General Minutes April 2005

GENERAL MINUTES OF TURNAROUND TEAM MEETING

The TurnAround Team, Inc. General Meeting – 25 April 2005

Deb Swank, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7 PM. In attendance were 26 people.

  1. Deb briefly reported on the status of the Aaron Douglas Celebration Mural Project. While she reported on activities, a slide show of work on the wall was shown. $46,000 has been raised to date. Bill Riphahn talked about the proposed landscaping. Christy Davis talked about the narrative panels that will be put up. Upon a vote of the general membership, the name of the park was selected to be the Aaron Douglas Art Park.
  2. Rachel Will, President, and Kate McCowan, Vice-President, of the Washburn Student government Association were introduced and spoke briefly about the ongoing partnership with TAT.
  3. The primary focus of the meeting was recognition of improvements made in the central Topeka area: Varsity Blues at 161 SW 17th; 8th street lofts (116 SW 8th) above the Celtic Fox; Palace Condos at 709 S Kansas Avenue; 919 S Kansas Avenue; Gizmo at 3100 SW Huntoon; Starry Night Café at 1620 SW 6th; and Clark & Susan Duffy at 1501 SW Boswell. In the course of the recognitions we found out that Crosby Place will also be converted into condos and a new parking structure is scheduled to be built on Jackson behind all of the development. The new Green Parrot downtown in the WT Grant building is now open.
  4. Under announcements, David Leamon talked about the proposal by the City Council to remove funding for the “way finding signs”. He emphasized how important they are to aid with tourism and urged everyone to contact the City Council to try to keep the money in the funding plan. Christy Davis reminded everyone about eh Kansas Historic Preservation Conference on May 5 – 7 at the Capital Plaza Hotel. Delores Smith reported on the College Hill Blooms event on Saturday, May 7th at Boswell Square Park as an opportunity to buy some good plants. Karen Hiller reported that HCCI will have a Homebuyer 101 class on June 25th (preregistration is required).

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.

People who are interested in improving the quality and image of Central Topeka, particularly people who live in or own property in the Central Topeka area from Monroe to MacVicar and 21st to the Kansas River, are particularly encouraged to attend. For further information, call 234-2883.