Meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by chair Michael Rainville. Motion was made, seconded and carried to approve November minutes. Financial reports for both STAWNO and the Northeast Farmers Market were reviewed.

Open Forum: What is status of apartment building at 901 Second St. NE? New owner has about 6,000 rental units in Twin Cities area. Plan for this site is market-rate apartments for seniors. Catholic Eldercare seems OK with this. New owner will be invited to next CARE meeting. They are said to be responsible landlords. Catholic Eldercare is negotiating to buy 40 units in the Crescent Trace condo building; 16 units, however, have already sold on the open market.

Fundraising/Outreach Committee: Pete Gamades provided accounting handout on fundraiser. About $16,805 came in. He suggested allocating funds as follows: $15,000 to B.F. Nelson park site; $2,500 to Ritz Theater; transfer $695 from General Fund and put it in Nelson account to round out. Rainville suggested taking money out of the Nelson fund to allocate to the Sheridan neighborhood Memorial Park -- $500 from 2007 fundraiser funds, $500 from 2008 funds. It appears Best Buy will contribute $4,000 in honor of Pete's (their employee) work on the annual fundraising project. In addition, another $500 should be coming from Best Buy for certain runners, so possibly this could be used for the Sheridan park allocation. Motion was made (Parker), seconded (Prondzinski) and carried to carry out the allocation as outlined, including the Sheridan park funding.

NRP Task Force: Margl recapped NRP Policy Board election held last month. Latest draft of Phase I review document was handed out for review and discussion at January board meeting. NRP Home Loan program balance is down to $5,157.07. STAWNO needs to reload the revolving loan fund using program income, as announced at last month's meeting. Motion was made (Prondzinski), seconded (Brady) and carried to transfer $25,000 in program income into the Revolving Loan. There was discussion of whether the Revolving Loan program should be marketed more and how it is currently marketed.

Crime/Safety/Livability Committee: Second Precinct Advisory Council elected officers; Prondzinski remains secretary. Car thefts are a problem in this precinct. Volunteers and donations are needed for the annual holiday meal served to public safety personnel. Contact Carol Oosterhuis at 673-2874 to help. 2PAC minutes can be found on the city Web site or by contacting Prondzinski at 2pac-secretary@isd.net. STAWNO will send in the following response to the Neighborhood Policing Plan questionnaire: 80 percent have Block Clubs. Neighborhood concerns are 1. assaults 2. burglaries 3. car thefts. There is need for increased patrols, both on car and on foot. Police need to patrol down the alleys, too. Improved communication with MPD would be welcome.

Land Use and Planning Committee: Jan. 12, 10 a.m. at Ritz Theater will be a MEND neighborhood meeting on what to do about vacant/foreclosed houses in these neighborhoods. Council Members Hofstede and Ostrow will be speakers, along with City of Lakes Community Land Trust and Greater Metropolitan Housing Corp. Flyer will be going out to all four MEND neighborhoods.

B.F. Nelson Committee: Met with Minneapolis Park and Rec Board planner and consultant who designed Edgewater Park. They will meet with committee Jan. 7 and Feb. 4 to refine plan. Then there will be a large community meeting at the end of March to get community input. Middle Mississippi Watershed Organization $775,000 grant could be used for the natural aspects of the projects - plantings, shoreline enhancement, etc.

Other business: Grand Rounds Missing Link Task Force will have more open houses in January on the three routes that could fill the gap (1/16 at Luxton, 1/30 at Windom Park). Rainville, a task force member, voted against routes that take out housing. This is a $100 million plan that is unfunded at this point…. Prondzinski volunteered to attend Third Ward CARE meetings to relay neighborhood announcement and be STAWNO rep.