Horner Park Advisory Council
Minutes
June 3, 2013
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm by President Peter Schlossman. The meeting was at the Horner Park Field House and a quorum was determined to be present.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the April 2013 meeting were approved.
The minutes of the May 2013 meeting were approved.
Report of the Treasurer
MB checking $10,716.22
MB savings $14,866.65
Paypal $1,080.48
Total $ 19,074.92
The Quickbooks account reconciles with the bank statements. Additional money from the concert committee is expected.
River Project
Last month, USACE (U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers) agreed to return this summer to give a presentation on the status of the design. Tom asked for a 10 foot path for the cross country meets. Peter suggested having a meeting to August to meet with them.
Peter has a draft letter to Nicole Roach with comments from the community such as the environmental impact of using PVC in the vernal ponds, fencing, grade of the river bank, lighting, amenities such as benches or large stones, safety concerns because of the open access to the water (Liam Donnelly suggested a buoy), and the effect on the proposed dog park area.
Dog Friendly Area (DFA)
Erica is continuing with the surveys and working with the USACE regarding acreage needs for both projects.
Website Committee – No Report
Garden Committee – No Report
Concert Committee
Posters and program are ready. Total ad sale is up over last year; the number of personal ads decreased but the number of business ads increased.
On Monday night, from 8 to 10, John will be stuffing envelopes with the concert schedule and program for those that purchased ad space. Everyone is welcome to help.
Park Briefs
Buffalo Park
John O is trying to get a permit from the Care of Trees to receive permission to plant 2 trees. He thinks the cost will be around $1000-$1200 and will kick off fund-raising at the end of the summer.
He would like to plant a second crab tree and a donor is available.
Sunken Gardens– No Report
Ravenswood Manor Park
Sarah raised a concern about the park benches. Tom said he would fix them.
At the point behind the bulletin board, the Norway Maple trees prevent most plants from growing. Sarah put in a string labyrinth last year. She is now considering what could be done permanently. To repair the area, additional soil is needed be
Sarah had a budget of $50 for plants that she will share with Sue Davenport. The plants will be split between Buffalo Park and Ravenswood Manor Park.
Jacob
Jacob will be receiving new playground equipment. Friends of the Park worked with CPD (Chicago Park District) to develop 2 designs. Through community discussion, one of the designs will be selected.
The river clean-up went well and a tree came down, fostering new growth. They also now have fire hydrant access.
Horner Park
The new woodshop instructor, Eric Boelker, has begun. He spends 20 hours/week at Horner probably over 3 days. Kevin suggested reaching out to Scout organizations to offer Horner Park as a place to earn a woodworking merit badge. There is also some discussion about stained glass.
Football clinic started last Sunday. There were 60 students. Lane Tech and Gordon Tech lead the clinics; students came from area schools.
All summer programs are completely filled. Some programs have a waiting list; a complete list can be found on the CPD web site.
River day clean-up was successful.
Tom now has a broader base of parks to oversee; California Park has been added to his responsibility.
The HPNWLL issue was successfully resolved by a 45 minute phone call from Tom.
Peter raised an issue that a park bench was damaged. The Little League is replacing the benches in the dugout with higher grade wood benches.
There was $10,000 worth of damage from the Avon walk, mostly from trucks. The Avon representative agreed that there was damage and agreed they would lose their deposit. At the last minute, Alderman Mell’s office put up no parking signs, because this had not been done.
John O has been talking to Barb Wood about trees at the Henry Horner Monument? A tree needs to be removed and plants could be added to the triangle area.
Whitney Richardson sent an email saying that she could not implement the Kite Collective project this summer.
Emerald Ash Borer
56 Ash Trees in Horner could not be saved and has already been removed. $1000 worth of chemicals have been donated, Alderman Mell will cover the rest of the costs, probably around $3000. An arborist will perform the inoculation.
CPD has decided not to treat trees and instead replace so Alderman Mell will contact Mike Kelly to obtain permission to treat the trees in Horner and Ravenswood. John O. suggests that HPAC offer a token amount to the Alderman Mell, to help defray the costs and demonstrate community support. John O made the motion to support Alderman Mell via a letter. Kevin made a motion to contribute $250 to the effort. Both motions passed unanimously.
Two community awareness events have been scheduled:
June 11, 7pm, Sulzer Regional Library
June 13 7pm, Wright College
New Business
Peter thanked those that cleaned-up Buffalo Park and Sunken Gardens.
Theresa Hicks purchased a gatorbag for the Liz Freeze Memorial. A motion to pay her was passed.
We need to contact Dana Andrews at CPD to update the roster of officers.
Late Ride is June 30, starting at 1:00am. Horner is the half-way point, so they will be coming through here about 2:30. This Late Ride is a fund-raiser for Friends of the Park.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50.
Attendance:
Peter Schlossman – President
Kevin Anderson – Treasurer
Lisa Cleveland – Co-Secretary
Sarah Reiser – Co-Secretary
Tom McManamon – Horner Park Supervisor
John O’Connell – Head of HPAC Concert Series Committee, Friends of the Parks Representative
Erica Beutler – Head of the DFA
Ben Ranney – Neighbor
Sigrid Schmidt – Neighbor interested in the riverbank restoration and dog park
Carol Maher – Neighbor
Annisa Wanat – Neighbor
Liam Connelly – Concerned Neighbor
John Friedman – Emerald Ash Borer
Respectfully submitted: Lisa Cleveland, Co-Secretary
