BVCLT Board Meeting Notes 04/27/10
Attending: Julio Sr., Somerset, Lara, and Michelle, plus guests Kristin, Sarah Rah, and Leslie.
Facilitator: Somerset. Notes: Leslie, with edits by Lara.
Introductions of guests and board members.
Task List: We need to create task lists on future items for a 3-6 month time frame/
- Should we schedule a retreat meeting to do this? We need to know who is vacationing at what dates
Transition Updates
-Lara put together section sheets for the Draft Urban Soil/Tierra Urbana (USTU) Coop Bylaws and they were discussed by the Prospective Owner’s Group (POG) in Monday’s meeting of April 26th. Community members were in general agreement on the 1st, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th sections and requested written summaries for the remaining sections. The USTU Bylaws Committee will complete written summaries on the remaining sections, present them at Community Meetings, and hopefully get approval of the Bylaws within the next 2 months. Two Elements for Success: (a) Writing the summaries (in ballot initiative-styled writing). Al Valencia, the USTU lawyer, will be asked to do this. Kristin offered to start writing these summaries, as she is trained as a paralegal.
(b) Working with people who want to wordsmith the USTU Bylaws outside of Community Meetings.
LAUSD Update on the proposed White House Place Learning Garden
-Anna Lasso (our current LAUSD contact) informed us in a voicemail message that she will turn over our project to Eileen Ma (LAUSD Leasing) within the next few days. Eileen will inform us about the good news regarding developments on access to electric meters, water meters and fixing the retaining wall. Eileen Ma’s phone number is (213) 241-6124. The parking lot surrounding the proposed park is almost complete. It is only after the parking lot completion that LAUSD will arrange for us to have access to the garden site. The transfer of our project to Eileen Ma may work in our favor in that the draft documents we have provided may be more readily adopted.
We need to investigate funding for the garden project. Sarah Rah recommends applying for a Lowe’s school grant ($2-$3,000). They have a simple form to fill out and do not require purchasing from Lowe’s, but they like the publicity. There are concerns with corporate donations, though Lowe’s is not seen as a bad actor. Lowe’s only accepts 1,500 applications per cycle, and awards 1,000 so pretty high probability of receiving an award.
Go Around on Corporate Branding
BVCLT has no formula yet for dealing with corporate donations, though we would expect to say no to corporations like Exxon Mobile. Eco Maya has taken corporate sponsorships. The Bicycle Kitchen has received multiple sponsorships (Cliff Bar, RAI) but also turned down others
There is concern about how corporations invest their capital. Information on corporations is not always available. Most businesses regardless of size will donate. BVCLT should ideally generate relationships with businesses. Foundation awards are big yet competitive. Having Bresee as a co-sponsor or co-signer would be helpful. EMA (Environmental Media Association): finds young celebrities to promote environmental issues. Ellen Page might be interested in being involved in BVCLT in some way. She has toured the LA Eco-Village neighborhood.
- Schedule this issue for more in-depth discussion. Direct mailing is a viable fundraising option.*Proposal: have a committee that deals with fundraising strategies and the corporate donation issue.
Eco Maya Festival on 4/25 Sponsored by the BVCLT
Julio Santizo, the event organizer, thanks everyone who came (Somerset, Kristina, Lara, Irma, Michelle, and Leslie). About 10 people who attended want to study LAEV to create an ecovillage, they are holding a meeting on May 8th at 5pm. Julio will also meet with LACC about future events. He wants Eco Maya to be more sustainable and to generate jobs.
Wilshire Center Earth Day Celebration
This was a good event. Kristina, Lara, Kristin, Leslie, and Julio participated at our table. Irma was there for KYCC. A lot of people attended due to its farmer’s market style
Logo Report
Kristin reviewed past attempts to create a logo, which were examined at the committee meeting.
The committee wanted symbols of the Metro Station, bicyclists, pedestrians, environmental sustainability, multi-family housing, and land stewardship. Our goal is to produce brochures, business cards, flyers, and banner ads that incorporate this logo,
Kristin used the street sign motif as a basis for the logo, and visually represented other elements in letterhead. We should get feedback from everyone then hire a professional artist to create the logo from our mock up. We will investigate the following options, Monica Howe through the Echo Park Time Bank, Lara’s sister (a professional), Joe Linton, and Liz Sinclair’s husband (ano
- Follow-up with Monica on availability (Somerset) *Lara will sign BVCLT up with the Echo Park Time Bank. *Follow-up with Lara’s sister (Lara)
- The logo sub-committee will make a recommendation on utilizing a line drawing, and how much money we should spend for professional artwork.
- Kristin will call board members to discuss more on art concepts for the logo.
No hard deadline, but a 2 month time frame to complete this project would be welcome.
May 11th (Tuesday) is proposed for the next BVCLT meeting, pending a check on others availability.
- Another board retreat ASAP to prioritize the many tasks that need to be done
- Proposal: Create an ad-hoc fundraising committee and poll online for recommendation on whether to take advantage of Grant Station for $99
Announcements
May 2nd: Big Sunday at Bresee, need 25-30 volunteers to work in Bimini garden
Somerset is teaching from May to mid-July on Saturdays, will be gone for vacation on the 2nd week of July and for 2 weeks in September.
Lara will have her vacation in June
Michelle is out of town for 3 weekends, which are the last weekends of June, July, and August.