Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council

Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council - Meeting Minutes Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 7:00 P.M. City Hall Annex, 98 Washington Street Called to Order: 7:00 p.m. Members Present: Barbara Mann (Greater Endicott), Barbara Mank (Downtown), Mira Riggin (Historic Derby Street), Dennis Colbert (Barnes/Clark/Wyman), Cindy Jerzylo (Willows), Councillor Meg Riccardi (North Street Northfields and Mack Park), Flora Tonthat (Bridge Street Neck) Staff Present: Dominick Pangallo (Office of Mayor Driscoll) Approval of January 8, 2020 minutes: Approved Special Guest: Patricia O’Brien, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation and Director of Community Services for the City, introduced herself and spoke about her department’s work. Patricia summarized the many programs and services that are offered through the Community Life Center, including transportation, meals, exercise and art programs, veterans’ services, social work, and more. She also discussed the park programs at Winter Island, Camp Naumkeag, the golf course, and the Witch House. Patricia provided a brief update on a number of park-related capital projects, including the Salem High School tennis courts, Willows pier, Forest River Park and Willows bathrooms, Gallows Hill skate park and ball field, basketball courts at High Street, Mack Park, and Broad Street, the golf course paths, and forthcoming accessible play equipment in two parks, including Salem Common. She fielded questions from members on the installation of age-friendly recreation equipment in parks, computer classes at the CLC, noise and disturbances in the Willows neighborhood due to the Wreathes Across America carnival, noise in the Willows park, trees at Gonyea Park, social workers at the CLC, lights in Curtis Park, the housing study underway off Memorial Drive, and transportation services for seniors. Neighborhood Association Updates: • Downtown: Business changes are coming on the first floor of Derby Lofts, but with some delay. DNA following the RFP for two parklets. South River Walk is under construction. Early morning deliveries to downtown businesses has gotten better recently, thanks to the SPD CIU for their efforts. • Greater Endicott Street: Been a number of car break-ins recently. A few of the one-way traffic pylons on Endicott Street are missing. • Historic Derby Street: Sewer repair project paused for now, did some damage to brick sidewalk. Association met with Seth Lattrell to discuss harbor planning process. Next meeting March 16th at St. Joseph’s Hall with North Shore CDC to learn about their forthcoming project on Hawthorne Boulevard. • Barnes Clark Wyman: Rezoning vote failed at the City Council. The second developer at the parcel behind that one has filed with the Planning Board. That group is meeting with the association on February 18th. Increased number of coyote sightings.  • Willows: Mayor Driscoll attended their February meeting. City is delivering update on plan to make changes to the Fort Avenue striping, which has caused some confusion by drivers. Also had some recent car break-ins. • North Street Northfields/Mack Park: Joint meeting on February 12th with Solarize North Shore. The next meeting will take place at the Community Life Center. Dealing with speeding issues on the streets around North Street being used as cut-throughs. Increased number of coyote sightings. • Bridge Street Neck: Issue with trucks idling on Lathrop Street going to Brake & Clutch site. Speeding vehicles on Bridge Street, reached out to PD and Traffic about getting a digital speed display sign on the corridor. - Common: (submitted electronically) Multiple cleans on the Common have made it look great. A few clumps of dirt remain to be picked up. Orange lights from summer movie to be maintained by The City. The SCNA regards them as a fun seasonal attraction. B&S Fitness continue to use the Common and its benches as workout equipment and have not obtained permits for their usage. City Updates: • Century Trees program is now accepting recommendations for locations for these larger trees. For complete details, please see https://www.salem.com/home/news/city-salem- announces-century-tree-program. • The RFPs are out for the Essex Street improvement project and the Boston/Bridge Street complete streets project. Both can be found at www.salem.com/bids. Essex bids are due by March 4th and Boston/Bridge by February 27th, with the goal of both advancing to construction this spring. • The City received a $250,000 MassDOT grant to help fund the new on-demand city shuttle service, which will be starting this spring. Details will be announced once the selected vendor has been confirmed. • Work has begun on the Harbor Connector Path to provide a safe, accessible, and off- street path for walking and biking between the Derby Street, Collins Cove, and Bridge Street neighborhoods. • Pending City Council approval of the funding, work is expected to commence on the first phase of the Museum Place garage waterproofing project in late March or early April. This work will take place on the first level of the garage and will take portions of that level off-line for parking until the work wraps up, likely in June. • The Scholarship and Education Committee has announced the scholarship application for 2020 is now available. The application can be found at www.salem.com/scholarship. Applications and the required supporting materials are due by May 15th to be considered for a scholarship from the fund. Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 11, 7pm, 98 Washington Street Adjourned: 8:10 p.m.