Minutes of Board Meeting
November 19, 2008
NSCC Green Room (College Center Building)

Directors Present:
Jerry Owens, Kay Mesirow, Tom Meyer, and Ellen Beck.

Board Representatives Present: Ken Thompson (North Precinct Representative) and Bruce Kieser (Director, Facilities and Plant Operations for North Seattle Community College).

Visitors:
Jean Wirch and Heidi Weinrich.

Vice President Jerry Owens called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He explained that Liz Kearns was sick and Debra Willendorf not able to be with us. Ellen explained that Kathleen Braden was giving a special lecture for history majors and would also not be present.

Jerry also informed us that tonight’s guest speaker, Megan Horst, could unfortunately not be with us, but would come to a future meeting.

Minutes:
The October 15, 2008 minutes were approved as presented.

OLD BUSINESS:

Community Shredding Event
Kay Mesirow said she was still working on a community shredding event, to be held hopefully in conjunction with North Seattle Community College. She informed us that she had a new person at the College she was trying to contact and so far her calls had not been returned. Bruce Kieser had several suggestions of additional College people she could contact: Pete Lortz (sustainability), Meredith Brown (scholarship contributions), and Kendall Harris (Enterprise Operations, event rentals).

Northgate Stakeholders
This organization is being “sunsetted.” There is awareness that if the City communicates and makes presentations to this group, it is not a substitute to communicating and making presentations to community councils.

North Precinct
Ken Thompson reported that the North Precinct will not be moving to a new location for at least four years. He also noted that crime, in all categories, has decreased dramatically in the North End.

Department of Planning and Development
Tom Meyer said that he monitors the DPD website for new construction and permitting in our neighborhood. He said there was no new construction to report at this time.

NSCC Master Plan
Bruce Kieser reported that in the 2009-2011 biennium, the Governor was asking all agencies what a 20% cut would look like for their agency, this includes community colleges. But, it is also possible that capital projects could be accelerated. Agencies are being asked to report what capital projects they have which could be accelerated. There have been no layoffs at NSCC, but the College is not replacing retirees.

Bruce said that work was continuing with the parking lot repairs and the IRC design.

He said that Work Source has not impacted the College or the neighborhood. The number of single occupancy vehicles has been dropping for some time as more students are on transit. There are, of course, still operational things to work through.

NEW BUSINESS:

Light Poles
Kay told of reporting street lights, which are out, to City Light. She said she had found a way of reporting them on line. What you have to know is the number on the pole, street address and closest house number. The link to report lights to City Light is http://www.seattle.gov/light/streetlight/form.asp.

There was a discussion about street lights. When they are sometimes on/sometimes off, this means they are on the way out and can be reported. You don’t have to wait until they are completely out, if you desire reporting them.

Rezoning of Northgate Area
There is a meeting Saturday, November 22, 2008, to discuss Northgate revitalization. Discussion followed. Most of the redevelopment has to do with increasing height allowances next to the freeway. The planners are aware of avoiding the canyon effect and plan to break up “super” blocks.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 21, 2009.

The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Ellen M. Beck, Secretary