Minutes recorded by Robert Cox, OMVNA Secretary
OMVNA Steering Committee Meeting Minutes, Monday, July 12, 2010
Attending: Laura Lewis, David Lewis, Carter Coleman, Robert Cox, Jack Perkins, Deb Keller, Becky Reyna, Aaron Grossman, Anthony Intravaia
(1) Call to Order
a. Laura Lewis called the meeting to order at 7:37PM.
(2) Approval of minutes from June 2010 meeting
a. David Lewis moved to approve the minutes. Robert Cox seconded. The motion to approve the minutes was passed unanimously.
(3) Nominating committee
a. Robert Cox asked whether there had been any progress in forming a nominating committee for the upcoming steering committee elections. Laura Lewis has volunteered to serve. Names of several other possible candidates were suggested. Jack Perkins asked whether people who did not have a record with OMVNA would be appropriate candidates. Aaron Grossman replied that steering committee candidates should be people who know other people in the neighborhood who could be recruited for positions. Laura replied that it would best to have people who are well known and would exercise good judgment, and that we could have as many as five people. Robert suggested that more than five would be too many; that 3 or 5 world be best, since an odd number can break a tie. Laura agreed to get a list of possible candidates together and then find people would contact possible candidates.
(4) Ice cream social
a. Becky will organize: Becky Reyna mentioned that she had talked to Kim Copher, and was putting together a list of final plans for the ice cream social. Becky raised the issue of whether our insurance would cover any liability associated with the dunk tank. Laura agreed to ask our insurance agent. Becky said she would talk to those in charge of Eagle Park to find out the specific area which would be set aside for the ice cream social. Jack Perkins agreed to help.
b. Games: Becky also suggested other events, including a three legged race and water balloon toss. Laura Lewis suggested a tug of war, egg toss, and potato sack race. Laura said that her husband might be able to get Wells Fargo to donate some prizes. Laura added that must make sure we have a war rope and potato sacks. Whether there will be bales of hay is still an open question. Laura has the number of a hay seller, and will contact him. Carter Coleman said that his neighbor Louise has a starting pistol that we could borrow.
c. Ice cream. Laura Lewis mentioned that everything is set up with the ice cream vendor: John McAlister from Baskin Robbins. There will be three flavors and John will bring a crew to serve people. Carter Coleman volunteered to help choose the flavors.
d. Pie eating contest: The group debated the merits of having a pie eating contest. Becky suggested she could get a discount on day old pies from Marie Callender ‘s. Another possibility is to just get pie shells, fill them with fruit filling, and top them with whipped cream. Jack Perkins suggested that having dogs eat pies could be an interesting twist. Carter Coleman wondered whether the dogs would eat the pies or just sniff at them. Jack withdrew his suggestion. Deb Keller added her support for a pie eating contest, asked if we would need tables, and if the city could provide them. Laura Lewis said that tents can be rented for $100 each, and that tables could be rented much cheaper.
e. Raffle and dunk tank: Becky Reyna asked about raffle tickets for the Chez TJ dinner. Robert asked about whether we would charge for tickets, and there was some debate about what an appropriate price would be. As for the dunk tank, Laura said she would contact members of city council to see who would volunteer. All board members present agreed to participate. Laura suggested that games could run concurrently with other events.
f. Entertainment: Becky mentioned that the Elvis impersonator had expressed an interest in performing. Laura said that she would contact the barber shop quarter of young guys, see if they could perform, and what they would charge, Laura also said that she would look into some possibilities for a band. Deb Keller said that she knew a neighbor across the street who had a band, and might contact him. Jack Perkins noted that there was also a garage band that performed across the street from him that might be a good candidate. Deb suggested that Carter ask the neighbors to see if anyone wanted to perform.
g. Tables for organized groups: Laura noted that we would need to get a list of organized groups that wanted to set up tables for the event. The roster of council candidates will have been determined, as the filing deadline will be August 5. CERT will be there. The Crunchfuls cereal people are likely to want to put up a table with samples. Deb Keller agreed to invite them. Laura Lewis has asked the Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail if they want to participate. Aaron Grossman mentioned that he is a member of the group. The bike safety people might also want to be there, and Laura mentioned that the bike shop on Castro might want to be there and do a demo. Jack Perkins said that his wife Barbara could help watch over kids. Laura Lewis added the other spouses of steering committee members should be fair game for this duty.
h. Subcommittee formed: A subcommittee was formed to finalize the details of the ice cream social. Kim Copher, Jack Perkins, Laura Lewis, and Becky Reyna will be the members. The event will be from 1 to 3. Organizers should show up at 12. Laura agreed to show up early and put tape around the area where the event will be held. Carter noted that when people arrive , they should receive a ticket for ice cream and then sign the liability form with their name and address. Aaron cautioned everyone to save all of the receipts so that we get fully reimbursed from the city.
(5) Future steering committee and general meetings
a. Council candidates’ forum: The group noted that since non-incumbent candidates have announced their intent to run, it will be possible to have a debate. Carter and Jack agreed to talk to Greg David, a candidate from the Old Mountain View neighborhood, to see if he will participate. Laura Lewis suggested that September would be a good month to hold the candidates forum, because many people will be voting by absentee ballot. Carter Coleman noted that a meeting in that time frame might generate interest in the election and newsletter ad revenue.
b. Parking study: David Lewis noted that the downtown committee had been informed about the upcoming downtown area parking study. A contactor, Wilbur Smith, has been selected, and that the city has offered to send someone to talk with us and get our input on the parking issue. David added that the contractor will be looking into whether to put parking meters in the downtown area and whether there should be restrictions on parking on the neighborhood streets. There was some small debate about the value of our input to the parking study,
c. Bylaws amendment voting: Robert Cox suggested that we might combine the candidate forum meeting with a vote on the bylaws amendments. Laura will research as to whether we need to reprint the amendments in the newsletter before the vote and how much notice must be given before the vote. Robert suggested that residents voting should sign in, and that the vote should be held after the council candidates’ forum is complete.
(6) CERT
a. Radios: Aaron Grossman said that radios have been a hot topic. Some radios do not have enough range to reach across the whole neighborhood. Ham radios could be used, but they require a ham license. A special radio with an antenna extender could be a solution.
b. Contacts: Aaron has surveyed the 51 CERT members to see if they are all interested in remaining a part of CERT. Aaron said that he has contacted 44 of them so far, and all are still interested in being in CERT. There has been some discussion about getting an automated system to contact CERT members. Aaron has found a system that will permit 25 calls per day free. Aaron tried reaching CERT members through radio check and was able to get 15-20 of them to respond. Carter Coleman noted that Aaron’s automated call to him did work. Aaron added that the automated call system had an ad at the end of the calls, and asked if anyone was bothered by that. No one raised an objection.
c. Budget: Aaron noted that $200 out the $600 CERT budget has been spent.
(7) Newsletter
a. Deb Keller noted that the Monday deadline for articles was fast approaching. Jack Perkins will write an article on pet etiquette. Carter Coleman and Robert Cox will write an article on Jac Siegel. Deb Keller will follow up with an interview of Margaret Abe-Koga. Laura wondered if we should have two candidate interviews in this issue and whether Greg David was ready to announce and be interviewed. Robert will consult with Deb Keller on whether we should write an article in the upcoming issue about the proposed Classics development at Evelyn and Calderon.
b. Carter Coleman stated that there would be announcement about the Chez TJ raffle. Steering committee members will not be eligible for the raffle. Deb suggested that Robert and she collaborate on an article about General Plan 2030 and that we put an announcement on OMVNAtalk about the final meetings for public input. The will also be an article about the high speed rail poll, and a new ballot question.
(8) Downtown Liason
a. Loitering: David Lewis mentioned that the Downtown Committee had discussed recent problems with certain people loitering, who were well acquainted with Mountain View’s regulations and seemed to be doing whatever the could to push the limits of those regulations. Laura added that, in general, Mountain View has been more lenient than Palo Alto in dealing with loiterers, and that two shelters are available to assist homeless people in Mountain View.
b. Franklin Street home: A proposal for a new 4200 square foot home on Franklin Street recently was approved by the zoning commissioner. The house is being built on a lot that was zoned for commercial use and will back up to an area that is likely to have a large development on it. Several changes to the plan were requested by the zoning commissioner, including reducing the roof height, making the garage face the street, and requiring appropriate setbacks. While neighbors initially voiced some concern, most agreed in the end that they preferred a large house on the lot to having another apartment complex or a commercial development.
(9) Treasurer
a. Carter Coleman reports that we are down $1500 for the month. We need to go out and recruit more ads for the newsletter. This month was unusual, as there were two printing bills for the month. The gun shop is no longer running an ad. Carter suggested several places that we might reach out to for ad revenue. Laura wondered whether we should put out a bucket for donations at the General Meeting,
(10)Adjourment
a. David Lewis moved to adjourn the meeting. Carter Coleman seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00PM.
