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GACC Monthly Meeting December 4, 2002 Sweet Library
Attending: 59
Chair Dick Smiley opened the meeting and welcomed the attendees at 7:00 pm.
Announcements:
This is the last time Dick will officially conduct this meeting as Wynn Johnson, chair elect, will take over this meeting for the coming year. This CC has probably more activity than any of the other 26 councils in the community. Avenues has more participation--which is the purpose of the council -- to give service and hear various organizations and representatives regarding local issues. Your participation is what makes it do so well. This year we had 182% increase in profit from our street fair. Making profit is not the purpose but it is nice to make money. John Sittner has been treasurer for several terms. Judy Osterander has done ‘yo’ woman work for advertising in the newsletter and Michael & Jennifer Hughes for preparing the newsletter as well. Grace Wilson has worked as secretary. Most people who phone Dick to complain don’t end up coming to the meeting to take care of the problem. Dick wants to thank those who take the time to come and participate and do the work required. Has been a great pleasure to be your chairman.
A few things have come in –2 open houses. SL county sherriff’s office tomorrow evening 6:30 –8:30 pm on 9th West but is in conflict with main street plaza public forum 6-8 pm at Lowell Elementary auditorium. This meeting is chaired by Eric Jergensen.
Neighborhood open house on Sat Dec 7 at the new Rowland Hall school at 720 South Guardsman Way. Other meetings: the planning council on 12/5/02 at 5:45 pm -- SL planning commission but nothing specific about the avenues. Mon., Dec 9, 4:30 to 6:30 is a discussion regarding refinancing and resale of existing non-conforming family and 2 family homes. Will likely be amnesty for all non-conforming homes. Dec 16, 5 pm board of adjustment case is of Robert Felton on 3rd Ave -- wants an accessory structure in a residential zone. Dec 12 is the planning commission meeting on intermodal hub. They are alking different design aspects. Dick has a series of letters from Nordstrom saying they are still trying and minds are still open but it doesn’t look like they will stay in SLC.
Dick has been out of town but 5 days after he left he got letters saying they wanted to be at this meeting. Want to build a fluoridation building on 4th Ave but we can put them on our January meeting agenda. Someone is interested in light pollution and he will make a presentation at the January meeting. For fixture info there is an article in newspaper about fighters of light pollution.
Eric Jergensen said he could not be here tonight because of a national meeting he had to be to. SLC Corp has a survey from the community action prosecutor’s office –copies to pass around and we would like you to fill it out as to what you see as problems in your area and what you see as important and what isn’t important. Dick will take to prosecutor’s office if you’d like him to or you can mail your own.
Reports:
City council none.
School board -- Karen Derrick won’t be here tonight and Dr. Nelson is not on school board yet and has nothing to report. Mikell Withers is new state SLC school district superintendent.
Legislature – Paula Julander. Ralph Becker is in Washington DC. It’s a quiet time. Will be another $117 million shortfall for 2003 budget—have already had 5 special legislative sessons on. Will try to resolve those cuts in Dec. Will not be pleasant and will be difficult. Gov hasn’t decided whether we will do it before Christmas or after the New Year. Will perhaps do it with the 2004 budget. Question: How did the makeup of legislature change at all since the election. House demos lost 2. Senate still has 2/3 majority in each house. Tax increase rumor was floated on radio today. Thinking of tax increase on gas tax. It’s tough right now.
South Temple Reconstruciton: getting more pipe in the ground. Won’t impact E street intersection. Won’t make that mess any worse than it is. Will close down on Dec 20 and start up on the beginning of Jan with pipe work. Will only do 1-way direction in March again. Not before that. Street rough that is finished and they are going back to grind it down. Dust everywhere and some of street is being used as a staging area. Won’t let them stage anyplace else. Wasatch tunnel for school may not be torn apart. Hoping to get construction done before kids are in middle of it. Request: Please do more on signage earlier so we don’t end up at an intersection where we can’t make a turn because of no awareness. Don’t want to discourage people from using South Temple but from construction viewpoint they don’t want traffic around. Call Pat Peterson at 535 7235 with discussion or questions. Are updating their website or you can email them at www.southtempleconstruction.com, if you have questions or comments.
Police came and gave report. Don’t leave your car running and unattended. It gets stolen easily. Was a theft at 7-11 and 1st Ave and A Street. Brought copies of stats. Comparisons are on the back that show other council areas. Have holiday safety tips too. Will leave on table in back. Question: How come police never get out of their car when they come and check? Safety issue when it’s a problem. Comment: ‘Communication is difficult through dispatcher. Why can’t person calling get a hold of person in vehicle? Communication is terrible between customer and police. Fix it.’
Traffic report: No traffic committee meeting this month. When traffic is having a meeting please put it in the bulletin.
CERT announcement by Judith Locke. In August Sept and Oct. we participated in 3 events—1) had a block party. Couple of families came. Firetruck came for kids to play on. 2) Street fair had a CERT booth and delivered pamphlets. 3) Smith’s thanked neighbors for patience during remodel and provided bratwurst and served 320 brats. CERT provided cooks. People donated $87. Next training session is Jan 23 at 1790 Stratford Ave at Crystal heights 1st ward from 6-9 pm. Plan to have 5-6 classes in the next 5-6 months. Would like to bring emergency preparedness to any gathering you might have in your neighborhood. If you want more info call Dick Brock at 355 6343 or Judith Locke at 975 5138 or email JudithL@weider.com for info you might want. (Poll taken and 2/3 of attendees in this meeting have taken CERT).
Phil Carroll couldn’t make it to report about the house on 7th Ave and B Street and will do it next month. Was the Stephen L. Richards home and is still for sale. Asking $700,000 for it. Has old plumbing, sits on 5/8 of an acre, presently interior is vintage 1972. Needs a lot of work. Phil will report next month.
Madeleine Choir school.
Lisa Burgess is here to represent them. Principal Betsy Hunt
will tell you about enrollment and other info you might be interested
in. Are glad to have found a home close to original home in
basement of Cathedral of Madeleine. They love having windows
in their classrooms. Before moving into facility we observed
traffic issues of drop off and pick up. Have 3 buses-- 1 small
and 2 larger. They park along 1st Ave between A and
B Street. Car drop offs are on A Street as they circle around
the block. Have only 4-5 children who walk to school. Crossing
guards are there and will continue for 2 weeks to see if they
are needed. Don’t want to disturb traffic that goes through
there at all. Have an agreement with LDS church to use their
lots for teacher parking. Also they have lined up extra parking
for evening events in other church lot & LDS lot. Been a
good but busy week. Hours of operation is 8:15 arrival to 3:30
ending. Auditioning is the method of entrance. 30% of students
end up singing in the choir. Structures of campus will remain
the same except those not seismically safe. Need to build a
gym. Building on east side is not in good shape. House on corners
would stay but need work on inside. Non-Catholics are accepted.
Day by day curriculum includes strong academic language arts,
science, mathematics, Latin, computer science. Full curriculum.
Age group is 2nd grade through 8th grade.
Hope next year will be kindergarten through 8th.
Have about 160 students right now. Comment: Amazed city is putting in 4 way stop on
B and 1st Ave. 4 days a week they walk over at 4:30
to sing a mass. Sing at 5:10 pm. Expect stop sign by Dec 13.
More city flags will be brought in. Don’t plan to expand
beyond 8th grade but will extend to pre-school. Hope
to have an extended day program for parents who work. If it
had to go older it would be a girls 9th grade--because
girls voices are strongest at that age. How many teachers do
you have and what is average class size. Have several part time
and 8 full times teachers. Historical character of home ought
to be preserved. Question: Have you observed ghost of Jane Strongquist
since you moved? Traffic
issues bring question have you thought of having a pull-in area
like Lowell does? Do we have to have a 4-way stop 24/7 for 15
minutes of problem twice a day. Call SL traffic. That area down
there is loaded with stop signs. Construction will include some
demolition etc to make it fit the needs. Hope to come back with
power point presentation. Reviewing seismic structure
of chapel. Could reface brick to make it safe. Are committed
to having a chapel there. Splendor of chapel now is not what
it has been in the past. Would like to build it in the Catholic
tradition. Need to put off
letter motion until we see the powerpoint presentation of architectural
plans.
Salt Lake Academy of Arts: Jim Jenkin is a founding parent of SL academy of arts as well as on the board of GACC. Amy Wadsworth is here who will be their principal. She is currently principal at Wasatch Elementary at bottom of Aves. SL arts academy is a middle school --grades 5-8, ultimately housed at library square where main library currently is. Very excited about it. Has focus of teaching young people how to access important resources of their community. Uses creative ways of looking at using your community so as not to have to spend so much money schools--Why build a library when the city has a library? While we have classes downtown we will use public city library, city recreation center, etc. Have 100 students and will teach them how to be comfortable with their downtown. Are building future designers of our city. Begins in January. Have a website and have info packets in the back. Are accepting applications the end of January. If applications are above 100, it goes into a lottery. It is a public school and to serve all children who apply, if age fit. Admission policy has founders’ children accepted as well as siblings and employees children. Charter school stands alone and according to state rules it is an open process so if someone out of the city wants to apply they can. Looking to train an artistic awareness. Will be certain presorting happens--f child isn’t interested in arts, he probably won’t want to be there. Provide hour of instruction in arts & math as well as applied arts time which would link back to their science and social studies. 7-8th graders should declare a passion. Question: Which arts are you? Answer: Visual, dance, photography, ceramics, drama, filmmaking, music, etc. Have a comprehensive approach. Will they be a performing arts school? That is not direction they are headed. Ties art into social studies to help them be aware of community resources. Unique model is done through thematic curriculum integration. A day would have math to start off. Then go into a block of time for integrated studies of language arts, science, social studies. Children are held accountable to same assessment measurements. Would use global art-ways. Would have a chamber music group, choir, etc. (Comment: Anticipate 4-way stops all over town.) Essays and writing will happen throughout curriculum. High priority is that they will write a clear paragraph when they are finished. Purpose question is what do we want these children to be able to do when they come out? Blending it together in the classroom is part of the goal instead of going from one subject to another because of the clock. Will have mixed ages together for some things. How many teachers will there be–probably around 5 per hundred children. Charter is for 100 students. Will there be sports programs and who transports them? They will walk and see themselves as pedestrians and will have a bus pass (UTA). Won’t offer a PE class everyday. Will be a community recreation block--maybe ice skating at Gallivan center, etc. emphasis on lifetime sports. Don’t have a site to begin with until library is completed. Cannot charge for this school. Prep for college entrance exam is all over the place. Hopes to keep it to 25 kids per grade. May be a little out of balance. Info table will have info and website address is www.slartsacademy.org.
Open Forum question:
What is happening with old Veteran’s hospital at top of 13th Ave? Homeowners have filed lawsuit against Wright to control what he does with the property. Mr. Wright lives in the one smaller building. Wants to turn larger building into condominiums. Glad he didn’t because there isn’t much of a market now. Wally’s wife owns 1 small building in its entirety. Wally owns ½ of the other building.
Thank you Dick for being a fearless leader in a year that has brought a lot of interesting issues to the Avenues.
Motion to adjourn and second.
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