November MCAC meeting minutes

Post date: Nov 11, 2010 2:14:49 PM

Mordecai CAC Meeting

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Trinity United Methodist Church

Co-Chair Reid Serozi welcomed 37 residents and visitors to the meeting.

The next meeting will be held on December 14th at 7:30 PM.

Online streaming of the monthly CAC meeting is now available through the Mordecai CAC Facebook page.

Police Report

Officer Taylor reported that the most prevalent crime in the downtown area is larceny from motor vehicles. Make sure you lock your vehicles and hide anything of value. He has never handled a report of something stolen from a trunk.

He also commented on the recent occurrence of a stranger knocking on doors and asking for help getting somewhere. Do not open your door if you don't know who it is, particularly at night.

If you notice a street light that is dim or out make a note of the number on the pole and call Progress Energy at 919-508-5400.

Announcements

Congratulations to Guy Caprioli who was awarded a Raleigh Neighborhood Recognition Award from the city for his work with Music on the Porch. The awards were not ready until after the ceremony so Guy was presented with his award at the CAC meeting.

A Taste of Retail event will be held on Saturday December 4th from 10-4. There will be early bird specials, retail discounts, and tastings from local restaurants. And on Saturday December 11th beginning at 2pm there will be an event called Shop, Sip, and Cinema. See www.ShopDowntownRaleigh.com for information on both events.

Raleigh Winterfest will be held on Saturday December 4th from 4-10 pm with the ice skating rink open until 11 pm. See www.RaleighWinterfest.com for more information.

Hadley Watson from White Oak Properties spoke about the new but long vacant building at the corner of Glascock and Brookside. The condos are offered for sale and the retail is offered for lease. A tenant has been found for the grocery/convenience spot on the end. There are seven condos, each roughly 1100 ft2, and all have two bedrooms except one one-bedroom.

Reid announced a community redevelopment priority for our CAC in 2011. The initiative will be called the North End Redevelopment Project. This project will target the business district along North Person Street and surrounding areas. The community will find ways to get involved to make this area look better. Reid had some good ideas such as painting the store fronts and perhaps putting something in the windows even if there is no business in the space. More information will be released in the near future.

Asset Based Community Development

The list serve survey showed that many of us want a mode of finding what businesses are within our CAC. Duane Beck has proposed and is developing an interactive online map to show where businesses, restaurants, professional offices, parks, schools, churches, schools, etc. are located.

Raleigh Parks & Recreation

Shawsheen Baker gave some information about the new Mordecai Interpretive Center, which is part of the approved 2007 bond program. The architect Cityscapes has been chosen. The conceptual plan will be presented at a meeting held in the downstairs meeting room of Trinity United Methodist Church, 824 N Bloodworth Street on November 30th at 7 pm. All are welcome to attend. Shawsheen asked the CAC to comment on her plan to ask the City for a variance to the road right of way which has been widened due to Wake Forest Road's designation as a major thoroughfare. Concerns were raised that this widening of the right of way might indicate a widening of Wake Forest Road. Shawsheen didn't know the answer so Philip Bernard, traffic chairman agreed to contact Eric Lamb in Public Works, find out more information, and report back to the group.

Parks Committee

Dana Deaton said the gate on the Mordecai mini park that was broken has been fixed. The park has become very popular and some have asked about reserving it for birthday parties. The answer is no, it's first come first serve, although that has been working well so far.

CAC Chair Nomination

We are in great need for someone to run for CAC co-chair, with duties to begin in 2011.

Featured Neighbor

No neighbor agreed to be featured this month.

Guest Speakers

City Councilman Eugene Weeks introduced himself to the attendees. He was placed on the council to finish Councilman West's term. Mr. Weeks taught at Broughton High School for 20 years and was recently the chairman of both the Raleigh Human Relations and Parks & Rec. He is looking forward to working with us and is interested in the North End properties as well.

Doug Winslow and Kenny Smith from the City Inspections Department were in attendance. The number to call if you have a complaint about a residential property (such as accumulated trash or suspected safety issues) is 919-807-5110, or search the Raleigh city website for the Code Enforcement Request Form. Both telephone and online requests may be made anonymously, however they prefer you provide at least a phone number in case they have any questions.

Mordecai CAC Google List-Serve Survey Results

A vote was taken on a motion that was made at last month's meeting to accept the manager's list-serve recommendations and it was unanimously approved. We are encouraged to update the list-serve guidelines, create a separate site for neighborhood advertising, and to conduct a list serve membership drive so that as many neighbors as possible are receiving information.

Rebekah Weber

Secretary