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

         

  September 10th, 2009
Meeting Minutes [click to download PDF]
1. Call To Order
Members Present: Jerry DeGood, Auto Finance Company; Al Reurink, Modern RV Center; Lisa Golder, City of Kentwood, John Lind, Wyoming Police Department; Steve Karrip, Metro Motors; Susie Hudson, Chase; Juliette Cowall, Godwin Plumbing; Matt Rooks, City of Wyoming Police Department, Jeff Augustyn, City of Kentwood Police Department; Jim Kubicek, Bubble Magic; Tim Pomorski, Affordable Auto Service; Josh Wasenborg, Affordable Auto Service; Dave Johnson, Maplelawn Baptist Church; Jason Wilkins, Beltline Bar; Judy Doot, Beltline Bar; Harold Mast, Harold Mast Consulting, Inc.; Gary Ball, B-Quick Printing; James Leach Jr. Hobart Sales and Service

2. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Al Reurink with support from Gary Ball to approve the August 13, 2009 meeting minutes.

3. Treasury Report
Gary Ball provided the Treasury Report. The current balance is $2,807.16. There are 36 members and 14 Adopt-a-Block participants. The bill for printing for the Open House was $44.00. We still need to collect some Adopt-a-Block fees.

Jerry said the Clean Up is scheduled for the 12th of September. There are 20-25 probationers lined up to assist. They will meet at Godwin at 8:00AM. John Lind will see about getting the street sweeper there at 11:00 to clean up after.

The trestle over 28th Street has not been repainted yet. MDOT is holding up the project in order not to shut down the street to traffic. Half the street was closed at a time previously. Possibly is holding up work until the street improvements are made next year.

Thursday September 17th there will be an Open House at Brann’s starting at 5:00PM.

4. Roundtable
Harold Mast: said that he is considering running for County Commission in 2010. He is interested in joining the Association because it is a good organization. He works as a consultant for affordable housing.

Steve said that Saturday the date for the fall clean-up. We will be meeting at 8:00AM at Godwin; we will need 20 people to help. There is a new business at Imperial—it is AutoSport from the 5600 block of Division. He will be making new investment in the property to fix the roof and bring the building to code.
John Lind: said that prostitution is down on Division. Division Avenue has had some car lots broken into. No major issues with the MetroCruise other than the cancelling of events due to weather.

Jeff Augustyn: said that a business in the 4300 block of Division has been broken into several times. Cellular phones have been taken. He said there is a service called Nixle.com that will give you real-time updates to your laptop or cell phone regarding issues in your neighborhood.

Tim Pomorski said he appreciated that the weeds at the Four Star gas Station were addressed. The Kelloggsville community event last month was a success; over 500 people came. He said the Kelloggsville Board of Education is hosting a community pride event at the middle school from 4:30-7:30PM on Friday, September 11, 2009. The area churches are hosting a pig roast on the 12th-13th of September.


Jason Wilkins is the general manager of the beltline Bar and Grill. He had heard about the Division Avenue association and came to see what it was all about.
Jerry commented that the Beltline Bar has been a big supporter of the Division Avenue area in the past and is a landmark in the area. He said that the beltline Bar has participated in the Santa parade and hope they will continue to do so in the future. The date of the Santa parade is December 5th.

Susie said that Chase is sponsoring a Business Insight Seminar on September 24, 2009 from 7-9AM. Ben Roth is speaking on “Keeping Your Business Strong in a Struggling Economy.”

Juliette Cowall: said that she has been waiting from Tim to provide a list of areas that trees have not survived to introduce drought-tolerant plants. These would be used instead of trees, since these plants would be much more tolerant of dry weather. Tim said there were 16 places where these plantings could be used. It was suggested that the locations could be noted by seeing where the trees have been removed.
Juliette also indicated that the Nature Conservancy is having a sale of plants and trees.