MINUTES
FREMONT NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
March 24, 2003
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: April Thanos, Alan Younker, Toby Thaler, Dic Selin, Jenny Eichwald, Vafa Ghazi, Benjamin Grossman, Norma Jones
Minutes approved for 2/24/03 as amended (three small typos).
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS – none
TREASURER’S REPORT: none
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
LAND USE – The Design Review Board allowed the use of the alley behind the new QFC site for all traffic and may extend it all the way between 39th & 40th. The neighbor may want to make an appeal.
GUERILLA GARDENING – May 3rd with a rain date of May 10th will be the spring dates for gardening and will meet at the powerhouse.
COMMUNITY CENTER – none
OPEN-SPACE – none
COMMUNICATONS – Alan thanked those who assisted with putting out the newsletter.
BICYCLE ROUTES – Toby was at the bike meeting on the Burke Gilman trail through Ballard and the teamsters were opposing some of the route. City Council will vote early April.
TRANSPORTATION – none – we need someone to head this committee
AFFORDABLE HOUSING – There will need to be action by the City Council before the Albion property can be sold to CHHIP. We will be ready for the funding round in early Sept. Sue will draft a letter to the City Council if she thinks it will help our cause for the April meeting.
PUBLIC SAFETY – Pete will meet with Steve to try to get the bars together to work on safety issues. Pete is on vacation for a couple of weeks.
Viaduct/Seawall – Marco Lowe from the Mayor’s office advised we need $15 million for an environmental impact assessment. He wanted us to draft a letter to the state legislature to support the expenditure. There isn’t a consensus for getting it done yet. It was moved and passed that we send a letter to the state legislators for the 43rd and 35th districts to support the $15 million expenditure and cc the Mayor’s office. Norma will draft the letter.
Aurora Ave N. Improvements – Therese Casper from SDOT presented the plans for bus rapid transit on Aurora. Bus route 358 on Aurora is the busiest in the city. The city’s plan is to have buses every 15 minute all day and more frequently during peak hours by Sept. Toby will draft a letter to the City Council to support bus rapid transit along Aurora with a stop as far south in Fremont as possible and no loss in current Fremont bus routes.
City Surplus Property – Joan Rosenstock advised the City is looking at various way to use the surplus property north of the Transfer Station. Lots of people have approached them including 7 schools. There is also another site at 4th& Pacific, which is even larger (near University Bridge). The property on 35th is not officially available yet. It is zoned C2-30. South Wallingford would like meeting space and a community garden. She may come back in June to tell us what evaluations have been made to the council. Toby will press Joan for a list of all those interested in the site and bring it to the next meeting.
OLD BUSINESS:
LUDC – Peter Steinbreuck attended. They are making park of Gas Works Park into a dog off-leash area. Next someone from the Office of Economic Development will be there.
Fremont Works – Traffic calming on 36th has to be planned before the light on 35th & Fremont can go ahead and that light is essential for the light on 35th & Evans. Julia will work with her neighbors, Lillian and the city on a plan for the traffic calming.
NEW BUSINESS:
A literacy program is moving into the Wick Building.
Dic announced he will not be President again, but will be on the Board. George is willing to be VP
Motion passed to allocate Benjamin $250 for paint for mural on Bridge to be reimbursed to Wally of the Fremont Arts Council.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.