SJVGreens Minutes
Minutes of St. Joe Valley Greens
February 10, 2005; Kathleen Petitjean, recorder
Call to Order: Kathleen Petitjean called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m., in the Molloy Room of the St. Jo. Co. Public Library downtown branch, South Bend, IN.
Members Present: Kathleen Petitjean, David Vollrath
Officers and Delegates reports
IGP Coordinating Committee
IGP sponsored an organizational meeting in the Elkhart-Goshen are on Friday, March 21. About 6 people attended and they are planning a follow-up meeting to get themselves organized.
Kickoff for Sec'y of State campaign will probably occur in the Fall of '05.
GreenTV - No report.
Treasurer - No report.
Old Business
No old business.
New Business
Dave and Kathleen discussed continuing partnership with We the People for 21st Century Democracy by exploring with David Frank the possibility of starting a project on a demonstration basis on GreenTV. Some suggestions: vote by phone or role play or invite the SBT and/or governmment officials.
Passed a resolution to oppose plans by city of Mishawaka to convert several existing public green spaces to single family houses. Talking points for Kathleen to present at the public hearing:
- short sighted; while it might add a few residents to the tax rolls, it ultimately reduces the quality of life that would make people want to live there.
- by taking away the amenity of green spaces, it reduces the property values of the neighborhoods already there.
- green spaces have environmentl value that's being ignored by this plan
which are:
- helps assure water quality by filtering ground water
- improves air quality
- reduces urban temperature which studies reveal reduces urban crime
- provide peace of mind, relaxation
- growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell
MACOG will be holding an Open House on March 16, from 3-7 pm, for the 2030 Transportation Plan. This outlines planning for added capacity transportation projects. Written comments will be accepted until April 5 by 4:00 pm
Closing: Kathleen closed the meeting at 8:00 PM.
Next meeting: Our next meeting is Thursday, March 10, 7:00 PM, in the Molloy Room at the St. Joseph Co. Public Library downtown South Bend.
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN