Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council

Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, March 13, 2019 7:00 P.M. City Hall Annex, 98 Washington Street Called to Order: 7:00 p.m. Members Present: Christy Evans (MPNA), Barbara Mank and Jodie Salasny (DNA), Barbara Mann (GESNA), Mira Riggin and Wendy Meigs (HDSNA), Meg Riccardi and Anne Sterling (NSNFNA), Dennis Colbert (BCWNA), Flora Tonthat (BSNNA), Cindy Jerzylo (WNA), Jerry Smith (SCNA) Staff Present: Dominick Pangallo (Office of Mayor Driscoll) Approval of February 13, 2019 Meeting minutes: Approved Public Comment: None Special Guest: David Greenbaum, newly appointed Health Agent for the City of Salem, introduced himself and talked about his background and experience, his previous work for the City in the department, and the department’s current work. He took questions from members relative to: grease on the sidewalk near the Salem House of Pizza, trash barrels left out at Kokeshi, vaping concerns among teens and children, recreational marijuana, short-term rentals and rental inspections, sanding and scraping paint, and noise complaints. Special Guest: Keegan Whitehair and Laura Swanson from Sail Salem spoke with the members and shared information about the program, a summer sailing camp for Salem and area youth based out of Winter Island. They took questions about programming, camper safety, costs and scholarships, dates for the 2019 summer season, and community partnerships. Neighborhood Association Updates: o MPNA: Planning is coming together for candidate forums for Councillor-at-Large and Ward 6. o DNA: Next meeting is 3/19 at Turners with Rinus from the Chamber and Kylie from Salem Main Streets, talking about the changing face of Salem business. Planning for a potential Council candidates forum in September. o HDSNA: Planning for an October Ward 1 Councillor forum. Last meeting had David Kucharsky and David Knowlton to talk about planned sidewalk and road work anticipated for this spring/summer. o GESNA: Researcher for Historic New England is collecting stories about families from the Italian/High Street neighborhood. o NSNFNA: Next meeting 4/11 at Salvation Army. Little Free Libraries now set up at Furlong and Patton Parks. Friends of Furlong planning a social event for this summer. Community clean-ups coming 5/4 on the former HMA path and in April at Furlong.  o BSNNA: Error on Remond Park sign, would like the text replaced with something acknowledging the history of the neighborhood. Meeting April 18th with Kate Luchini, Public Art Planner. Power outage in the neighborhood yesterday. Petition still open on traffic calming requests. o BCWNA: Met with Jefferson Properties about their proposed 180-unit project on Highland Avenue; still traffic concerns. Open house with Life Storage on 3/14; the facility floods often and the owners are proposing to demolish and reconstruct a taller building on the site. Issues with snow on sidewalks along Highland Avenue this past winter. o WNA: Still unhappy about snow storage at Fort Lee. Put in for a CPA grant for Fort Lee. At last Park & Rec Commission meeting the commission approved a series of concerts for Winter Island for this summer; neighborhood association has concerns about parking impacts and noise levels. o SCNA: Looking for timetable on Bandstand improvements. Reported some dead trees on the Common and waiting on the new benches as spring is nearly here. The funeral home project is reportedly causing some animal nuisance issues, including reports of rats. City Updates: • Three upcoming SalemRecycles events: o On Saturday, March 16, 2019, SalemRecycles will hold their free book swap on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Mayor Jean Levesque Community Life Center at 401 Bridge Street in Salem. Drop off your items at the CLC on Friday, March 15, 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. or Saturday March 16, 9:00 a.m. – noon. o Electronics waste recycling event at Salem High School, Saturday March 30th 8am to noon. Salem residents & property owners (with ID or tax bill) can recycle anything with a plug. $20 for each TV or monitor and for each Freon appliance (fridge, AC, freezer, dehumidifier). Cash or check payable to vendor. All other electronics FREE: computer tower, laptop, tablet, cell phone, small appliance, household electronics, printer, fax, VCR, CD player, etc. o Next Repair Café takes places Saturday April 6 at 211 Bridge Street from 9am to 11:30am. • First “Conversations With Kim” – a new online Q&A opportunity for residents to ask questions of the Mayor – will take place on Thursday March 14th at noon. Find the conversation at https://tinyurl.com/ConversationsWithKim or search on Facebook for the Page “Conversations With Kim.” • Citizens Inn and Salem Pantry will be running two free mobile pantries this year. The first takes place at Espacio, 105 Congress Street, on Saturdays from 10 to 11:30am and the second at SSU, 68 Loring Avenue, on Wednesdays from 10am to 2pm. • Salem Transfer Station will open for the season on Saturday, April 20th. Saturdays 7am to 3pm and Sundays 9am to 5pm. Residents or property owners with license and/or tax bill can drop off yard waste at those times. • Museum Place Garage elevator replacement project begins on Monday, March 25th. Only one elevator will be under construction at a time. The contractor estimates it will be about 10-12 weeks per elevator. Work hours are 7am to 4pm, Mondays-Fridays. Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 7pm, 98 Washington Street Adjourned: 8:20 p.m.