Minutes: June 28, 2005

The meeting was brought to order by Sara Goff and the minutes of the last meeting were approved. Treasurer Ray Skinner read a list of the members in good standing, meaning their dues were paid, and announced that there is approximately $870 in the bank.

Yard of the Month is 1996 East End Dr.

Property Development
There was a discussion about the property development on Jefferson just east of Rembert. These will be new homes which will open onto Jefferson, and any concerns about the development can be directed to Mr. Don Jones of City Planning at 576-6619, Ref# PD05329. It was moved and passed that TJNA endorse and support this new project because it will replace some rather poor quality housing with newer and nicer homes.

Park Friends
Austin Lowry gave a report about Park Friends. The Save the Shell Organization will be reopening the shell. There is a Friday night party at the golf clubhouse from 6-8pm and everyone is encouraged to come, and the formal gardens are currently being maintained by just volunteers. The final discussion was concerning the extremely poor trash pickup being done by the city, and the need for additional trash cans.

Block Party
There are plans to hold a neighborhood block party on Court Ave between McLean and Tucker on Neighborhood Night Out, which is usually held in August. In the past, Boscos has provided the beer if given enough notice. More information will be available by the next meeting.

Neighborhood Leaders Conference
On August 5th there will be the Neighborhood Leaders Conference. This conference provides community leaders with ideas on how to deal with a variety issues including problems in your neighborhood. It was recommended that at least a couple people from the association should attend.

Committee reports

Block captains – we will need additional people to serve as block captains.

Cleanup – It was decided to do the cleanup on the Poplar bus stop on Sat July 16 beginning at 8:30 or 9:00 am. Wear gloves and long sleeved-shirts as there may be poison ivy, and bring rakes, saws and yard cleanup tools if you have them. There was a report on the grant to repair the bus stop, TJNA will provide some of the clean up, but will not have to arrange for the repairs.

There were 3 announcements made. One, that Square Foods will have a portion of their bulletin board reserved for TJNA. The second was that thefts are increasing in the East End neighborhood, so any suspicious activity should be called to the police right away. The number to call is 545 COPS (2677). The third was that we may want to approach the Bellaire Association and the East End association to see if they might be interested in joining with us.

The next meeting will be on July 26 at which time we will be electing officers and will need to elect a new president and a new treasurer for sure.