Wicker Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Wicker Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Date: February 19, 2008

Present: D. R. Edwards, Doug Wood, Josh Taylor, David Wagner, John Shirk, Susan Fontana, Lisa Muellman, Richard Tilley, Denise Browning

  1. Approval of February Minutes (Ms. Edwards). Mr. Wood moved to approve the minutes, Mr. Tilley seconded. The minutes were approved by acclamation.
  2. FOIA Request (Ms. Fontana). Ms. Edwards reported that, based upon her review of the response Ms. Fontana had received from the Park District, the response complied with FOIA.
    For the WPAC’s preparation for the 2008 Budget hearings, we requested from Cynthia Rosario, Area 2 manager and Kelly Torres, Park Supervisor, the dollar amount of the revenues generated by Wicker Park in 2006 and 2007 from room rentals, special events, and sports. Ms. Rosario instructed us to request this information by filling out a Freedom of Information Act request and to submit it to the Chicago Park District. We received a response. We were informed that since this was a ‘burdensome request–the Park District was not obliged to answer the questions.’ The total amount of income generated by a Park from these sources is used to determine the next year’s budget for a given park–so, the advisory council assumed that the numbers should have been readily available to the public, since they were calculated and used in generating the budget..
  3. Treasurer’s Report (Mr. Tilley). Mr. Tilley presented a written report. In addition, Mr. Tilley reported that there are new IRS reporting requirements, which will be due May 15, 2008, and which he is investigating.
  4. Supervisor’s Report. Neither Mr. Torres nor Ms. Rosario was present at the meeting and therefore there was no supervisor’s report.
  5. Dog Park (Mr. Housley). Mr. Housley was not in attendance but left an email that there were no updates except that there will be a link to the Dog Park on the web site.
  6. Wicker Park Trio–Music Series (Mr. Wood). Mr. Wood reported that he wrote a grant proposal for the WPAC to the SSA for funding the performer stipends for six concerts to be presented in the Park in June-August 2008 The SSA granted $6,040.00 to the Wicker Park Advisory Council. Ninety-Percent will be provided to the Wicker Park Advisory Council on or before March 1, 2008. The remainder of the granted funds will be received in August 2008. The Parkways Foundation will be providing $750 to the Wicker Park Garden Club for Park Kids Grow Music Garden backdrop. In addition, Wood wrote a grant for the Wicker Park Garden Club to Fiends of the Park to help fund the music backdrop. Dates for the event have been confirmed with Regina Hayes of the Park District; kid designs efforts will begin in March; musician contracts are being written 1/2 of each performance fee or $500/concert will be distributed to the musicians on or before March 1, 2008. Additional information plus various sponsors and ad information are contained in emails from Mr. Wood.
  7. Future Programs: Tai Chi and Yoga classes were suggested. A teacher is available. This item was tabled because Ms. Torres was not in attendance.
  8. Events
    1. Dog Tricks (Mr. Housley): Since Mr. Housley was not present, this event was not discussed.
    2. Earth Day (Mr. Wood): The Park District is advertising that it will be conducting Earth Day activities in the Park on April 26, 2008, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Mr. Wood reported that, via the Wicker Park Garden Club, the Park has “Earth Months.” Mr. Wood also reported that volunteers from Syracuse University and Property Consultants will be working in the Park on March 29 and April 12, 2008, respectively.
    3. Children’s Carnival June 8, 2008 (Mr. Taylor): Josh Taylor and Citichurch volunteered to head up this event. Ms. Edwards will confirm the date with the Park District.
    4. Movie in the Park: Since Mr. Torres was not present, this event was not discussed.
    5. Fountain Court Opening (Mr. Wood): Should be held on June 15, 2008, at 10:00 a.m.
    6. Election Day, November 4, 2008: To be discussed at a later date.

Meeting was adjourned by acclamation.