HPAC Minutes
Monday, 5/1/17
Attendance:
- Peter Schlossman, President
- Diane Sutliff, Co-Secretary
- Lisa Cleveland, Co-Treasurer
- John O’Connell
- Alan Mueller, RMIA
- Gretchen Helmreich, Farmer’s Market
- John Friedman
- Deb Groh, Horner Park Supervisor
- Kevin Anderson, Co-Treasurer
Meeting called to order at 7:05.
Minutes from the April meeting were approved with minor changes.
Treasurer’s Report – Kevin and Lisa
Lisa and Kevin will coordinate the transfer of the QuickBooks files. No treasurer’s report.
Farmer’s Market – Gretchen
The Market begins in five weeks! June 3 is the first market. There will be 20 market days, extending into the second week of October. Still accepting applications for spaces because HP does not require full season commitment. Sept 16 is Kid’s Day where there will be face painting, kid oriented musicians and additional kid friendly vendors. Insurance has been renewed. Permits are filed.
The muddy patches of the lawn will be likely be filled with wood chips. Requests by Deb for fall seeding have come to nothing year after year.
Volunteers are always needed and appreciated! Nathan Gumley is a new volunteer for the Farmer’s Market Committee.
(Yoga in the Park will happen at the same time this summer, separately but nearby.)
Concert Committee – John O
John is making final calls to collect the supporting funds needed for the concerts. A change needs to be made on the website to correct one date.
HornerFest: (John F reported via email to Peter)
Three breweries are lined up for the evening event. Bateman School will be coordinating a chess tournament. Bike Ambassadors will be installing bike lights for attendees. Deb suggests the event permit needs to be requested very soon so there is not the same time crunch as last year. Port-to-lets are on order, which comes out of Horner’s operating funds. Banners will be generated by CPD Marketing Department.
Dog Friendly Area
Peter reports that the committee has met and reviewed the modified plans drawn up by Christy Webber. Discussions continue about how the work can go forward from here and investigation into the practicality of artificial turf.
Stewardship Committee John O
For Earth Day, all five parks under HPAC had captains leading work crews to spruce up our landscapes. This work included wood chips, trash pickup, fence repair and general raking. Mulch was delivered to Manor Park and John O spread it in all the beds. Some perennials need replacing. Also the flower boxes need new plants. Horner did not have enough volunteers to spread the mulch that was delivered so we need to consider a new volunteering date.
The Recycling event by the Cook County Sheriff’s Association at Horner Park was confusing in that they only accepted recycling until their trucks were full, whereupon the recycler pulled out, leaving recycling materials piled up in the parking lot. HPAC is not interested in having a first-come-first-served event in the future with a volume limit.
Alderman Mell stepped up and arranged to recycle the overflow. The popularity of this event has made her think this might need to be a regular event, to help our community responsibly recycle.
River Day is the second Saturday in May. No activities are currently planned for Horner, especially in light of the fact our river access is fenced off for the duration.
Park Briefs – Deb
Horner Park – Lunch with the Bunny and the Doggie Egg Hunt were great successes! There were about 200 dogs at the event. Many thanks to committee members and Horner staff for all the work put into these events. Egg Hunt made more than $2000, and Lunch with the Bunny made almost $2000. Thanks to Lou Malnati’s for pizza donations at the Lunch!
Horner also hosted a Spring Break program for school children.
Deb has called in a service request for the drainage and pavement issues on the paths through Horner Park.
Young Professionals Council grant request for river signage was not approved so we will look for other funding sources.
Carol Tarnoff in the Art Room is looking for new AC units, especially in light of the coming summer programs at full enrollment. Deb will request CPD electricians and carpenters come to assess and recommend window units that will work with our particular casement windows.
Peter reports that there are many limbs down in Horner after the weekend’s heavy wind and rain.
Ravenswood Manor Park
Michael Brown and Barb Wood from CPD landscaping department will be coming out to look at the missing trees along the parkway and alley.
The Eastwood lawn needs to be reseeded and Deb has asked multiple times. The concert season begins soon and this will be a problem. Deb will follow up again.
Jacob Playlot – no report
Sunken Garden – no report
Buffalo Park – The conifer tree on the southwest corner is dead and needs replacing. Barb Wood has that on her list as well.
Website Committee
John will be adding photos to the website to promote the Concert Series.
New Business On the Table – Promoted by the Chicago Community Trust, groups around the city get together on May 16 to talk about community issues. Peter and John F will talk further about coordinating our nearby groups.
North Region Fall Event Survey – North Region office is gathering information about advisory councils and schedules to being planning a regional meeting this fall. Peter will forward the survey to members by email to assess our availability.
The recent report of a sexual assault in our neighborhood was not in fact in Horner Park as had been reported in the Sun Times.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45.
Respectfully submitted, Diane Sutliff, Co-Secretary
