Call to Order and Welcome

Board Members Present: Mark Keller, Robert Spangler, Holly DiFlora, Rachel Booth, Lisa Persons and Tracy Kraft.

Approval of minutes from January meeting – motioned and seconded. Motion passed.

Neighborhood Safety Updates

Prosecutor’s Office (Lynda Dodd):

No report

You can contact Lynda at [email protected]

Officer Report

Officer Brown attended in place of Officer Bunch. Bulk majority of crime is property, theft from motor vehicles and breaking and entering.

Laura Estandia – Link Dayton Bike Share

Laura Estandia from Bike Miami Valley gave a presentation about some of the changes coming to the Link Dayton Bike Share program. The program was launched in 2015. Stations in South Park are located behind Ghost Light Coffee on Wayne Avenue and near Miami Valley Hospital on Warren Street. There has been a total of 3,600 bike checkouts since launch. The organization has worked on increasing station density and electronic bike technology. There were not as many providers for the program at launch, but many enhancements were made to the system in 2017. This gave Bike Link the opportunity to retrofit bikes with new technology to communicate with phones, have GPS etc. Drop Mobility out of Canada will be the new provider starting this spring. They offer two locking mechanisms – a wheel lock and a lock to another fixed object. They can also add geo fences so that GPS devices know that it’s a parking zone. This will also make it easier to move stations temporarily in case of construction or other reasons. The bikes will also be able to be tracked by GPS, whereas currently, they only communicate by GPS when they are returned to the stations. The EBikes have a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour. The motor does not kick in unless the rider is pedaling. In the long-term, Bike Miami Valley wishes to collaborate with RTA to provide biking, bus services and ridesharing all through one app.

Committee Updates

Crime Prevention:

Housing: Mark reminded everyone to obtain certificates of appropriateness for any renovations. Obtain a copy of the bluebook for the rules.

Social: There was a record crowd at the chili cook-off this year, which raised about $200. Thanks to John and Yuri Childers for coordinating this.

Block Captains: Contact Nick Vanderpool if you’re interested in being a block captain. Block captains deliver flyers around the neighborhood.

Parks: Jill Davis reminded everyone that the city does the mowing and volunteers from the neighborhood take care of the landscaping. She thanked Margie Harrell for coordinating volunteers to clean up leaves around the gazebo.

Marketing: Mark Keller said that David Esrati is stepping down from chairing this committee, and Yuri Childers will take his place. The new neighbor party will be in September this year. All PPDs have hosts at this time. She’s also looking for volunteers for a quarterly newsletter; get a hold of her if you’re interested in volunteering.

Reports From the Board

Holly DiFlora reported that the current balance is $10,136.41. This shows an increase because the recycling grant money was received. We also got $69 worth of memberships.

Mark said that the gazebo is in need of a new roof. He has reached out to the city to find out what is available. Park Maintenance will investigate and we will have ongoing discussions about what can be done, including obtaining a grant. Mark also talked about the housing development on the hill at South Park Green. The developers are listening to our concerns regarding putting their progressive design in a historic neighborhood. They have shown Mark some designs that are more historic in nature. Anyone who is interested in being on a subcommittee for this project let him know. As this information comes out it will be shared with the neighborhood. We have also extended an invite for them to come and speak. There was a discussion about the possibility that the drop off and pick up zone for the buses for Emerson could go away if this development occurs, since it does not belong to Emerson. Lisa Persons is concerned that this could result in the loss of the school. She said that the school is a valuable asset to the stability of our neighborhood and that we need to pull together to do what we can to protect it. They will begin doing some surveying on the property, checking for water, sewer samples, etc. Someone voiced the concern of whether the city can sell off other parks in the neighborhood to developers, such as Blommel Park. Mark said that this is being investigated. The discussion continued regarding the Emerson bussing issue. Trent Fisher is the developer of the project; Todd and Wally Slate Homes is the builder.

Announcements and Public Comment

There was a motioned to adjourn and it was seconded. Motion passed.

Adjourned: 7:54 pm