Notes from May 10 Block Association Meeting
Notes on West 55th Street BA Meeting
May 10, 2010
18 people in attendance. Two guests: Julia from Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal's office and Carole L from the West 54-55 Block Association. We started at 7 PM and ended at 7:50 PM. A number of folks stayed afterward to talk, eat cookies and drink soda.
Here are the highlights of the meeting:
1. Thank You, Sherwood. Many thanks to the co-op board of the Sherwood for continuing to let us meet in their social room. The new paint job looks very nice!
2. Spring Planting, May 22. Gerald Palumbo from Seasons (888 Eighth @ 53rd) is helping us out again this year. He is giving us a great deal for 75 flats of impatiens plus 15 bags of mulch and 15 bags of soil. Total cost around $1200. Some volunteers from Midtown Community Court will join us.
3. Tag Sale, May 15-May 16. The permit has come through. Stephanie will create signs and the donation table will probably start in front of 345 W55. Charley has volunteered to tape signs to light poles in the neighborhood to advertise the sale.
Update: We had eight tables and made $343. We've learned a lot of folks were waiting to see signs in their buildings and so were unprepared. We will make sure to have signs up in the buildings next year.
4. Linda Rosenthal. Julia from Assembly member Rosenthal's office has come to a couple of meetings now. She left us with a newsletter about the Assembly member's activities and an invitation to contact her office if we need any help.
5. W55BA logos. We looked at and gave feedback on four different designs, drawn by a friend of Andrew's. Eventually, we hope to put the logo on T-shirts, baseball caps, maybe even stationery. Most folks picked design #3 below. They liked its double-deck layout and taller image of the Statue of Liberty.
6. Donnell Library. Carol L from West 54-55 told us about the continuing fight to save the Donnell Library--or really to have a substantive library where the old Donnell used to be. She asked how many of us had ever used it and about six people raised their hands--or one third of the room.
7. May 18. Midtown North Precinct Community Meeting. Next meeting is at 7:30 PM on May 18 at Fountain House, 425 West 44th.
Update: our own Jack Herlihy was elected on May 18 to be the Correspondence Secretary for the Council. Congratulations, Jack!
8. June 14 Happy Hour. We discussed a number of options: Rumours, Kennedys, Bar 9, McGees and the new bar on W54th, Characters.
Update: Happy Hour on June 14 will be at Characters, north side of W54 between Eighth and Broadway, in the back bar. We'll start at 7 PM and go at least until 9 PM. One of Character's owners, Mike, also owns Rumours, which has helped to support the Block Association financially for several years.
9. July 4 Block Party. Thank you to the 10 residents who responded to the call to testify before Community Board 4 on May 5 in support of our application for a block closure of West 55th between Eighth and Ninth so that we can have an old-fashioned Block Party on Sunday, July 4th. The full CB4 approved our application and now all need is to hear from the Street Activities Permit Office. We will put out the word as soon as we hear.
10. Hell's Kitchen Chronicle. Several folks are going to see the documentary the evenings of May 15 and May 16.
11. Street cleaning. Several people have asked and several have called to see about getting the street sweeping machine down our block. We also discussed alternatives, like organizing volunteers to pick up some of the litter, talking to fast food places where a lot of the litter comes from--particularly towards Eighth Avenue.
12. July 12 General Meeting. The next general meeting of the Block Association is July 12 from 7 PM to 8 PM.
Be sure to check the West 55th Street Block Association calendar for upcoming events www.west55ba.org/calendar, follow us on Twitter at w55ba, or read this blog, of course.
