Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council

Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, January 10, 2018 7:00 P.M. City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street, 3rd Floor Meeting Began 7:03pm Members Present: Pat Liberti, Anne Sterling, Wendy Meigs, Jerry Smith, Lucy Corchado, Jim Kearney, Barbara Guests: Rich Hamel & Victor Olivera- residents of Washington Square Staff Present: Laura Assade (Director of Constituent Services & Latino Affairs – Mayors office) Approval of December 13, 2017 Meeting minutes: Approved Pat made motion to approve minutes, Anne seconded the motion. Public Comment: Traffic Light on Washington Square and Winter Street Never Changes - green only Where does the City stand with PEM? Parking area on the bypass road near the old jail, the kiosk is covered in plastic bag. Is it free parking? Who’s enforcing that area? Reports were made of areas near Pequot Highlands and other sidewalks in the city that have not been shoveled. Council Updates: -Route 107 Federal funds were approved, still waiting on funds. Cinema world conversation is back on the agenda. The developer wants to meet with Councillor Flynn privately however the Councillor suggested that the residents in the neighborhood be involved. Endicott street working on re-routes of streets and looking forward to meeting the new ward 2 & 3 councilors. Point Neighborhood is experiencing excessive ticketing and towing (other neighborhoods not experiencing similar issue but expressed similar violations…ex. Parking within 20 ft of a curb). PNA to hold a 3-king’s day celebration on 1/20/18 1-3:30pm at Espacio. Meetings will continue to be held at 135 Lafayette St however additional programing will be at Espacio located on Palmer and Congress intersection. Fairest Development Project is underway. All members were invited to meeting on January 18th. Derby Street looking for information or any update on what is happening at the Power plant. Reported some steam tests that were conducted after 7pm, and would like to know what is the completion time of all projects. Also, has had issues with other folks parking on resident parking zones, blocking driveways, parking near the corners and not being ticketed or towed; at time police are not showing up. Commons neighborhood is hosting a Sunday brunch at the Hawthorne Hotel…all are invited. Neighborhood had put in a CPA Fund request to complete the Arch Carving reproduction. Looking to have that project complete by the muster if not by spring. Looking for the city’s help to do a traffic flow study near the commons. Neighbors are very happy with traffic flow changes that were made near Witch House and would like a study done on surrounding areas. Neighborhood is working with Hawthorne hotel to see if they could extend the lighting in front of their hotel to other areas closer to commons. Also working on Historical bench replacement project as well as revisiting plans to restore damaged areas of the fence around the commons park. City Updates: • Public Hearing for the FY19 CDBG Action Plan takes place on January 18, 6pm, at 120 Washington Street. • The City received a roughly $390,000 state grant to retrofit interior and exterior lighting at fives schools to LED fixtures, a move that will save about $32,000 on the district’s annual electric bills and reduce our carbon emissions by 179 metric tons per year. You may see work through the end of January taking place at the Bowditch, Bates, Witchcraft Heights, Carlton, and Collins as part of this. • Reminder that the City’s plastic bag ban is now in effect. When shopping in Salem, please remember to bring a reusable bag with you. • Waste Management will continue to collect Christmas trees curbside the week of January 15th, on your regularly scheduled trash pick-up day. • Still experiencing delays in trash and recycling pick up due to the storm and snow removal efforts • Invite from Bridge at 211 President Dale Yale- January 20th Discussion on use of the facility. • On behalf of Salem Youth Commission- thanked council for their willingness to work with the youth and giving them that opportunity to have dialogues with their neighbors. Next Meeting: Wednesday, February 14th 2018, 7:00pm Adjournment: 8:30pm