Documents
meeting minutes, agendas, bylaws & more
General Documents
Eastgate - Presentattion at September 2020 Public Meeting
CFH-Inland-Shelter-PREAPP-Submittal-May2020
Monthly Meeting Minutes
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Apr 8, 2020
Eastgate Community Association Meeting Minutes
April 8, 2020
Next Meeting – Wednesday May 13, 2020 from 7-8:30pm at TBD depending on coronavirus restrictions (likely online)
Attendees:
Tzachi Litov, Micki Larimer, Leslie Geller, Julia Tai, Vic Rethy, Tim Auld, Jeffrey Hummer, Betsi Hummer, Lara Litov, Susanna Chung, Audrey McNamara
Meeting commenced 7:05pm
Introductions
Attendees introduced themselves since there were several people who attended for the first time.
Old Business
Tzachi advised that with the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders, everything is pretty much on hold. However, Leslie and Tzachi were able to open the ECA checking account online, at WSECU. This is a no-fee, no-minimum-balance account. Tzachi and Leslie are signatories on the account.
ECA Sponsorship Opportunities
Tzachi printed copies of the ECA sponsorship flyer, ready to go when more physical movement is allowed. Our new checking account is ready for those sponsorship deposits!
Update on Eastgate COVID-19 Tents
Lara talked through the main points from a recent KIRO7 news video+text piece about the newly constructed COVID-19 tents that King County put up in Shoreline. Tzachi had posted the link to the piece on ECA’s Facebook page a week ago. We’re assuming that the new tents in the King County-owned large parking lot on SE Eastgate Way are very similar to those in Shoreline. Per the KIRO7 piece, the tents are well planned with an eye to safety and security of those inside and outside of the tents.
Tzachi has been working with Claudia Balducci’s office about doing a call about the Eastgate tents, and just today received an update. A video call is scheduled for Thursday April 16 from 7-8pm. Leslie and Tzachi are promoting this on social media and the ECA website.
Questions/Comments from the Community
Lara commented that the crime rate seems to have gone up lately in Eastgate south of I-90 and in Newport Hills. She wondered what we thought about combining with Newport Hills Neighborhood Association to have a representative of the Police Dept., e.g. a police sector caption who knows the neighborhood areas, talk with us about what the police are seeing. And how they’re managing the balance of everyone staying safe given the coronavirus, dealing with potentially COVID-positive offenders and protecting residents. We would do this as virtual meeting. We think doing this is a good idea. No one volunteered to make this happen.
Susanna suggested that we consider using virtual meetings for ECA events, both to gain a larger audience because it’s easier to attend for some people. It’s also easier for city or county officials to join, if they are presenting to the community.
Micki suggested that we inquire about rescheduling our Kickoff in August at SBCC. Leslie will follow up with Kristina at SBCC and Carol Ross.
Betsi suggested, based on her experience and involvement with the EBCC (East Bellevue Community Council), that ECA have people keep tabs on several of the City’s Commissions, including Transportation, Planning, Arts. We did not talk about who could do this.
Leslie announced the Lake Hills Neighborhood Association’s online meeting on April 9 @ 7pm, featuring a presentation on the proposed East King County Public Utility District (EKC-PUD). Leslie is checking if there is a recording, or if she can obtain a copy of the presentation.
The meeting adjourned at 8:05pm.
Parking Lot Items
- Eastgate new park update.
- Someone to manage the ECA website on ongoing basis. Someone to do social media, including Facebook, NextDoor, maybe MailChimp?
- Someone to be the Bellevue School District liaison for ongoing relationship and communication
- Someone to help on ongoing basis with graphic design.
- Someone to do Chinese translation for ECA content.
- Manage the ECA budget.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Mar 11, 2020
Eastgate Community Association Meeting Minutes
March 11, 2020
Next Meeting – Wednesday April 8, 2020 from 7-8:30pm at TBD depending on coronavirus restrictions
Attendees: Tim Auld, Leslie Geller, Micki Larimer, Tzachi Litov, Barbara Garcia
Meeting commenced 7:00pm
Updates & Announcements
- ECA Checking Account. Barbara’s time is limited for the next few months, so Leslie and Tzachi will handle researching financial institutions, choose one, and open the checking account. Leslie and Tzachi will be signatories.
- Coffee Maker. The ECA now owns a like-new high quality 60-cup electric coffee maker for our events. Leslie bought it for $40 from someone on NextDoor. It was used infrequently by the bank she worked for. She got it when the bank folded and she rarely used it. It’s stored in Leslie’s garage.
- New ECA Photo Needed. We agreed to take a photo of the ECA BoD or the core group to use online and in other promotional materials.
Kickoff Meeting
The Kickoff on March 31at SBCC has been postponed by the City of Bellevue due to the coronavirus.
Leslie had reached out to Tyee Middle School and Eastgate Elementary PTSAs about how they could help promote the Kickoff. Tyee was going to include a Kickoff announcement in the PTSA newsletter. Tzachi said we should also include Newport High and Tillicum Middle School because their boundaries include parts of Eastgate. Tzachi pointed out that now is a good time to do general outreach to these PTSAs and understand how the ECA can work with them. Leslie will own this for now.
Leslie and Carol met a few weeks ago with two leaders at SBCC regarding planning the Kickoff. For future knowledge, here is what we learned.
- Capacity is 150 people. Suggest we set up chairs for attendees in rows facing the front with a middle aisle
- Tables: outside room for sign ins; for presenters at front of room; for food at back of room
- A/V: SBCC will set up 2 big speakers that connect to the wireless mic they’ll let us use. There’s a ceiling projector and a screen that comes down from ceiling. Laptops connect to the projector via HDMI cable. Strongly suggested to come the Friday afternoon after 2pm to test that all personal equipment works with SBCC’s system.
- SBCC will check us in and go over everything that we need to do for set up and especially cleaning up the room.
- We should be able to have the room an hour prior to event start time.
- SBCC will post our Kickoff flyers, and presumably future event flyers, in their literature holders.
How to Get Involved with ECA
Tzachi and Leslie made the following list of specific, discrete things that the ECA needs help with, for our neighbors seeking ways that they might get involved. Consider reaching out to the people on the ECA email list that you were going to contact about help with the Kickoff, if they or someone they know would be interested in helping with any of these.
- Someone to manage the ECA website on ongoing basis. Must be familiar with WordPress and websites, and enjoy working on websites. This includes, at a minimum, content updates, posting announcements, calendar items, etc.
- Someone to do social media, including Facebook, NextDoor, maybe MailChimp? Post the request on NextDoor
- Someone to be the Bellevue School District liaison for ongoing relationship and communication
- Someone to help in ongoing basis with graphic design. Tzachi uses the free version of canva.com where he created our logo. The annual cost is $120/yr. for more functionality, including higher resolution files.
- Chinese translation. Given so many ESL Chinese speakers in Eastgate, we’ve been mulling how we can translate some of our content on flyers, Facebook and website to Simplified Chinese, which Susanna and Julia assert is the appropriate written Chinese for us. Leslie will ask Carol if the City is able to offer any assistance. The meeting attendees agreed that Chinese translation would be good to do down the road, but it’s not a priority for now. Barbara noted there is a large population of Chinese at Tyee and Newport High. In the meantime, Micki suggested we have something like “All neighbors are welcome.” in Chinese characters. Her neighbor from Shanghai typed it for us, which we will put on the website and Facebook. Tzachi will ask Kan from the Bellevue United Facebook group if he’d be willing.
- Manage the ECA budget. Tzachi created the budget in a spreadsheet that includes our fixed and ad hoc costs.
Business Sponsorships
Tzachi created (with input from Leslie) a flyer for ECA business sponsorships, seen below. We talked about what we would offer sponsors. Their logo or scanned business card on the ECA website. Per Tim, having the business tagged and mentioned in social media is much more important than logo on the website. Entry level would be logo on website. Tim suggested that e.g. if someone gave us $500 they get to speak for 5 minutes at the next event. Tim asked if there are any sponsors for which we would not accept money. Potentially but we can cross that bridge if we come upon it. Everyone agreed that we do not need to mock up physical examples of logo on website, in email, in social media. Small businesses won’t need this according to Tim. We don’t plan to have exclusive sponsors by industry e.g. only one realtor or restaurant.
Planning the Next ECA Activity
Even with social distancing and voluntary isolations due to coronavirus, we can start doing legwork now for future events. FYI, CERT Lite courses are cancelled for the time being due to coronavirus, but Barbara will be point on this when life can be planned again.
At our November 2019 meeting, we agreed on a Food Social and Family Fun Events, both of which are purposely vague to give us flexibility in planning. Barbara told us that with all the stress, anxiety and fear with the coronavirus, the Bellevue Police chaplain could come out and speak about disaster psychology. He does charge, she said. But this opened up the idea of having a speaker event, or maybe even a speaker series. Easy to produce and promote. It’s great to ideate about options as the ECA matures. But Micki emphasized that we need to think about and focus on the foundational things for the ECA — figure out what those are and do those.
Don Marsh’s Offer for Energy Projects Updates
Don contacted us about his willingness to present on current energy projects that affect Bellevue. At the meeting we agreed that such a presentation could fit in with a future speaker event.
From Don via email: If your neighbors would enjoy hearing updates from a citizen perspective about energy projects like Energize Eastside and the Lake Hills Transmission Line on 148th Ave, I’d be happy to provide a brief presentation. I am currently the president of CENSE (Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy) and 300trees.org. For the past five years, I’ve been giving annual updates to the Somerset Community Association, Somerset West, Bridle Trails, and others.
Review Parking Lot Items
- Eastgate new park update. No update but Micki reminded us that the emphasis of the Parks Dept. presentation at the Kickoff is on the planning and development process. It likely will take several years at least for a new park to be reality.
Meeting adjourned 8:30pm
Parking Lot Items
- Eastgate new park update.
- Someone to manage the ECA website on ongoing basis. Someone to do social media, including Facebook, NextDoor, maybe MailChimp?
- Someone to be the Bellevue School District liaison for ongoing relationship and communication
- Someone to help on ongoing basis with graphic design.
- Someone to do Chinese translation for ECA content.
- Manage the ECA budget.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Feb 12, 2020
|
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Jan 8, 2020
Eastgate Community Association
Meeting Minutes – January 8, 2020
Next Meeting – Wednesday February 12, 2020 from 7-8:30pm at Newport Way Library meeting room
Attendees: Tim Auld, Leslie Geller, Lisa Leitner, Micki Larimer, Lara Litov, Tzachi Litov, Michelle Wannamaker, Julia Tai, Chris Henry, Audrey McNamara
Action Items: Tzachi, Leslie, Julia have action items.
Meeting commenced 7pm
March 31 Kickoff Meeting
The key objective for today’s meeting regarding the kickoff is to determine the content for the door hanger. In December’s meeting the door hanger was the consensus for our preferred outreach method. The City can provide people to place the hangers on Eastgate residents’ doors, assisted by ECA folks.
As a reminder, several meetings ago we decided to focus on bringing a new park in Eastgate as a hook to draw residents to the kickoff. Jennifer Robertson is the current City Council liaison to the Parks & Community Services Board, which advises the Council on parks and open space issues. Jennifer agreed to briefly speak at the kickoff. Lisa noted that Jennifer may not be the Parks liaison in this new 2-year Council term. Liaison appointments haven’t been assigned yet but will be at end of January. If that’s the case, we discussed having Jennifer speak and inviting the new Parks liaison to attend, be introduced, and possibly make a few remarks.
Tzachi (or Lisa?) will send the door hanger content to Carol Ross at the City. Please see the attached Word document for the door hanger copy (front and back) and approximate layout. On back we list the other events we’re thinking of for 2020: Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) Lite at SBCC; Food Social; Family Fun Event. The CERT Lite trainings are put on by the City and there are several scheduled during 2020 at SBCC, which gives us flexibility in planning.
At December’s meeting we agreed to have a survey at the kickoff for people to give us their input on what types of activities they would like ECA to organize. We also want to have a board with a map of Eastgate for where people would like to see a park, using pushpins or stickies.
Organizing the kickoff — Tzachi and Leslie think we need a smaller group to work on planning all of the details for the kickoff. Leslie and Julia volunteered. They will determine a planning meeting date and Tzachi will put this info on our Facebook and website, and Leslie will post on NextDoor so other people who are interested and available can attend to help plan the kickoff.
ECA Board of Directors
As we agreed in November’s meeting and per decision in December’s meeting, we officially named our Board at today’s meeting. Below are the positions and who volunteered for each.
President – Tzachi Litov
Vice President – Michelle Wannamaker
Secretary – Leslie Geller
Treasurer – Open
Director-at-large: Tim Auld, Micki Larimer, Audrey McNamara
At December’s meeting, Barbara Garcia also expressed desire to be a Director-at-large. Our bylaws state we can have up to 3 at-large directors, and that voting by proxy is not permitted. I.e., you have to be present to cast a vote.
A motion was made by Lara that we accept the slate as written. The motion was seconded by Micki. The motion was carried unanimously. Terms are for one year, for the 2020 calendar year, as stated in the bylaws. Congratulations and thank you to the new Board members!
A motion was made by Micki Larimer to accept the Eastgate Community Association Bylaws as written and presented. Lisa Leitner seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously.
Now that we have a Board, we can register with the state as a non-profit. Please be aware that the ECA will not be a 501c3 so any donations are not tax deductible. Tzachi will handle the registration.
Everyone, please share the news that the ECA is now a formal community organization, such as with your HOA communities, on social media, with your neighbors.
Meeting adjourned 8:25pm
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Dec 11, 2019
Eastgate Community Association (ECA) Meeting
December 11, 2019
Minutes
Attendees:
Tzachi Litov Lara Litov
Julia Tai Susanna Chung
Carol Ross – City of Bellevue Barbara Garcia
Tim Auld Audrey McNamara – 1st time attendee
Lisa Leitner
Meeting called to order at 7:05pm
The Litovs’ provided a summary of their meeting with architect of the Men’s Permanent Shelter to be sited on Eastgate Way. They were pleased with the discussion and the initial ideas shared.
Increasing Monthly Meeting Attendance
Ideas on how to increase interest in the monthly meetings were discussed. Neighborhood question of the week, surveys, soliciting resident talents were the suggestions. Tim provided background to Audrey on the ECA.
City Community Outreach Team Update
Carol Ross presented an update on the ECA Kick-off/Election Meeting to be held in March 2020.
Summary:
Location- Large room at South Bellevue Community Center
Date- March 31, 2020
Time- Not yet finalized
Speakers- Jennifer Robertson; it was suggested to ask the Police Sector Captain and/or the Police Liaison to be invited.
Carol provided sample communications for getting the word out about the meeting. Posters and door hangers are options. There was consensus about using the door hangers. Carol will research the cost difference and update to be provided at January meeting.
ACTION: Using the sample door hanger as a guide, the door hanger content must be submitted to Carol no later than mid-January, preferably at the next meeting on January 8th.
Carol also presented some Eastgate history documents provided by the Eastside Heritage Center. The group found the informative and would like to have copies available at the March meeting and for use on the Facebook page and website. Carol will ask her contact if she give ECA copies. Lisa also volunteered to reach out to the Center and inquire about other archives relating to Eastgate.
Board Position/Nominations
In order to formally establish the bylaws and file the articles of incorporation with the State, names officers are required. While technically the association can move forward with a president and secretary, its optimal to have at least 5 members to move forward. Tzachi Litov offered to be president and Leslie Geller expressed interest in the Secretary position. Audrey and Barbara also expressed interest in the at-large positions, as did Tim.
At the next meeting, an official motion to appoint the officers will be necessary. These appointments will extend through the first official election to be held at the March meeting. All appointees will run for election if interested.
To further extend outreach to the community, events for 2020 were also discussed. Events considered were:
1. Kick-off Meeting – Q1 Event
2. Emergency preparedness/CERT Lite or CPR – Q2 Event
3. Food Event – Q3 Event: Chili Cook-off Competition idea was presented
ACTION: Tim offered to speak with his neighbor, a retired fire fighter,about the Emergency Preparedness session. Specifically, the duration, certification and cost to host. He’ll report back at the next meeting.
ACTION: Barbara, who volunteers with the CERT program, will bring info about CERT lite to the next meeting.
Next Meetings
January 8 – 7pm – John L Scott Office (Main Street)
February 12 – 7pm – Newport Way Library
March 11th – Location TBD
Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Nov 13, 2019
Eastgate Community Association
November 13, 2019 from 7 to 8:30 pm
Minutes taken by Lesie Geller
Next Meeting – Wednesday December 11, 2019 from 7-8:30pm at John L. Scott
11040 Main Street #200, Bellevue, WA 98004
Attendees: Tim Auld, Kristi Auld, Leslie Geller, Dee Ann Perea, Micki Larimer, Lara Litov, Tzachi Litov
Action Items: Tzachi, Lara, Tim, Kristi have action items.
Kickoff Event
Discuss & decide on what is needed for ramp up to our Kickoff event
- When & Where
Carol Ross has tentatively secured Tuesday March 31st from 6-9pm for us at the South Bellevue Community Center (SBCC). We are all OK with this location, date, and time. Tzachi will ask the SBCC if it would be possible to have some sort of child care so hopefully it would be easier for families with young children to come.
- Kickoff Agenda
We talked about needing a hook, e.g., a celebrity or someone who people will know and could help draw more attendees. In a prior meeting we’d suggested that the event topic could be about getting a new park in Eastgate. We all agreed to have the park be the primary topic of the kickoff. Jennifer Robertson is the City Council liaison to the Parks & Community Services Board, which advises the Council on parks and open space issues. Micki will ask Jennifer Robertson to be a speaker. As of the writing of these Minutes, Micki already did, and Jennifer accepted. We also discussed having more than one speaker at the kickoff. Lara thinks that we should have a speaker about safety and security, since this is one of our pillars and an important topic in our community. Lara suggested Assistant Chief of Police Carl Kleinknecht or Chief Steve Mylett. Lara will ask the police department about getting a speaker for the kickoff.
- Kickoff Promotion
We will disseminate flyers including at Newport Way Library and Safeway, perhaps other local businesses. We know mailbox-posted flyers are effective, if folks are willing to do that. We’ll post to NextDoor and Facebook, and email our list. Importantly, Carol Ross will arrange a postcard mailing by the City to every residential address in Eastgate. See attached example.
- Other Kickoff Items
We touched on other event details such as an emcee, presentation materials, and food. We will discuss and decide these at December’s ECA meeting.
Board of Directors
Tzachi raised an idea which engendered robust discussion. We need to have formal voting for board members and adoption of the bylaws before we are an official organization. We also need to register the ECA with the state as a non-profit. All of this will give our organization credibility with our community including businesses, and with the City and the Council. We have final bylaws but we don’t yet have board members. We have to list our board members on the state’s registration form, but not our bylaws. Tzachi (and Michelle) prefer to not wait till the kickoff at the end of March to vote on our officers and board members, which had been our plan. Tzachi wonders about emailing our mailing list now, asking who wants to be involved as an officer or board member, and describing the voting process. We also should post this at the library and SBCC, on Facebook and NextDoor.
The plan we came up with is:
Tzachi will draft an email soon outlining the process, for a small-group review. Tzachi will send out to our full email list, as well as our other regular communication vehicles. We will solicit names of potential officers and board directors. We will use part of our December 11 monthly meeting for this topic. Then at our January 8 meeting we will vote in our initial slate of officers/board members, and also will adopt the bylaws as they are written. To start us off on officers, Tzachi is willing to be president for the first two years, and Leslie is willing to be secretary for the first 2 years, so we ensure some continuity and maintenance of “institutional knowledge.” All other positions would be one-year terms. For additional communication, Lara will ask Carol Ross if it’s possible to send a special email about our the January 8 meeting to Eastgate residents who have signed up to receive City emails.
General Promotion of ECA
Tzachi said that we’re lacking people to be a part of the group. Anything that anyone can do to promote our group would be very helpful. Please talk to your neighbors! We discussed putting out strategically-placed sandwich boards the week prior to our meetings. Dee Ann recommends putting a sandwich board on her high-traffic corner before each meeting. Another idea is to have a sign in each of our front yards that says Meeting this Wednesday so it’s a perennial sign. A perennial sign works only if we have a set meeting location. See the penultimate topic below for more info on that. Tzachi will contact FedEx about making the corrugated plastic signs to put on the metal stands, that Tim and Kristi can get and provide.
Getting a Park in Eastgate
Micki gave the update. Micki met with Pam Johnson, one of the people who got parks in Bridle Trails, who provided helpful guidance. It will take a lot of time and real commitment and dedication to get a park. She recommends that we approach the process by breaking things down into short term goals, vs. having just the overarching goal of getting a new park. We should connect with the Parks Department and the Parks Board before we go to the Council. We should communicate with them regularly and in detail. For starters, we should find out what people in our community want in a park. We can solicit ideas at our kickoff on March 31 for what they want, through conversations and via a standup board for neighbors to write ideas on stickies. The Parks Dept. may be able to help us with community outreach. The more information we can bring to the Parks Dept. and the Parks Board about what the community wants, the better.
Pam Johnson noted that Eastgate is listed in the City’s Park Plan and budget in a loose way.
The Plan: On p. 38, it shows the places in need of parks. Moreover, Pg. 39 says “Eastgate – This neighborhood includes a significant number of recently incorporated residential households south of I-90. This area is underserved by both park and trail access, creating a need for additional neighborhood park facilities.”
The Budget: P-AD-82 Park & Open Space Acquisition says “This project provides resources to acquire park and open space property throughout the City. The overall goal is to acquire land that complements the existing park system, to increase public access to the waterfront, preserve open space and natural areas, protect water quality, increase trail connectivity and create opportunities for new neighborhood parks. The 2016 Parks & Open Space System Plan identifies needs throughout Bellevue to provide additional parks and open space. Specific acquisition targets include the Eastgate neighborhood, ….
Pam Johnson said that it may be harder to get a new park in Eastgate because the land isn’t readily/easily available, which it was in Bridle Trails. Because of this challenge, Pam said that getting a new park in Eastgate may not be a high priority for the City’s Parks teams. So our job is to regularly raise the visibility and priority of our park to the Parks teams. Micki has wrestled with where is a good place for a new Eastgate park because of the elongated borders of Eastgate. Bridle Trails ended up getting two parks for the different areas of that neighborhood. Something to think about.
Tangential discussion at the meeting: Dee Ann (who runs preschools) noted, from her many conversations over the years with parents of young children, the importance of nature in children’s play and experience, including education, such as Nature School. Her point is that a “nature park” could be a less expensive alternative to a park with big, expensive metal toy structures.
2020 ECA Event Calendar
As part of our preparation for the March kickoff, we want to have several events planned for 2020. We discussed these ideas and agreed on #2, 4, and 5.
- Emergency Preparedness Training with Bellevue Fire Dept. ̶̶ Maybe next year because we want to do a CPR in 2020.
- CPR/BLS (basic life support) Class ̶̶ We love the idea of a CPR class. We think this should occur in the fall timeframe. Lara will talk to Fire Dept. about arranging a CPR class for us.
- Potluck meal ̶̶ Michelle Wannamaker again expressed via email (she could not attend the meeting) that she’s not keen on a potluck because she thinks new people would be less likely to attend a potluck vs. an event where food/snacks are provided. Michelle’s opinion is that we are a group of people that they don’t know and that can be daunting to consider preparing food & bringing it to an event with people they don’t know.
- Afternoon or brunch, similar to our June 8 brunch – We like the idea of “recreating” our June 8 community gathering. We could do a combo again where we bring stuff and reach out to businesses for donations. We decided to call this the Eastgate Spring Fling, and it would be an annual event dovetailing with our annual member meeting in May (per our bylaws).
- Movie Night – We like this idea, too. This would be a summer event where we project a movie somewhere in the neighborhood.
ECA Monthly Meeting Location
Dee Ann spoke with an SBCC employee about using SBCC room for our meetings. The employee was encouraging about the room being available mid-week. The cost is $45/hour. Tim recommends having a business sponsor each meeting to cover the cost. He thinks finding sponsors will not be too difficult, starting with his company, John L. Scott Realty. Tim will reach out to SBCC about renting the room on the second Wednesday of the month.
Punted to December’s Meeting
Deciding whether people in Eastgate community want to officially “join” the ECA (only members can vote) and how to do that.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Oct 9, 2019
- Eastgate Community Association – Minutes
October 9, 2019 from 7 to 8:30 pm
Tzachi and Lara Litov’s house, 3831 145th Ave SE, 98006 - Present: Michelle Wannamaker, Mikki Larimer, Susanna Chung, Barbara Garcia , Tzachi Litov, Lara Litov
- Discussion
- DRAFT Bylaws – address questions that arose
- Conversation was had around exclusivity, dues and meeting attendance. Consensus was that we should be thoughtful about not becoming exclusive
- How to ensure folks have “skin in the game”
- To include in the final draft: staggered board terms / initial board to have some 1 year and some 2 years terms
- President & Treasurer to be initially made as 2 year terms
- Limit dues to certain amount – dues to be no more than $50.00 per member household.
- Intent on $50 was to have a number that could last many years
- Questioning whether businesses should be allowed to be voting members
- Concern expressed that business interests will be very different than community
- Can businesses be set up to be “non-voting” members?
- Voting membership shall be open to…
- Businesses operating within the boundaries are eligible for non-voting membership.
- Add language under treasurer responsibilities regarding earmarked funds:
- “Unutilized Earmarked donations shall be returned to the donor.”
- Action Steps
- Tzachi – follow up with the bylaws group about the next steps towards formalization
- Tzachi – complete minutes and update Bylaws with this evening’s final updates
- Tzachi – begin soliciting the group for potential candidates and to determine interest in participation on the board
- New Business – The next meeting is Wed Nov 13th, 2019 at 7pm at the Litov’s
- Adjourn – the meeting adjourned at 8:45pm
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Sep 11, 2019
Eastgate Community Association
Meeting Minutes – September 11, 2019
Next Meeting – Wednesday October 9, 2019 at 7pm at Tzachi & Lara Litov’s house
3831 145th Ave. SE
Attendees: Leslie Geller, Tzachi Litov, Lara Litov, DeeAnn Perea, Lisa Leitner, Manny Arias, Susanna Chung, Barb Garcia
Action Items: Everyone has action items! Look for the bolded text below
OLD BUSINESS
Getting a Park in Eastgate
After August’s meeting, Carol emailed those of us who are working on the park project. A portion of Carol’s email included:
“Recently, I met with several individuals at the city and the following was shared. The City’s Parks and Open Space System Plan identifies a need for a park in Eastgate and prioritizes acquisition in this area: see the Walkable Access map and analysis on pages 38-39, the Capital Project Objectives Park Facilities and Urban Park Systems sections on pages 52-53 and 67, and the Eastgate Neighborhood Area map and statistics on pdf pages 126-127. A suggestion was made to have community members attend Parks Commission meetings, and prepare/begin to speak to Eastgate needs as the 2020 budgeting process begins.”
DeAnn mentioned that Mary Banbury recently spoke to the pastor at Aldersgate church (across from Newport Way library), who mentioned that the church is thinking of establishing a public park on their property. Tzachi said he would reach out to Mary and see if there are more details from her conversation. Can Lara and Micki please follow up on items in Carol’s email, and with Tzachi about a possible park on the Aldersgate church property? At the August meeting we talked about getting the word out on NextDoor about the ECA advocating for a new Eastgate park, and soliciting neighbors who are interested in helping our effort. It would be great if someone (Lara? Micki?) could do this.
ECA Structure
It was still summer and the Bylaws team didn’t make any progress. Lisa noted that finalizing our bylaws and electing officers is the cornerstone to moving the ECA ahead; we all agreed. As we’ve noted before, being formalized gives the ECA credibility and entrees to the City and other area organizations.
Lisa, Leslie and Tzachi, and Julia if she’s available, will meet on Monday Sept. 16 to hammer out the bylaws. (Update: we met and we did.) By Friday September 20 we will send bylaws to our group to review for any “deal breakers” that would prevent someone from okaying the bylaws. The deadline to provide feedback is October 4. If we don’t hear from you by October 4th, we assume that you have reviewed the bylaws draft and have no concerns. At the ECA October 9th meeting, we will finalize the bylaws.
We revisited the ECA planning calendar. We need 3 months to plan and organize the general election, to accept the bylaws and vote for the Board of Directors candidates, combined with the ECA “relaunch” general meeting. We determined that the general meeting would be Sunday January 26 in the afternoon. We’re thinking 30 minutes for initial meet & greet, then have a speaker, then vote on the bylaws and the Board of Directors candidates (including the 4 officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer). We will have to get word out about the ECA again, the Board of Directors and the election, so people can put in their names in to be candidates.
At the general meeting/election in January, we are thinking that the speaker would talk about getting a park in Eastgate. The park would be the topic of the meeting in addition to acceptance of bylaws and election of officers.
Candidate Forum Update
Michelle emailed the ECA email list with the list of the neighborhood candidate forums, and to send questions for candidates to the ECA Gmail address. Leslie posted the same on NextDoor.
ECA Web Presence
Tzachi spent some time since the August meeting exploring a few free websites including NeighborLink. Even though this site is supposed to be easy and templated, Tzachi he was stymied attempting to do basic things like upload images. Tzachi will spend more time with the website. Leslie has to take this off her plate for the time being, since she’s having shoulder surgery on September 19.
Monthly Meeting Location
Tzachi has an update. He spoke with Vicki Heck who is a librarian at Newport Way library and an Eastgate resident. At the moment she is unable to help us with reserving the library meeting room. However, once the ECA is formalized (back to those bylaws and election of the Board of Directors!!), we can have a conversation about how she can work with us to get our monthly meetings on the calendar. The library can co-sponsor events with us, which we think may be able to have calendar priority. As we discussed last month, churches are a possibility. Tzachi will inquire at the Christ the King Lutheran church a few blocks from his house. DeeAnn will talk to the Windermere office on SE 46th St. about whether they might be interested in hosting ECA’s monthly meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
No new business this month.
Meeting adjourned 8:40pm
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Aug 14, 2019
Eastgate Community Association
Meeting Minutes – August 14, 2019
Next Meeting – Wednesday September 11, 2019 at 7pm at Tzachi & Lara Litov’s house
3831 145th Ave. SE
Attendees: Leslie Geller, Tzachi Litov, Lara Litov, Michelle Wannamaker, Carol Ross, Susanna Chung
Action Items: Everyone has action items! Look for the red bolded text below
OLD BUSINESS
Eastgate Neighborhood Walk
Approximately 22 walkers from the neighborhood went on the walk. The majority heard about the event from flyers posted on mailboxes (thanks Leslie!), followed by NextDoor postings. Carol took notes during the walk on neighbors’ comments, and has already followed up on one. Her notes are attached. For those of you who weren’t able to walk, it was a terrific time. Many senior employees from various departments from the City attended, including the City Manager, City Assistant Manager, Fire Chief, a Police Major.
Here’s a valuable tidbit that Leslie learned from the Police Major: when you call the police non-emergency number, or if you call 9-1-1, all calls go to the same dispatch unit. The dispatcher makes the judgment whether it’s an emergency or not. So if you need to call the police for any reason, simply dial 9-1-1.
<<Notes from Eastgate Neighborhood Walk 7-18-19.docx>>
Getting a Park in Eastgate
In last month’s minutes, this topic was titled Parks Levy & its implications for Eastgate. King County Proposition 1 was on August’s primary ballot. This proposition “would provide funding for county, town, city and park district parks, and for open space, trails, recreation, public pools, zoo operations and an aquarium capital project.” It passed by a wide margin. Leslie read the full text of the Levy proposition to determine how much Bellevue would receive. Bellevue would receive $100,000 each year of the six-year levy. Plus an additional indeterminate amount based on “the remainder” portion of the Levy’s 8% of revenues distributed to cities and towns, after the per-city/town allotments are made.
We spent some time talking about possible available land, and came up with nothing. Available land is scarce! Carol noted there is Eastgate Park. Several of us said that it’s not really “usable,” as in having a sizeable grassy area, a playground, benches, perhaps a trail. Michelle advised that if we want a usable park in Eastgate, we need to make our request for known to the appropriate person in the City. Carol will find out whom. Susanna emphasized that we also should prepare a 3-minute presentation to the City Council, and speak to the Parks Board. We decided to have a Parks group to work on this project. Lara, Micki (we volunteered you since you’ve been lobbying for a park in Eastgate for several years) and whomever else wants to join in. Based on feedback from the June 8th brunch and the Eastgate Neighborhood Walk on July 18, there is a lot of interest in having a park more within the heart of Eastgate. We think the Eastgate community advocacy for a park would help galvanize neighbors, and bring more attention to the ECA organization among Eastgate residents. As such, Michelle will send an email to our mailing list about the topic and ask for participation from interested folks. Memory fails if we also were going to post on NextDoor….but we should!
ECA Structure
The past month was very busy with summer activities and vacations for the Bylaws team members. Unfortunately, we didn’t make much progress. The bylaws team will come with draft bylaws at the September meeting. Given that timing, we won’t have elections for officers in October as we’d talked about last month. It will have to wait until January or February. As a reminder, the election event is when we want to “re-launch” the ECA with the community, as we are getting, and will continue to, be more organized and coalesced. Carol reiterated that the City can help with getting a space for the event, e.g. the SBCC, and preparing for and sending out a postcard mailer to all the addresses in Eastgate notifying them of the event. Carol noted that the City needs about 3 months lead time to accomplish this. We need to use this offer of City assistance as an impetus to plan out our calendar, including for the kind of events and activities we want to sponsor in 2020. Carol suggested (recommended!) that we may want to have a speaker at the elections event, so it’s more like a topic event vs. simply an election. Note: some feedback from the June 8th brunch wanted more fun activities. Carol also mentioned that we take into consideration during our planning, external factors such as the school calendar, summertime being vacation time, etc. Leslie will start an email to everyone with a rough proposal of a 2020 calendar, including the event suggestions we’ve talked about at prior meetings.
Candidate Forum Update
Do you have specific questions related to Eastgate concerns that you want to ask candidates for City Council? Michelle reminded everyone that we were invited by Lake Hills Neighborhood Association to send them questions that are germane to Eastgate. The Lake Hills candidate forum is September 19 in the evening (time and place unknown by us). All Eastgate residents are also welcome to attend the Lake Hills’s forum. Michelle will send an email to all of us and to the list from June 8 brunch about submitting questions and attending the candidate forum. Michelle or Leslie will also post the info to the Eastgate NextDoor neighborhoods.
Michelle will contact Pam Johnston (of Bridle Trails neighborhood association) and get the list of all candidate forums happening this season in Bellevue, in case anyone wants to attend other candidate forums. Tzachi will create a Facebook page for the forum and invite Lake Hills to coordinate. This is because we couldn’t find any information online about this year’s Lake Hills’s forum.
ECA Web Presence
We had another rousing and idea-filled discussion weighing the pros and cons of various alternatives for an online presence for the ECA. The resolution is that “for now,” we will use the Facebook page that Tzachi created in June, https://www.facebook.com/eastgatecommunitywa. Read below for details of the discussion. Leslie volunteered to update the page with feedback from the June 8 brunch and from the Eastgate Neighborhood Walk, and any other tweaks we can think of. Send Leslie your ideas! She’s unfamiliar with Facebook because she doesn’t like it (or use it).
Details: The discussion revolved around two options: Facebook or a website.
In addition to the FB page which is public and open to anyone on FB, Tzachi created an ECA group, which is semi-private. If, like Leslie, you’re not too familiar with FB, our FB group could be used by e.g., the ECA’s Park group to facilitate collaboration on that project. Using FB has pros. There is a built-in structure to FB pages, and it’s easy to use. As Lara pointed out, it’s pretty much the de facto location for many organizations and groups such as children/youth sports teams, other community or special interest groups (like Bellevue United), and even the Bellevue School District. So, many people are already on FB and familiar with using it. Lara also noted that FB Marketplace has become a big draw, at least in the Litovs’s experience, for many people to join FB–just to use the Marketplace. The FB downside is it’s FB and some people don’t have or use FB.
Website
A website is accessible to anyone with internet connection. If we create and host our own website, we will have flexibility in how it’s designed. The downsides are more numerous. Someone needs to design and build it, and someone needs to maintain it. We all agreed that if we opted for a website, it has to be simple and easy to maintain so non-technical people can do it. A website is not free: GoDaddy is the cheapest website hoster at $6/month for a very basic, design-inflexible site. All of us at the August meeting agreed that creating a website seems overwhelming for our group, at least for now. However, Lara suggested engaging an expat’s spouse who isn’t legally allowed to work in the US but who was a professional in his/her home country, who would be willing to create a website for us (and have the time). Lara speaks from personal experience with a friend, who unfortunately doesn’t have any more free time. We thought this approach could be a good solution to explore. Lara will put the word out on NextDoor to solicit interest. Carol suggested getting a teenager who can do this as community service, e.g., a student or students at Newport High School. That would entail one of us contacting a teacher(s) and getting their buy-in, and working with the student. No takers at the meeting for this. Does anyone want to take this on?
If you want to check out other Bellevue neighborhood association websites: www.wearelakehills.org, www.bridletrailscommunity.org, http://horizoncrest.org/, http://www.newporthillscommunityclub.org/blog/, http://www.enataineighborhood.com/
Other ECA-Sponsored Events
As part of the Neighborhood Walk review and discussion, we talked about the MyBellevue app. Carol touted its usefulness and suggested that when our organization is more fully fledged, we could have a meeting to review the MyBellevue app. Those of us at the August monthly meeting don’t have the energy now to plan an activity/event. However, we do think the Park project could serve as a galvanizing topic to help bring the Eastgate community together. We will need to plan the ECA’s 2020 calendar very soon, as noted under ECA Structure.
Monthly Meeting Location
We need to find a stable location for the ECA monthly meetings. The Newport Way Library meeting room is very booked up. Until we find a stable meeting location, Tzachi and Lara offered to host us–thank you, thank you! Tzachi will talk to the Newport Way librarian who is an Eastgate resident to see if there is a way for us book the library meeting room each month. Leslie will ask the two motels by the large Crossroads Bible church if they would let us use a meeting room gratis, because we are a community organization for the betterment of Eastgate. Churches are another possibility, which may be willing to let us meet, for the same reason. Who has a relationship with a local church and can inquire?
NEW BUSINESS
Carol told us that Bridle Trails Community has an annual Night Out as its signature event. Carol brought us their flyer to show the terrific event they put on, as something for us to aspire to. It is attached.
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Jul 10, 2019
Eastgate Community Association
Meeting Minutes – July 10, 2019
Next Meeting – Wednesday August 14, 2019 at the Newcastle Library, 12901 Newcastle Way, Newcastle https://kcls.org/locations/1564/ Unless we find a closer location
Attendees: Karol Brown, Leslie Geller, Farida Hakim, Julia Tai, Lisa Leitner, Heather Huey, Michelle Wannamaker, Barbara Garcia
Action Items: Lisa, Leslie, Julia, Tzachi, Colin, Karol and Farida have specific action items. Names highlighted in red. There are also two items that everyone in ECA can provide ideas, also noted in red.
OLD BUSINESS
NextDoor Neighborhoods in Eastgate Neighborhood
Leslie said that when posting on NextDoor to residents and businesses in the City’s official Eastgate neighborhood, here are the NextDoor Neighborhoods to include: Eastgate, Sunset, Spiritridge, Upper Spiritridge, Horizon Village, Cougar Hills
Eastgate Neighborhood Walk
Leslie has emailed with Mark Heilman from the City about providing chairs along the route, since there is no place to sit along the route, save a lone bench towards the end of the route. Leslie will put out 8 folding chairs at two locations mid-walk. Leslie put out well over 50 flyers and emailed the ECA email list about the Walk. Lisa posted the West Lake Sammamish (July 17) and Eastgate (July 18) Walks to the broader NextDoor neighborhoods. We think the Eastgate Neighborhood Walk will be well attended.
ECA Structure Update
Karol, Leslie, Julia, Lisa, and Tzachi have met and drafted bylaws. We need to review the current second draft and finalize it before presenting to the larger group for review and comments. We will present the bylaws at our August meeting. Karol noted that she will help us register with the Washington Secretary of State as a Washington non-profit entity after the bylaws are finalized. This registration gives us advantages of being nonprofit without dealing with the IRS.
The bylaws sub-group proposes that the ECA Board of Directors have four officers (President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer) and three at-large members, all elected for one-year terms. We were targeting having elections take place in October, with Board terms running on the calendar year.
Candidate Forum Update
Michelle spoke with Steve Kasner of the Lake Hills Neighborhood organization. He said that they have this event well organized; they host a candidate forum each year. So they don’t need our help with their forum on September 19, but they are interested in any questions we have for candidates that are specific to Eastgate. Barbara offered to reach out to West Lake Sammamish to see if they have a candidate forum, and if they are interested in our participation. Lisa commented that last month meeting we agreed to not actually organize or co-organize a forum; it’s too soon for the ECA since we’re still a nascent group. ECA’s realistic goals for this year’s local elections should be to reach out to our Eastgate neighbors and businesses, notify them of the various candidate forums, encourage them to meet the candidates, read their voter pamphlets, and vote. There was general agreement with this stance. Lisa and Karol will speak to Pam Johnson from Bridle Trails neighborhood group who’s compiling a list of where and when the Bellevue candidate forums are. Barbara thinks it behooves us as an organization to speak with a single voice for what our issues are for Eastgate. We did not discuss how we would come up with and agree to those.
ECA Web Presence
Karol created a bare-bones NeighborhoodLink draft webpage for the ECA. http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/Eastgate-Bellevue Thanks to Lisa for telling us about this free platform to create community websites. There are pros and cons to using this free platform. Several of us are not so keen on it because it’s rather limited from a design standpoint and has a lot of advertising. There is a paid option on the NeighborhoodLink platform for $199/year. Alternatively, there are also pros and cons with hosting and managing our own website, where we purchase and own the site domain, and create and maintain the site. At June’s ECA meeting, Tzachi took ownership of working with Colin Jenkel to come up with options for our web presence. Tzachi created a Facebook Group for the ECA at https://www.facebook.com/groups/196892527872059/ and a Facebook Community Page. None of us at the July ECA meeting understand why there are two presences on Facebook. We decided that we will not do any promotion of any of these three online presences, as we have not yet settled on our best option.
Other ECA-Sponsored Activities
The idea of a potluck was raised again, after discussion at the June meeting. At the June ECA meeting, we agreed as a group to not organize any other events for the time being. Farida, Barbara and Karol think having a potluck is easy and a good idea. Karol thinks it’s a good idea to periodically add the potluck topic to ECA meeting agendas.
Similarly, Karol re-raised National Night Out, which is August 6 this year. At June’s ECA meeting, we all agreed that it’s just too soon for ECA to host a National Night Out event. However, we can consider doing a National Night Out event for one of next year’s activities.
NEW BUSINESS
Managing the ECA Gmail Account
A couple months ago, Tzachi set up a Gmail account for the ECA. The address was printed on the June 8th event flyer. Leslie sent the recap of the June 8th event from the ECA address to those who signed up, and also a notice of the CoB’s Eastgate Neighborhood Walk. Leslie and Tzachi are occasionally checking the Inbox. We haven’t had any new emails since before the June 8 event. We ran out of time to discuss this, so it will be a topic for the August meeting.
Parks Levy & its implications for Eastgate
Michelle brought this to our attention. There is a new King County Parks Levy on the August 6 ballot. Read about it here. When the levy was mentioned at a recent Bellevue Council meeting, the City Councilmembers, especially Lynne Robinson, were keen on utilizing any new parks money to complete Meydenbauer Bay park, assuming the levy passes. Michelle strongly suggests that we as the ECA seriously consider reaching out to the Council to lobby for a new park in Eastgate. We discussed possible land parcels that might be available and a good location for a new Eastgate park. There may be a large parcel near the backside of Newport Way library, on 142nd Ave SE. Karol suggests the possibility of expanding Eastgate Park. We ended the discussion with the action item that all of us in the ECA think about whether there are other properties appropriate for citing a park. We did not talk about how we would approach the Council with our citing suggestions.
From the email that Michelle sent to all of us on July 6 on this topic: “At the City Council meeting before last (6/17), King County gave a presentation on the parks levy and talked about how it included money to purchase property and develop new parks. Lynne Robinson immediately chimed in, saying that the money should be used to complete Meydenbauer Bay Park. I know that several of us have lamented the lack of a true park in Eastgate, some place where we could hold a picnic or the kids could go play on the Jungle Jim. I heard several such comments at the brunch, too. This is a great opportunity to finally get such a park in Eastgate, but the only way it will happen is if we lobby for it. It would be nice if the Council actually spent the money in the neighborhoods, for once. Even though this levy hasn’t yet been approved by the voters, with Lynne already trying to spend the money on the tourists, we should probably start lobbying for Eastgate, now. So we might want to put the question of lobbying for this, on Wed’s agenda. In the meantime, please be thinking about where in the single-family neighborhood S. of I-90 you think a park should go or a specific property(s) you think should be purchased for it. If you can’t attend, feel free to email your suggestions to the rest of the group.”
Emergency Preparedness Training Event
Farida took the initiative to contact Sophia Vackimes from CoB Emergency Preparedness about doing an educational event for ECA. (Sophia attended the June 8th event.) Farida organized an event on behalf of the ECA, co-sponsored with the City and KCLS. She scheduled the event for Friday August 16th from 4-6pm at Newport Way Library, in coordination with Bellevue Office of Emergency Management. The date apparently is based on Sophia’s availability, as well as when the library meeting room was available. The Newport Way Library will coordinate with Sophia, and has made a promotional flyer. KCLS and Emergency Management will market the event. Other than Karol, the rest of us were unaware of this event prior to Farida telling us about it at the meeting. We queried how, since the ECA is a co-sponsor, we would get the word out to our constituency. There was discussion but no resolution about how to specifically promote the event to Eastgate residents and businesses. Several of us have a concern about this event being scheduled on a Friday, in the afternoon, and during the summer when many people are on vacation. We also reiterated that the ECA is a collaborative group, and we communicate with each other and obtain buyoff prior to acting, making decisions, or speaking on behalf of ECA. Farida is checking with KCLS to see if it’s possible to remove the ECA name from the event flyer.
Next Steps for getting broader Eastgate Community involved
Leslie raised the questions that Carol Ross had emailed the group in the morning, since she would be unable to attend our meeting. Copy/pasted here:
· Next Steps for the Community Association
· Bylaws/charter, officer descriptions
· When is best to elect officers?
· Engaging Parent-Teachers Association(s)?
· Timeline for planning the larger Eastgate meeting?
· Postcard mailing
· When is the best time to schedule this meeting?
· Secure space at SBCC (Carol with group)
· What is the meeting? Agenda
· Is there room for having someone share… inspiration for bringing the community together? Community Building and Advocacy – “Why”
· Maybe it is 2 stories, a long-time resident and a newer arrival sharing about Eastgate
As a refresher from June’s minutes: “Carol said that once we have a firmer structure and draft bylaws, the City can do a mailing to all Eastgate residents in advance of a larger ECA monthly meeting. Kind of a second kickoff, we say we’re organizing and looking for more community members to participate.” We touched on this topic again tonight near the end of the meeting. Thinking about timing, we realized that having elections of officers in October would be too soon. We need to put ourselves out to our community, so that we have more people to run, as well as vote, for officers. Lisa proposed that we need to have a larger general meeting prior to the elections meeting. We discussed having the ECA “re-kickoff” meeting in October. The second Wednesday is October 9th. Hopefully we can use South Bellevue Community Center (SBCC) for the large October meeting. Lisa will reply back to Carol’s email and copy those of us attending tonight’s ECA monthly meeting plus Tzachi, so several of us are in the loop. We want to understand what Carol needs from us for the postcards. October is only three months away. We will need much more discussion to prepare for the October re-kickoff.
We are now thinking of having the Board elections meeting early in 2020. We realize the downside to waiting to vote in Board members means that the ECA will not have a formal organization and leadership until then. We will ask Carol if it would be possible to get SBCC also for our elections meeting.
Meeting Location
Tonight’s meeting at the Newcastle KCLS location was nice, but very time-consuming to get to due to traffic. We discussed alternate locations. It is challenging to find no-charge locations. The Newcastle library is reserved for our August and September meetings, but we would really like to find a closer location! Leslie will check with Newport Way library to see if we can use the new alcove that Michelle mentioned. We noted that meeting at someone’s home is a possibility if someone wants to volunteer to host us every month. If anyone else has ideas on where we could meet, please speak up!
The meeting adjourned at 8:35pm.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Jun 12, 2019
Eastgate Community Association
Meeting Minutes – June 12, 2019
Attendees: Karol Brown, Stella Cordes, Leslie Geller, Michelle Wannamaker, Ann Michaelson, Julia Tai, Carol Ross, Tzachi Litov, Lara Litov, Mary Banbury, Tracy Bury, Susanna Chung, Barbara Garcia, Lisa Leitner
Action Items: Karol, Lisa, Leslie, Tzachi, Julia, Michelle have specific action items. Names highlighted in red.
OLD BUSINESS
Debrief on the first ECA gathering on June 8th
We spent time reviewing how our first event went. Tzachi and Leslie think there’s nothing that didn’t go well. In short, we put on a successful event! The turnout was great. Tzachi and Karol estimated perhaps 100 attendance overall, throughout the event duration. Many people came because of the flyers posted on mailboxes. Having a sign-in was good, both laptop and paper. We could have done a better job of collecting contact info—capturing people when they walk in. Carol said when the City does events, there’s one person stationed at the front to collect names and contact info, and to get a headcount. Lara found that some people didn’t want to sign up initially but after she spoke to them and talked about issues, they went back and signed because they wanted to be on a mailing list.
Tzachi’s intermittent announcements to the room were really helpful to provide brief information about the Eastgate Community Association, calling attention to the Vision and Pillars that we posted on the boards, encouraging feedback, introducing Carol Ross, Heather Wong (Fire Dept, Public Education Officer), and Sophia Vackimes (Office of Emergency Management), and of course the fabulous food spread. We (with printed name tags – thank you, Karol) engaged our neighbors in conversation and got great feedback on their concerns, as well as what they thought about the event. Very positive comments about the event! Carol noted that the gathering was very welcoming. The library turned out to be a good location because we generated curiosity among library patrons, some of whom ventured into our room to learn more.
The flyers about Bellevue that Carol brought were well-perused and taken home to read. Carol made a point to tell people about the MyBellevue app (she had brought a flyer specifically about the app). Teens, especially, responded quite positively to the app. Our neighbors appreciated having a representative from the Fire Department and from Emergency Preparedness to talk with.
Local businesses were generous with their donations. We received coffee from Starbucks at Factoria Blvd. and Cypress Coffee; ginormous cinnamon rolls from Lil’ Jons; rolls from Great Harvest Bread; an assortment of bagels from Panera Bread; Safeway provided a plant for our welcoming table and a gift card, and Rick Thomas contributed the balance of his UW/Bellevue NEP survey project funds to provide juice. Thanks to Lisa, Julia, Tzachi, and Farida for reaching out to the businesses. Julia noted that she had to explain what ECA was about when she approached the businesses, and as soon as she mentioned safety (one of our Pillars), the businesses were all in. They are having issues with theft and safety. Ann mentioned that she went to Great Harvest and thanked them for their donation. Several of us who lingered after the monthly meeting adjourned signed the June 8 event flyers with a Thank You note, which will be delivered to the businesses.
Eastgate Neighborhood Walk
Neighborhood Walks are an annual City-sponsored event, an opportunity for residents to interact with City Management. Carol passed out the City’s flyers and will send a PDF to the ECA group. The Walk is Thursday July 18 from 6:30-8:30pm, starting and ending at Eastgate Elementary. It’s important to know that people can join at any point; you don’t have to do the whole walk. Mark Heilman, the City’s Neighborhood Walk coordinator, is working out parking arrangements. Carol said that it would help for us to give him ideas of where chairs can be set up mid-walk for people to sit, since there is not already anywhere to sit along the route. Mark’s email is mheilman@bellevuewa.gov. Tracy wondered if we can wear nametags that say something like “Ask me about ECA” with a half sheet of info about ECA. The Walk is a City-sponsored event, so we can’t formally call attention to ourselves. But Carol said that if, during our conversations with other Eastgate residents, we could mention the ECA.
NEW BUSINESS
ECA Structure
We had a lengthy discussion about a structure for the ECA. Leslie, Tzachi, and Julia voiced the desire to have a structure. Roles and responsibilities are defined; it helps with accountability for keeping the ECA alive and healthy into the future. We could have officers and other positions. We need to define officer roles and terms, and our bylaws. This will help with longevity of ECA, e.g. if someone leaves ECA, it’s easier for someone else to fill in. Leslie said that the discussion about structure, organization, and bylaws should be a separate one for whomever wants to be a part of the discussion. Carol told us about a guide to forming a Neighborhood Assn on the City website. It needs updating but it’s a good starting place. Tzachi, Julia, Karol, Leslie, and Lisa will come to the July meeting with draft structure and bylaws for discussion by the group. There was a suggestion about having committees that focus on certain areas, e.g. Communications or Event Planning. We will include this in our structure discussion.
Julia feels very strongly that ECA should not take an official position with the City on controversial issues that divide the Eastgate Community (e.g. what we experienced with the effort to site a homeless shelter next to the P&R). ECA’s creditability would be compromised if we take a stance (i.e. at City Council meetings) and Eastgate residents/business then state they disagree, and ECA’s position does not reflect their view. She wants this clearly spelled out in the bylaws. Some of us questioned how this would allow us to do advocacy. Tzachi said that we’ve learned in the past several years that it’s important to provide a forum for education. We could offer opportunities for neighbors to weigh in on issues. Tzachi wants a formal structure for Eastgate to have a voice at city hall. He thinks it’s impossible to have advocacy if we have something in the bylaws about not taking a stand on issues. Others agree. Michelle added that no one from ECA should go in front of Council speaking on behalf of ECA unless we all agree. Of course, we could speak in front of Council as ourselves, individually. Karol said we could consider having separate meetings/forums with City or Council members to discuss issues and concerns specific to Eastgate.
Future Activities
We had another lengthy discussion of possible activities and events we want to plan. Some options we discussed:
1. Emergency preparedness training with Bellevue Fire Department
2. Potluck dinners – Michelle said that she, Micki, and Farida tried to have a community potluck a few years back, and they had a hard time getting people to participate. After the turnout at the June 8th event, she thinks the potluck may have been an impediment. Like putting cart before horse – a potluck with people that you don’t know.
3. National Night Out. This is the evening of August 6th. Groups have to register with Police/Fire department that we want to have a formal gathering for National Night Out. We could have it at a park eg Lattawood or Sunset, or on a street, like Leslie’s dead-end. Carol said it doesn’t have to be a lot of people who show up. Police and Fire show up to 10 families who are getting together on a block. They spend about 30 minutes at each gathering. They’re looking for groups to sign up. We can post on Facebook, NextDoor, pass out flyers that Carol can provide. Karol and Barbara are interested in organizing it. Many others are hesitant to plan for this – some are on vacation, it’s summer, August 6 is less than 2 months away, and we already have the Eastgate Neighborhood Walk to promote and attend. In the end, we decided not to do this as it’s too much.
4. Candidate forum. Again, it’s too soon to have our own forum. We talked about piggy backing on another neighborhood association’s already-scheduled forum. Michelle will ask Lake Hills Community Assn if we can piggyback on their forum.
We moved to a general discussion of event planning. Tzachi got a lot of questions at the June 8th event about what the ECA is all about. He’s not interested in ECA being primarily an organizer of events for the community. Tracy noted that events can encompass multiple pillars, not just community building. There’s opportunity for community members to have occasional participation at events, and for those who want more formal participation in ECA. Tzachi suggested that any event we sponsor should have a social component. Carol noted that having a Fire and Police with trucks is a great way to bring out kids and adults. Lara talked to us about businesses being concerned about safety and shoplifting. Lara wondered if we should invite representatives from businesses to our events. Carol said we might want to sponsor Coffee with a Cop and invite the small businesses because they may not be aware of these type of City events. She said that some neighborhood associations do something for National Night Out and invite the local businesses. Sometimes they have a table.
We decided to wait to plan more activities/events until ECA is more formalized. Carol said that once we have a firmer structure and draft bylaws, the City can do a mailing to all Eastgate residents in advance of a larger ECA monthly meeting. Kind of a second kickoff, we say we’re organizing and looking for more community members to participate.
NEXT STEPS
Web Presence – We do not have a Facebook group or any other web presence. We talked about the need to have multiple vehicles of communication to reach everyone in our community. Lara said that her area has lots of elderly who aren’t on the internet, so paper e.g. on mailboxes is important also. Neighborhoodlink.com is a platform for neighborhood groups to create webpages, that we might be able to utilize. For now, Tzachi will create a Facebook group so we have an official web presence. He will contact Colin who expressed interest in helping with our web presence.
NextDoor—NextDoor’s Eastgate neighborhood does not match the City’s official Eastgate neighborhood boundaries. Lisa will research which NextDoor neighborhoods we need to select when we post about ECA. The City will be posting notice of the Eastgate Neighborhood Walk shortly.
Bellevue Reporter – Karol will post the ECA July and August meetings on the Bellevue Reporter events calendar. Lisa alerted that Bellevue Reporter only delivers hardcopy newspaper to single family residences.
Locations where we can host events—Leslie will check if we can use school playgrounds for public events. Eastgate doesn’t have a plethora of places we can host events!
ECA Meetings—Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month from 7-8:30pm. We start promptly at 7pm. July and August meetings are at the Newcastle Library. Leslie volunteered to be on top of reserving the Newport Way Library as soon as the booking window is open. It’s a popular meeting room!
The meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – May 8, 2019
Eastgate Neighborhood Association
May 8, 2019 from 7 to 8:30 pm
Newport Way Library
Minutes from the May Meeting
Attending: Karol Brown, Tzachi Litev, Rick Thomas, Farida Hakim, Leslie
Geller, Carol Ross, Ann Michaelson, Micki Larimer, Julia Tai, Lisa Leitner
I. Introductions
We each gave our name, where we live, and what we love about our neighborhood.
II. Review notes from April meeting
We reviewed the notes from the April meeting, and made sure that the agenda captured everything we
needed to cover for this May meeting.
III. Review & revise vision & mission for Eastgate Neighborhood Assoc
We reviewed the proposed mission statement that was discussed in April. We agreed on three basic tenants for our
mission. These are:
1. Safety:
Support the safety and welfare of Eastgate residents and the community as a whole
2. Community:
Celebrate diversity and foster friendships amongst neighbors
3. Advocacy:
Provide a conduit for Eastgate residents to communicate issues and concerns with the City of Bellevue
For more details on each of these three topics, we agreed on the following three pillars with specific tasks and options for each one.
We added a few things to each of the pillars. We suggested adding under Advocacy “Guide residents through the growth and development of
their neighborhoods” and adding under Safety “Engage with senior neighbors, to ensure they are safe and well”. Lisa Leitner sent a revised copy by email, which reads:
We also reviewed the draft “soul statement”, that we decided to call a vision statement instead. The original statement was offered by Farida:
“To act positively, promoting peace and friendship with the intention of cultivating an extended community family, whose members are available to help and encourage each other towards the mutual benefit of all that is nourishing and uplifting to us.”
There were several other variations that were proposed by email after the meeting. The one that will be discussed at the June 8th public meeting is:
“The Eastgate Community Association’s vision is to cultivate a strong extended community whose members are committed to nurturing a positive culture, encouraging friendships, and promoting ideas beneficial to our neighborhoods.”
IV. Brunch & Meet Neighbors on June 8th at Newport Library
The bulk of the meeting was spent in discussing our first public meeting for brunch on June 8th at Newport Way Library. We talked about the different ways to do outreach and marketing about the upcoming meeting. Carol Ross distributed flyers that had been made about the brunch. We each agreed to distribute these flyer invitations to our friends & neighbors who live in Eastgate. Micki agreed to post the flyer at the library and local stores. Karol volunteered to notify the Bellevue Reporter to add it to their calendar. Laura will post on the Next Door site, and Tzachi had created a Facebook event and asked each of us to share the event on our own Facebook pages.
To help setup for the event, Tzachi, Karol, Ann and Susan will arrive early at the Newport Way Library to make sure that we have everything needed prior to the event.
We will be soliciting for food and supplies to be donated from local businesses. Tzachi will bring 8 x 10 plastic holders to acknowledge the contributions. Lisa will be contacting Cypress Café, Tzachi will contact Great Harvest, Karol will contact Safeway, and Rick will contribute $50 from his program funds for
juice. Micki and Lisa will also donate an egg bake and Leslie will provide some vegetables for the event. Lisa also contacted Lil Johns, who agreed to
provide a tray of cinnamon rolls. Karol will provide paper plates, utensils, and napkins, as well as sharpies and nametags for people to use.
We all agreed to take lots of photographs of the event so that we can publicize our event on Facebook and other venues. Any photos of children under 18 should get a parent’s permission before we publish it.
Lisa distributed a spreadsheet of tasks and supplies to be completed for the June 8th Event, which I’ve copied below as a useful summary.
|
Food |
||||
|
Item |
Pick-up |
Business |
Possible |
|
|
Race |
Tzachi |
Great |
||
|
Fruit |
||||
|
Vegetables |
Leslie |
|||
|
Cheese |
||||
|
Juice |
Rick |
UW |
||
|
Bottled |
Safeway |
|||
|
Egg |
Micki |
|||
|
Tea |
Susanna |
|||
|
Coffee |
Cypress/Starbucks |
|||
|
Condiments |
||||
|
Cinnamon |
Lisa |
Lil |
||
|
Muffins |
Panera |
|||
|
Supplies |
||||
|
Item |
Who |
Business |
Comments |
|
|
Flowers |
Lisa |
Safeway |
||
|
8×10 |
Tzachi |
For |
||
|
Vendor |
Lisa |
|||
|
Push |
Lisa |
For |
||
|
Round |
Lisa |
|||
|
Foam |
|
Need |
||
|
Pump |
Carol |
|||
|
Easel |
Carol |
|||
|
City |
Carol |
|||
|
Purpose/Pillar |
Carol |
|||
|
Name |
Karol |
|||
|
Napkins |
Karol |
|||
|
Cups |
Karol |
|||
|
Utensils |
Karol |
|||
|
Table |
Karol |
|||
|
Day-of |
||||
|
Who |
||||
|
Tzachi |
||||
|
Micki |
||||
|
Leslie |
||||
|
Karol |
||||
Carol Ross confirmed that we have requested the presence of Bellevue police and fire officers. There is a conflict with a child safety event
for the same time in the Factoria area, but we hope to have some
V. Rick Thomas on the SE 38th Street Project
Rick Thomas shared information about his project as part of the Livable City Year Study, which is a joint project of the University of Washington and the City of Bellevue in 2019. As part of this study, Rick did a survey of residents around the SE 38th Street project and asked questions about how the neighborhood enhancement project affected their views of the community and the city. For those who live in that area, he requested assistance in passing out reminders to complete the survey.
VI. Adjourn
We adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm. Some attendees continued to chat about the
upcoming event beyond that time.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Apr 10, 2019
Eastgate Community Association
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
L Geller’s Home
Meeting Minutes (Notes)
Meeting began at 7:15pm. Fourteen (14) residents attended; five (5) were new attendees.
INTRODUCTIONS
Attendees introduced themselves, sharing how long they lived in the Eastgate area and why they are interested in participating in a neighborhood group.
MARCH MEETING NOTES
Copies of March’s meeting notes were disseminated. No changes were requested.
FORMAL NAME OF GROUP
Based on a comment circulated via email, a discussion was held regarding the formal name of the group. Eastgate Community Association was selected unanimously (14 votes).
PURPOSE/MISSION OF EGNA
Lisa began the discussion by presenting some graphics representing comments made at the prior to meetings. First graphic represents the organization’s pillars – a view from 50,000 feet.
All agreed with the three (3) pillar concept and words chosen for the pillars.
A second graphic was presented, providing more depth to the three pillars – a view from 25,000 feet.
Everyone agreed with the language and provided feedback on some important components which are missing:
Advocacy: Language needed to capture the change/evolution within Eastgate
Build Community: Language needed to capture the history of Eastgate
Safety: Language needed to capture our elder/senior population.
The need for “soul statement” was also discussed. The purpose written by Peter Wright (long-time Eastgate resident), provided by Farida, was read. Most agreed a meaningful opening statement is needed but Peter’s statement was too long.
Action Item:
Attendees/active members of organizational team to reflect on the needed language and email to group, including the additional pillar language and a soul statement. Final decisions can be made via email and confirmed at next meeting.
JUNE 8TH BREAKFAST EVENT
A brief reminder about the event was shared
Date: Saturday, June 8th
Time: 11am – 2pm
Location: Newport Way Library
The event is two months out. While a formal event committee was not formed, the following actions were committed to:
Action Items:
Tzachi – Manage logistics on the day of event
Leslie – Provide language for flyer using templates provided by Carol R.
Lisa – Approach/Secure Potential Sponsors
Julia – Approach/Secure Potential Sponsors
ALL Meeting Attendees – Begin engaging with neighbors about Community Breakfast
NEIGHBORHOOD WALK OPPORTUNITY
The City is hosting neighborhood walks again this year and is interested in holding one in Eastgate. All agreed this is a great opportunity, feeling strongly to have a date set quickly so it can be shared with the community at the June event at the Library.
Action Items:
Carol R- Ask the City team to propose dates.
Farida/Ann – Research a good route. This would a loop approximately a mile long and would include a place for cars to park. (City staff and some community members may need to drive to starting point).
Farida- Provide Carol with details of proposed route.
NEXT MEETINGS
Wednesday, May 8th
Time: 7pm
Location: Newport Way Library
Wednesday, June 12
Time: 7pm
Location: Tzachi and Lara Litov’s Home
Action Items: Tzachi to book July’s meeting at Library
NEW BUSINESS
Micki asked what was used to define Eastgate. The group is using the official boundary map set by the City – City of Bellevue – Eastgate Map
Meeting Adjourned at 8:30pm
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Mar 13, 2019
Eastgate Neighborhood Association
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Newport Way Library
Meeting Minutes (Notes)
Meeting began at 7:03pm. Fifteen (15) residents attended; seven (7) were new attendees.
INTRODUCTIONS
Attendees introduced themselves, sharing how long they lived in the Eastgate area and why they are interested in participating in an Eastgate Neighborhood Association (EGNA).
JANUARY MEETING NOTES
Copies of January’s meeting notes were disseminated. No changes were requested.
PURPOSE OF EGNA
Farida started the discussion by sharing some “purpose” language compiled from a prior neighborhood group. Other attendees added the need for advocacy, shaping community and speaking with one voice to the City leadership and Council members.
Carol Ross, our representative from Bellevue’s Community Development Department, suggested the group consider how to incorporate newcomers. She was asked how other neighborhood associations formed their purpose. She shared the other associations she works with were already established. Carol stressed the need to structure including regular meetings and election of officers.
Action Item: Farida agreed to provide the first draft of the EGNA purpose and distribute to attendees.
FIRST PUBLIC MEETING/EVENT
The group discussed what the first event should be. A picnic was discussed but Eastgate is challenged by not having a sizable park within its boundaries. Carol R. mentioned Spiritridge Park as a potential picnic option. There was concern that a picnic could be too large for a first event.
The idea of “neighborhood coffees” morphed into an idea for a community breakfast. The group agreed to a breakfast rather than a picnic for the first event. Discussion about when to hold the event ensued. Concerns about families being on vacation were shared. The group agreed to the following date, time and location:
Date: Saturday, June 8th
Time: 11am – 2pm
Location: Newport Way Library
Action Items: Carol Ross- The group asked Carol to research if Bellevue College or Eastgate Elementary could be used for future events.
Farida/Tzachi – Secure Event Location (COMPLETED)
Karol B. – Design Flyer, using template to be provided by Carol R.
Lisa L- Approach/Secure Potential Sponsors
Lisa L- Distribute talking points for speaking to Neighbors
ALL Meeting Attendees – Invite neighbors to future meetings and Community Breakfast
FUTURE MEETINGS
The group agreed to continue monthly meetings on the second Wednesday of each month at the Newport Way Library. Farida determined that rooms can be booked up to 12 weeks in advance.
Action Items:
Leslie G- Book community meeting room at library.
Tzachi/Lara – Post meeting details on NextDoor
Karol B- Distribute updated email list
Next Meeting
Wednesday, April 10
Time: 7pm
Location: TDB (Newport Way Library is unavailable)
Meeting Adjourned at 8:10pm
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Feb 2019
The February meeting was cancelled due to weather.
ECA Monthly Mtg Minutes – Jan 8, 2019
Eastgate Neighborhood Association
Meeting notes 1.8.19
Attending: Karol Brown, Joedy Morrow, Farida Hakim, Carol Ross, Julie Ellenhorn, Tzachi Litov, Lara Litov, Julia Tai, Tom Perea, DeeAnn Perea, Lindy Bruce, Michelle Wannamaker, Lisa Leitner, Susanna Chung
Introductions: community members and city members shared
Discussion of purpose:
Prompt – Open a discussion about our purpose, why we want to come together to create an association, provide input regarding community topics/issues/etc, communication on public matters and resources and brainstorm how to get that information to community, fun stuff: picnics, park exploration
Response →
Ideas:
Focus groups within the Eastgate community, community member shared that is has worked before in their experience, it is important to have communication with City to understand what is possible
- Transportation focus
- Bringing candidate forums to the area
- Creating an advocacy piece
General:
● Promote friendship, caring, empower neighborhood voice, unify a community vision
● Create a place and time that people in our community can meet
● Let’s be inclusive, reach everyone
Information:
● Many in attendance had been active with Eastgate Residents Committee (“ERC”)
● Discussed history and formation of ERC
● Discusses community topics/issues/concerns
● Many people attending this meeting have been involved with ERC
To do:
● Get demographics for Eastgate – City staff said they have someone who can do that
● Start planning next few meetings in preparation for large public meeting
○ February 13th – at Bellevue Residence Hall, 7 to 8 pm
○ March 13th
○ April 10th
● Reserve library rooms (if available)
● Create bylaws for association at some point
● Connect with ERC to determine how best to collaborate with them and learn from experience (Michelle?)
● Complete flyer and prepare for printing or to be handed out
● Set up an online RSVP list that we could add to such as https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RYsMwtEMZlERcAEqQtYCtUTHGpGaQ9BIxe8qDhx26Bs/edit?usp=sharing
● Assign the “to-do’s” to someone specific or ask for volunteer
Planning first meeting:
● Survey at the first meeting/create gathering expectations
● Reaching people who are not connected to technology, i.e. emails, social media
● Snacks – potluck for the next meeting
● Don’t send huge invitations until you get a reliable group first
● Another small meeting is necessary, do it right not fast
● First public meeting in Summer?
● How about people who don’t consider themselves as living in Eastgate?
General takeaways:
● When reporting to City Council, having factual data is a plus. It provides a heartbeat of the community that the Council can understand
● Use of City Hall is free of charge for Neighborhood Association meetings, as well as 30% off meeting rooms for city buildings, like the South Bellevue community center.
City of Bellevue would also aid in mail outs
● Look at the community and grow slowly if necessary
● Wait to invite commercial/business for big events like picnics
Tasks To Complete/Volunteer:
Reserve space for next meeting – Joedy
Design flyer for next meeting – Karol
Invite others to attend next meeting – Everyone
PDF Embedder requires a url attribute Power-Point-Eastgate-Housing-Campus
