November 3, 2004
MLK Park
7:00pm
Attendance
Kingfield: Mark Hinds, Steve Brandt, Steve Jevning, and Peter Hallstrom
KFNA Staff: Joanna Sahlberg Hallstrom
Bryant: Dennis Tifft, Kathleen Varner
1.      Minutes Reviewed
Minor corrections were made.
2.      Discussion of partnership agreement
A draft of the Agreement Between the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) and Bryant Neighborhood Organization (BNO) was emailed to King Bridge Partnership meeting participants prior to and reviewed at the November meeting. No changes or suggestions to the document were made. The group decided to move forward to solidify membership, seeking a commitment from those who have been attending the meetings regularly. Committee members will then have to be officially approved by each neighborhood board. Hinds also confirmed approval for KFNA to act as the fiscal agent for this project. Hinds has also had preliminary discussions about the possibility of the Minneapolis Foundation acting as the fiscal agent, an arrangement that could help to legitimize and build support for the project. All participants present at the meeting tonight approved the memorandum of understanding.
Tifft will present the memorandum of understanding to the Bryant Neighborhood Board on Tuesday, November 9th. Any suggestions or changes to the document will be emailed to Hinds before the KFNA board meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, November 10th. The goal is to have the agreement approved and signed by both boards by the end of next week.
P. Hallstrom suggested posting a request on both neighborhood email lists inviting more people to participate in the project.
3.      Review Presentation
KBP participants reviewed the PowerPoint presentation Hinds created for the stakeholders meetings. Minor suggestions and changes were made to slides. Hinds would like the group to review the presentation again before he meets with stakeholders in December. Because individuals have had difficulty opening and viewing the PowerPoint when emailed, J. Hallstrom will try to post it on the KFNA web site.
4. Outreach Plan
The larger stakeholder meeting was postponed. Hinds will meet with City, County and Minneapolis Park Board reps. in December to build support for the project.
The group then discussed the types of support that are needed to see this project move forward. At this point there are two tracks to this project, the RFQ process for the bridge design and fundraising / support building.
The group brainstormed a list of organizations, community groups, individuals, and public offices that can be approached for project support. Tifft and J. Hallstrom will work on getting the names of neighborhood block captains.
After the first of the year two project outreach meetings will be scheduled. A daytime and evening meeting will target neighborhood stakeholders such as business owners, churches and residents. The objective of the meetings will be to officially introduce the project to the KFNA and Bryant neighborhoods and build local support for the project.
Personal invitations and a community wide meeting notice will be mailed out prior to meeting dates. The notice will include a values survey.
Suggested feedback desired from the community stakeholders:
What values would you like the bridge to reflect?
What things are important to your community?
What brought you to this community?
What will keep you here?
What problems do you want the bridge to solve?
Jevning commented that it is very important to get as many community supporters as possible. KFNA and Bryant want to ensure that the project has support from the young, elderly, and minority residents. The group will start compiling a spreadsheet of neighborhood residents that are potential supporters of the project.
The group felt that it would be very important to request financial support from individual residents. Regardless of the amount that can be raised through “passing the bucket†and “buy a brick on the bridge†type initiatives, each fundraiser helps to build support in the community that will potentially be recognized by larger donors. Brandt commented that there will be plenty of time within the project process to raise support through these type of community events.
5. Other Discussion
Varner asked if this is the time to “brand†our project with a logo. KBP will move ahead with a logo when support from the City and County have been secured.
Brandt passed around an article from the Arizona Daily Star (October 23 Edition)
on the proposed Tucson pedestrian bridge. The article shows an image of the proposed 40 ft. high suspension bridge that would also house a science center.
Next Steps:
The group is supposed to return to the next meeting with a list of potential KBP committee members, a list of who the KBP should reach out to and include in the project, and more fundraising ideas.