Goss-Grove Neighborhood Gathering Minutes from April 15, 2014
Next meeting! Wednesday, July 16, 7 p.m. 1919 Grove Street. Mark your calendar today!
Fourteen of us gathered
to have a glass of wine and chocolate at Mary and Maria’s while talking through
neighborhood concerns. Stephen reminded us to start with introductions and
Jenny added in the request for everyone to say a sentence about themselves. I
love this part! When Mary moved in to
her house, a neighbor came over thanking her for moving in..she was replacing
the 14 people who had been living there. Jenny is an amateur flutist and can be
heard practicing on summer evenings when the windows are open; Jerrie
participates in noise music where everyone plays whatever they want, all at
that same time. The idea came up that
we could have a marching band amongst us since Jon plays the trumpet, Stephen the
saxophone and Derrick the drums. (That
would be fun, actually!!) Don just built
a green house. Loren and Andrea’s
daughter is getting married and they have moved back to the neighborhood. A young couple has bought the house just east
of 17th; we will be happy to welcome some new residents.
Paige has finished the
neighborhood door hanger! The goal of
this project was to remind people that they are part of a vibrant community and
how to find out more by going to NextDoor.
Deb suggested we add a line at the bottom for a neighbor to drop off a
hanger and leave their name at the bottom as a way to personalize it..better
yet to ring the doorbell and say hello.
[To that note, Andrea had a nice story about talking with neighbors
about garbage problems and finding that they wanted the help and to learn how
to garden. One to one contact is always
best, if possible. (Sometimes it’s not
for safety or comfort reasons, so don’t do it unless you feel comfortable. Repeat offenders are also a separate problem….)] The door hangers will go out as a soft copy
for review and comments to the neighborhood.
Once finalized, the idea is to print a bunch of them using ExpressCopy,
and distribute by using block leaders. Deb will spearhead distribution. Stay tuned.
Thanks, Paige (and Dave,who I think also worked on this)!
Garden dues have been
collected and we have $800. Jerrie made
the pitch that we need those funds for Garden repairs, and that the compost bin
is even higher cost this year for rental than last year. $300 is a lot of pay
for a single compost bin! She proposes
that we use paper bags and neighbor compost bins to collect green material to
have it picked up at people’s houses. WE
support that move and will see how it goes.
Jenny will bring her compost bin over on Saturday for the first
weed-a-thon. Jerrie will buy bags and
keep them in the tool bin.
Jenny still has a bee in
her bonnet to get a kiosk/entrance structure installed in the Garden this
season. Dave S. suggests we take our
field trip and get some ideas, then have a separate smaller meeting to discuss
design and construction. WE have talked
about this for many years and it would be great to accomplish this (Jenny
writing this!) Jenny, Dave and Carmela
are willing to discuss off line. Hope to get a couple other handy people to
chime in, and have their names in mind….
The Garden has been
administered through the efforts of Jenny and Michele for some years, and more
involvement from the Gardeners or neighborhood is needed to prevent
burn-out. Maria pointed out that a
proposal for GGNA Officers to serve on a committee is a no-go. Jerrie pointed out that required meetings are
a no-go. The only way to divide responsibilities is to have them included in
the Garden Agreement somehow. Since
this year’s agreement was the first one ever written, and everyone has signed
it, it’s too late for this year, but next year we’ll have to do something a
little different. Not sure what exactly
that will look like. There was a
suggestion that there be a social event such as a Fall Party. Previous attempts to organize and get
participation were mixed.
Mary brought a fabulous
map of the actual flood areas of the City to the meeting, including a blow-up
of our neighborhood. Don pointed out that it did not fully capture all the
flooding and was advised to contact the city to let them know more detail. I thought the map was pretty accurate in
capturing the large lake of water that resulted from the ditch overflow.
Inquire Boulder is a site where you can submit feedback to the city: http://user.govoutreach.com/boulder/faq.php. Mary established contact with the ditch rider
(a term I was not familiar with, but is the person who, I think I understood to
be the person who keeps track of the condition of the ditches and is employed
by the company that owns the ditch).
This person, Danny Armsted, is now in contact with the City…maybe we’ll
see some action. Mary will keep us
informed. Dave S. has contacted the City
about the alley between Snow Lion and Grove Street to get it graded/paved so
that water actually drains into the storm drains at 20th and
Grove. That would be an
improvement!
There will be a van tour
of several locations around Boulder to
spark our imagination of what we might do here.
Join us!! 6 – 8 p.m. Wednesday,
April 23. Meet at 1945 Grove. We plan to stop at several locations and
treat ourselves to some wine/crackers/cheese/chocolate along the way. Sure to
be a fun event! In general, there was
strong consensus that neighborhood art makes this part of Boulder quite unique
and lovely.
To that point, Jerrie has
been working on a project to paint the ballasts (?...the posts) around the neighborhood
but has been held up by who is responsible for repairing them (before they can
be painted). Jenny will contact Peter
Rosato of the Transportation Dept. Peter
has been an incredible support to this neighborhood. He has volunteered gravel for the Garden as
well.
Those who want to have
art in the neighborhood make a plan and execute. We have talked about doing “something” in the 19th Street
pocket park for years with Naropa, but unless we have definite plans, nothing
will happen (we know from experience).
Jenny has a bee in her bonnet to get an entrance structure/kiosk in the
Garden this year after 15 years or more of talking about it.
The Little Library needs
your books! Jenny raised the question of
whether we should be buying used books to stock it, but the response was that
everyone has books they can put into it.
Jenny has been putting stickers on the books that say, “ Goss Grove
Community Library..Always a Gift , never for Sale” to discourage theft (and
selling at the local bookstore). You can
leave books on her porch at 1935 Grove Street if there are no stickers in the
Library, and she’ll take care of them.
Want to opt out of
reading posts on NextDoor.com from other neighborhoods? It can be done! There is a pull-down menu called “settings” under
your name when you log in. That’s where
you can select what posts you want to read, whether you want emails, etc.
And finally, a note from
the co-chairs: Do you love living
here? Isn’t the Garden lovely? Have you ever thought how the flowers that are
blooming add a nice feel to your walk down the street? Have you checked out the
Little Free Library? Isn’t it neat that
you know your neighbors? Isn’t it a
relief that we have a Neighborhood Parking Zone? All this happens not only because people care,
but because people DO. Everyone is busy but everyone can pitch in a little bit
and make this neighborhood a better place.
Please help keep those who DO a lot from burning out. Don’t look the other way when there’s a
chance to make a difference. Thanks. You can do a world of good in just a few
minutes!
