Greater Avenues Community Council Meeting Minutes

Avida, head librarian of the Sweet Library: (1)The July library newsletter/calendar is available. (2)The Salt Lake City Library System was selected for the Library of the Year Award which included a $10,000 check. (3) The Dewey Lecture series will start again in August. (4)There is a concert series in other libraries. Look in library newsletter for details of where and when.

Det. Mike Evans – no felonies this month, only 9 car prowls/strips and burglaries were 13 which is down from 28 last month. We had 29 graffiti removals which is the low for the City and 0 mail thefts. Plan for the Night Out Against Crime, August 1st at Liberty Park from 5-8 PM in the northeast pavilion.

Scott McCoy – Senate all quiet. No questions asked.

County Councilperson Jenny Wilson – The County is looking at several proposal that might be on the ballot in November: (1)UTA bond to for TRAX expansions to the Airport, West Valley, West Jordan and extend it from Sandy to Draper. They would need $875B in property taxes to pay for it. (2) $40M for open space. (3)Soccer Stadium – the county needs more information from Sandy City and Salt Lake Real but may be able to fill in gap with other funds

District 3 City Councilman Eric Jergensen – quiet in city also. (1) Working on a thoughtfully review of SR-1 infill ordinance. (2) Budget was approved. (3) Focus on nuisance houses: CAT teams, city ordinances, and neighbors all need to work together. Examples:

Noise: call police first then call Gwen or Eric’s officers. Gwen and Eric’s offices with help neighbors to form groups to solve the problems.

Weeds: They are a fire hazard. Call Gwen or Eric to get the City’s resources working for us.

Gwen Springmeyer of the Mayor’s Office: (1)Distributed the City calendar and talked about highlights. (2)When calling about weeds, you don’t need to give you name but you do need the address of the property. It usually takes about two weeks to get it resolved. If the property owner won’t do it then the City will have it done and bill the property owner. (3)Free performances listed in calendar. (4)Freedom forum is at the Main Library tonight. It will be filmed and broadcast on the SLC TV station. (5)Jazz Festival begins Friday and is free but you must get tickets at the Rose Wagoner Theater or at Symphony Hall. (6)Movies in the Parks. (7) Indian celebration (8)Farmers’ market. (9)Hazardous waste is back on schedule for the 4th Thursday but need to call Gwen to find out where to take it.

Walter Jones Street Fair Chairman – Next meeting will be Saturday July 8th at Cucina’s. With Eric’s help the City will not charge day licenses for vendors.

Carleton Detar, Avenues CERT Director -- The quarterly meeting will be 7:00 PM, July 19th at the Fire Department. They will be talking about their mock disaster and where to go now.

Shane Carlson, HCC – The City Planning Office made some proposals for implementing the Overlay that would gut all that we had worked so hard to get passed. The Planning Commission told the Planning Office to be productive and stop trying to stifle the new ordinance.

Stephan Duer and Tom Bergren, SLC Water Department: They are proposing “a garden wise garden” on the vacant property at the corner of Terrace Hills Drive and 11th Avenue. The first meeting to start the planning will be on Tuesday, July 11th, here at the library at 6:30 PM. They want to find landscaping that uses less water than bluegrass. Stephanie.duer@slcgov.com demo garden

Duplex at 468 3rd Avenue It has been a duplex since 1930 but not a “legal duplex” so the owners are going through the process to make it legal. While they are at it they are also remodeling and restoring as much as possible. The upper unit will have two floors with 4 bedrooms while the lower unit will just have one bedroom. Gwen commented that the City had many complaints about this house with the prior owners and this new owner wants to solve those problems. There are 3 parking spaces in back.

Newsletter Expansion

Michael Hughes and Kat Kivit – During last month’s meeting they proposed that GACC newsletter go from a 4 page format to a six page format. They passed around samples of what it could look like: larger print, more ads, a kids’ corner. Increased ads would pay for the printing (LDS Hospital has been free). We have a list of many who have been waiting for over a year to be able to advertise. Postage now is 6.3 and will go up to 7.8 cents. It would be easier to meet deadlines with a 3-day turnaround. It is about 10 days at LDS. Also it has become difficult for LDS Hospital printing department and some months they have had to pay someone else to print our newsletter. A motioned was made by Judith Locke to approve the larger format. It was seconded by several people. The vote was unanimous. Michael and Kat will try to get for the larger newsletter ready for the August issue.

Ralph Becker – came after the reports but was given time. The House held a hearing a week ago regarding the reduction in services and funding to poor and disabled. “Is the Legislature doing anything about the Soccer Stadium? “ The Legislature did authorize the county to get room tax for stadium but other than that it is not involved. “Gas taxes were raised in mid 90’s and so what about food tax relief? “Sales tax has been used on roads. The Legislature is very reluctant to move from sales tax use. Ralph doesn’t see any sign of gas tax raising but he also thinks most people don’t want to see poor people go without services. “Will the dynamics of the legislature change AFTER the recent Primary?” Ralph says we’ll need to wait until after the November elections to answer that question.

Meridien at Capitol Park

Richard Sheinberg could not attend so his presentation was postponed until August.

City Creek Canyon Water Plant

Bob Sperling said that the project was just about finished. They caved in the old reservoir and filled it in. The new administration building is lower and more fitting with the environment. He had before and after pictures displayed. The project has cost $8.6M in construction and $2.2M in engineering fees. Future plans include earthquake proofing the remaining buildings when money is available. There will be an open house when the area is re-vegetated. No plan at this time to fix the road above the buildings. 40-50 Dead fish appeared when they drained a pond. There was no chemical spill. There also is no immediate plan to fix the road from the canyon entrance up to the buildings even though it took a beating with trucks during construction. When money becomes available they the roads will be repaired.

GACC Tax Exempt Status

Michael Hughes said that we are applying for a 501-3C status because now only the State of Utah recognizes the GACC as non-profit. The cost is about $500. Reasons application: (1)Donations to the GACC would be tax exempt. (2)Need status for our mailing. Question: reason for not? It is not required. Walter Jones made the motion to proceed with the application. The motion was seconded by several people. The motion passed unanimously.

Amendment of the GACC By-Laws

Francisca Blanc proposed to make changes in by-laws to make them more inclusive for membership. It will be on agenda for next month. Q: Why? A: Our by-laws have minimum and it was thought that the GACC ought to be more inclusive -- non-discrimination. Q: Will we need a sign language interrupter to attend our meetings? A: If someone asks then we can get it if we have 3 days notice. Q: Are we painting ourselves into a corner? Wouldn’t it be better to be more general rather than specific? A: Sometimes unless things are listed people don’t realize there is a problem.

Remember the Salt Storage/Picnic Pavilion for August 2nd at 7:00 PM -- same time just a different place.

Adjourned at 8:35 PM