Mitman Neighborhood Assoc. 4th Annual Breakfast Potluck and Meeting Minutes

April 9, 2011   @ The Van Buren Luxury Apartments
Meeting Notes
[We had about 40 people attending the meeting and breakfast today. We started early because TPD Officer, Brandon Nichols, needed to get back on duty. He had to wait a few minutes while the crowd filled their plates with food and settled down. The rain must have perked everyone up!]

9:15:   Officer Nichols stressed the importance of communication.

  1. Get to know your neighbors and
  2. Call [911] to report suspicious activities and if taking license plate numbers make sure they are correct. One digit off will not get the correct vehicle/registration.
  • Recurring police calls in the neighborhood are to the Imperial Square Apartments on Jefferson: domestic issues, violence issues, and drug problems.
  • A lot of shopping carts are being left in the neighborhood. Call the store for a return. Sometimes transients use them. You can be fined for taking these off store property!
  • Graffiti: Problems all over the city with graffiti especially downtown. It is better to clean off or paint over immediately. The longer left the more it invites more graffiti. There is a Graffiti Abatement number you can call.    [Listed on www.mitman.org website]
  • A transient camp is now in the Alamo Wash. The wash is used as a corridor. Call 911 if suspicious activity is seen.
  • Reporting suspicious activity makes a difference. TPD needs to know and wants to know what is happening in our neighborhoods. If something looks out of the normal at a neighbor’s house or a business, call 911. Example Officer Nichols gave: an officer saw a semi truck parked behind the Safeway at Grant and Craycroft being unloaded in the early morning hours of the morning. When approached everyone fled and they found 1,000 pounds of marijuana in the truck.
  • Circle K: questions were asked about the new circle going up at Speedway and Craycroft which will be open 24 hours a day/7 days a week with 16 gasoline bays. Convenience stores have a lot of beer runs which are people coming in and stealing beer and running off. Staff is instructed to not go after them. They do attract people for alcohol and cigarette purchases. The question was asked if a tall or short wall with vegetation on First Street would be better.  A taller wall will help on the noise level, possibly, from the truck deliveries, etc. but it can also invite more graffiti and activity behind high walls where people can drink or hold up without being seen.

Tucson Community Gardens: Gene Zonge spoke about the 15 community gardens around town and we have 2 close to Mitman: Sewell Elementary School and the ChaverimTemple at Sahuaro and 2nd Street. There is already a drip system in place for irrigation on each plot; tools are provided; you cannot use pesticides; cost is only $15 monthly; most 3×20 plots take about 1 ½ hours a week to tend; you can harvest your own crops; they recommend putting soil amendments before planting; monthly meetings are held at each location and you can learn about Tucson vegetable gardening and meet some veteran gardeners. [Contact information is on the Mitman website or you can go to:  www.communitygardensoftucson.org

Announcements:

  • Please sign in on one of the clipboards and if you would like to be on the Mitman email distribution list. Samples of recent emails were posted on the wall.
  • Please visit the Mitman website at www.mitman.org for neighborhood and City information such as City of Tucson departments, our mission statement, upcoming events, etc.
  • A huge thank you to David Nevins for setting up our website and continuing to work with Sandy to keep it current.
  • Some pages you are able to post comments such as Neighborhood Activity. They will be gently edited before being posted. Personal information such as email addresses, last names, et al will be removed. They should be posted within 24 hours.
  • Ideas and suggestions for the neighborhood or website are always welcomed. See Contact at the top menu bar on Mitman.org website.
  • The City no longer has a budget for newsletters which were mailed out to every resident in Mitman. We will have to rely on talking with our neighbors, contacting the President [sandyloutucson@cox.net or 745-0760], and our website.
  • Mitman dues can be mailed to Mary Martin at the Van Buren Apts. See our website for the dues form you can print out and send with a check. Dues are still $5 annually. We have about $1,100 in our account. We have not used any of the money for the website, paper, or anything since we started collecting dues about 6 years ago. At some point we will have money for an item or something we all would like to see such as improved traffic circles, Mitman Neighborhood signs, etc.
  • Craig Sternberg spoke about training dates for C.E.R.T. on April 19-23, 2011. The emergency training is free and held at the U of A. There are lectures, videos, hands-on-training, medical and search and rescue. The program is 3-20 hour courses.
  • Neighborhood Watch: needs volunteers. The program is set up block by block and requires one block captain per block. 50% of the residents on the block need to participate to be receive a sign and training from TPD. Participants are trained on how to secure properties and how to respond to suspicious behavior.
  • A neighbor enquired about the possibility of a speed hump or 4-way stop at 4th and Sahuara because people are speeding on both streets. A brief description of how we obtained ours several years ago and the chances of getting grant money to add more are probably pretty slim. A call to the Ward VI office might be able to answer that question or will refer you to another department.

Everyone was thanked for attending and bringing great food to share.

Meeting was over at 11:00am.

All three Mitman officers were in attendance: Sandy Paris, Mary Martin, and Lou Bright.

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