Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council

Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council - Meeting Minutes Thursday, March 10, 2022, 6:00 P.M. Called to Order: 6:04 p.m. Members Present: Christy Evans, Lucy Corchado, Anne Sterling, Lisa Peterson, Flora Tonthat, Dick Lindeman Staff Present: Dominick Pangallo (Office of Mayor Driscoll) Approval of February 9, 2022, minutes: Approved Neighborhood Association Updates:  Point: Interviews are taking place for the El Punto climate change study. Shetland working group has begun meeting. CIU attending the last PNA meeting and promoted the Citizens Police Academy.  Bridge Street Neck: Ukraine prayer vigil was a success and CinemaSalem is holding another benefit on March 13th. Close out of Gonyea Park issue is advancing which, when complete, will allow for tree plantings there.  Northfields: CIU came to the last meeting to talk about scams. Hoping for finalizing of the North Street safety upgrades. National Grid is undertaking a major gas line project along the corridor currently.  Federal Street: Annual meeting will be March 27th via Zoom, with Julio Mota from the Mayor’s Office, a report from the Traffic Calming committee, Councillor Watson-Felt, and Darleen Melis of the Tree Commission. Spring fling block party date has been set for May 15 th.  Mack Park: Gas work done in the area, but Grid contractor damaged staging area ground. North Street work is resulting in more speeding and traffic on Tremont Street and School Street. Neighborhood monitoring problem properties on Irving Street and Phillips Street.  Salem Common: Traffic/Accessibility - Working with Traffic Dept & Councilor Watson-Felt. Hoping that: Playground/WSN crosswalks plan will happen including reflective paint. Rubber speed bumps will be in place around Common & on side streets. Rerouting 1A via legislative action to Wash St/Bridge St Ext. Bridge St. neighborhood association also supports. Common & Neighborhood Issues - Hawthorne Baluster: Broken for some time – spring DPS repair list. Graffiti: By Hawthorne & on Bandstand – spring DPS list repair list. Signs: Traffic sign broken & down on Winter Street traffic island. Lawn: Refresh filling tire ruts & possible path expansion – spring DPS list. Upcoming Enhancements on Common - Common Initial Cleanup: Good start done by City team on 3/9. Arch: Painting & landscaping funded by SCNA – painting approved by SHC. Approvals needed for landscaping & carvings. Benches: 4 ADA benches installed - planning to add more regular benches. Concerns raised on useability of ADA benches. SCNA Events - Brunch held on 2/13. Councilors Merkl & Watson-Felt did a great job. Salem Digest & SATV releasing an interview on Arch progress on 3/28. Annual Meeting to be held online 3/31. Speaker: Councilor Hapworth. City Updates:  Stop the Spread COVID testing ends at the end of March, but the Curative trailer will remain in Riley Plaza through at least the end of June. In addition, the City is again giving out free rapid test kits (three boxes per household) through the end of March. Visit www.salem.com/testing for details.  The next Housing Road Map public forum is March 22 nd at 6:30pm online. Details and a link to join the forum is in the news item at www.salem.com/news.  Salem is hiring! There are currently about 17 open positions in many departments. Visit www.salem.com/jobs to learn more. The Department of Public Services will hold a job fair on Saturday March 19th from 8AM to 10AM at DPs, 5 Jefferson Avenue.  Infuse Dance Studio is holding their next free dance class for residents ages 18 and up at Old Town Hall on Saturday March 26th from 10am to 3pm. Sign up at www.infusesalem.com.  Salem Arts Festival is holding the 7th annual mural slam this spring and is seeking 12 artists to apply for this paid opportunity. Find the link in the call for creatives posted now at www.salem.com/news.  The City and Waste Management are offering a new annual scholarship of $1,000 to Salem students who are going on to study environmental sciences/sustainability. Applications are at www.salem.com/news and are due by July 1st.  The Scholarship & Education Committee has opened their annual application period for college scholarship, as well. Applications are due by May 31st and can be found at www.salem.com/scholarship. New Business: The Council discussed resumption of in-person meetings and agreed to continue meeting remotely through the end of the state law’s allowance to do so (July 15, 2022), meaning that, with no regular NIAC meetings over the summer, the first in-person NIAC meeting will take place on Wednesday September 14, 2022. Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 7:00 p.m. Adjourned: 6:37 p.m.