Overland Park

February 2014 Minutes

Overland Park Neighborhood Association (OPNA) – February 24 2014

 

Meeting called to order at 6:43 pm by President Catherine Sandy

Present:

Catherine Sandy, Ronnie Crawford, Terry Pasqua, Paul Bodor, Jim Sample, Ray Ehrenstein, Casey Davenhill, Helene Orr, Brian Sanchez, Janet Poth, Terri Franklin, Jack Unruh, Valerie Kerne, Kevin Dickson, Diane

Agenda

 

• Minutes from January meeting
• Treasurer Report
• Police Report
• Chris Nevitt’s Office
• Update on Field Trip to Eastern Plains (Brian Sanchez)
  • Announcements
  • Review of By-Laws

 

Business

• Minutes from January meeting – approved with adjustment to the name of the new river plans provided by Casey Davenhill.  The new projects are named Grant-Frontier/Overland Pond Park and South Platte River – River Vision Program.
• Treasurer Report

            Beginning Balance              $314.05

            Deposit January                      80.00 membership dues

Ending Balance of               $419.05

 

• Police Report

Sharon D. Avendano was present as our new Community Resource Office (CRO) for this area in district 3.  She provided some neighborhood stats which showed that between Jan 2013 and Jan 2014 crimes on properties were down 25%.  She explained about a social media website call http://nextdoor.com which is for neighborhoods only.  It is a way to communicate with neighbors.  Here you can find crime alerts and tips.  Casey invited the police to spend more time in the Overland Park area as bad behavior seems to occur in the parking lot and on the road behind the park on a regular basis including illegal dumping and the storage shed being broken into.  Sharon noted that she will include an extra patrol which means that when an officer is not busy they can drive around in that area.  Ray reported someone dumping from a truck into his dumpster. He captured the license plate and will send to Sharon for follow up.   Other concerns presented to Sharon included missing pets in the area and graffiti.  Sharon’s contact information includes cell phone # 720-737-0739 and email address Sharon.avendano@denvergov.org

 

• Chris Nevitt’s Office update (Valerie Kerns)

Nothing to report this month.

 

• Update on Field Trip to Eastern Plains (Brian Sanchez) 

Brian Sanchez from the US Fish and Wildlife service spoke about when NRDS funds became available from the Shattuck settlement. Part of the money went to improving Overland Pond Park and part went to wetlands creation and enhancement out on the eastern plains near Fort Morgan which includes a migrating bird habitat.  He has invited our neighborhood to come and see what was done.  The date is set for Saturday, April 12^th where the plan is to provide transportation out to the area.  A signup sheet was passed around to get an idea of the number of participants.  Kids are welcome.  Brian plans to be back next month with more details.  Anyone who is interested in this adventure should contact him at brian_c_sanchez@fws.gov or 303-236-4752.

 

• Announcements and New Business

 

Catherine announced that she will continue to be acting president and annual elections will be held as usual during the October meeting.

Ronnie attended the waste meeting regarding Denver solid waste.  He extended an invitation from the waste management people to an educational field trip on Friday, March 21 from 9am to 3:30pm  Trip to include a visit to the garbage dump/ land fill, then the compost location, and then at the recycle location.  Contact Ronnie if you want to go.  Ronnie Crawford email falconcentral@gmail.com.

Ronnie also announced Catherine is going to give a presentation on Tuesday, March 4^th, starting at 7pm at The Skylark Lounge Address: 140 South Broadway, 2^nd floor.  Presented by The Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  She is going to talk about the 18 year battle with the EPA.  Michael Bouchard from Denver Parks and Recreation will also give an update on the River plan.  Everyone is invited.

Equinox party is now planned for Thursday, March 20^th at Overland Park Pond from 3pm to sunset.

Catherine brought up the task of how to transfer the Shattuck vhs tapes to disk for archiving.  She is already in contact with Western History Department at the Denver Public Library.  It was also suggested to contact Steve Fisher from DU who works in archive department. Catherine will follow up.

(Helene Orr requested to have this added after meeting) I wanted to mention that Denver Digs Trees has extended their application deadline to March 15th for people interested in street or yard trees. This is especially pertinent for people who have ash trees because the emerald ash borer is here and will destroy most of Denver's ash trees within the next three years. More info at http://www.theparkpeople.org/Programs/DenverDigsTrees.aspx

.

Jack Unruh gave a brief presentation on Compassion Denver and the goal to make Denver a compassionate city.  He proposed that OPNA submit a resolution declaring us a compassionate Neighborhood and bringing the message to INC to get other neighborhoods interested.  It was explained that this is a grass roots movement working from the bottom up to bring attention at the city level.

A motion was made to adopt the resolution of OPNA as a compassionate neighborhood and to pursue inclusion of language regarding OPNA’s position on compassionate action in any revision of the bylaws in 2014.  Motion was seconded and passed with one against vote.  Here is a link to the Charter for Compassion http://charterforcompassion.org/site  where the following resolution will be submitted.  See below after meeting notes.

 

• By-laws Review.

The bylaws were reviewed and it was agreed unanimously to complete the following changes:

1. Update all occurrences of ONA to OPNA to reflect the name changed which happened a few years ago.
2. Modify the boundaries to Lincoln Ave to the east and Platte River Drive to the west.
3. Remove the set meeting location.
4. Clarify that annual elections occur in October meeting.

A motion was raised to have the resolution for being a compassionate neighborhood added to the by-laws along with including compassion as an agenda item for future meetings.  Discussion regarding this motion included some members wanting to wait to find out more information regarding this movement before adding into the by-laws. Others felt it was a good thing to have added to the by-laws and agenda. The motion was eventually passed 7-for, 3-against, 2-abstained. 

Please find amended By-laws attached.

Meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm.

Next neighborhood meeting will be on Thursday, March 27, 2014, at 6:30 pm at John Collins Church, 2320 South Bannock.  Come join us and find out what is happening in our neighborhood. Also, check us out and Like us on Facebook.

 

Overland Park Neighborhood Association

Resolution: February 27, 2014 
 
OVERLAND PARK IS A COMPASSIONATE NEIGHBORHOOD 

BECAUSE compassion is key to getting along and helping one another as neighbors, and since new science shows the positive outcomes in health, well-being and longevity – for both giver and receiver – of practicing compassion, and

BECAUSE the Overland Park Neighborhood Association recognizes the virtue of compassion as indispensible to our neighborhood, and recognizes the Compassionate Cities Campaign International as effectively supporting our vision of neighbors living in empathy and helpfulness for a better future; and

BECAUSE the Compassionate Cities Campaign’s effective actualization of the Charter for Compassion, the endorsement by the U.S. Conference of Mayors of the Compassionate Cities movement, and the historic importance of this international movement in our turbulent times all confirm the timely wisdom of embracing compassion,

THEREFORE, Overland Park Neighborhood Association, having informed itself about these matters, hereby endorses the Charter for Compassion, declaring Overland Park a Compassionate Neighborhood and a participating Partner in the activities of the Charter for Compassion International.