Minutes

1. Call to Order and Attendance
   The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. In attendance were Len Ramirez, Lauren Southerland, Graciela Corral, Alice and John Rodriguez, Diane Wilkerson, Steve Pollock, Andrea Flores-Shelton, Bud LoMonaco, Melinda Bettencourt, Mario Taveres, Elizabeth Driedger, and Darcie Green.
2. New ARNC Officers
   1. The new ARNC officers elected at the February 2007 meeting were introduced:
1. President - David Sanchez (ncvl3615@yahoo.com)
2. Vice-President - Steve Pollock
3. Treasurer- Andrea Flores-Shelton
4. Secretary- Elizabeth Driedger
5. Board member at large - Darcie Green
3. Welcome and Announcements
   1. Visitors to the meeting were welcomed and invited to join ARNC as well as presented with information regarding the exciting things going on in Alum Rock (AR): ARNNE yahoo group for posting announcements to the community, Len Ramirez’ www.eastfoothills.blogspot.com for local AR news and his spot CBS “Eye on the Bay” that featured AR, David mentioned his involvement in the Berryessa Art and Wine Festival and his interest in the possibility of hosting a similar event in AR.
   2. Len Ramirez also brought a survey handout from Nora Campos office on eastside resident preferences for a family “sit-down” style restaurant for the Story and King and Alum Rock and White areas. To find out more information about the survey contact Councilmember Nora Campos’ office.
   3. The ARNC boundary was roughly recapped as having a north boundary up to Penitencia Creek Rd, Hwy 680/Capitol Expy on the west, Story Rd on the south, and up into the hills on the east. Steve noted that the boundary map can be found on the ARNC website (www.arnc.org). Elizabeth noted that the boundary definition did not mandate inclusion or exclusion of residents inside or outside the boundary limits but serves only as a rough guideline to aid community involvement.
4. Neighborhood Issues
   1. Neighborhood Beautification
      1. Shopping cart task force: The group discussed the difficulties in getting shopping carts picked up by the private service listed on the ARNC website and the need for more up-to-date information. Andrea will look into finding phone number for whom to contact about the other shopping cart pickup companies for the large and increasing number of carts being abandoned.
      2. Replant trees in the neighborhoods: Steve will contact Our City Forest to have someone come out and give a talk with ARNC.
      3. Coordinate graffiti response: Len will post the phone number for the graffiti hotline on ARNNE
      4. Illegal signage: David.
      5. Cleanup days: Bud, Darcie, and Diane will coordinate on a Village cleanup event, Steve, Bud and Len will work with Easthills Dr. resident, ?, to remedy and improve the gross negligence of the Job Corps facility that has led to littering, public nuisance and a deterioration of its surrounding area. Several ideas were discussed for working on the situation, such as publishing an article in the local news, forwarding it to Zoe Lofgren’s office, as well as sending a letter to the facility’s Executive, Richard Martinez.
      6. Attract quality businesses to the Village: it was discussed that the primary problem behind business failure in the Village is the exorbitant rents imposed by the building owners compounded by neglect. Owing to the complexity involved in this issue ARNC will return to this discussion topic in each meeting in order to determine how ARNC can best support Village improvement.
      7. Clip of Valley View residents meeting with planning office staff regarding 60’ cell tower: Len brought attention to the video clip that can be seen from his eastfoothills.blogspot.com site made during the Valley View resident meeting with planning office staff regarding the plan changes to the 60’ foot cell phone tower from a “model pine” to a slim line pole. It illustrates the necessity for community watch on the planning/development projects as they can easily change from the plans originally presented to residents.
5. Building a Community
   1. Organized garage sale day or centralized flea market – Darcie get more details from James Lick contacts for holding a recurring one in JL parking lot
   2. Develop an Alum Rock identity (common flower or ?) – David will head up promoting the Alum Rock Flower Project
   3. Car Show - David brought up looking at the Classic Car meet up at Mi Ranchito as another means for developing community pride
   4. Neighborhood mixer – David put forth the idea of holding an ARNC mixer during the summer to attract more members
   5. Art in the Village island – Len pointed out that it would really improve the aesthetics of the Village if we could put some artwork in the island divider.
   6. ARYC: June Comedy Fund Raiser – Diane who is a member of the Alum Rock Youth Center Advisory Committee mentioned that their fund raiser event could also be an excellent way for building community connection.
6. Other Open/Potential Projects
   1. Steve will look into having a sign created to publicize ARNC while we are doing projects
   2. We will have voicemail number that will be donated by Elizabeth which has the capability of forwarding voicemail messages in email.
   3. Elizabeth/Darcie to find out from JL about volunteer groups for ARNC projects.
   4. David and Bud will look into working on a Wine Pairing event for the Village similar to the Japantown sake tasting event.
7. Meeting adjourned – 8:35pm