MINC Sept report
- Details
- Category: Neighborhood Councils
- Published on Tuesday, 12 October 2010 15:26
- Written by Carla Piineda
Dividing a $45,000 budget can be a difficult task when planning for a year of expenses. Luckily the budget DONE required immediately is provisional and can be amended at a later date.
The board split the money into three primary branches: operations ($2,600), outreach ($26,900) and community improvements ($15,500). The big ticket items include funding for a music camp ($10,000), monuments ($7,500) and signage ($5,000).
New Committees: When discussing the status of existing committees and whether any new ones were desired, concerns about the budget committee were raised. Some members wondered if the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) rules required budget committee members to be voted in every fiscal year. Dessie Reese also posed that President Allan Dicastro may be breaking DONE rules by also chairing the budget committee which might provide one person with too much power. No conclusions were reached by a seemingly confused board, which decided to look into these concerns with DONE.
Edgar Arroyo volunteered to chair an outreach committee, which had been dormant through lack of leadership. Other suggested committee ideas included groups to address the creation of a MINC website as well as green, youth and historical issues.
New Sponsorship Program: In a move to help stakeholders move projects through the appropriate city hoops – and to delegate the duties said to be shared by few on the board – Allan DiCastro proposed creating a new sponsorship program. This unanimously-approved initiative will require a MINC board member to guide stakeholders, whose projects have been approved, through the process. While the goal is to help, all members agreed the focus will be on providing direction, not hand-holding the stakeholder.
MINC Logo Redesign: There is a current effort to redesign the MINC logo which inspired a heated discussion. Lorraine Genovese, chair of the design committee, reported the words “Mid Town” had been added to potential considerations. Several members disagreed with this idea, saying these words failed to identify the area. Those in favor said the new retail development at Pico and San Vicente is called Mid-Town which already identifies the area as such. The design committee is also interested in placing banners and welcome signs at the entry points of the area to diffuse the stark contrast between Mid City and surrounding neighborhoods, such as Culver City.
Garage Sales: There was concern expressed about the frequency of some garage sales at the same address and the scale of and disturbance caused by them. Residents are not allowed more than 5 sales a year so stakeholders should keep a log of the address and date and contact either your local lead officer or the housing department if there is a problem. The sales that seemed to annoy many board members were clandestine sales under freeway bridges and on street curbs. These are best handled by contacting 311 or the police department because they violate many laws.
Blight: MINC is compiling lists to address blight in the region. One of these lists will highlight properties with excess vegetation. This will be submitted to the department of building and safety.