| WRA Board - 2009 Meeting Calendar (No Board meetings in July & August) | |||||
| All meetings will start at 7:30 p.m. and be held at the Anderson Cultural Center, 5301 Overbrook Ave. unless otherwise specified | |||||
| Jan 2009 | Feb 2009 | Mar 2009 | Apr 2009 | May 2009 | Jun 2009 |
| Speakers- Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers and Exec Chief Daniel Williams; Dennis Lee, American Cities Foundation |
Election Day. Meeting moved from May 19th | ||||
| Tuesday 20 | Tuesday 17 | Tuesday 17 | Tuesday 21 | Tuesday 26 | Tuesday 16 |
| Board meetings are open to all WRA members. Executive Committe meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday and are not public. | |||||
| Currently available Board minutes appear below. Click on month names to see other minutes | |||||
| Sept 2008 | |||||
| Minutes of the Wynnefield Residents Association Board Meeting Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | |
| Attending | |
| Frances Aulston | Ray Barnes |
| Elaine Brown | Gwen Cottman |
| Amelia Hunter-Hill | Gloria Howard |
| Cecelia Jones | Rae Scott Jones |
| Stephanie King | Marc Anthony King III |
| Paula Lamb | Bristol Leake |
| Dennis Lee | Nora Levitt |
| Maurice Monroe | Louise Moss |
| Dick O’Malley | Legora Ragland |
| Peter J. Rescorl | Karen Robinson |
| Joseph Sawyer | Clarence E. Smith |
| Wanda Staples | Brenda Williams |
| Meeting was called to order at 7:30pm by Peter Rescorl, President of WRA and he introduced our speaker for the evening; Fire Commissioner, Lloyd Ayers and Executive Chief, Daniel Williams.
Fire Commissioner: Fire Safety He talked about fire safety in your community, especially in your home. He wanted people to make sure they do all the things to keep you safe. The commissioner has served in the fire department for over 35 years and 33 of those years he has worked with Daniel Williams, Executive Chief. He explained an overview of the fire department from manual equipment to the high technology used in the fire department now for quality safety. Home fire check list The most important part of fire prevention is the home fire check list. This allows for self assessment of your house, self and family. This assessment goes through six different areas and it talks about what you should do in order to prevent a fire. The check list consists of the following: Plan to get out alive, plan to be fire safe electrical hazards, housekeeping hazards, heating and cooking hazards and special for parents. Safety Representative Program The fire department also has a fire safety representative program. We actively get individuals on the blocks not the block captain but another individual on the block to be a fire safety representative. Paramedics Service There is a shortage of paramedics as related to the number of achievements. We have just graduated 13 paramedics as of last Friday; twenty paramedics are going to a Philadelphia class when the twenty fill up the vacancy of six paramedic’s positions. The fire department is almost at their goal. For paramedics of the 217,000 calls for emergency only 25% of those calls was really a need for paramedics of life support person. Now the other 75% of the calls were just basic calls. There is a three team system in the City of Philadelphia; since 1988 they are engine/ladders, basic life and paramedics Executive Chief 311 system; Smoke Detectors/Carbon Monoxide Detectors December 2008 was the creation of the 311 system. It was designed for 24 hour a day accessible for questions not designed of an emergency nature. This system was to release some of the pressure of the 911 system. There were so many areas of misuse of the 911 system for non-emergency nature. One example is when a lady in Florida called the 911 system about her value meal at McDonald. This person was prosecuted for her actions. He described the proper procedure to set up your smoke detector and your carbon Monoxide detector. The carbon monoxide is a silent killer because it has no smell and colorless and it will knock you right out. There was a time of question and answers for the fire commissioner and the Executive Chief on those subjects they shared with the members. Those questions were referring to the paramedics, 311 systems, 911 emergency call system and the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. President Rescorl introduced our next guest, Dennis Lee from American Cities Foundation. Dennis Lee Green Collar Work In 2008, QCF project (NEAT) Neighborhood Environmental Action Team included Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes project “Pathways out of poverty” green collar workforce development strategy as articulated in her study for the Oakland City Council, specifically targeting individuals with significant barriers to employment. This program through Dr. Pinderhughes provided a model by creating strong ties to employers and labor unions; providing job readiness skill building and environmental literacy and developing core competencies in these areas: installation and maintenance of green roots; installation of bio-retention gardens; performing residential weatherization and energy retro-fitting; tree planting; performing environmentally-safe indoor cleaning. In March 2009, twenty-five participants with barriers to employment will become ACF’s first green collar workforce training cohort. The American Cities Foundation owns a 10,000 square foot property in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia where we conduct our own training programs. As part of Pennsylvania’s massive ($650 million) energy fund, residential consumers and small businesses will be eligible for about $92 million in loans, grants, reimbursements and rebates to support energy conservation and weatherization projects. Also at the national level, significant gains for energy efficiency and renewable energy were enacted as part of the $700 billion bailout in October of 2008. Green-collar jobs are located in large and small for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, social enterprises, and public sector institutions. Green-Collar jobs represent an important new category of work force opportunities because they are relatively high quality jobs, with relatively low barriers to employment. Dennis Lee; Question/Answer He took time out to answer a few questions regarding the process and purpose of green collar workforce and how it would benefit the employee as well as their neighborhood. President Rescorl The minutes from the last meeting were reviewed voted on with minor corrections to accept as adopted with the corrections. The financial report was reviewed and voted on with minor notation to accept as adopted with the corrections. Up-coming events Saturday, April 4, 2009 2nd annual spring clean-up, 9:00am to 2:00pm, President Rescorl asked for volunteers which he did get and registered them. Saturday, April 18, 2009 St. Joseph students will have their annual community day and they will work with WRA at two specific areas and clean as well as paint some areas in WC Anderson Center and help Brenda at the Triangle Park by planting the first tree. Philadelphia activity publication for June 3rd Dick O’Malley is having a circle community meeting on March 25th. WRA will be transferring their service from Verizon to Comcast for better products. Paula Lamb announced Louise Moss will be honored at the Crown Plaza, Presidential Blvd. on April 18th by the Philadelphia/Vicinity Club of the National Association of Negro Business/Professional Women’s Club Inc. Ray Barns Nominated for WRA to sponsor a full page add in the booklet for $50. The board made a motion and seconded to pay for the ad to go in the journal to honor Louise Moss and for others to know the organization of her passion. Meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm |