Minutes from the June meeting were approved.

Bonnie presented the draft annual State of the Neighborhood report for approval. A few corrections and clarifications were suggested. The report will be published in the newsletter.

Bonnie reported on the annual election that will take place in conjunction with the block party on August 19. She will staff the table, sell memberships and distribute paper ballots to said members. We decided to dispense with the activity of candidates giving brief summaries of their credentials prior to the vote.

Moisés reported a proposal that

Minutes from the May meeting were approved.

Block Party and Election—Much of the meeting was devoted to planning the annual block party and elections. Elaine will coordinate and ask for/assign volunteers. Elaine will ask Joni Conrad-Neutra to co-coordinate. We voted a ceiling of $400 to spend on music, decorations, food and drink. Karla will investigate local bands who will play for free or reduced rates. The block party

Matt Zidovsky, constituent liaison for U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich, addressed the board at the outset of the meeting to let us know of services available to citizens of New Mexico’s First District. Interactions between individuals and the federal government typically are about matters of social security, Medicare, veteran benefits, IRS, and the post office. Mr. Zidovsky said the office has professional case workers to deal with problems that come up for constituents; e.g., not receiving a disability payment or a veteran unable to get an appointment. He wants to come to our general meeting in August. He will contact Amberley to schedule.

Newsletter—The last newsletter was a no-go for too few articles. The articles that were submitted will be included in the upcoming newsletter. It was noted that we have to have a newsletter in advance of an annual meeting to announce

Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Highland Park—Amberley confirmed the Easter Egg Hunt was happening at 10:30 on Sat., Apr. 7. Several of us plan to clean up the park before the hunt.

Highland Park Renovation—Amberley reported that the park design is now on Councilor Benton’s website. The Parks department has put playground equipment outside of the bonding cycle.

Urban Forestry (Tree planting) project—Much of the meeting was devoted to the tree planting project. The board welcomed landscape architect David Day, now a resident of HHHD on Walter NE, who is tracking and guiding myriad details on the re-treeing project’s design phase, leading up to actual fruition of live trees on our neighborhood streets. Owing to life span of the mature 50- to 70-year-old trees, residents will continue to see die-off of these remaining old trees, thus a plan needs to be in place to re-tree before and when this happens. In addition to planting canopy trees such as Chinese and American elm to replace Siberian elm and species of locust, conservation features such as swales to capture rain and curb-cutting to harness stormwater are integral to the overall plan.

Parking at 119 Arno—Most of the meeting was devoted to the ongoing confabs about parking at 119 Arno. Moisés met with Bill again who seems to be amenable to changes to the basic plan, agreeing that parking is a bad use of the property. The general feeling is that Art Hayman views the current plan as a stopgap because he would otherwise be taken to court, another payoff for foot-dragging being that he doesn’t want to invest money in something

Redistricting—Councilor Isaac Benton attended the meeting to report the latest re the possibility that District #3 moving to the West Side. Due to the shifting demographics favoring the West Side, one district will be removed from the East Side. Councilor Benton said that at the time of the 2000 census, the Mid-Heights district was identified for removal, and that this option should be brought back to the table. He said the mayor is sympathetic, but fellow city councilors

Here is the draft agenda for our monthly neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, October 5 at 6:30 PM at the Garden.  Ann Carson has agreed to lead the meeting in the absence of our president and vice president. The Board welcomes input and participation from all residents of the neighborhood.  Attached are the minutes from the September meeting.

Bernalillo County Liaison—Lenton Malry spoke to the group about how the county commissioners are interested in supporting neighborhoods.

Annual Election—After brief comments from candidates, there being exactly seven candidates and exactly seven openings, all seven candidates

Police Report—Yvette Garcia, APD Crime Prevention (761-8800), reminded neighbors to report any suspicious activity they witness in the park so that activity can be officially recorded.  Despite the perception that our park is a magnet for criminal activity, official calls do not reflect this.  Greg Brachle, APD lieutenant, said that in the City he was seeing door-to-door “casing” where a criminal poses as a person needing assistance and waits to see if anyone answers the door

Movie locations—David asked the Board if they knew of any neighbors who were interested in having their homes used as sites for movies.  Ann shared the names of neighbors who might be interested and noted that typically neighbors were paid for the use of their homes for a movie shoot.

Mother’s Day Home Tour—Amberley set up a schedule with those in attendance for various duties for the Home Tour.

LUCC Wood Window Workshop—The Board agreed to sponsor one workshop lunch (13 people) for up to $125 and Karla volunteered to see if our past president, Joaquin, would be interested in providing this lunch out of one of his restaurants.

LUCC Wood Window Workshop Information—Mary Ellen Hennesey talked about an upcoming 5-day workshop for contractors and carpenters.  No fee is required.  She left flyers with the Board.

Zoning Allowances for HHHDA—Ben McIntosh from City Planning explained that the HH Sector Development Plan allows that additional residences built on a property before 1988 are allowed.   If the additional residence was built after 1988, the owner will need to go through the process of requesting conditional use approval.  That process involves going before a city hearing examiner where both the owner and the neighborhood express their concerns. Second the owner goes to the