Minutes
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Rosewood Neighborhood Contact Team
Special Meeting on Downs Field Project
May 23, 2007

Present
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Coach Moore (HTU), Ryah Christianson, Jane Rivera, Gilbert Rivera,
Laura Patlove

General Discussion
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We discussed the issue of the bathrooms. Points made were that PARD
won't let volunteers do the work. The quote to do the bathrooms and
the locker rooms is about $300K. Coach Moore brought up that the
restrooms and concession stand at Mabson were done 4 years ago and it
cost only $150K. City Council members have suggested that the Downs
field restrooms be moved to where Mabson Field is so that they won't
be susceptible to flooding.

We also talked about the Parkland Dedication money. Richard Weiss'
project (24 units, 3 retail will have to pay $20K into the fund. The
development on 12th and Hargrave with 140 units and more retail,
should be paying quite a bit more. Laura said that the money would not
be able to be used until a year after it had been deposited. However,
she will ask PARD if monies from another development could be freed up
and then reimbursed by the Rosewood developments.

We then talked about the art project. Ryah states that AIPP could
manage the public art. We could offer $1500 for an artist to do a
proposal. The neighborhood could do and oral history. Mike Dunn could
help as well as others from the neighborhood.

Coach Moore said that he was told by Council Member Cole (is that
correct?) that the city had allocated $79,000 for Downs Field for this
year's budget. No one seems to know what is has been spent on --
perhaps screening? Coach Moore will ask Mike Dunn to inquire. Gilbert
offered to write Council Members Cole and Leffingwill for support to
improve the field. Coach Moore offered to talk to Judge Briscoe who
once mentioned he would help as well as Ron Davis, County
Commissioner.

Laura offered to ask PARD for an "Adopt a Park" agreement or a MOU
that she needs for the Austin Parks Foundation Grant. She would also
ask PARD about naming the park the "Willy Wells Sports Complex." Laura
offered to talk to Alice Glasco and possibly Jason Reese about
possible funding for the park since it is caddy corner from 12th and
Hargrave.

Coach Moore told the group that the lighting at the ball field is
going to change. He suggested using the old poles for parking
designation. He also told us that his share of in-kind contribution
(labor and time) to the field is about $46K a year. This includes help
from the baseball team of HTU.

A match is required for the APF grant. We could include the $4300 left
from the NEF, $46K in kind from HTU, parkland dedication money ($20K
+about $150K) coming to about $220,300. Gilbert mentioned that
Blackland gets funding from local banks for housing. Jane will draw up
a letter to circulate among banking institutions: CRA (Community
Reinvestment officers), University Credit Union, Wells Fargo and CHASE
were mentioned. Gilbert offered to write a letter from the
Rosewood/Glen Oaks Neighborhood Assn.

Laura said she would talk to Ricardo Soliz at PARD about meeting with
him about this project. Ryah said she would contact Megan Crigger to
see if we could have AIPP send out an RFP and get an artist to do a
proposal for an art project for the park. Once we have that, we could
get donors for the project. The neighborhood would pay $1500 to AIPP
for the cost of the securing an artist. Ryah also said she would help
compile a history of the park for the artist. She suggested that
perhaps the artist could do a model (head) of Willy Wells and use that
to get more funds.

Coach Moore also talked about having a baseball conference there to
raise funds for the field.