Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors and Annual Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, November 12, 2002
The Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Avenue

I.       Board of Directors Meeting

A.  Call to Order and Announcements

With a quorum present, Mark Moller called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m.  Other board members present were:  Larry Calhoun; Dee Cotten; Andrew Hauer; Leslie Hirsch; Tom Hoch, Vice Chair; Gerry Spry, Treasurer; and Carletta Sweet, Secretary.

Mark advised that due to the expiration of four board members’ terms (i.e., Larry, Leslie, Mark and Carletta) and Gerry’s resignation, there would be five board positions to fill in tonight’s election at the annual meeting and that the top four votes-getters would fill the four 2-year terms.

B.  Consideration of Minutes

Mark moved and Dee seconded to approve the minutes from July, August, September and October 2002.  Tom moved to amend the minutes from October 8 as follows:  Under Visitor Presentations, B.C. Bar N Grill, second paragraph to read “Leslie moved”.  And under Old Business, Annual Meetings, first paragraph to read “approach the MCDA to waive the rental fee”.  The minutes as amended were approved unanimously.

C.  Consideration of Financial Statements

No update from June Harmon was available.  Tom advised, however, that he had spoken with Christie regarding the expenses related to the annual meeting which would include an 8-hour minimum labor costs, equipment at approximately $700, plus mailing, all totaling around $2,000.

D.  Consideration of Motions

Mark moved and Tom seconded to approve the Attorney General Annual Registration Form and associated filing fee of $25, as well as the filing the Annual Registration Form and IRS Form 990 with the State of Minnesota, Office of the Attorney General.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Mark moved and Carletta seconded to approve the following applications as recommended by the Land Use Committee at its meeting on November 6:

Brookfield Properties’ parking sign variance at City Center;

Ike’s Food and Cocktails’ Class B Liquor License at 50 South 6th Street;

The former Pickled Parrott’s Class B Liquor License at 26 North 5th Street; and

St. Regis Tavern’s Class A Liquor License at 80 South 9h Street.

The motion was carried unanimously.

E.  Adjournment

There being no additional business, the board of directors meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

II.      Annual Meeting

A.  Call to Order, Welcome and Announcements

Mark called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m., thanked those who helped make it a successful event:  Tom Hoch, the theatre and MCDA staff for hosting the meeting at the recently restored Pantages Theatre; the Coffee Gallery for providing refreshments; Luther Kruger of CCP/SAFE; Mike Rollin of CCNP; and welcomed those in attendance.

Susan Peterson, a teacher from the Inter-district School, announced that they have two new Urban Stewart classes this year wherein the students work with an organization called Eco Education to study the environmental issues for downtown Minneapolis to come up with a project to help downtown.

B.  Meet Your City Council and Other Elected Officials

Paul Zerby, Ward 2 Councilmember, advised Susan Peterson and the attending students from Inter-district Downtown School that he looks forward to hearing their ideas about improving the environment downtown and that the Pantages Theatre is about as beautiful an environment one can get in downtown Minneapolis.

Margaret Kelliher, State Representative, advised that she will represent the west side of downtown after redistricting.  She can be reached by phone at 651-296-0171, and by email at [email protected].  Margaret said she is excited to advocate for downtown issues at the capitol and is already working on that with the City Council and other neighborhood groups.  Margaret is also interested in talking with the students regarding environmental issues in an urban setting as she serves on the environment and environment finance committee.

Lisa Goodman, Ward 7 Councilmember, advised that this is a great time to be living, working or playing downtown and gave the following examples for why this is so:  the construction of the new Community College library; the restoration of Laurel Village’s front facade on Hennepin Avenue; the recent opening of the Pantages Theatre; construction of the new Central Library; and the development of an RFP for the north block.

C.  What’s Happening Downtown?

Parcel C

David Carland, VP of Development, and Suzanne Barnt, Project Architect, CSM Corporation, gave a presentation on the Depot Office Center, a mixed-use project bounded by Portland Avenue South, 2nd Street South, 5th Avenue South, and Washington Avenue.  CSM, currently a St. Paul-based corporation, will move into this project.  The historic Milwaukee Depot project was Phase 1, and the Depot Office Center is Phase 2.  Phase 2 will have four major components:

An office center on Washington Avenue with commercial space available on the first level with the remaining three levels occupied by three major pre-leased tenants, CMS being one of them;

Metropolitan Lofts, 22 two-level loft of approximately 1,600 square feet each at 2nd Street and Portland Avenue;

The new home of the MacPhail Center for the Arts at 2nd Street and 5th Avenue; and

A 300-stall parking facility situated behind all three properties. 

The project, a total investment of over $40 million when completed, will be built on a neighborhood scale and pedestrian friendly.

Parcel D

Peggy Lucas of Brighton Development first updated the audience on the projects that have been developed along the riverfront over the past 5 to 6 years:  North Star Lofts, its pioneering project; Stone Arch Lofts; Washburn Lofts; the Mill City Museum; and finally the Humboldt Lofts.

Then Bob Ganzer spoke about the specifics of Parcel D which will be a 5-phase project.  The first phase, consisting of 38 lofts, will begin in early spring 2003.  The remaining 4 phases will be constructed over the next 3 years.

Mississippi Grand Excursion

Patrick Seib, St. Paul Riverfront Corporation, explained how the region is coming together in 2004 to tell the history of the Upper Mississippi and encouraged participation by downtown residents in helping determine how to present its riverfront as a flotilla will move up river, stopping at communities along the way, and arrive in Minneapolis in July 2004.

New Central Library

Diane Hoffsted, Minneapolis Library Board, introduced Bill Butler who gave a slide presentation to highlight the main points of the design going forward.  The major elements that make up the new library emphasize pedestrian flow and access and will tie into the downtown system via skyway.  It has a prominent view from the river as a gateway structure and is a convergence of two major downtown streets:  to the west, Hennepin Avenue, and to the east, Nicollet Mall.

The next phase of the project includes conducting 22 design workshops where constituents will be given the opportunity to convey additional input.

D.  State of DMNA

Mark first recognized the contributions of the current board members for their efforts over the past year (by order of seating):  Gerry Spry, Treasurer; Carletta Sweet, Secretary; Dee Cotten; Larry Calhoun; Leslie Hirsch; Andy Hauer; and Tom Hoch.  Mark then recognized the efforts of other individuals who have assisted DMNA:  June Harmon, financial consultant; Christie Rock, DMNA coordinator; Barb Lichness, NRP staff; and Paul Barber, DMNA webmaster.

Mark then turned his attention to the state of DMNA and stated that after devoting the past year to becoming a more effective organization, the board is now posed to continue its journey with the NRP.

Mark explained that thus far, DMNA has contributed NRP funds to the following projects:  the Skyway Senior Center; the Restorative Justice Program; Hennepin Avenue Streetscape; and thermal imagers for the Fire Department.  But DMNA is in a unique position of not having spent the bulk of its Phase 1 funds, i.e., $900,000 of which is set aside for affordable housing, and approximately $500,000 which needs to be redirected due to the $300,000 returned from the streetscape loan and the funds for the kiosk and word mural projects that are unlikely to occur.  Therefore, this a great opportunity for the community to become involved in helping DMNA determine how to spend the affordable housing and other funds as well as having input on land use issues in downtown Minneapolis going forward.

E.  DMNA Board Elections

Margaret Berg from the League of Women Voters explained the voting procedures and supervised the election process.  After nominations were submitted (i.e., Tony Barranco, in abstentia; Brian Fesler; Leslie Hirsch; Victoria Lauing, disqualified due to residency and employment address; William Miller, in abstentia; Mark Moller; Kim Motes; Gene Nessly; George Rosenquist; Carletta Sweet), ballots collected and counted, the following individuals were elected.

Leslie Hirsch, 1 year

Mark Moller, 2 years

Kim Motes, 2 years

Gene Nessly, 2 years

Carletta Sweet, 2 years

F.  Adjournment

After the audience was separated into smaller groups to tour the theatre, the meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m.

Signed this ________ day of ________________________, 2003.

_______________________________                      _______________________________
Chair                                                                            Secretary