Sixteen Acres Meeting . October 22,2001

Welcome to everyone by Clodo Concepcion (President)

Guest Speaker: Patrick Sullivan from the Park & Recreation Department

Camp Wilder: The city bought the 32 acre parcel. There were 3 houses still on the

property. The first house (Emma's house) had some repairs done about

$25,000.00. Would like to make it a meeting house or rent out for

activities. Would like to try to have the Society for Barney, from Forest

Park try to make it Non-Profit. We need to raise money to protect the

camp/park. The second house was in such poor condition it was taken

down and a pavilion will go up. The third house is also very bad and will

be used as an office for the Park Foreman and then new pavilions.

Greenleaf Community Center is closed due to electrical heating unit having some serious problems, the unit is 30 years old. Don't know when it will re-open. We are talking to Senator Brian Lees office to find out about the 1 million dollars that was allocated for the Greenleaf project.

Veterans Golf Course is going to be planting trees along its fairway. They are also ordering nets to catch the golf balls that keep going into the neighbors yards.

PARK AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT BUDGET: Is at 3.8 million dollars for the next year. The budget was cut by 1 million dollars. It is at 3.8 million dollars, the lowest budget since 1984. PLEASE CALL YOUR CITY COUNCILORS AND LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT CUTTING THIS BUDGET!!!!!

FOREST PARK POOL: To open the pool for next year will cost 65,000.00. There has been $15,000.00 raised to date towards opening the pool for next year.

THERE IS A QUILT RAFFLE GOING ON TO RAISE MONEY FOR FOREST PARK POOL. PLEASE CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Please call your City Councilors to have them open the pools next year. It helps keep the youth of Springfield out of trouble.

We need to keep the recreation going for students of Springfield. It does help to keep the gang activity down when the youth are busy. There are only 6 centers open and operating out of 14. PLEASE CALL YOUR CITY COUNCILORSS!!!!

The Fire Department spends $400.00 every time a fireman gets called in for overtime. The city spend 1 million dollars in overtime for 2 months for the Fire Department. Why couldn't they have a beeper to check to see if it is a non-emergency. It would be a lot cheaper. The city needs to get creative with some department financing.

Patrick Sullivan used a beeper to call someone out for an emergency, it was a lot cheaper than over time money. He has lost 1 million dollars so far this budget.

There was a $500,000.00 grant from the state and $650,000.00 bond from the state to purchase Camp Wilder.

Walker Grandstand at Forest Park--will be turned into 4-6 classrooms for the Horticultural Program at Putnam High School.

Senior Center at Greenleaf Community Center will cost $400,000.00 for the community center and $600,000.00 for fix up and park renovations. Please call State Senator Brian Lees office and ask them to release the 1 million dollars that was set aside for the project.

The funding is down $25,000.00, for beautifying different areas of the city, there is no money to start next year. We asked Pat Sullivan to take down the sign at 16 Acres Center, which says Beautifully Maintained by Sixteen Acres Civic Association, because it is just too dangerous to work in that area of islands. Let Pat know if we want sign down.

THANK YOU TO PAT SULLIVAN FOR COMING TO OUR MEETING

Please call your City Councilors and let them know how we disapprove of cutting 1 million dollars from the Park Department and there is no money to clean the Center of Sixteen Acres.

Please call State Senator Brian Lees office and let him know that we would like to see the money released for GREENLEAF COMMUNITY CENTER.

WELCOME TO EVERYONE

Jean Masse read minutes. Motion to accept and seconded, passed by all present.

Treasurer's Report, balance is $2,135.04. Motion to accept and seconded, passed by all.

Membership count is 159, please invite new people to join.

OLD BUSINESS

We need to bring issues to our Board of Directors then to the whole body.

It was voted at the Board of Director's to give $50.00 to Shriner's Hospital. A vote was taken, and it was voted down.

Should we continue to clean the 16 Acres Center, it is very dangerous and hard to get at. A vote was taken to table it until next spring.

A new committee is being formed to talk to the Mayor about issues that concern Sixteen Acres. The committee will be Don Husson, Willis Schoof, Ted Knee and Clodo Concepcion. This will be an Advisory Committee that will take our concerns to Mayor Albano. There needs to be a mission statement about this group. Motion was made to start this committee and to report back to our Sixteen Acres monthly meetings. It was seconded and passed by all present.

Our Christmas Party will be held on December 17, 2002, after a short meeting of the Sixteen Acres full membership. More details to follow. Peter Fett asked how much money will be given for expenses for the Christmas Party. Clodo was unsure and we will discuss it at our next meeting.

Emily Bader from the State Street Library, is our guest speaker on November 19,2002.

Western New England College called Clodo and invited him to a meeting. The college is building a brand new 250 person building (dorms). They will be getting rid of the cross-walks and putting in a light to cross students.

A letter from the Environment office that says they are trying to clean a Park/Pond near Mallowhill. Any concerns please talk to Clodo.

Clodo was asked to invite Mr. Garvey from Code Enforcement to our meeting Board of Directors to talk about issues of concern. Peter says that we voted last year in July that the guest/speakers should come to the Main Sixteen Acres body first then to the B of D if needed. Clodo already invited Mr. Garvey. A motion was made to rescind the invitation to Mr. Garvey and invite him to the November 19, 2002. Seconded and passed by all.

Our next meeting is November 19, 2002 at 7:00 pm. Our guest speaker will be Brenda Garton from Western New England College.

Please check our Website at 16Acres.org for any and all current information.

WE NEED A PHONE TREE----Looking for volunteers to call about 10 members each at any time with concerns like meeting changes, snow days, cell tower issues. This is very important for the future of our Sixteen Acres. Please see Clodo to join.

New member introduction, , who cooked at our summer picnic. Thank you for all your help.

Crime Watch needed near Mallowhill. A meeting was held and Clodo, Policemen Peter Fett and others attended. There will be a crime watch starting near Mallowhill and will proceed to help if we can. If this area works well then we an continue at other areas.

Parker Street/Frank Street--a neighbor/abutter spoke about the trailer being parked there illegally. The officers will be talking to Mr. Garvey from Code Enforcement at some point to see if it is all legal.

7^th Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive to benefit the Open Pantry will be held on Sat. Nov 16, at A & P FoodMart on Cooley Street. The hours are 10-4pm. There will be Community Police Dogs, Community Police, and Shriner's clowns. The Eastfield Mall has sent gifts for children to enjoy. RAFFLE being held and Free. Please bring a raffle gift.

Please be courteous at any and all meetings to speaking out of turn and talking when someone else is talking.

AARP sponsored a bus trip to Boston last week to speak to Legislators about issues. The bus was full and the box lunch was great.

NEXT MEETING---------will be held on Tuesday, November 19, 2002. It is held at the Church in the Areas. Please attend and bring a friend.

Ruth Moorhouse,

Secretary