Wicker Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Present: John Davidson (Park Supervisor), Susan Fontana (WPAC-Co President), Denise Browning (WPAC-Co-President), Richard Tilley (WPAC-Treasurer), Doug Wood (WPAC – Secretary and Garden Club), Ryan Jackson (Softball), Joshua Brown (basketball), Tim Kolecke (website), John Shirk (Urban Encounter) Clintina Taylor (Park Kids Parent), Toni Anderson (Park Kids Parent), Lisa Stauff (Park Kids Parent),

  1. June Minutes were read and approved – submitted by Doug Wood.
  2. Richard Tilley submitted treasurer’s report.
  3. Committee Reports
    1. Dog Park – Adam Housley – Absent – Emailed all going well-he will announce next fundraiser soon.
    2. Web Site – Tim Kolecke – Reported that new spam filters, face book and twitter installed; petitions can be created and results compiled on site; newsletter is now an option; people can post comments, he added events for summer (music, movie, gardening, yoga)
    3. Softball – Ryan Jackson – Things going are going well-no rain outs. Lock box repair is still pending completion – currently not secure and can not be used for storage. Soil will be installed in low places near Schiller by Landscaping Staff. Seeding of these areas will occur soon.
    4. Gardens and Landscape – Doug Wood
      • Garden Tending – Gardens are thriving-good volunteer numbers; Calvin Johnson is assisting with watering during day which is an invaluable resource – since most of us are at work. Watering all gardens in one day takes 14 hours; urns must be watered every other day.
      • Rain Barrels – Negotiations are underway with Cathy Breitenbach (Chicago Park District) for the installation of rain barrels with soaker hose attachments on west side of building. The set up will have information on how to set up rainbarrels at home to conserve water and less load on watersystems.
      • Protective Fences for Chamber Fest – Meeting was set with a walk thru with Kris Krieger, Landscaping manager for the locations of fence installations during Chamber Fest; Kris will have electricians ok sites for French Drains.
      • Garden Programming Oct 2009-May 2010 – Currently events are booked PENDING partnership approval. Partnership requests were submitted in Mid June for a 7 month lecture/workshop series (1st Mondays-Oct-April), Fountain Decorating Social (Nov 21 and 22), Garden Design Workshop (Jan 23, 30, Feb 6, 14, 20, 27), Park Kids Grow Program – April 8-May 27 – Thursdays), Plant Sale (May 1,2).
    5. Wicker Park Conservancy – Doug Wood – Reported that he spoke with Park District Group (Dr. Dan Hibbler-Chief Program Officer – Sup. Mitchell’s Group), Art Richardson (CRManager), Cynthia Rosario, John Davidson to discuss conservancy – go ahead was given. Brenda Palm – Parkways Foundation will work with us to review by-laws, articles of incorporation, and assist with selecting a board of directors. We will view other conservancy’s documents. Ryan Jackson, Denise Browning, Susan Fontana, Clintina Taylor offered to work on the study. Doug said he’d set meeting when documents are sent to him from Parkways Foundation.
    6. Education – Denise Browning reported that yoga would continue through the summer and that the class produced a small profit for upcoming programming.
    7. Security Camera – Susan Fontana reported that specs are being clarified-and a report will be given to 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores and the Park District for review.
    8. Area 2 Budget Hearing Meeting – 48 hr notice was given for the 2010 budget hearing meeting to be held at Humbolt Park. The group reviewed the requests from the past year. The resolution was to draft a letter and submit via email. Letter will include the following points: Discussion of past requests, request a few improvements: review staffing level situation, install portable toilets, install French Drains. We decided to include our commitment to create a conservancy. Letter to be drafted-submitted-July 15.
    9. Survey – Clintina Taylor, Toni Anderson, are working with John Davidson to create a Park Survey. The group agreed to submit past surveys to Clintina; she agreed to edit all and have ready for distribution at the movie Thurs. July 16.
    10. Movie in the Park – John Davidson, selected staff, John Shirk, Patrick Humphries, Denise Browning, Susan Fontana, Clintina Taylor, Toni Anderson, Josh Taylor and his group will work at the movie. Park District will provide pop corn machine; Denise Browning will provide popcorn-oil; Josh – necklaces; Clintina-Toni- Survey.; Doug Wood donates Business Card Website WPAC info to hand out. WPAC will reimburse for items purchased up to $100.
  4. Park Supervisor’s Report-John Davidson
    1. Summer Camp 2009 is going well; Extended Camp begins Aug 3; Football Camp and Soccer Camp follow.
    2. Special Events Movie in Park – July 16; Concert in the Park #1-Carl Brown and the Solid Gold Reggae Band – July 19-noon-free; Concert in the Park #2-Nelson Gill-August 2-noon-free. Park Staff will be in charge of the setups and running the shows.