GREATER AVENUES COMMUNITY COUNCIL Minutes
September 6, 2000 Held at the Sweet Library
Meeting Conducted by Richard Leonard
beginning 7:00 pm

I would like to complement Judith and Kim on the wonderful job they are doing on the new Web pages. It is very much easier to read and very good looking.

REPORTS: no police stats as the computer is down.

MUTILATION OF CATS IN THE AVES: Susan Allred is going to come up and comment on the trouble she had had with cats being mutilated on 13th Avenue.
Susan Allred: I live on 13th Avenue I am a staff attorney during the daytime and I operate a non-profit organization to save animals in my spare time. You may have heard the report that our 12-year-old dear cat was mutilated and killed on 13th avenue. Then a few weeks later it happened to another cat. We took our cat in for an autopsy and it was not a wild animal that had killed it. There was no blood found near the bodies of either cat. They had been gutted. If the Council supported the offer of a reward we would appreciate it. We are concerned about it because we know that someone who is doing this is sick, and we know from research that they often commit other crimes. We feel they are in need of help. Our organization provides low cost spaying and neutering. We also have humane traps feral cats (cats who have turned wild) and we would love to help. Our organization only places housebroken indoor cats. QUESTIONS: Would you like to have a booth at our street fair? Response: We have too many activities scheduled this time. We have a great Web site, and are a part of "No more abandoned cats" program. We also have a $20 coupon on our Web site. Our organization has offered $500 reward for information and conviction of the cat guttings that took place in another part of the city.   Judith: Could you write something up in the Newsletter and we can send it out.  RESPONSE: I will do that.

CERT: JUDITH: SEPT 21 AT 9TH AVENUE & K STREET, THURDAY, 6:30 - 9:30. Please sign up to get certified. Cost: $35 gets you a helmet, gloves, tools, book, and training.

GACC NOMINATIONS: PHIL CARROLL: I am the chair of the Nominating Committee for Elections in November. We will be electing a chair elect, a treasurer and a secretary. If you have some neighbors who want to be more involved, we need to encourage people to get involved. Phil Carroll: I have a Recommendation on the By-laws: There is one section in the bylaws where it speaks of the nominations and elections that seems to be a mistake, a tag-along sentence that needed to be deleted because it contradicts another clear parts of the statement. I recommend that we eliminate 4th sentence, paragraph 4 in the section 7.1 of the Bi-laws that I thought we had deleted it last fall, but found that in the copy on the inter-net it is still there.

MEMORY GROVE: Last Thursday Steering Committee on Memory Grove met with the Parks Department. We will have a planting of trees on Saturday, November 11th at 9:00 a.m. 70 large caliber trees will be planted. We need volunteers to help plant the trees. They will have the holes dug. We have a great opportunity for service and we would like to have this as a GACC event. We will have hot chocolate, coffee and bagels. They are going to establish lighting through the main area of Memory Grove.          (top)

OLYMPICS: John Sittner is in California tonight. He is chairing the Avenues Olympic Committee and he would like to have people continue to call him with ideas. One idea is "A Table for 8" where a family will host a family dinner for Olympic visitors. Another idea is to have a family or individuals sponsor a group outing to show off Salt Lake City to visitors.

PRESERVATION OF THE CAPITOL: RICHARD: We had a meeting of the advisory committee. A group from Texas has drawn up a lot of plans and spent a lot of money. I asked who was going to be using the Capitol when they got through. They did not know. They did not know what the needs were. We voted not to go further until they decided who was going to use it and what the needs were. There is no need to build 3 new additional buildings and it creates a lot more traffic in the neighborhoods. Capitol Hill is going to take the brunt of this. I spoke with Olene Walker. Some legislators want their offices there and Olene Walker said she was opposed to that. We as the Avenues are concerned with building new office buildings there because it increases traffic.  SLC CITY COUNCIL: Tom Rogan: I have a meeting set up with Paula and Ralph, our Legislators, to discuss this issue. Richard and I were invited to participate in the renovation of the Capitol discussion. The first issue was where to position the new proposed building of 10,0000 square feet. We asked how this related to renovation. They said no decision had been made. We thought that the Capitol Hill and Avenues residents needed to have the underlying information together before they go any further. I appreciate Richard talking with Lt. Governor Walker, because I think that doing this addition of buildings in the name of renovation is duplicitous. If you have access to Government officials, I encourage you to express your disappointment. Another item is that the City Council appointed Allison Gregerson to the office of Community Affairs. They were very responsive to our concerns, so I suggested that Richard should appoint a sub-committee to review our Greater Avenues Master Plan to see whether any of the Master Plan calls for being done is not being done. It does not have to be a long or hard assignement. We only need three individuals to read the document, which is not hard. Get your ideas together and we can sit down and give some suggestions to the Community Council and then take that list to the Mayor. If you have any other issues or comments call me at work, 355-00461 or emails me at:teefar@aros.net

LEGISLATORS: Ralph Becker: Paula Julander is out of town. We are on the State Capitol Restoration Board, which consists of the Gov, Speaker, several Legislators, a professional architect and an engineer. Paula Julander and I both worked hard to become appointed to that Board so that the voice of our neighborhood could be heard. We also pushed very hard to have an Advisory Board established from the Community Councils. We have talked about it to you before. I hope that there will be active participation from the City and the Community Councils. The State Capitol is an enormous project of several hundred million dollars. In the analysis they have looked at every piece of stone, wall, fixture, in the Capitol and have looked at all the seismic needs. It was done by Cooper -? a local company. The report is now in draft stage. I have seen it. The reason is there is discussion about addition buildings is that to restore and do the seismic and updating work, the Capitol will have to shut it down for about four years. They will have to move all the functions of the Capitol for 4 or 5 years. They looked at leasing space for the Legislature and all the functions that take place at the Capitol. They will have to lease 200000 sq. feet and will loose a great deal of space (seismic walls, etc.) when the restoration work is completed. That lost space needs to be made up somewhere. The study has looked at all the options. Decisions have not been made as to who is going to use the space, what space will remain and who will use the new buildings. All that has been analyzed. If the Capitol Restoration is going to take place, those decisions need to be made. We need to design a Capitol that will be conveniently and safely used for the next 100 years. We have been adamant that they not increase the number of employees in the Capitol and we made that point again. A new building does not mean that there will be more employees. That decision will probably be made this legislature, because they will need to vote on it. The cost estimates show that the most expensive option is to lease new space. (move, renovate, etc) The next two options were to build new structures on the capitol or to build new office space. I think it would be a shame to loose our Capitol functions to another end of the valley. I think that David Hart, ex. Director of the Capitol Restoration will be coming to this Community Council. We are adamant that the voices of the neighbors be heard and that we all be pleased and proud of the work. COMMENT: I have been at the Capitol during the Legislature, and they do need some place to meet or have an office. Now all they have is their desk on the floor, nothing else. It is not conducive to good management or decisions to not have access to some sort of office. RESPONSE: We could do with just a few cubbyholes that we could share. We think that the Legislature had to be willing to meet in less-than-ideal circumstances. We had even talked about moving into the Salt Palace, which is too expensive and we have talked about meeting in warehouses. We don't need great space. They have looked at low cost space. We are looking at something that needs to be functional for the next 100 years. We need to build something that is flexible enough to be used in the future. I do not think that there is any space designated for offices for Legislatures. COMMENTS: We don't want to have to live with an expansion on Capitol Hill for the next 100 years. We need to take a stand that there will be no more expansion of traffic. QUESTION: How can I become educated on this issue? Is there a Web site or what? RESPONSE: Call . Richard: I recognize that they need space while the Capitol will be reconstructed. Can't the current office building be used for the Capitol Functions? Our question is "Will those employees now in the Office Building be moved off campus after the construction is over?" They would probably like it better. There is really only one department in the current office building, that of Administrative Services. That Department could be moved off the Hill. RESONSE: They have looked at the Office Building and have concluded that it couldn't work. There is only one space in it that could be used. The space allocation committee has had many discussions since Richard met with them, and all those questions are being discussed and answers are being found. Richard: I would like to put this on the agenda for next month and take a vote on it. Tom: Include a request that no more employees be allowed on Capitol Hill and that the City Council take the same position. Ralph: I would suggest that you have David Hart here to give you some information and their analysis before you make recommendations. David Hart 525-3165.  Judith: I do not think that we can make any recommendations. We don't have enough information before we can say that we don't want any more office space.  Phil: We have the smallest per capita state government in the Nation. 65% of our budget goes to education.

TRAFFIC: ROBYNNE KIRKPATRICK (575-6596): I want to tell a little bit about the PACE Car program that we will be starting. All of the City will soon be on it, but the Avenues are beginning it. Part of the PACE program consists of Avenues Residents taking a pledge to go the speed limit in the Avenues, and to spend some time taking a walk or a bike ride to get our streets back. Jim Jenkin is making a sign design and Larry Rigby is meeting with City officials, and has received funding for the program. I am also concerned about the Capitol Restoration program and the increased traffic that will be coming in our neighborhoods if they continue to build more buildings. I would like to inform citizens at our Street Fair of the impending events so they can be aware. RESPONSE: We can give out historical information of what is about to take place. Animated General Discussion on the fact that we do not want any more traffic or employees in the Capitol Hill area.                                  

FILMING: JIM JENKIN: There will be filming in the Avenues Friday evening and Saturday morning. It will be about 1st and H Streets. They need 40 extras. If you are interested, call 256-1495.

A HISTORICAL NOTE: PHIL CARROLL: Loretta Young died. She lived on G Street between 3 and 4 Avenue, in a brick building on the west side.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.                (top)