Pocket – Greenhaven Community Association

We started our meeting by Devin sharing information with us regarding a Pocket/Greenhaven Awards event that would take place next Spring.  Our discussion revolved around where the event should be held, how much we should charge and what should we serve.  In the interim we decided to form a committee to help set up the event.  The committee consists of :

• Devin Lavelle
• Bill Cannady
• Judy Foote
• GariRae Gray
• Jim Houpt
• Mary McCune
• Shawna McKnight
• Pat Ramirez

In the next few weeks the committee will work on setting up a meeting and we will get an update at our next general meeting.

Our Vice-President Mary McCune wanted to work on our group doing more to support local businesses.  Mary proposed drafting a letter of introduction to invite local businesses to our next meeting.  Mary also had a great idea urging our neighbors to shop local especially in light of Delta Shores going in.  A committee was formed to help support the effort.  The committee consists of:

• Mary McCune
• Bill Cannady
• Judy Foote
• GariRae Gray
• Devin Lavelle
• Shawna McKnight

In the next few weeks the committee will work on setting up a meeting and we will get an update at our next general meeting.

GariRae next spoke to us about the upcoming bike safety event that will be held at Robbie Waters Library on Saturday, September 30th starting at 10 am.  The event will be led by one of the city’s transportation analysts and there is still room to sign up and Jim Geary gave us a quick recap of the well attended meeting regarding the runway closure at the Executive Airport.

Tristan Brown got us up to speed with what our group needs to do to become a nonprofit organization.  Tristan went into detail with what it means to be a “501 c3” nonprofit and we decided to form a committee to continue to look into the matter.  The committee consists of :

• Tristan Brown
• Will Cannady
• Jim Geary
• Pat Ramirez

In the next few weeks the committee will work on setting up a meeting and we will get an update at our next general meeting.

Our discussion next turned to the ongoing issue of cluster mailbox break-ins throughout our neighborhood.  Devin filled us in on his efforts to try to find out just exactly how many break-ins there have been.  We concluded with agreeing that Devin and I will write a column regarding the issue in the the Pocket News.

There are some big changes coming to the ways that local voters will be going to the polls.  Devin filled us in on the Voter’s Choice Act and we agreed to host an event to help inform of our neighbors of the very important changes.

Kimberly Bankston-Lee shared with us the important work being done by the local nonprofits Saving Our Legacy Project and African Americans for Smoke-Free Safe Places.  We will be writing a letter in support of Kimberly’s group and hope to work with her more in the future.

We finished our meeting with Judy Foote telling us about an ongoing issue in our community consisting of homes being made into care facilities.  Judy explained that having these facilities in our neighborhood leads to less available housing for families.  This led to a large conversation about what our group can continue to do to attract more young families to our neighborhood.

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out.  It’s great to see our group organizing so many important events for our community.  Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 7th at Robbie Waters Library.  See you then!

Pocket Greenhaven Community Association

Minutes for July 11, 2017 General Membership Meeting

1. Introductions (Approximately 20 people in attendance)
2. Discussion of request from other Neighborhood Associations to sign onto the letter asking the City of Sacramento to provide performance metrics by neighborhood.
   • Casanya Ursery, Community Affairs Director at Vice Mayor Rick Jennings’ office, stated that the Vice Mayor’s Office is trying to help break down the silos in the City and that the City has a new office of accountability etc.
   • Devin Lavelle made the motion to authorize the board to sign onto the letter and Will Cannady seconded it. A majority of the individuals present voted for the motion and it was approved.
3. Update on meeting regarding changes at the Executive Airport on August 22, 2017.
   • Jim Geary provided an overview of the history and issues re: closing the runway.
   • The group decided that the meeting should be from 6:00 – 7:30.
   • The official from the county will give a presentation on the history of the air traffic etc. for about 15-20 minutes and then will take questions.
   • The group agreed publicize the event via social media, email list, Pocket News and Inside Pocket and that the focus should be on information sharing re: the changes.
4. National Night Out – August 2nd.
   • Will Cannady provided an overview of the Pocket National Night Out event coordinated by NextDoor and Sacramento Police Department. Will has already arranged for the PGCA to participate in that gathering, but opened it up to the group to discuss whether we should send liaisons to other gatherings in our area.
   • After a substantial discussion, it was decided that this year we should focus on participating at the event at Didion and revisit this issue next year to see if reaching out at other events would be beneficial.
   • It was also agreed that it might make sense to form an “Ambassador Committee,” so that members of the group can do outreach to other members of the community. People suggested that we make buttons so ambassadors can be easily identified and provide the ambassadors with short talking points to use when discussing the PGCA’s goals and mission. The group decided to revisit this at a future meeting.
5. Possible Community Meeting Regarding Cluster Mailbox Break-Ins.
   • Through information provided by attendees, it sounds like the USPS is installing new cluster boxes throughout the community, but there still seems to be some contradictory information about the status etc. The group agreed to continue to monitor the issue and keep it on the agenda for the next meeting. But also agreed that a community meeting probably is not needed at this time.
   • Devin Lavelle stated that he would follow up with Congresswoman Matsui’s Office on timeline etc. and share with the group if he receives any updates.
6. Meeting Regarding the Promenade Shopping Center
   • Will Cannady and Devin Lavelle shared that Vice-Mayor Jennings’ office is coordinating a meeting regarding the vacancy rate at the Promenade Shopping Center on Monday, July 17, 2017. Will asked PGCA members to attend if possible. Devin will work on publicizing the event through the PGCA social media forums.
7. New Business
   • It was agreed that future agendas should have an item for “New Business.”
   • Bike Training
     • GariRae Gray suggested that we try to sponsor a cycling safety class. The City of Sacramento, coordinating with Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, puts them on. She is going to determine whether it would be possible to have an event in our area in September or October and report back to the group
   • Crop Swap
     • Will Cannady shared that there will be a Crop Swap in front of the library on August 6th.
8. Next General Membership Meeting – September 13, 2017
9. Adjournment

Our group had a very productive meeting last Wednesday and it was great to have so many new members in attendance.  The first item that we covered was the upcoming Pocket/Greenhaven Family BBQ.  This event will be happening on June 10th from 10:30-1 at Garcia Bend Park.  Our group will be one of the event “partners” and so far up to 70 people have RSVP’d that they will be attending.  Both Fiona and Erin have done an amazing job organizing the event.  Be sure to mark the event and your calendar and I hope everyone can attend.

The next item on the agenda was Devin’s great idea to have a
“Pocket/Greenhaven Community Awards” ceremony. Devin suggested this event be modeled after Councilmember Ashby’s awards event in her district and that we should plan on having it sometime next Spring.

Regarding our continued goal of advocating for more retail and restaurants options in the Promenade Shopping Center, we discussed various plans to move ahead on the issue.  I shared that the information listed on the shopping center’s website was not up to date and the attempt to phone the owners did not work.  The next steps we planned to take were as follows:

-I will reach out to my optometrist who has an office in the shopping center.

-Tristan will reach out to Region Business, Sacramento Economic Council and our city’s finance director regarding supporting the shopping center.

-Mary will reach out to her contacts with PBIDs throughout the city to get advice on how we can better advocate for businesses in the Promenade.

Recently one of the major runways was shut down at Sacramento Executive Airport.  Jim shared with us how this was done as cost cutting measure by the county.  Unfortunately, shutting the runway down has led to more planes flying over our neighborhood.  Jim will continue the look into the issue and we’ll plan to host a community meeting sometime this summer to give our neighbors more of an opportunity to weigh in on these changes.

Our community association will soon have a monthly column in the Pocket News and we’ll also be hosting another series of crop swaps this summer.  We also decided to be involved in this year’s Pocket 4th of July Parade.  The idea was to have us walk as a group holding a banner and throwing candy.  Tristan has also offered the use of his old Lincoln Continental.  We’ll correspond more via email regarding the parade over the next few weeks.

The issue of cluster mailbox break-ins has not gone away.  Our group agreed that we could use a portion of our next meeting to host a community forum to address the issue.  Kathi Windheim has offered to contact SacPD to help answer questions at the forum as well.  We’ll start work on getting the word out about the meeting in the next week.

Finally we elected our first board.  The results are as follows:

Seat 1 – Pat

Seat 2 – Will

Seat 3 – Erin

Seat 4 – Tristian

Seat 5 – Devin

Seat 6 – Jim Geary

Seat 7 – Mary

The board will meet in the new few weeks to elect officers.  Thank you again to everyone who made it out last Wednesday.  I am very proud of the group we have put together.  It’s exciting to have so many opportunities to make the Pocket/Greenhaven neighborhood a better place.  Thank you for your continued help and support.