Horner Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
April 3, 2017
Attendance:
Peter Schlossman, President
Amy Jahnke, Co-Secretary
Deb Groh, Horner Park Supervisor
Alan Mueller, RMIA
John O’Connell
Carol Maher
Athene Carras
Erica Beutler
Dave Reed, Players Sport & Social
Kevin Anderson
John Friedmann
Meeting called to order 7:05pm. Minutes from the March meeting were approved with minor changes.
Volleyball Tournament: Saturday, July 22
Dave Reed, Players Sport & Social
Dave offered apologies for not including HPAC in discussions last year. He explained that the event is a grass volleyball tournament that was started 25 years ago; it’s morphed into a pretty big competition with teams from all over the USA. Competitors include the North Avenue beach players and these national competitors; it’s their penultimate event of the year. They’re looking to have year 2 here again. The event area is completely fenced, with one entrance/exit that has controlled access. 99% of people at the event are people playing in the tournament.
Deb: There was concern over the garbage situation last year. Dave is going to check to make sure dumpsters will be available this year.
Setup is Friday, teardown is Saturday night. Permit goes until 11 on Saturday, event generally ends 8:30 or 9pm.
Overall, last year’s event went smoothly and HPAC is appreciative of the conscientiousness of the organization.
Safety Program:
Athene Carras, RMIA.
RMIA has been trying to organize self-defense classes in the area. Athene is asking if there is any interest in putting together a “safety summit” at Horner Park that could include a self defense class.
Carol Maher: The problem is that people don’t come to safety events. Maybe a self-defense class would be a draw? The police have offered classes for free, but attendance is very low. One thing that has worked is getting criminals to talk about how they commit crimes (i.e. burglars).
HPAC will be willing to help promote any event that RMIA comes up with.
Treasurer’s Report – Kevin Anderson for Lisa Cleveland
Here are the account balances:
MB checking $5,957.84
MB savings $44,741.27
PayPal $14,293.95
total $64,993.06
Money is starting to come in for concerts and farmers market, and costs for those events haven’t gone out yet, which is why the totals are a bit higher.
Motion passes to buy a deposit stamp for the checks.
All online accounts reconcile with QuickBooks.
MB Financial signature form has been completed!
Concert Committee
John O’Connell
Fundraising is progressing. John is asking for help to distribute flyers and solicit businesess. $4k has been made of $16k total. Posters are ready to go and need to be printed.
Amy Jahnke requested to eliminate duplicate mailings to the same address, and that perhaps HPAC members could be omitted from the mailings. Goal is to save on printing and postage. John O. will look into this.
HornerFest Committee
John Friedmann
HornerFest committee is meeting this Thursday. The movie Toy Story, the Chicago Mambo All Stars, and drummers have all been officially booked. The principal at Bateman Elementary would like to have a chess tournament on Saturday. The Army Corps is OK with river tours, and these will function like it did last year. (Deb Groh: the park has ordered a life-size chess/checkers board for their day camp, we will see if this will work for the tournament here)
The HornerFest committee is doing outreach to breweries, and have Penrose lined up. They’re working on a budget for possible tents. Permits are still pending. John is estimating cost will be around $5,000. Ticket cost was discussed, and final costs will depend on the lineup of beer vendors and nature of the event.
Looking for 50-60 volunteers who offer 1h each.
A request for electric outlets on the tennis courts has been placed.
It might be a possibility to wrap a safety event into HornerFest; John F. will talk to Athene about this.
Dog Friendly Area
Erica Beutler
Erica and Peter are meeting with Christy Webber later this week. They have some more info from CPD about rationale behind the presented design and will work with Christy Webber to create a new design.
The Doggie Egg Hunt is coming up! Vendors, prizes, decorations are all lining up. Congressman Quigley is serving as a celebrity judge.
The DFA thanks Urban Pooch and Supreme Beauty, who have been generous sponsors for the event. A new committee member has started an Instagram feed: Doggos of Horner Park.
Schedule: 1pm registration and Egg Hunt, 2pm Costume Contest.
Farmer’s Market – no report. DFA would like to have a table monthly at the Market. Question to Gretchen: can HornerFest tack onto our existing Farmers Market insurance?
Yoga in the Park
Carol Maher
Carol and Amy J. met with Hanna at McFetridge, and Hanna is going to provide free yoga from 10-11am at every Farmers Market throughout the season. Carol and Amy will help to promote via neighborhood groups and other areas.
Stewardship Committee
John O’Connell
Committee meeting on March 14th. Talked about the litter issue, possible actions to take about litter and general stewardship of all parks.
CPD: they do not want people going out and talking to others about litter in the parks due to safety concerns. The committee has a T-shirt design drafted for Horner Park; maybe other people would see people wearing this shirt and start to clean? Nothing was decided except moving forward with Earth Day activities.
Deb: it’s a possibility to put more signage up in the park regarding keeping the park clean, but her experience is that this likely won’t change anything.
There was talk of organizing the litter group to go out and pick up on the Summer holiday weekends. Baseball – maybe they have a beginning and ending of season trash pickup day?
April 22 Recycling Event in Horner Park parking lot. Shredding, electronics, TVs, cell phones, prescription drugs, used clothes/shoes.
River day: nothing is scheduled for Horner; if Luke and Bea want to do something at Sunken/Jacob, John O. can help them out. Those areas are normally covered by groups on the east side of the river.
Website Committee – no report.
Park Briefs – Deb Groh
Horner Park
- Sep 1, 2018: Date the fence supposed to come down on the river project. Currently, the fence is collecting lots of garbage that blows across the park, so this might be a concern when it comes down.
- Starting up spring classes this week. Most programs are full.
- Riverfront burn was completed, no complaints
- Standing water on the park path issue has two causes:
- The sewers get backed up
- Sidewalks have slopes. To fix may involve raising the grade of sidewalks, and the park is currently still settling (as an example of this, the east side of the hill keeps getting lower)
- Deb thought she had submitted something about cleaning the sewers
- Alliance for the Great Lakes Young Professional Council: Submitted for a series of interactive signs and stations
- Mink have been sighted on the river bank!
- Lunch with the Bunny: Big stuffed bunnies have been purchased for kids with a pencil in a goody bag. Working on pizza and water. $250 approved for food expenses.
- Important dates to note:
- Riverfront opening (Fall 2018)
- IP reconstruction (under-bridge connector) (Fall 2017 – Spring 2019)
- Riverview Bridge (Summer 2017 – Fall 2018)
- Bike Path: Starting end of 2017
Ravenswood Manor Park
- Overgrowth was cut back last week
- Ash tree was removed with playground redo; promised replacement trees have not been received yet. Deb to follow up.
- Bench will be replaced when weather gets better
Jacob – no report
Sunken Garden – no report
Buffalo Park – no report
New Business
Note to help support Wells Park win their Nature Area grant, go to wellespark.org for more information.
Articles of Incorporation have been found and will be stored appropriately.
Adjourn at 8:50pm.
