Minutes from the June 9, 2008

Meeting of Martin Drive Neighborhood Association

Pat M. introduced Bahauddeen Muneer, the artist who will help the neighborhood children use the planters for works of art. They will use donated pieces of porcelain and stoneware. The completed pieces will stay in place at 41^st, 43^rd, and 46^th Street. David J. will donate $100. to be used for landscaping on our 46^th Street space. After Mr. Muneer completed the introduction for our neighbors, we made mention of his work being integrated in the bridges over the new I 43. We are very fortunate to have Mr. Muneer work with our kids to improve our MDN.

We introduced ourselves and greeted the new visitors. Pat shared the stories from the walks around the neighborhood. Sandy Folaron and Joey Zocher joined the group to help acquaint the neighbors with the names of the kinds of trees.

Pat will acquire mulch and soil for use on 44^th Street to help w/the landscaping. This will be supplied through the Healthy Neighborhood Initiatives.

Cecilio was to have the call for kids on Tuesday evenings at the BEAM school on 46^th and State to get the drum circle workshop going from 6 – 8:00. Hope to open the Market with the call of the drums.

Scholarships are still available for the Urban Ecology Center to help reduce crime. Encourage kids on your streets to take advantage of this opportunity.

We need to continue working on front yard projects to eliminate litter. The amount of litter in the gutters and on our streets is the billboard for the kind of neighbors we are. Once again we were encouraged to walk down 42^nd Street to observe the beautiful results of one of our neighbors.

Thanks to Michael Murphy for getting the street sweepers to clean 45^th Street. We need to clear the debris from the sewer grates on a regular basis. That is our responsibility.

Neighbor concerns included recycling. It appears that only the ones who call the ward yard are getting their recycling picked up. Once again all garbage carts must be removed from the front sidewalks within 24 hours of collection.

Terri B had some questions about compost bins and rain barrels. 42^nd and McKinley will have an ice cream social.

Our next meeting will be Monday, July 14^th at 1219 N. 45^th Street.

Submitting by Maggie Blaha

June 22, 2008

Topics for consideration for next meeting:

1. One topic to be considered is changing the parking signs on 45^th and 46^th due to no bus routes.

2. Also we should consider informing our County supervisor of our concerns about elimination of bus service, routes and costs