Beautification Committee

Beautification Committee Meeting 3/8/22 Present: Sam Fiore, Mary Ellen Halliwell, Sandi Powers, Brooke Nagle, Micaela Guglielmi Guests: Councilor Andy Varela, Lucy Sprague, Jeremy Baker, Janis Manning, Charlene Bailey, Pam Shelton, Ari Lema-Driscoll, Margaret Charles February minutes were approved. Traffic Island Review  Sandi’s Notes: March is a good possibility for beginning island cleanups and we shall be out there as soon as there is a guaranteed warm day promised. Riley Plaza and Temperance Park (Father Matthew’s abode on corner of Hawthorne and Derby) are the two main possibilities. Probably a warm day at end of March, with all tools available – rakes big and small, pruners, floral shovels (you know, those small, lady-like utensils, that look like a big trowel with a long handle - great for edging or digging up weeds, planting, etc.), garden forks, loppers, scarifiers (claws with handles), brooms, dustpans. The essentials are a pruner, rake, and shovel, and of course gloves, water, hat. Sandi’s trunk is usually full of extras as well as trash bags. Dress warmly and be prepared to peel. We have received several T.I. volunteer offers, Margaret Charles and Mike Hiltunen among them, and it looks like we’ll have a good crew to keep up with the many demands these gardens, and the weather, can make on us. Youth and added expertise will make up for Sandi’s enlarging list of shortcomings. Because of the short staffing of the DPW last year, I have suggested that they the not water any of the gardens this year. Therefore, the only sponsors who should pay for water this year are those who sponsor gardens with irrigation. A little history: Last year none of the sponsors who paid for water, with no irrigation in place, got what they paid for. Let’s not repeat history; nothing indicates staffing will improve this year. Sponsors are to be encouraged to plant smarter in the middle of all that asphalt – extra loam and mulch and hardier plants. April gardening intensifies, and Memorandums of Understand (MOU’s) are revised and are sent to all last year’s sponsors as well as anyone else who has expressed interest. Islands are to be planted by end of May: i.e., before the long, hot days of summer set in; and signs are put out by the City as each island is planted, not before. Our committee does what it can to encourage sponsors to pay attention to this. ALSO DISCUSSED:  Out of the 35 islands, 10 are maintained by the Traffic Island Committee because the sponsor pays for it.  Micaela emailed Gabe to make sure he has the supplies to make repairs and new signs. Has not heard back yet, will call him.  Do we have a budget? Yes, $18,000.  Charlene mentioned an island by Jefferson, Canal and Loring needs attention – the City is responsible for that island. Micaela asked if she could send a photo.  Brooke mentioned she could help to make a map of all the gardens.  Mill Hill Traffic Island Planting honoring soldiers in the service will be replaced this year using the $4,000 set aside when it was eliminated to accommodate the ongoing construction. Otherwise, the state tends to assign the funds elsewhere at the end of the fiscal year in July. Lady of Salem  Mary Ellen gave a history of the project for our guests.  Mary Ellen’s notes: Refurbishment of figureheads begins.  a.) 3 Ladies & backboard painted b.) Supplies & decorative elements purchased c.) Repairs and restoration of remaining 15 Ladies starts (? Wed. 3/9) 2.) Artist Kenneth Glover is sponsoring and designing new LoS for 2022 ($400 paid to SBC) to represent his business. 3.) Kate Fox, Destination Salem & Kylie Sullivan, Main Streets contacted. LoS photos and background information provided for inclusion in City of Salem app/ website and social media. Two framed LoS posters will be gifted to Kate & Kylie. (15 posters left) 4.) Creative Collective is collaborating with Main Streets on the June Art Festival. A brochure is no longer printed. LoS is on their social media radar for the festival. TBC  Have you contacted the Salem Arts Association? They were not interested.  Can we use the posters for fundraising and to promote the project? Maybe at the Maritime Festival or Arts Festival. We could do a coloring page of the Ladies.  Can we reactivate the website if someone could sponsor the $100 to keep it running? We will look into this more. In the meantime, please follow the Lady of Salem Facebook page. Guest Margaret Charles volunteered to help with reintroducing a LoS website. Clean Sweeps Day  May 14th will be a good date to avoid Mother’s Day.  Micaela gave background of the event– groups pick an area of the City to clean. Everyone goes to the Common to pick up tools, lots of kids so we had a pizza party. Pizza is not necessary; we can do individually wrapped snacks.  Micaela needs DPW support for this event to happen. Sandi thinks they are understaffed but it is still doable. We will have to scale back from what we used to do.  If we do not have DPW support, we can’t do the event like we used to. But maybe instead we promote the event to businesses and have them do an extra sweep/clean in front of their establishments on the 14th.  We should involve the Keep Salem Beautiful (KSB) Group.  We should get the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary involved. Councilor Varela offered to talk to Rinus, head of the Chamber and Kylie from Salem Main Streets. Brooke offered to make a half flyer. We could also partner with John Andrews from the Creative Collective. Other  The Plant Sale will not happen the way it has in the past. Brooke has been waiting to hear back from the “food truck with plants” which handles mostly houseplants with some outdoor plants. They could maybe set up at Clean Sweeps Day or get a slot at the Farmers Market IN JUNE. We  could sell lemonade and bring our own plants. Councilor Varela offered his support to donate some plants from his farm.  Mill Hill traffic island has $4,000 set aside for that island specifically. Micaela will work with Kate from DPW to get this spent in a timely manner.  Sandi mentioned she will check in with Senator Joan Lovely’s team re BCOMM’s Mass Senate recognition which has not yet appeared in Salem News, Patch, Wicked Local etc.  It was offered that a secretary needs to be appointed to the committee.