November 16, 2013

Meeting Minutes of the Martin Drive Neighborhood Association

WASHINGTON PARK SENIOR CENTER - 4420 W Vliet Street

The mission of the Martin Drive Neighborhood Association, through its programs and projects, is to embrace and foster a sense of belonging and common purpose, in order to create a neighborhood that is beautiful, diverse, secure, and fun for everyone!

 

1.    Sharon Williams called the November monthly membership meeting of the Martin Drive Neighborhood Association to order at 10:18 AM.  She reviewed the process we have followed during the last two meetings, the list of proirites set at the October meeting, and previewed the Agenda.  (SEE attachments for Agenda and Priorties)

2.    Those attending then introduced themselves.

3.    Alderman Michael Murphy spoke to the following subjects:

a.     The recently boarded up property on 42^nd  The landlord had

     stopped paying the mortgage, the City declared it uninhabitable

     because of gross safety violations, and the tenants were evicted.

     He felt, however, that the property could be rehabbed and that

     the City would sell it for a very reasonable price.  Anyone

     interested in the property at 1309-11 N. 42^nd St. should contact

    Ald. Murphy’s office at  mmurph@milwaukee.gov

b.    The TIN (Targeted Investment Neighborhood) proposal MDNA submitted to the City.  He felt that the chances were very good that we would become apart of that program which offers low interest loans for reparing and rehabbing properties in our area…both homeowners and landlords would be eligible. (This could relate to point a. above.)

c.     The Milwaukee City budget with which he wasn’t completely satisfied. Taxpayers would only see a $20.00 increase in their property bill when including fees (Note that the property assessed value is the important factor.)

d.    The Milwaukee Police Dept. hiring new officers.  He supported this, but was appalled to learn that some officers were still being paid by claiming a medical disability even as they were being investigated for wrong doing. He would work with others to change this.

 

4.    The rest of the meeting was spent organizing the top priorities under  the Communication category which were (1) reestablishing the Porch Light Brigade, (2) organizing a “How to Effectively Complain” process, and (3) organizing a Connecting Neighbors Committee. Since Pat Mueller and Mary McCauley were going to work on the Light Brigade and neither were present, we skipped this prority and when to number 2 and 3 above.   It was then decided instead of breaking down into smaller groups that the

     everyone in attendance work as one group. The results were:

a.     an excellent discussion resulting from a member asking for

     help with a troubled neighbor.  Many good suggestions were

     made such as referring her to the MDNA website for helpful

     resources, and a mber was given 414-933-4444 to call if the

                      situation didn’t get better.

b.    Helpful information from Raymond Duncan on how to best call in a report to the Milwaukee Police Department. Each call is worked on in “real time”.  Officers are dispatched  

                      based on the information from your call that is being instantly  

                      sent to their laptop computers and to their radios. Multiple

                      calls do not help unless you have new information to share.

c. An awareness of what members did and did not understand

    about the MDNA Listserv and its use.

d. Topics and a structure for developing a Saturday meeting just

    around this priority began to evolve. 

1.)    MDNA needs to devise ways to support our neighbors as they develop their “complaining and reporting” skills. This can be uncomfortable for a lot of folk,but.when numbers of  us complain or report, it usually gets the best results, so this is a very important skill for all of our neighbors to have. Also, our complaints are automatically forwarded to our Alderman.

2.)    A clearly stated process or steps for complaining to

      neighbors, about neighbors, calling MPD or the City,

      reporting bad smells, derelict houses, etc.  This would also

      include important numbers, how to use the internet to find

      landlords, property information, ordinances, etc.

3.)    A plan for finding out who is connected to our listserv and how to get those who aren’t educated and connected .We do have the opportunity to use the computer lab at Excel High School so folks not so “computer savvy” could actually work on a computer.

In addition, some folks were actually connected to the listserv.  Anyone wanting to join needs to contact Raymond Duncan at raymond.duncan@gmail.com

5.    A presentation from the Milwaukee Fair Housing Council showed               how homes in Milwaukee were not promoted as for sale the same as homes in "better neighborhoods". Homes that were not taken care of by the foreclosed bank became a problem in the neighborhood and deteriorated to the point where it does not have value or even needs to be torn down. Call the Milwaukee Fair Housing Council for any of the following problems with a house being foreclosed or for sale:  1)Home with no post in the ground saying it is for sale (a house in     limbo)
2.(House with no curb appeal.
3.)House is not fixed up ready to be sold

         414.278.1240

6. Financial Report

With recent income of $842 and recent expenditures of $839, we have a total of $4261 in our bank account as of the end of October.

The meeting was adjourned at noon.

 

The next meeting will be on Saturday, Jan. 11.                                                                        

Do join the carol singing potluck at Raymond’s ( 1260 N.43^rd) on Monday, Dec. 9^th.