Alcatraz Avenue Neighborhood Association

March 2001 Meeting

Minutes of Meeting March 14, 2001

Attendees:
City of Berkeley: Ronnie Turner, Michael Caplan, and Amos White
AANA Officers: Ron Casimere (Chair), Fredia Smith (Treasurer) and Lori
Lott (Secretary)

1. Meeting called to order at 7:21. Roll Call of AANA officers.

2. Introductions of those attending the meeting

3. Reading of the minutes by Secretary Lori Lott. Motion to adopt the
minutes passed unanimously. (However a discrepancy was noted in the
Financial Report after the minutes were adopted: Our balance from the last
meeting should have been reported as $ 227.73 instead of $212.73.)

4. Financial Report:
Treasurer, Fredia Smith reported that our bank account has been
opened at Bank of America. B of A charges $8.50 / month for the account,
so she will check with Co-Op Credit Union to see if they can give us a
better deal.
Our fictitious business license has been posted, and we are
officially a Non-Profit Organization.
Balance Carried Over = $227.73
Expenditures: - 56.00
Additions + 25.00
Current Balance = $196.73

5. City of Berkeley Update:
Ronnie Turner asked us to go back into "proactive mode": To
itemize and prioritize what we would like to see accomplished in our
neighborhood on a block by block basis, and keep him informed.
Ronnie introduced Gordon Choyce, who is negotiating acquisition of
1616 Alcatraz (the property with the burnt-out house). Although Mr.
Choyce's plans are still in the developmental stage, if he purchases the
property, he intends to construct a four unit building. He plans to live
on site, and assured us that he will have off-street parking. Ronnie
points out that it is important to keep in mind that revitalization will be
going on in our area more and more. His goal is to have neighbors and new
property owners meet so there will be agreement before changes are made.
Michael Caplan from Neighborhood Services was present. Thomas
Myers will be our main Neighborhood Services Liaison, but he was unable to
attend, since the Neighborhood Link Training Session was being held at the
same time as our meeting. He was asked to describe Neighborhood Links.
Berkeley is a highly "wired" community, and it's estimated that soon 80% of
residents will have access to the internet. Neighborhood Link is part of
the Berkeley Connected Community Initiative (BCCI). It provides
neighborhood groups with a free website that is linked to other
neighborhood websites (80 to 100 groups with sites), as well as the City of
Berkeley website. We will be able to use our Neighborhood Link website to
post meeting agendas and minutes, and announce meetings and special events.
It also has a chatroom function where neighbors can report specific
problems (i.e. drug activity) taking place, that will be accessible by
residents, police, etc.
The Neighborhood Link websites will not be promoted publicly for
another month or so (to give us a chance to get things set up the way we
want to), but they are on-line now. Communications Coordinator, Andrea
Cesar and Ken Huie are currently attending the training session, and will
report back to us at the next meeting.

Amos White, Legislative Aide to Councilmember Breland, was also in
attendance. He is here to provide support. He reported that he has worked
in many other government settings, and that he is pleased with the
connectivity in the City of Berkeley. It helps to identify problems and
develop solutions.

6. Other Business:
A. Plans for the Block Party are proceeding. Lori Lott and Cheryl
Beauchamp provided a summary of the plans thus far, including: City
services requested, local merchants, food, entertainment, and information
tables. More help is always needed. Even if a resident can't attend the
Block Party meetings, if they can contact a few local merchants or make
arrangements for some entertainment, the help is greatly appreciated. The
next Block Party Meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, March 21, 7-8 pm at
1632 Alcatraz (Andrea and Wally's house). All were invited to attend.
B. One resident asked about the property owner's list (1300
through 1700 Alcatraz), mentioned in the last meeting. Ronnie will find
out about this and let us know.
C. Issues from 1800 block property owner:
1. He reported a blighted property on the 1900 block
(provided pictures). Ronnie will look into it.
2. He complained about the lack of parking around Alcatraz
and Adeline. There isn't much that can be done about that. The City is
moving toward trying to get people to drive less and to make the streets
more pedestrian-friendly.
D. The status of the Streetscape lights on Adeline: cables are
laid out, so they're just waiting for the fixtures to arrive.
E. Traffic Calming at Alcatraz and King St. Plan 3: Jeff Knowles
is no longer the Traffic Engineer. Michael Caplan promised to look into
the matter to see where our plan stands. In the meantime, Reh-Lin Chen is
the Acting Traffic Engineer, so we will add him to our email list once
again.

8. Next Meeting is scheduled for April 11 at 7:00 pm at the Over 60
Health Center.

9. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm.