UPCOMING EVENTS
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Scott Circle Greenspace Cleanup/Work day
October 21, 9am - 12pm. Bring rakes and loppers if you have. Coffee provided
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Senator Renitta Shannon Hosting “How Gov Works & How to
Resist Bad Policy Effectively” meeting October 25 6:00-7:30pm at the
Scott-Candler Library
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MANA Haunted Trail and Fall Festival at CSNP,
October 28, 5:30-8 PM FREE! Haunted trail, games, crafts, bonfire, music, food sales
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Holiday Bazaar at North Decatur Presbyterian, Dec 2, 10am - 3 pm
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UN Day Parade at ICS Nov 3, 9:45 am
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ICS Run for the World 5K/1 mi run/walk Nov 4,
9-10 am
VOLUNTEER NEEDS
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October 21, 9-12 am Greenspace cleanup on Scott
Circle
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October 28th, early pm to end of event, setup and breakdown of Haunted
Trail and help manning the crafts and activities at the event. If able to
volunteer, please email medlockassoc@gmail.com.
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November 28-29, flexible timing. Volunteers needed to hang
wreaths. Usually done using a ‘divide-and-conquer’ approach. If able to volunteer, please email medlockassoc@gmail.com.
MANA
Logo Contest
- The 1st prize winner is Rebecca Huynh Thongkham, who created a clean and appealing design highlighting the intersection of our community with natural elements. This design is a wonderful representation of our neighborhood for letterhead and official communications as well as car magnets, license plates, or cling stickers.
- The 2nd prize winners were Barbara Orisich and Kathryn Firago, who also drew inspiration from the abundant animal life and green spaces in the neighborhood. Their design is particularly appealing for flags and t-shirts.
● She has been working on raising awareness about the 2020 Census. Census
Bureau is being intentionally underfunded. Census figures have huge impact on
state and federal funding for our area and of course on legislative
redistricting. Concerned about gerrymandering, voter suppression, uncontested
seats.
●
She is working on and supporting legislation
that would form a non-partisan commission that would handle redistricting so
that politicians can’t just choose their constituents. She and colleagues
working on this issue have heard from many folks around the state who are interested
in supporting the effort, and it seems to have bipartisan support.
●
Thinks legislative season will be very busy.
Expects lots of transit, religious liberty, and anti-immigration legislation to
be pushed
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Hasn’t heard anything from City of Decatur on
future annexation plans
Commissioner
Jeff Rader http://commissionerrader.com/
●
The new owners of North DeKalb Mall are looking
at taking down a lot of the old mall, Costco could still be on the table,
possibility of adding residential. He will make sure they are reaching out to
MANA zoning chair to coordinate and communicate with neighborhood
●
Emphasized we should reach out if we need help
with County issues, esp. if we haven’t gotten good response from specific
county representative or agency we’ve contacted
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PATH extension should cross Clairmont by end of
2018
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County does have matching funds available for
Greenspace projects
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Attentive to traffic issues in neighborhood.
The county will be repainting lines on Desmond at Clairmont to address the
unsafe driving practices in that area.
Treasurer's
report:
Charlie Charoenlap
- Balance is pretty much status quo. Biggest
expenditures were pool party, newsletter publication, while revenues were from
new and renewing memberships.
Greenspace:
Ted Ward- Greenspace coordinator
- Workday for floodplain lots (details
above) Lisa Crowder memorial bench to be installed this week thanks to Matt
Maguire for coordinating. Will have a dedication soon.
- Received Park Pride
Small Change Grant of $2200 to extend bridge across culvert into floodplain
lots/Greenspace.
- Welcomes additional volunteers to help shape what the new
Greenspaces can become.
Schools:
Tanya Myers-schools liaison and MANA
Secretary introduced Claudia Rule, communications coordinator from ICS, who provided the following updates:
- ICS really
appreciates all the support and community of Medlock Park. Invite neighbors to
come watch the UN Day Parade in front of ICS November 3rd 9:45AM. Will be brief road
closure on Gaylemont 9:30-10 to accomodate the parade.
- ICS Run for the World, November 4th, 5K & 1 mi certified run/walk up
and down Medlock-there will be a partial road closure for that as well. Will
update with more road closure specifics/logistics
- Need Halloween Costumes for ICS students
- Always accepting food items for ICS food
pantry
Zoning:
Theresa Same, Zoning chair
●
Working with County on Vol Repairs property
that is currently in violation of ordinances and safety regulations, and hoping to see some eventual resolution (although the process itself is lengthy)
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She also mentioned the need to start thinking about what our
options are with respect to the traffic volume around and in the neighborhood.
The main thoroughfares are also state routes, which complicates addressing the
neighborhood’s problem as the state’s goals are more related to maintaining the
ability to move high volume traffic through the neighborhood.
Neighborhood
Watch:
Barb Dalton, longtime MANA volunteer and
Watch Coordinator is leaving the neighborhood. Will need more volunteers to
step up to help with Watch.
●
Watch is a success so far-reached initial goal
of 300 homes subscribing
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120 vacation requests in first 105 days
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Officers are stopping folks for traffic related
issue but not ticketing
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Will look into window decals for neighborhood
cars
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$156/year dues per household to join
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If you check crimemapping.com most incidents
are car break-ins. Continue to be vigilant, don’t leave valuables in vehicles.
Board Elections:
Theresa Same introduced the slate of proposed officers. No nominations were received from the floor and the following officers were elected (or re-elected) by verbal vote:
● Lynn Ganim - President
● Sharon Johnson - Vice-President
● Charles Charoenlap - Treasurer
● Tanya Myers - Secretary
Revisions to MANA Bylaws:
Lynn Ganim introduced the revised bylaws, which were approved by verbal vote.
FALL FESTIVAL & HAUNTED TRAIL – RESCHEDULED for SUNDAY 10/29, 5:30-8PM
It's the little clip art that could. This homespun logo has done a lot of work in its time... It helped fend off a bizarro proposal to plant a massive cell phone tower in our midsts. It has held its ground agains more than one annexation proposal, fought for greenspace, and negotiated a safer, more walkable neighborhood as development has gone into hyperdrive in the last few years.
The Medlock community is saddened at the unexpected passing of Lisa Crowder. An active, longtime resident, in recent years Lisa became a staunch advocate for many neighborhood greenspace projects: she battled weeds encroaching the Willivee bridge and other walkways, joined the Friends of Medlock Park group, and helped push forward the beautification of FEMA floodplain lots on Scott Circle. Lisa also partnered with the International Community School in refugee initiatives and installed Little Libraries. And she ran an epic Facebook group.
