Meeting called to order 7:10pm
Introductions/Attendance
- Peter Schlossman, President
- Diane Sutliffe, Co-treasurer
- • Gretchen Helmreich, Co-treasurer
- Kevin Anderson, former treasurer
- Alan Mueller, RMIA
- Daniel Honigman, Resident
- Liz Aviles, Sierra Club Chicago
- Amy Jahnke, Co-secretary
- Erica Reardon, Congressman Quigley’s office
- Carol Maher, Resident
June 2017 minutes approved with minor changes.
Reports
Treasurer’s Report
- Talk about getting Diane Sutliffe, new Treasurer, into the bank system. Amy to post June minutes on website after this meeting.
- Full report holding until September; no significant changes other than money for concerts and HornerFest costs/donations.
- Diane and Kevin have met to discuss transition; finance committee will meet end of August or start of September (TBD). Would like representatives of the major programs to be in this meeting (in person or call). Looking for DFA, HornerFest, Concerts, Farmers Market to be represented.
Nominating Committee
- Looking to confirm new co-secretary
Farmer’s Market
- Averaging about the same number of people for week as last year
- Have been very fortunate for good weather
- M’s farm should be there around July 22 (due to problems with crops this year)
- Yoga class is going great, fantastic turnout and sound system helps. Hanna may start to ask for donations for local charities (DFA, Bateman Boosters, etc.); she is talking to Deb about this.
Concert Committee
- Gretchen: signup for river front tours isn’t on the festival website; Amy has sent an email to John F.
- The season is well underway. Recent shows include Temporal Brass Quintet and Ursa Ensemble at RMPark, the Narloch Student recital, and a huge crowd for the Hokulea Academy show. Upcoming at Horner Park are HornerFest, Around the World in 8 Plays (both on Saturday, July 15), and the return of Generation at RMPark on the 21st of July. Attendance has been helped, we believe, from good posting on social media, including pre- and during show posts on Facebook. Financially, I am still collecting ad pledges and an occasional household subscription. It looks like we will be close to break-even. I still have checks to submit for deposit, and need checks cut for the last few shows.
HornerFest (John F.)
- 11 breweries lined up (30 beers), good for the first year
- Bumpus is lined up, a DJ will play for the 2h they aren’t playing
- No parking on Montrose that night for delivery and food truckso Tables set up on park side of tennis courtso Stage and electric are all readyo Port-a-Potties, security all in place
- Liquor license and permits coming tomorrow
- 150 tickets have been sold (breaking even)
- Halfway filled on volunteer slots (1-hr increments from 4-11pm)
- Costs are at $4,200 at the moment; John F. has breakdown. $1700 for music is a big cost. Total budget $5,000; at the moment they are breaking even.
- Suggestion to reach out to Eater for additional exposure, Illinois Craft Brewers Guild (for volunteers)
- Saturday is a big lineup! 2 bands, movie in the park, beer garden, Ultimate Ninjas. Lots to do! 33% more people will be accommodated for the riverfront tours. Bateman has a chess tournament. Free trees from the Ward. Bike Ambassadors will be giving away lights.
- Also need volunteers for Saturday.
Dog Friendly Area
- Checks are in the mailbox to them; Peter will take and write thank-yous
- Calendar contest is in the works, voting is up on the DFA FB page
- Have not yet arranged meeting with park district to go over new plan
Park Briefs
Horner Park
- Art Room air conditioning: no update
- Wifi: no update
- Riverfront Restoration – dead / fallen trees: Peter has spoken with Lauren Umech about these. The contractor for the restoration doesn’t do tree removal. The park district will start to maintain this in the future, but contractually they can’t get in there at the moment.
Bat Boxes: Liz Aviles, Sierra Club Chicago
- Liz is part of the Chicago chapter wildlife committee; one of their initiatives is to get more public spaces to put up bat houses to get bats to roost there vs. setting up in people’s houses.
- Looking to know what Sierra Club needs to do to get bat houses installed in the park. Other organizations who have bat house initiatives: Lincoln Park Zoo, Friends of the Chicago River (they work with the forest preserves).
- Benefits: they eat an insane amount of mosquitoes!
- Bats benefit by being by a body of water
- Sierra Club could secure funds to buy bat houses or supply materials for people in the wood shop to build them.
- “Rocket Box” designs are more effective than what the zoo is using. (4’x4’x4’, raised 12’ off the ground). Designed to house female bats so they can give birth.
- Next steps: Liz to reach out to other organizations to get bat house best practices. What do we need to get approval from the Park District? How did Friends of the Chicago River work with the forest preserves to install these in public spaces? North Park is part of the CPD.
- Questions: How many do we need? Is there negative public reaction? Possibility of a web cam/bat cam? Bat Week is a national program that is celebrated (October) where events could be planned. Spring is bat baby season. Would a smaller bat house work?
- Motion passes that HPAC encourages Liz to investigate this further.
No solution regarding sidewalk flooding; request has been submitted
Ravenswood Manor Park
- Tree replacement – parkway and alley. Haven’t heard anything to date.
Jacob Playlot: no report
Sunken Garden: no report
Buffalo Park
- Graffiti has been taken care of
- Dead evergreen is gone; stump is still there
- Stewardship cleaned the park this weekend
Website Committee
- Looking to move email to Gmail (Amy and Kevin)o Jacob and Ravenswood Manor photos need to be updated
- WordFence may need to be updated per Kevin
- New version of WP coming in August; not sure if our theme will work on this. Kevin will be looking into a fresher theme that is responsive at that time. Amy to recommend what she has used in the past to Kevin.
Stewardship Committee
- Planters at Buffalo Park are planted and are being watered. John has done some watering at RMPark. Always looking for help.
Nominating Committee
- Thanks to Diane Sutliff for agreeing to assume to role of Treasurer.
Other Reports
- FOTP Annual Luncheon & PAC Conference – June 9-10: John F. and Peter attended. Good networking with FOTP people.
- Breast Cancer Walk: No issues
Announcements
- HornerBrewFest & HornerFest – July 14 & 15
Meeting adjourned 8:37pm
Next Monthly Meeting (note date change due to holiday)Sept. 10 @ 7:00 pm – Horner Park Fieldhouse
