Next Meeting:
 8:00 AM Thursday, September 9th, 2010
 at Tommy Brann's, 4157 S. Division

         

  November 12th, 2009
Meeting Minutes [click to download PDF]
1. Call To Order
Members Present: Tommy Brann, Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille; Jerry DeGood, Auto Finance Company; Al Reurink, Modern RV Center; Lisa Golder, City of Kentwood, Richard Clanton, City of Kentwood; Chief James Carmody, Wyoming Police Department; Matt Rooks, Wyoming Police Department; Steve Karrip, Metro Motors; Juliette Cowall, Godwin Plumbing, Jeff Augustyn, City of Kentwood Police Department; Don Tuuri, City of Kentwood Police Department; Tim Pomorski, Affordable Auto Service; James Leach Jr. Hobart Sales and Service; Aida Slogar, Lake Michigan Credit Union; Robert Duck, Elite Security; Tim Cochran, City of Wyoming; Jim Kubiak, Bubble Magic Laundry; Kathy Stuby, Kelloggsville Public Schools; Tammy Savage, Kelloggsville Public Schools; Harold Mast, Harold Mast Consulting; Michelle Wisniewski, Chase Bank; Susie Hudson, Chase Bank; Lee Groth, South Godwin Neighborhood Association

2. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Al Reurink with support to approve the October 12, 2009 meeting minutes.

3. Treasury Report
The current balance is the DABA account is $3,204. There was one new member.

4. Roundtable
Tom discussed goals briefly.

He asked Rob Duck to explain what he has found out about the trees. Rob said that half the trees along the Avenue are a mess. He will address more in the roundtable

Membership: Tom would like to increase the membership to 65

Street lighting: would like to see brighter street lights

Visiting other associations: We should visit other organizations and see what they are doing and how we can improve the association

Jerry suggested that the DABA get an intern to conduct a survey similar to that completed for the 28th Street DDA.

Lisa suggested that a goal of the association should be to promote the BRT.

It was suggested that DABA take a position on the Wyoming sign ordinance.

Have more police presence on bicycles

Roundtable:

Jerry: Santa Claus parade is December 5th. He distributed posters for the event.

Tim Cochran: said that the interchange at 44th Street will be wrapping up in the next month. There are 40,000 cars per day on 44th Street at the interchange.
There is a new motorcycle dealer going in on the Avenue.
Tim addressed the issue with the GM plat. A recent study form the U of M suggests that the jobs in the future will be office, so there would be no need to have 2 million square feet of manufacturing space. The city is looking at how to tear it down and reuse the property. Office workers were also the focus of the employment projections for the BRT area.

Lisa: said that the city has had budget cuts; one of these was for the city’s code enforcement person. Planning will be trying to keep up with the enforcement issues.

Richard Clanton: City is in difficult financial position, layoffs announced; more may be coming in the future. Work is progressing on the library.

Kathy Stuby and Tammy Savage: Kelloggsville Schools is partnering with organizations to support people in families in the district and neighborhood. They can offer student help with community projects such as clean ups. They have brought some brochures and window clings for any of the businesses. They are having 6 Rocket family nights in the winter months. They will be offered a free meal and learning sessions. The businesses in the area could be a part of this and promote their businesses. The Rocket nights will be offered two times a week through March.

Harold Mast: Said that Frank Lind of Disability Advocates is having a community summit this Saturday. The topic is “How state issues are affecting you locally.” The location is 118 Commerce. He will report back to DABA on this.

Carrie Bremer: She recently moved her business to Division Avenue. Elite Security is located at 4316 Division. She is happy to be a member of the organization.

Rob: Business is Alpha Players and Duck’s Lawn Care; he is also part of Elite Security. He is working with area kids. Had a number of kids helping pick up trash and help with Trick of Treat on Halloween. He is having card game events and tutoring for kids and has had great support from families. He is open 7 days a week.

With respect to the trees along Division, he said they area mess. Some businesses have destroyed trees or cut off branches. There are 160 boxes. His landscaping business has connections where he can get trees at a reasonable price. Tom suggested that he work with Jim Leach on this, since this is one of DABA’s goals.

Jeff: Police department has new office hours for the public—9-4 Monday through Friday. Non emergency reports can be made on the Internet. He mentioned Nixle.com which is a free service where you can sign up and be made aware of any police issues in your area.

Don: Said that positions were lost in the Kentwood Police Department. Neighborhood Services were combined with traffic creating a Community Services Division. There are four officers for this Division.

Chief Carmody: Major Lind has retired. There have been 21 positions lost since 05. Someone from the Police Department will continue to meet with the association; the connection to the business community is important. In the neighborhoods there has been a few more breaking and entering, possibly because of the increased price of gold. Domestics were up also. Other crime was a little down.

Lee: said that he is thankful for Major Lind, the people at the Wyoming Park and Recreation Department and that the activity at the apartments on Madison is down.

Steve: said a lot of good things are happening in the area if you look.

Al: said that his business was broken into; someone got into 12 vehicles and caused $22,000 of damage. His property at 3449 has been rented to a car dealership.

Jim: said that he drives down Division at night and there were only three street lights working. Steve said they tried new lights last year. If these were the new led lights, they are not brighter than what was there before.

Aida: Goodwill donations went well. The credit union wills giver vouchers for families to get free clothing.

Lake Michigan Credit Union is offering scholarships again this year. It is for seniors graduation from high school and planning to go to an accredited 2-year, 4-year or technical school. She has been to schools to promote.

The Credit Union is also participating in the Santa Parade.

A question was raised about graffiti and whether the Police Department can address it. Chief Carmody said that the city can no longer address this issue and is counting on the business community to clean up graffiti when they see it. Otherwise they are trying to apply for assistance on this through the CDBG program.

Tom said next month is the December meeting and a breakfast will be provided.