RNCC Meeting Minutes, February 8, 2010

1. The meeting was called to order at 7 PM by President Bea Roberson.

2. President Roberson will periodically review the By-Laws for the benefit of the members: ground rules of how meetings are conducted, who can speak and the advantages of being a member were reviewed.

3. MSP approval of the Minutes of the General Meeting of January 11, 2010. The Agenda & Minutes will now be emailed to all representatives unless specifically requested by snail mail.

4. Representatives from 15 neighborhoods introduced themselves and gave a report.

5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:

• Planning: Lamont Thompson distributed the list of active projects and announced that nominations are being taken for historic preservation awards.
• Engineering Services: Edric Kwan explained that his department, Engineering, works on planned projects. Parks & Public Works Department maintains projects and the head of that department is Tony Norris. Future projects in the Engineering Department will be the traffic survey and a surface draining improvement program.
• Mayor’s office: Marilyn Langlois was not present but sent a handout of upcoming events in the City.
• City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk reported that she does not yet have the list for neighborhood clean-ups. There is $2,700 left in the copying budget for neighborhood councils until the end of the fiscal year in June. Rochelle thanked the RNCC for keeping costs down. There will be a new web site for the City in March and the community is asked to submit photos. Information on the census was distributed. Census day is March 20. Funds are available for neighborhood councils to hold events to fill out census forms. It is important for funding for Richmond to be counted.
• Police Department: Deputy Chief, Ed Medina, reported that the focus for 2010 will be to create innovative ideas to reduce homicides and gun violence. The RPD is looking at etrace and DNA tracing, new technology for tracing guns.
• Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa announced that a food waste program is coming July 1^st as part of the garbage service. She discussed low cost alternatives and non-chemical alternatives for controlling weeds without using pesticides.

6. Presentation: Michelle Seville from the Richmond Arts & Culture Commission talked about the funding for the Neighborhood Public Art Program. There have been 16 murals in different neighborhoods over the past years. This year the mural will be created on the side of the Senior Center in June 2010. The theme is empathy with a focus on the diversity of Richmond. Famed muralist, Judy Baca, will create the mural from stories and images of families and communities in Richmond. Workshops will be held to collect these stories and images.

7. Announcements/PIO: Naomi Williams reviewed the current announcements and events. These will be placed in a binder along with the meeting schedule and contact information and it will be passed around during the meeting for representatives to review and take copies of what might interest their neighborhood councils. All announcements should be given to Naomi before the meeting so they can be placed in the binder.

8. Old Business: The curfew ordinance has not yet been brought before the Safety Committee. Naomi Williams will voice RNCC support for the ordinance when that happens.

9. New Business: Garland Ellis was not present and will give his report on the status of various ordinances at the next meeting.

10. Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM.

The next General meeting is March 8, 2010 and the next Board Meeting is March 15, 2010.

Thank you to Richmond Heights and Santa Fe neighborhood councils for providing food and refreshments.

Respectfully submitted:

Kaye McKleroy

Recording Secretary