Intro

Maria Ruggieri calls the meeting to order at 7pm.

I (Kim Snow) read the minutes of the last meeting. Minutes are voted on and accepted.
Election

Maria announces the election of the new DNA president. Bob Goff is appointed chairperson of the nominating committee. After the usual legal and legit hull-a-baloo, we officially elect Mr. Josh Cullion as the new DNA president. Congrats Josh – we’ll be gentle.

Maria then hands the meeting over to Josh.

DID

Frank LaTorre gives us an update on the sidewalks. They are being repaired/replaced but it can be quite a hurdle to keep the money we need continuously coming through, mostly because it gets funneled elsewhere if the need seems greater. For example, if a giant moth were to attack Providence, they’d take OUR sidewalk money to buy the gamma ray that would stop it. Puh-lease. But seriously, much thanks to Dan Baudoin of the Providence Foundation for his support and help with keeping the funds flowing so far.

Dave Brussat asks about the aesthetic quality of the sidewalks. We need to make then durable and maintainable but we also want them to compliment the surrounding style. They will be brushed concrete and you can see an example of this outside the delightful Oop! on Westminster Street. (And I won’t even charge them for that plug.)

Frank comments on the beautification efforts which we all agree look great – the plants and baskets are fab. Our friends from the DID in the yellow jackets designed and developed them themselves. What CAN’T they do?

Did You Know? You can sponsor a hanging basket – just visit providencedowntown.com to learn more.
Frank mentions the Hospitality Resource Partnership which is working with area clubs on controlling the noise, violence, and late-night chaos. (Tell them to do something about the lack of tiny paper umbrellas in my drinks, too).
Frank talks about a hearing that is taking place the next day about making the 12 temporary late-night police officers permanent downtown. The DNA wrote a letter of support and members attended the meeting and we’re happy to report that this was approved. Fab work everyone….this is what we’re all about. Now we want to ensure that these officers also help direct traffic out of the city in addition to just roaming around keeping the kids in line.
Dave asks who do we call if we are hearing excessive noise late at night? Frank confirms that you ARE supposed to call 9-1-1.

Sue LaPidus mentions her concern about the overarching issue of getting people in and out of this city. That alone is the cause of many of the other problems we face. She is going to champion this issue in 2008 and will be looking for a committee to help her out.

Parking

Patrick Ward from Citizens for Resident Permit Parking speaks to us about his experience with getting resident parking in Providence. We are one of the few cities to still ban overnight parking — most other cities have already evolved to accommodate this. Washington Park is using a pilot program now which seems to be working, so a good start. Also, the overnight ban used to be 12-7am(!) now it’s 1-5am.

So far the rules of the pilot program are: your car has to be registered in Providence, you can’t have any outstanding tickets and there is a limit of two permits per household. Also, it costs $25 a year and so far it’s only for homeowners, not renters.

We started talking about how this would work downtown and Patrick mentioned that he was contacted by Councilman Cliff Wood (Ward 2, Blackstone Boulevard, College Hill, Elmgrove and Wayland areas of the East Side and former long-time employee of Downtown landlord, Buff Chace) prior to our meeting to make sure we were aware of the impact this would have on merchants. As always, the DNA would definitely support and collaborate with the business community, but would also focus on implementing a solution that meets the practical needs of our residents.

Fundraiser

Oh, this is where we got you all psyched up for the fundraiser which now has already HAPPENED and was quite fabulous. We had tons of great guests, a wonderful live auction with Michael Corrente, fab food and ambience from Bravo and of course we raised money for this year’s donation recipient, PICA. We’ll have more details at our next DNA meeting.

PS Keep an eye out for us in an upcoming issue of Rhode Island Monthly as well. We are the in-crowd, peeps. Good work!

Market

Noah Fulmer came in to tell us about the Winter Market that is taking place at AS220 this winter. We are in love with this idea as AS220 is already such a great fixture downtown and we love getting all our fresh food, herbs, beverages…etc. from local farmers and merchants. It runs from noon-3pm until May, be sure to check it out. Learn more here: http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farmersmarkets_details.php?market=29
Stroll

Lauren Goldenberg from Providence Preservation Society stopped by to tell us about the stroll from Benefit Street to Downtown on December 8th. Granted this already happened, too, but it was a great event, with house tours, the tree lighting, merchant festivities and of course, the stroll itself. Thanks to Lauren for stopping by to fill us in and most importantly for including our neighborhood in their great event.

Goals

I then give an overview of the feedback received about goals for 2008. They focus on three main areas: safety, retail and quality of life, and give us a great place to start for this year. I will be formally writing a letter with these goals to send to community leaders and to share with you all at the next meeting.
In addition to these residential goals, the DNA itself also has a goal to increase membership and organize politically – to really strengthen our voice in city issues and start using some of that clout we’ve been building up these past four years. Stay tuned from more on all this.

THANKS!

We then say a VERY heartfelt thank you to Maria, as she moves out of her presidential reign of awesomeness. She’s done so much for our group and the residents of downtown – she helped guide and evolve an organization that started off with just five members. Maria, thanks from all of us for all your hard work, dedication and love for downtown. But don’t you go running too far, we still NEED you of course…

We then adjourned the meeting and all met afterwards at Local 121 to thank Maria in style…
Stay tunes for info on our next meeting in January 2008.