Community Relations Commission

APPROVED MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMISSION NORTHBROOK, ILLINOIS April 4, 2013 The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m., in the Civic Room, at the Northbrook Public Library, by Chair Ray Wehr. Members Present: Nafisa Choudhury, Bruce Doughty, Dale Duda, Scott Gertz, Linda Goldsher, Sue Huang, James Hyun, Kamyar Jabbari, Chris Kosla, Alice Lonoff, Robert Lozaro, Ron Mantegna, Rochelle Singer, and Chair Wehr. Also Present: Susan Weil, Liaison Kendal Maltas, and Recording Secretary LeeAnn Artstein. Welcome Chair Wehr welcomed everyone to the meeting. Chair Wehr welcomed Susan Weil, the new representative for St. Norbert Church, who will be replacing Member Lozaro. She is very excited to be a member of the CRC. Member Lozaro stated that tonight will be his last formal meeting. He will participate in the Asian Heritage Celebration in May and will continue on as a spectator at the next two CRC meetings. Approval of NCRC Award Selection Subcommittee Minutes March 6, 2013 Member Lozaro moved, seconded by Member Mantegna, to approve the minutes of the March 6, 2013 meeting, with the following revisions:  2) 2nd line, change “recluse” to “recuse”.  Conclusion: Changed wording of the subcommittee consensus. On voice vote, the revised minutes were approved. Approval of Welcome to Northbrook/Flamingo Fridays Kick-Off Party Subcommittee Minutes March 14, 2013 Member Lozaro moved, seconded by Member Mantegna, to approve the minutes of the March 14, 2013 meeting. On voice vote, the minutes were approved. Approval of the March 7, 2013 CRC Meeting Minutes Member Lozaro moved, seconded by Member Doughty, to approve the minutes of the March 7, 2013, meeting with the following revisions:  Page 2, NCRA Award, 7 lines to end, changed to: “…their contributions did not meet the criteria needed to be considered for the award...”  Page 2, Black History Month, 2nd to last sentence, take out “ad…” and replace with “article for the event”.  Page 2, Asian Heritage, next to last sentence, remove sentence “The cultural and artifacts display...”  Page 3, Flamingo Friday, change the sentences regarding “Sunset Foods wagon… ”  Page 4 News from Schools, 2nd line, change “Austin” to “Adam”, and change last line “…have a chance to participate in Spartans Connect, when they will be able to explore hobbies and other interests”.  Page 4, New Business, Martin Luther King, change “special services” to “a day of service”.  Page 4, Adjournment, 1st sentence – add “seconded by Member Lozaro”. On voice vote, the revised minutes were approved. Asian Heritage Month Planning Member Huang reported on the 2013 Asian Heritage month celebration which is entitled, “Taste of Asia” to be held on Sunday, May 5, 12:30 – 3:30 pm, at the North Suburban YMCA, 2705 Techny. Admission is free. The event highlights the diversity of Asian culture, with participants representing Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thai and Russia. Music and dance performances will include a Korean and a Russian children’s choir, Japanese singing, a Filipino band, and a Thai instrument ensemble that will take place throughout the afternoon. Artisans will offer Asian pottery, henna hand painting, colorful jewelry and artifacts, and Chinese painting demonstrations. Chinese, Russian, Filipino and Indian food vendors will have dishes to purchase and sample. The ABC room will be used as an art room for the children and possibly have a DVD set up for a public viewing. Member Huang passed out flyers to the members. Cheryl Fayne dePersio is working on the press releases. She has a large mailing list which includes local and Asian media. The PSA on our local station features Wileen Hsing. The event is listed on the Village website. It is mentioned in the April Village newsletter. The May Village newsletter will have a larger article on the event. Member Lozaro indicated that everything is going really well. Chair Wehr thanked Sue and the subcommittee for their hard work. Interfaith Sunday Planning Member Goldsher reported that the event is scheduled for Sunday, April 21st. The event will kick off at 12:30 pm, at the Gazebo at the Village Green, 1810 Walters, where passports and t-shirts will be handed out. There will be two dance groups performing. Everyone is invited to visit the 13 houses of worship participating this year. The houses of worship will be open from 1 – 4 pm. The event will conclude at the Village Hall, where from 4 – 6 pm everyone can meet for pizza, conversation, and a game of fun facts, “Dispelling the Myths”. The CRC banner and new Interfaith Sunday banners will be strategically placed throughout Northbrook. Cheryl Fayne dePersio has worked on the PSA which will be linked to the Village website. Flyers are available for posting. Cheryl is also working on press releases. Liaison Maltas will email the information to all CRC members, and member Goldsher will forward the information by email to all houses of worship. Flamingo Friday/Welcome to Northbrook Planning Members Duda and Gertz reported they had a subcommittee meeting to discuss the combined event which will be held on Friday, May 17, 2013, 5:30 – 7:00 pm. They are still waiting to hear from Sunset Foods if the Sunset popcorn wagon will be available for use. In the meantime, Member Duda has been doing some additional planning. She contacted Ed at Dairy Queen, who will donate Dilly Bars. The event will also provide free pizza, soft drinks and bottled water. Member Lozaro volunteered to bring coolers and a speaker system, if needed. The event will need people to help set up things and take things down. Member Kosla in absentia will contact the Fire Department for a fire truck. Member Stoddard has already contacted the Northbrook Symphony, the Library, the Y, and the Park District. They all plan to attend. The Park District and the Y are planning on bringing lawn games for the kids. Two dozen plastic flamingos will be ordered for this year. Cheryl Fayne dePersio is taking care of the press releases and the Village newsletter notice of this event. Post cards will be made and sent out again to new residents. The event will be advertised at the Interfaith Sunday and Taste of Asia events. Members Duda and Gertz will be looking at different ideas for next year’s combined event. They will be looking at different days and possibly leveraging off some other event that is taking place in the community. Member Duda made a motion for a $300.00 budget for the combined Flamingo Friday and Welcome to Northbrook event that will pay for refreshments and the purchase of two dozen plastic flamingos. Member Lozaro seconded the motion. Hearing no further discussion, on voice vote the motion passed. Community Trivia Challenge Member Lozaro asked if the CRC members wanted to consider having the community trivia challenge again this year or possibly every other year. A discussion followed. It was felt the event was successful in its first year and is a way to bring together residents of all ages and from all backgrounds in the community. The event should continue to reach out to the schools and to local businesses. A 2 commissioner will be needed to chair the event. Member Lozaro stated that most of the start up work from last year can be repeated again. Member Singer stated that preparing the questions will be time consuming. It was felt that the event should be held every other year. It was decided to keep the event on the discussion list to give members time to reflect and think about future plans. News from Clergy Association and Houses of Worship Member Goldsher reported on the April 3 clergy meeting. There was a lengthy clergy meeting about the tragic GBN student’s suicide on Monday. The clergy discussed what they should do as a group and individually. As a group, the clergy decided they are not going to do anything. The individual houses of worship will have their separate and distinct programs that they have available. There are youth ministers available to help the kids with the grieving process. The clergy discussed that they sensed from what they have seen that the kids are moving on too quickly with the grieving process. The clergy agenda also included the decision to have youth ministers attend the clergy meetings. They will be part of it, and each will continue to still have their own meetings. There will be further discussion on this at their next meeting. The CRC members then discussed their concerns on issues faced by the youth. They felt the suicides are a new phenomenon in the community that is affecting not only the kids, but the parents, families, neighbors, teachers, school administrators, etc. They have concerns for all the kids and their different needs for processing grief. They discussed their observations of how the community is handling it. The clergy has expressed their concern and their role with handling the grief process. The schools are very active with this issue and are handling it the same way when the community was faced with three student deaths last year. The Village offers counseling services with Nancy Vaccaro and others at the Police Department. There is the Youth Services of Glenview/Northbrook that is also available for the kids. The CRC members discussed their further concerns that more needs to be done to have support for kids who are facing many different types of issues. They also discussed support for the entire community. Member Gertz raised the question to the CRC members if there should be a community forum to discuss serious issues the kids are facing today. A discussion followed that was very supportive of having a forum that would talk about youth and how the community can come together for one another. The entire community, including all groups and agencies would participate in the the forum. It was felt that the Village President and Board’s support would be needed for this to happen. Chair Wehr indicated an agenda item for further discussion would be the first step. News from Schools Member Doughty gave an update on many positive things going on at District 225:  GBN received a Red Apple award for being in the top 78 high schools in IL  Students continue to excel with medals for both boys’ and girls’ sports teams  Awards for students in forensic debate and journalism  Awards for students in music at state level  GBN Choir is back from performing in Italy  Students at State and National level competing in business skills competition, DECA  New Northwestern Coach Collins is a GBN graduate  Northwestern football team at GBN field house tonight working with Jr. Spartans team Old Business a. Sub-Committee Agenda Liaison Maltas reminded everyone that she needs to receive subcommittee agendas at least 48 hours in advance of the meetings so they can be posted on the Village bulletin board. 3  b. Liaison Maltas will email reminders to those members who still need to send her certificates of their completion of the open acts training meeting. c. Member Duda inquired about the three CRC Commissioners, Duda, Hyun and Kosla, who are up for reappointment in April. Chair Wehr explained the procedure for reappointment and that it may take a few months to complete the process. Member Duda will need to find a replacement for the representative position at Our Lady of the Brook that she formerly held. New Business There was no new business. Eyes & Ears on the Street a. General Election Chair Wehr reminded everyone to vote. b. Sincere and thorough thanks from the Wehr family Chair Wehr thanked everyone for their attendance and support at Collin’s Memorial Service at St. Norbert on April 1. Ray stated it was great to have his family and his extended family together which included: Bears family, Children’s Memorial family, Northbrook Fire Dept. family, and CRC family. c. Organ & Trumpet Recital at Vill. Presbyterian Church on Fri., May 24, 7:30 pm, free concert. d. 7th Day Adventist Church of Nbk, 2211 Pfingsten, on Apr. 13, at 7 pm, is hosting a guest speaker, Author Mary Brounstein. His book, “Two Among The Righteous Few”, is a true story of courage during the Holocaust in the Netherlands. e. After 30 years, the Northbrook Citizens for Drug & Alcohol Awareness (NCDAA), headed by Marcia Doniger, will be closing its doors in May. It will no longer provide drug prevention programs to the community. The Village is planning to recognize Marcia with a proclamation in her honor. f. International Dinner potluck style at GBN on April 17, celebrating different cultures in Northbrook. g. Consider more events for seniors in Northbrook. The April Village newsletter indicates three new senior housing projects going on in Northbrook. This will add to the Northbrook senior population, which is the higher than the Illinois average. Next Meeting – May 2, 2013 The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 2, 2013. Adjournment At 8:26 p.m., Member Gertz made a motion to adjourn, and it was seconded by Member Lozaro. On voice vote, the motion passed. Respectfully Submitted, /s/LeeAnn Artstein Recording Secretary 4