Sept 25: Melrose Monthly Recap These Committees are Taking Action...
Melrose Sept 25, 2019 Recap Notes from the Monthly Member meeting
These are very rough notes everyone! Bare with us as we recruit for a Secretary to take live meeting minutes to share with people who can’t make a meeting in person. For now, we have this format – using the planned agenda and adding notes into those sections.
· 6:55-7:05pm call to order / agenda review
o Time for Melrose to Act! What do we want to accomplish over the next 30/60/90 days?
o Voting on Braunz Courtney as Vice Chair
Stephanie Hayden announced her support and vote for Braunz as Vice Chair, Andre Isler added a second, and the membership voted in favor to elect him as Vice Chair effective immediately. Araina Richards, the OPD Neighborhood Coordinator. Braunz is being onboarded to systems and operations now and will be taking a lead role in daily activities in the Melrose community.
o Action Committee Leads pitch ideas and you choose which to join and action plans
The AC Leads pitched their ideas (limited to 1.5-2 minutes) and broke off into groups to determine what they wanted to take action upon, and what they plan to do to see some change begin to occur by Dec. 31, 2019. For information on what they pitched and how far they got, visit each one of the AC blogs linked below.
· 7:05-7:20pm Muni Check in / QA to be taken offline
o OPD (15-20 min overall)
Captain Mendoza attended and introduced herself to Melrose members as the new Oakland Police Captain covering Area 5 and NCPC Beats 27 x & y. She focused on building connections between community members and working together to resolve safety issues.
Officer Alex Navarro came with monthly crime statistics for 27 x and showed the difference between incidents in 27x vs neighboring communities and Oakland overall showing crime in Melrose is less frequent than nearby areas. He referred to CrimeStoppers.com data reports. You can look this information up yourself too.
Officer Carlos Velazquez, said he’s been in the neighborhoods for 30 years and Melrose is part of his beat. He wants the community to feel like, and know, they can call or write him any time with concerns or reports and he will work to help resolve everything he can. He provided his cell and email.
o District 4 Council Rep: Amauri Collins (3-5min)
introduced new Staff and announced D4 will be meeting with DOT and Public Works on Oct. 16 to discuss plans for Melrose Street Scape project and they should start having updates for Melrose soon
o District 5 Council Rep: Rosa Velasquez (3-5min)
provided information about upcoming community events and updates regarding the Safe Schools program in context of homeless encampment safety issues at Bond Street and noted only 1 school in D5 was approved for a Safe School Zone project, and that school is Edna Brewer Middle School
o District 6 Council Rep: Mona Barra-Gibson (3-5min)
noted she used to work for District 4 Annie Campbell Washington and now works for Loren Taylor D6. She described the need to create and distribute a vision and roadmap for D6 and shared an overview of that vision to date. She’ll be providing more updates in coming months
· 7:20-7:30pm Action Committee Lead Pitches (3 min each)
o Braunz Courtney running for Vice Chair Melrose Community Council
Braunz announced his overall interest for various Action Committees and explained he wants to be a connector between ACs and make sure folks can determine how to take their ideas and turn them into action that turns into results for Melrose. He offered to check in with each AC during the break outs to help capture notes and focus on getting some definition around each group’s formation. See Braunz’s meetings, pictures, and more notes about the Braunz and his non-profit, HEPPAC here
o Irma Swygert re; Safety & Accessibility – we need Disabled Access Issues to be resolved
Irma described a situation where she came home late one night and could not get into her driveway because someone had parked in it and though she called the city for help no one came to help get her into her home. She has some walking limitations and has Disabled access requirements and feels if the city won’t help her and her neighbors will, that’s good, but we have to come up with a clear plan and accountability to fix accessibility issues in Melrose. See Irma’s meeting, pictures, and more notes about the Accessibility AC here
o Andre Isler re; Business District & Events / Promotions – business & membership
Ande described the need to focus on business growth and community engagement in the business district of Melrose in order to bring more businesses in and more investment in the community. He wants to get more people coming down to Foothill and Bancroft streets and meet the merchants to learn what we have available to us and what else we want to bring in. See Andre’s meeting, pictures, and more notes about the Business District AC here
o Razzu Engen re; Saturday Litter Pick Up Teams
Razzu has a Litter Pick up group that gets together 1 Saturday per month and he suggested anyone can contact him to join in those event days. He also pitched that he would be covering the Street Scape AC topic as he’d been involved earlier and in lieu of other leaders not being available to lead on the topic that night he would capture notes and ideas to grow for Members. See Razzu’s meeting, pictures, and more notes about the Street Scape AC here
o Chris re; Bond Street Homeless Encampment predicament
Chris presented her ongoing efforts to work with City of Oakland, District 5 Council Member Gallo and his staff, and community members to address the mounting concerns she and her neighbors have for their safety and the safety of the kids who go to the Charter school at the corner of 42nd and Foothill who have growing issues with illegal activities taking place in front of school children, She asked people to join her in a letter writing campaign and to show support by signing her petition to close the Bond Street Encampment and to join her at the City of Oakland Oct. 8 City Council meeting to show support for that action. See Chris’s meeting, pictures, and the letter template she provided for Melrose members to write letters of support for Bond Street residents and School Safe Zones here
o Stephanie Hayden re; Public Safety/Sideshows/911
Stephanie pitched talking about finding solutions and ways to collaborate with OPD to Crack down on Sideshows, Speeding, and traffic-related safety issues in Melrose and invited members to join her to discuss ways we might do that with OPD Officers right away. See more about Stephanie’s Sideshows and Speeding AC here. Stephanie also created a letter writing campaign to call for city action to address 4 deaths in 6 months on Foothill Blvd – you can see that here