West 46th Street Block Association, Inc.

May 3, 2005/ Hartley House at 413 West 46th Street

Sep 06, 2005

1. Welcome and Introduction
2. Reading of the Minutes of Prior Meeting- we voted to approve the April minutes.
3. Reports of Officers
3.1. President?’s Report
3.1.1. Report of Internet site (http://www.west46streetblockassociation.org) activity through April 30th: 302 visits to entire site, 112 home page, 24 calendar, 31 newsletter
3.1.2. Future speakers: Ana P. Semedo, HDFC Tenant Organizer, Housing Conservation Coordinators [500 West 52nd St. 4th Floor, New York, NY 10019, (212) 541-5996]
3.1.3. Access to labor for leveling of tree grates- Christina and Watty will contact Midtown Community Court and Samaritin Village Vetern's Program, respectively.
3.1.4. Address sandwich boards- Darrick will contact the Times Square Alliance?’s Eighth Avenue Advisory Committee and CB4 to address complaints from a business. Suggested was for people to also call 311 when they encounter sandwich boards blocking part of the sidewalk.
3.1.5. Meeting Announcements in Spanish- Darrick is looking for someone who knows Spanish to translate our meeting notices.
3.2. Vice President?’s Report
3.2.1. Bulletin Board- Christina reported that the owner of the building on the NW corner of 9th Avenue and 46th Street will allow us to install a bulletin board on the side of the building if the owner of the Galaxy (John) has no objections. Richard Corley will ask the owner of the building on the SE corner of 10th Avenue and 46th street if we can install a bulletin board there as well.
3.3. Treasurer?’s Report
4. Reports of Standing and Ad Hoc Committees
4.1. Communication (June Stern, chair)- no report
4.2. Ivan Shapiro House (Watty Strouss, chair) - no report
4.3. Membership (Allison Tupper, chair)- we have 19 members
4.4. Parks & Recreation (Christina Boers, chair) ?– Christina reported that we had $200 in expenses this Spring to maintain the Alexandra Palmer Memorial Garden at May Matthews Playground. One of the major expense was the purchase of a blossoming tree ($ 116.00). Darrick noted that the beautification of our community is a priority of the Block Association and moved that we spend $200 for these planting expenses. We voted to and it passed.
4.5. Programs (chair needed) - no report
4.6. Quality of Life (Seth Sibanda, chair) - no report
4.7. Special Events (Darrick Sampson)
4.7.1. Ninth Avenue International Food Festival- Saturday & Sunday, May 14 & 15, 2005, 11 am - 7 pm, 37th to 57th Streets- the Block Association will again solicit baked goods from restaurants within the jurisdiction of the Block Association.
4.7.2. Annual Wine & Cheese Party- Christina reported that she will try to reschedule the party for Friday, June 17th as a lot of people were not able to attend if it was on June 16th.
4.8. Midtown North Community Council (June Stern, meets every third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at Fountain House) ?– Christina reported that she had thanked the police department for their presence in May Matthews Playground to deter dog owner from letting their dogs in the playground. Other issues addressed: bicycles on the sidewalks and prostitution.

5. Unfinished Business
5.1. Strategy for getting approval for amending name of playground- Watty will be fine tuning the article mentioned below and is pursuing this matter with the Parks Department.
5.2. Article by Mary Clark- Darrick reported that we sent the article to the Chelsea Clinton News (ltodd@manhattanmedia.com)
5.3. Marsh & McLennan Companies Community Grant- Darrick reported that we are not eligible for the grant because we are not a I.R.S. 501(c)(3) organization: Tax Exempt Charitable Organization. We are a I.R.S. 501(c)(4) organization: Civic Leagues and Social Welfare Organizations.
6. New Business- No new business
7. Public Announcements- Watty announced the AIDs Walk
8. Guest Speaker: Brandon Solotoff, Pets at Play, 523 West 45th Street (between 10th & 11th Avenues), (212) 956-2267, http://www.nycpetsatplay.com presents: ?“Doggie Manners and our Responsibilities to Them and Those Around Us?”
9. Adjournment- The meeting was adjouned at 8:45pm