Minutes: May 2019 Neighborhood Meeting

Historic Edgefield Neighbors met on Tuesday, May 28, at East Park Community Center. The following are the minutes from the meeting:

Crime Report: Commander Imhoff

• 49 incidents, 33 thefts or larcenies, 5 were personal, one was sexual assault (youth, known to each other)
  
• 1 robbery -- person pulled from car, 3 aggravated assaults 
  
• Sky Blue was burglarized - safe taken
  
• 4 shoplifting, one bike off a porch
  
• 19 theft from cars, 4 guns taken (23 total guns for the year)
  
• 10 vehicle thefts (8 had keys in them)
  
• Violent crimes, home thefts at historic lows on the whole (varies in some areas)

MNPD Community Engagement Team: Sergeant Paul Smith

• Now have a flex teams in Cayce Homes as well as Edgefield: 5th to 9th, Woodland to Lenore 
  
• Shifted focus from just enforcement to community involvement
  
• Programs in schools, after care programs at parks, community centers, Martha O’Bryan
  
• Looking for feedback from the community
  
• Trying to be a part of the community in all aspects - not just crime specific 
  
• Started an advisory board inclusive of residents, councilman, services folks
  
• Mostly seen on bikes and on foot to increase interactions
  
• Started a Walk the Cop program to help with truancy issues
  
• Call 862-8600 + all of the flex team has phones as well and pass out cards for community access
  
• Sergeant Paul Smith: 615-489-2828 / [email protected] / www.joinmnpd.com

Recycle and Waste Reduction: Turnip Green Creative Reuse, Kelsea Shaw

• Do a lot of recycling education and other topics
  
• Turnip Green: “Goodwill for art and craft supplies” - no prices, pay what you can/want
  
• Work with Public Works around community education
  
• Litterati - an app that you can take pics of your litter and tag the companies whose trash you are finding
  
• Recycling: gave out some large stickers for trash cans to help clarify what CAN be recycled 
  
• Machine sorters - can’t take glass or plastic bags, no food, contaminated food items (pizza boxes)
  
• Starting to pass out “OOPS Tags” for when they find things that are in there that cannot be recycled 
  
• Contamination can cause an entire batch of recyclables to go into the landfill - food, trash, remaining laundry detergent, etc.
  
• City does not provide recycling for businesses or churches
  
• 12 convenience centers around Davidson County - batteries, glass bottles, other items not picked up
  
• [email protected] / 615-720-7480

Other Business:

• Had an annual neighborhood litter cleanup two Saturday’s ago 
  
• Need to remind neighbors to cut grass in the alleys, and maintain that space - will also help reduce the trash that has gotten caught in the weeds

Glass Recycling: Ellen Peterson, Justice Industries, Just Glass

• Local nonprofit focused on putting people to work, founded in 2012 
  
• Just Glass is a curbside recycling glass pickup
  
• Expensive to process and has to go to Atlanta to be processed
  
• Twice per month pickup, leave the bin someplace visible
  
• $16/month for the service
  
• Just Mattresses, Just Clean are other business offerings - goal is to get employees to a livable wage - $15/hour
  
• People can get more information at JusticeIndustries.org  website and sign up for the glass recycling at Just-Glass.com

Council Update: Councilman Brett Withers

• Introduced: Chris Van Loon: District 6 Beautification Commissioner - Saturday cleanup planned for the Shadow Lane creek area near the greenway and Cornelia Fort, contact with ideas: 615-354-7183, [email protected] 
  
• Council currently working on the Budget - Mayor meets with every department/departmental hearings - Mayor makes a recommendation - then the Council meets with every department - Council will hold a Public Hearing on the Budget - Tuesday
  
• Mayor’s recommended plan includes 3% cost of living adjustment for all Metro Employees plus MNPS teachers
  
• Monday, 4pm - The Russell Hotel Grand Opening
  
• Tuesday, 6:30pm, Metro Council Public Hearing
  
• WeGo - East Nashville Community hearing on service/route changes and eliminations due to the budget cuts
  
• Cayce Library - Public input sessions on June 12th, time TBD -> old library will serve mostly as a homework center 
  
• Scooters: Mayor Briley has given the companies an ultimatum, 30 days to come up with a new plan or the city would move to ban them
  
• STR: study was done on what it costs metro to enforce - proposal to increase the fees to cover the costs
  
• Legislation to close an RM (apartments, townhouses, condos) zoning loophole in bill 608

Other News: Residential Permit Parking - passed for 800-900 Russell Street and started to put in the signs, but only got a couple of them up - had some sort of issue with water lines