Minutes from the January 10, 2005
Meeting of Martin Drive Neighborhood Association
Introduction of the
twenty-one neighbors in attendance at the beginning of the meeting was
important for the several visitors who were also guest speakers.
Devitts had provided a get well card for Al Siemsen,
one of our faithful and supportive neighbors who has
been ill since recent surgery. Everyone was invited to sign the card that
Linda and Pat then mailed to Al. We have great hopes that Al will soon be
with us.
Kevin Ronnie, candidate for
school board, requested time to address the neighbors. Kevin
spoke about his skills as a professional coalition builder hoping to put
together the kids, teachers, and aides doing what needs to be done in the
classrooms. It seems that there has been a suggestion that the
people who are working for bus companies should become employees of MPS.
Kevin is opposed to that idea. While the QEO was the rule for dealing
with the teachers in Wisconsin,
school systems were hindered in their ability to raise the teachers'
wages. Therefore, the teachers were given good benefits especially in the
area of health insurance. Now, the teachers are expected to give up some
of these benefits. Therein, lies the
problem. For every dollar of salary, there is a sixty-three cent cost in
health care. Kevin also acknowledged that the voucher system is not going
away. With our heavy connections to the education world, the neighbors
questioned Kevin quite thoroughly.
Sandie Hines addressed us about the need for foster
parents. Sandie is an employee of the Lutheran
Social Services, which is a branch of the Milwaukee
Child Welfare program. At any given time we have 3,000 children in foster
care. If a child is in foster care for 15 months out of 22 consecutive
months, the agency tries to find a permanent home for the child. Sandie is willing to talk to any group who would be
interested in helping alleviate this situation. David Johnson told Sandie that he had put her request on our web site in order
to get the message out to as many people as possible. She appreciated
this timely response.
Terri Bartlett reported on
the situation with the green spaces in the Martin Drive Neighborhood that will be
taken care of by the neighbors. We have the permits that Pat D. checked
over. Greening Milwaukee
appears to want to use the space for seedlings. Terri
still wants flowers for the Martin
Drive triangle
David Johnson displayed the
web site that he developed for the Martin
Drive Neighborhood. This work in process can
be seen at www. Martindrive.org.
David can be contacted at webmaster@martindrive.org. We have received many compliments from interested
people.
Ada is hoping to have information from the seven small
groups who have been meeting outside the general monthly meeting. She is
planning to introduce "Harold the Helpful Household Problem
Solver". We are expecting that neighbors
who have expertise or have just learned the hard way, will share their
experiences with the neighbors through this column in the quarterly
newsletter. It is expected that the newsletters will go out the end of
January. Your friendly neighborhood volunteers will deliver the
newsletter to each household in the area. Please be alert to the
possibility of litter.
It was decided that the power
packed 70 min. meeting was long enough for this month. Therefore, in
February, we will discuss the "new neighbor packets". The next
meeting will be February 14, 2005. If you have suggestions for the
agenda, please contact Maggie by February 12.
Whenever we have a need to
e-mail neighbors, we will do it under the subject of "Martin Alert".
Submitted
by Maggie Blaha
12/20/05
Call or e-mail me with corrections.