MINUTES

FREMONT NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

Feb 24, 2003

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: April Thanos, Alan Younker, Toby Thaler, John Ryan, Dic Selin, Jenny Eichwald, Julie DeBroux, Vafa Ghazi, Benjamin Grossman, Pete Hanning, Norma Jones

Minutes approved for 1/27/03 as amended (two small typos).

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Aaron Kaplan is our member of the Zoo Neighborhood Liaison Committee. There is a person each from Greenlake, Phinney, Fremont and Wallingford. Anyone with problems should call him at 545-0914. The Zoo wants to tear down the old primate house. This committee will be notified if there is any need by neighbors for an RPZ. It was suggested the Zoo should keep parking fees low so more people will come.

TREASURER'S REPORT: none

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

LAND USE - There will not be a design review meeting for QFC in March.

GUERILLA GARDENING - May 3^rd with a rain date of May 10^th will be the spring dates for gardening and will meet at the powerhouse. Toby will contact the Arts Commission about keeping up the mural under Aurora.

COMMUNITY CENTER - none

OPEN-SPACE - Chip is working on funding for the Fremont Park.

COMMUNICATONS - The newsletter is ready to go and Alan brought copies for review. There is still room for small articles. It will be sent to a list of 700 with a separate page about dues for 2003. There will a mailing party March 5^th at 7 at Alan's house.

BICYCLE ROUTES - The mayor announced the missing link for the Burke Gilman Trail - which mainly follows the rail line, but does jog around a bit.

TRANSPORTATION - none - we need someone to head this committee

AFFORDABLE HOUSING - It is not sure we will meet the Spring funding and we need to have a meeting March 6^th to go over our options and see further work on the plans for the project.

PUBLIC SAFETY - Pete will be taking this over as he is doing it for the Chamber as well. Ben suggested we could have patrol in the downtown area - as he said a neighbor of his was recently assaulted.

The Ballroom had three representatives there in response to our recent letter. Auzie Oxford one of the owners spoke for them. They have increase security staff on the weekend and he is out there every weekend to oversea things. They have improved their ID checking methods. There should be increase lighting in the Bagel Oasis parking lot as they reported a light that was out to the city. His staff is also cleaning the entire block on his side of the street each weekend night. They have added signs to have patrons leave quietly and announce it over their PA system on weekends. They never deny use of restrooms to those waiting in line and allow people to use it after hours. It had been suggested they stay open longer to have people disperse over a longer period, but they rejected this idea as it is too difficult to handle legally with their licensing. They have double insulated their walls for noise.

Community Psychiatric Clinic - Mike Nielsen spoke about their new project to build a 12 units apartment building on their site at 36^th and Albion. They have 32 locations around King County and house mainly homeless chronic mental health patients. See their project summary and map.

OLD BUSINESS:

There was a letter from “The neighbors of QFC” praising Toby for his efforts for them.

LUDC - Next month's meeting is on drainage and Peter Steinbreuck will be attending.

Fremont Works - There was discussion on the traffic light at 35^th/Evanston and it was suggested that FNC should donate some money for the project.

NEW BUSINESS: RPC - Julie will work with Dic on a letter to the city for an RPC on 36^th.

Fremont Market - Pete advised the court rejected Sound Mind & Body’s suit on loss of business and parking due to the Fremont Market.

. Fremont Library - Joan Johnson advised they have selected an architect for the $500,000 project, which starts Nov/03 and lasts for 9 months. The meeting room will be accessible through the Fremont Park.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.