Rice Military Civic Club General Meeting Minutes July 2013

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM by President Wendy Wilkinson. Speakers: Council Member Ellen Cohen District C. She spoke to us about: 1. Sign up for her newsletter at ellencohen.org. She represents 80 civic clubs. 2. City Council roles in general- they send an email each Friday of what is going on at council 3. Meet Tuesday afternoons @1:30pm for public meeting. You can email their ofce to sign up to speak. Anyone can sign up to speak for 2-3 minutes. 4. Wednesday @9am they meet in a closed session that you can always view real time 5. There are 17 of them who all determine what gets on the agenda, including the Mayor 6. The 2013-2014 budget was approved at $4.5billion 7. The City is now getting single stream recycling, but RMCC is not on the list yet. If you want to help our plight at getting this service you can email Harry Hays- swddirector@houstontx.gov. 8. There has been a general push to increase food trucks, but Mayor will not change ordinance before November 9. The Washington Avenue Parking Benets District was implemented in late May & revenue, as of July 1 2013 was $22,000. We will get 60% of revenue once we cover costs of $250,000. 10. Johnny Peden is Ellen Cohens ambassador for Rice Military. 11. Center Street recycling was sold to Admiral Linen but the City has extended its lease through 2013 & possibly will extend through 2014 as a new location for the Recycling Center has not been found yet. 12. Graystone is putting an apartment complex at round about & has begun talks with WOW Roundabout & Council Member Cohens ofce

Jennifer Jarriel-CEO & Peggy Ratcliffe Roe-SVP of Advancement at Depelchin 1. They have 2 dog parks & have recently installed new stands for baggies and refuse 2. Plans for a future revolving library 3. Always welcome donations

Mechiel Rozas-Prinicipal of Memorial Elementary 1. Come by anytime as they want to be good neighbors 2. Welcome volunteers to read to kids, help at the school, etc Nathan Vogt- Rice Military resident & AWAN board member spearheading Nellie Keyes Park Project 1. Victor Cordva-Houston City Forester has been helping. Trees for Houston is helping. Urban Harvest put in water. It is now an ofcial Parks Board Project for City of Houston. http:// houstonparksboard.org/projects/nellie_keyes_park/ 2. RMCC donated $1000 to the project 3. Signs went up in July with information on project & how to donate 4. First round will likely be planted in Fall sometime 5. Will have information/education about park & trees viewable for everyone at park

Civic Club Business: Treasurer 1. We only have 141 paid members as of July 2013 2. Please recruit new neighbors & pay dues if you have not already done so National Night Out- October 1, 2013 1. Stay tuned for information as it is coming soon 2. Email Wendy if you have sponsors or vendors interested Newsletter 1. Please submit interesting stories, facts, resources, photos to Andrea news@rice-military.org for newsletter. We always need content Social Committee 1. Next Social July 25 at Chopping Block RMCC Kids Group 1. Please join their facebook group for more information Garden Committee 1. Please only put allowed compost items in compost in garden

Book Club 1. My Year as a Clown- July 31st Laurens Neighborhood Update Message- please remember to patronize our local business neighbors. We want to keep them around. 1. Little Woodrows is now open on Shepherd 2. Pluckers from Austin is coming to old Maggie Ritas location on Shepherd 3. Lava Lounge & Pearl Bar closed 4. Throne opened on Washington where old Pandora was 5. A new bar is opening in September where Sawyer Park was 6. The Drake changed names to The Mark 7. Avenue & The Mark are also after hours some days of the week 8. Pollo Campero drive thru is open late on Fridays & Saturdays 9. Rumor has it Caddy Shack is opening where old Broken Spoke is on Washington 10. There were 233 homes are listed in our neighborhood as of June 2013. Of those 120 were new listings & only 51 were still available at end of June. Most homes are selling in less than 2 weeks.