet, but there is no liquid flipping off the tires, then black ice is present on the road.
  

Open forum:

• Pet crematorium on Major Street - There is neighborhood opposition to a proposed pet crematorium at 1727 Major Street. Click here to see and article about it in the Salt Lake Tribune. Hopefully we will have a representative of the crematorium at our January meeting.

• Taylor Springs - Housing construction continues at 1812 West Temple. They are anticipating having the units completed and occupied by next fall.

• Lighting on West Temple - Bill included lighting upgrades in his recent Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) application for our area. Read more about the CIP here.
  

Thank you to all who attended!

Meeting Minutes - November 2009

Welcome

Announcements

• Proposition One ($125 million bond proposal for a new public safety complex) garnered a large margin of victory on November 3, with 66% of voters saying “yes". Congratulations to our police, fire, & emergency workers! The actual site of the new complex is still under negotiation - the proposed site east of the library is not a done deal yet. Other sites are still being investigated. The average property tax increase for a homeowner, per year, will be $75 for this new complex.
• Bike lanes on Main Street will not happen this year. Contractors encountered problems removing the existing painted lines from the street - their removal method was causing excessive damage. The project has been put on hold for the time being and should be completed in the spring. The existing four lanes of traffic (two each way) will be converted to a middle turning lane, one car lane going each direction, and one bike lane going each direction.
  

Police Update from Detective Potter

• With baseball season over, we can expect crime (especially car prowls & graffiti) to continue to decrease. The vast majority of car prowls over the last few months were perpetrated in parking lots associated with the ball park.
• All (of the few) car prowls that happened away from the ball park involved a valuable item such as a purse, wallet, computer, or iPod left in plain sight in the car. Avoid being a victim! Don't leave stuff in your car in plain sight - and lock your car doors.
• A temporary, solar-powered speed monitor has been implemented on northbound West Temple, near 1800 South. This was done in response to complaints of cars speeding through this section of West Temple.
  

October crime stats for People's Freeway District:
Arson = 1, same as September
Aggravated Assault = 4, down from 6 in September
Burglary = 12, same as September
Car Prowl = 23, up from 22 in September
Car Strip = 3, down from 5 in September
Robbery = 3, down from 7 in September
Sexual Assault = 0, down from 2 in September
Stolen Vehicle = 3, same as September
Vandalism = 18, down from 24 in September
Weapon Drive By = 0, down from 1 in September

Open Forum

• How can we get improved street lighting? There is not really any money in the city budget for improvements like this right now. However, Community Council chair Bill Davis is currently putting together a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) application for our area, and he will include this in the application. You can read more about the CIP here.

• Palmer Court is at full occupancy, and things are going well. The Road Home is working closely with police to resolve any problems that occur.
  

Discussion of proposed updates to Community Council bylaws

• A number of minor changes were proposed, mostly fixing odd wording and clarifying existing bylaws.
• Renaming our area from "People's Freeway" to "Ballpark". General consensus is that the name "People's Freeway" is quite vague and does not really help define our community. Spring Mobile ball park is the second most-used sports facility in Utah (after Energy Solutions Arena), and is centrally located within our Council boundaries, giving our area a name that is much more tangible.
• Eliminating the Executive Board, and instead granting the Board the ability to create specialized committees as needed. Any such committee would be announced in monthly Community Council meetings, and regular updates on the committees actions will also be provided to the Council.
• Changing election terms for board members to a staggered system, so an election is held each year, for two (or three) board members at a time. This would prevent turnover of the entire board at the same time.
• As of November 2010, the chair must a resident of the area. Remaining four board members can be residents, business owners, or property owners.
• New proposed bylaws will be posted on this site for review, and will be voted on at the next Community Council meeting.

Election of new board members

• Bill Davis re-elected as chair. Bill owns a business, as well as rental properties in our area. He has served us well for the last two years, and has agreed to stay on for another year.
  
• Jessica Berrett re-elected as vice chair. Jessica is a resident of the area for five years, and has been active on the Council during that time - including representing our Community Council on the advisory board for the Palmer Court project.
  
• Sach Combs elected as vice chair. Sach (pronounced "Sash") is a resident of the area for six years. He supports changing the name of our area, and is looking forward to being active on the Community Council board.
• Elke Phillips elected as vice chair. Elke is a resident of the area for seven years, and lives close to our northern boundary. She is enjoying her involvement with the recently constructed community garden, Peoples Portable Garden, at 200 West 900 South.
  
• Bryan Berrett elected as Secretary. Bryan has been, and will continue to manage the Community Council website, email mailing list, and minutes from monthly meetings.

Thank you to all who attended!