Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Commission

Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Committee 5/5/10 Minutes (Final) CITY OF NORWALK MAYOR’S NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION REGULAR MEETING MAY 5, 2010 ATTENDANCE: David Shockley, Redevelopment; Christine Abraham, West Avenue Street N.A.; Helen Bryan, West Avenue Street N.A; Katherine Griffing, Golden Hill N.A.; Michael Wrinn, Planning and Zoning, Christine Names, NASH; Ron Muller, Village Creek Homeowners Assoc.; Al Raymond, Spring Hill/Hospital N.A.; Nancy Whitmore, West Main Street N.A.; Port Draper, Harbor Shores; Maribeth Becker, Wall Street (10:44 a.m.) STAFF: Connie Blair, Customer Service CALL TO ORDER Mr. Shockley called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m. MINUTES of APRIL 7, 2010 The following corrections were noted: Page 4, under West Main, paragraph 2, line 1 – please change “Ms. Bryant” to “Ms. Abraham” Page 5, paragraph 1, line 1: please change “Ms. Bryant” to “Ms. Abraham” Page 5, paragraph 7, line 5: please change “Keeler and Flax.” to “Keeler and Flax Hill Road.” ** MS. GRIFFING MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF APRIL 7, 2010 AS CORRECTED. ** MS. NAMES SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER UPDATE Ms. Blair said that the Tree Festival would have licensed arborist available at the Norwalk-Wilton Tree Festival on April 22nd at Cranbury Park. Residents who lost trees during the recent wind storms would be able to get advice from them about the damage and the replacement of trees. Ms. Blair informed the Committee that State was rejected for financial assistance for the storm damages from the wind storm.  ANNOUNCEMENTS: City Staff: April 24 – Keep America Beautiful Mr. Shockley said that there were a number of groups that turned out. Mr. Shockley said that there were over 700 volunteers. Brookside School had the PTO turned out. BMHS had over 100 students turned out. Mr. Shockley said that there would be a project at Wall Street to plant the tree pits. Mr. Shockley said that DPW was to be commended for their assistance in collecting the trash. Perry Avenue had a mountain of bags after the clean up including a couch. Harborview had a major turn out. There was good team with between the City and the Spring Hill/Hospital: Mr. Raymond said that things were good in Spring Hill/Hospital Mayor Moccia joined the meeting at 10:14 a.m. West Main Street: Ms. Abraham said that she had seen a number of people come out and clean up. The Mayor said that he would be sending out a message out on Reverse 9-1-1 to ask residents to call 2-1-1 about the storm damages to support the Governor’s request for financial assistance following the storm. The Mayor said that there had been an ongoing problem at Van Zant Street with the building leaving their garbage out. The Mayor said that if the weather holds out, the City will be paving 7 million dollars worth of roads. Regarding the demolition of the old police station, the Mayor said that due to the economy, the bids for removing the building had come in under budget. The Mayor then gave a brief overview of how the American Recovery Act funding would be used. He said that by holding the triple A bond rating, it reduces the interest rate from a potential 5.5% to 3%. The Mayor said that there had been a meeting with the parents at Columbus about the shooting at King Kennedy. He explained that this is retaliation between gang members. He said that the police will be working on quality of life issues for the regular patrol officers. Ms. Names said that Ms. Duleep had been working on the gardens at Ryan Park and there had been a major change. She said that Ms. Duleep had gotten the homeless men and the prostitutes had helped rehabilitate the park. Lt. Wong Won is now supervising the neighborhood policing. Ms. Names asked if there were programs for the children in the housing complex. The mayor said that there were numerous programs that reach approximately 4,000 children a year. This does not include N.E.O.N. programs. The Mayor said that the key was catching the children before they become part of the gangs. Once the children become involved in gangs, very few of them leave. Mr. Raymond asked about whether or not the Mountain Bikes would be brought out. Mayor Moccia said that the Police Department was working on it and that the officers need to attend some special training. The Mayor said that there would be a police ceremony on May 14th at 12:00 p.m. for the fallen officers and those who have passed away. West Main Cont’d– A question was asked about a dog that was hostile towards the mail carrier. Because of this, a mailbox has been installed between the sidewalk and the curb. The concern was whether or not this was legal. Ms. Blair will look into this. Another question was asked about the residents who drive around with loud mufflers. NASH – Ms. Names said the clean up was great and three cherry trees were discovered shrouded with vines. The vines have been removed and now the trees are in bloom. Golden Hill – The clean up went well. There is a small pothole that is quite deep that needs to be filled at the end of Garner Street. Ms. Griffing asked if there was a schedule for the street sweeper. Ms. Blair said that the schedule is on the website. The Mayor commented that there was a new City website. He said that once the prototype is up and running, the public will have a chance to give input. The Mayor said that Darien has a little voice message from the First Selectman, which he felt worked well. Maribeth Becker joined the meeting at 10:44 a.m. Village Creek – Mr. Mueller said that he heard the clean up went well. Harbor Shores – Mr. Draper said that the clean up had a small turnout but it worked out well. He said that the thing that most people complain about is the taxes. He said that the taxes in Darien, New Canaan and Westport were lower. The Mayor said that it would be better to compare Norwalk with Bridgeport, Stamford, or New Haven. The residential communities do not provide the level of services that Norwalk does for its residences. The Mayor pointed out that Norwalk only has 650 employees for a City of 84,000 residents. He added that the Departmental budgets have stayed at the same level for the last two years. At a recent meeting for the BET, some of the parents from Harbor Shores stood up and said that they wanted the schools to be fully funded without cuts and didn’t care how much their taxes increased. Since the schools have been renovated, it has cost the City major money in debt service. The conveyance taxes have dried up. The revenues have dropped almost 9 million dollars. When the legislature issues 11 pages of unfunded State mandated requirements, it costs the City money. When the legislature looks at the grand list for Stamford and Norwalk, they see the cities are doing things right, so Hartford gives the State money to Waterbury, New Haven and Bridgeport rather than to Norwalk. Wall Street – Ms. Becker said that the Farmer’s Market has moved to Freese Park from 10-2 on Saturday. There is now art being done on the utility boxes and art in the store windows. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Mr. Shockley adjourned the meeting at 10:57 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services