Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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hood initiative, She averred that lwighborhoods and downtown hUi',ine~.,:=;e~;; \Vere very graktUl il,r the offk~'1's. She fe1t the City had begun to make some progress on \vhat had been her persona! intent "\vhen she pat this goal on the tabk. M.s. Hettman calkd the list exhaastive, She as'bx1 that ev~~rything the organlzHt1on W<1~., already doing he taken dT the J.l.st. She thought th,)re 8ho'nld b;:: di.iTerentiation hetwi...~1) neighborhfKH:is and n<:::ighb(')l'hood assf!i..::iat1ons. When fDrH1ubting: the goal, she had neighborhoods in mind in terms of livahHity. She helieved heaHhy ndghhorhoods to be tb;~ fundamental building blocks to a healthy eity. Sb:: recorn.. mended bt;~ginningwith an overarching value thM explored how thiB livability (odd be preserved and enl:wm.:C{L She ob~erved that things ,omch as density, inillt commen:ial development, and transportation. pn)je;.;~ts had the (apacity to enhance or degrade a neighhorhood, M.J". Pryor a:prreciatd the dTm1 that gone into the phm and agreed with wmments suggesting the plan should he more focused. He remarked that wh.)H thir&Jng about neighborhoods and the City'~;; role in them, he thought ~thout the people and the City'~ relationship and partnership \vith them. He [eft tb;~i;e areas should be thc ones on which to {!JCllS. the most energy. He 1iked what was ~.,aid in the proposed plan regarding public engagement and efforts to try tf} create greakr nutreachin th.) cotmnunity. He s~tid while the general Pop\lla1ion of the neighborhoods should help to bring the initiative to fwitiun, the l:1(~ighbor- hood as~;ociati.o!1s had an important role in getting those individuals involved. He wanted to work on strategies to en~.;ure the City was in contact with e'leryone.He corn.mented that it 'Nas a "'struggle" to hnd out wh;;tt happy pmpk: think hecause. usuaJ1y the eounci] only heard from.1.mhappy people and quality infonn<1tion wGald indude hoth. He agreed that disagreement~ 'were he,'llthy. but averred dn"!t t.he purpose f r j j' H fk d '1 f '1 ,. o . ( 1.&1.gR~ement "',v.as to reac 1 a r~~so .H1l.0:n.,'.c t'.) ,t K o;.;~lS on 8ervtce I; t;~Uvery, .Mr.Poli.ng thanked staff for all the time and dfort that had gone i.nto tht~ pIan. He ;;igreed. th<'l.t the plan wai; tno broad and Hlmost overwhelming. He concurred with Mr. Pryor's ~.;entiments regarding invoive- rnent of neighborhood resident~;; thmn~/;,ndghbod1ood a::;sGcbtkms in order to get morz~ people in the city involved with what w.as going on. Mayor Pien:;y said the dmsity of the inforrmtion W<lS an interesting way for the wu.ndt ~md staff to ~.;ee aU of the rebtionshipi; benveen the things that happen in the ndghhorhouds and aU of the things the City did to reach om into the neighborhoods, She supported helping the ndghborhood orgmlizations be as .'strong as the City could <1~.,:=;i~.,t them in heing" so that they fed empowered to be a ::;ignificant part of the di.-o"Cision- making proo;:ss in the. community. Sbx; hoped ttw City eoukl provid.e trainings fiJf neighborhood organizations hecau.se it wa::; wmeti.mes diffkult to run a meeting w that. people with different point::; of view felt thx7 W<;Te partkipating and being heard. Reg:an:llng div~;Tshy, l\--1ayor Piercy thought the City should talk with neighborhood. associations .ahout stmkgks to engage more people and what they might do to help bring more people in, She (jbselved that the Msodations wa.ntt)d memh.)rship t;;! be repJ'Csentativt: nfneighhorhood (hv;;::~rsity. She opined that ;;;o:me of the neighborhood association:..; had become too big. 1\4ayol Piercy called fhr a ~;;ec{md mund of council questioni; and I;;om.rnents, lYk Kelly agreed that neighbor.hood livability was critical. He averred that if the initiative \Ilorked the way it \Ilas intended, it \vnuld i;Lrengthen the neighborhood i.\8s;;!cbtions byini,)rc;),singinvolvnnen.t, Mr. KeHy recommended that Action Item 1, the devdop-ment of aNeighborhood~I:Klsed Community Policing Strategy, involvc the participation of neighborhood a.ssnz:iations. MINUTES....--E1..gt:ne City Coundl lS.1..gust In, 2005 Page 4 Work Se;;;sion