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Writer's pictureOakley Neighborhood Association

ONA Community Meeting Minutes: 4.20.2022

Location: French Broad Brewing

Date: 04.20.2022

Attendees: 42


Agenda:


Introductions(Bess McDavid):

  • Board members:

    • Bess McDavid - President

    • Michael Stratton - Vice President

    • Rich Lee - Treasurer

    • Betsy Nesbitt- Secretary

    • Natalie Romanello - Media

    • Alison Kiehl - at-large

Branding Grant (Michael Stratton)

  • Grant to create the branding is from the City of Asheville

  • We have a big graphic and a little graphic (see images below)

  • Wanted branding to say that we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we have a mix of people

  • Graphic is bold and welcoming, with homage to the Oak Tree with the acorn

  • Two possible tag lines: “Cultivating Community Together” or ”Growing Together”

  • Branding is a work in progress

Bylaws (Bess McDavid)

  • Committee and board are happy with this draft

  • We need to ratify

  • Bylaw of most interest for people is probably that we will have 5 officers (president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, media) and 3 at-large officers who will follow city/county meetings

Voting (Soni Pitts)

  • To vote to ratify by-laws and what we consider to be Oakley’s geographic boundaries use QR code on flier that will take you to a Google form; neighbors will be able to access Google page for next 6 days

Map(Michael Stratton)

  • There are 3 different zones on the map - city (residential), city (mostly commercial), county (residential)

  • The vote is on how do we want to define our geographic boundaries?

  • We need to ensure that future voting is coming from the proper constituency

Q: What are the advantages/disadvantages of the different combinations?


A: (Bess McDavid) Some places are walkable, some places are not


A: (Rich Lee) One disadvantage is having a part of Oakley included, but does not identify as being part of Oakley.


Garden Committee

  • Garden is up and running. Work days Wednesdays 5:30-7pm & Saturdays 10-12pm

  • Drop in for a work day, we can use the help!

  • Plant sale was very successful, but we still have some left that need a home

  • Proceeds go to support the infrastructure of the garden

  • Reach out to the garden committee if you have interest in helping out

Tree Committee

  • New name: Oakley Tree Keepers

  • Mission: Saving the mature trees of Oakley through helping people understand mature tree maintenance and working with developers to save trees on properties being developed

  • We will have a table for Open Streets event

  • Will partner with Asheville Greenworks Treasured Tree program

  • Next meeting May 11th at 5:30pm

Events Committee

  • Open Streets Event May 22nd 12-5

    • Note: event date was later changed to June 12, 2022

  • Need volunteers!

  • Purpose: to highlight walkability, value of our streets being used for alternative uses

Q:Is the idea of the event to campaign to close Thompson Street?


A: (Michael Stratton) No, it is a beautiful asset to our community, but not very usable due to walkability issues.


A: (Nell) Open Street Event is also a great way to showcase community programs: Asheville on Bike, Yoga

  • We have a Neighborhood Advisory Committee representative who is also on the multimodal board: working on Close the GAP (Greenways/Accessibility/Pedestrian) initiative

  • April 22nd is last day to register to vote for upcoming primary May 17th; early voting starts April 28th

  • We have dates reserved for Murphy/Oakley recreational center and the Oakley Park pavilion if anyone wants to use them for community purposes

Primary Candidate Wendy Navarrez

  • Running for congress NC-11 against Madison Cawthorn

  • Fiscal conservative/center on social issues

  • Has lived in Oakley for 9 years

  • Veteran

  • Has 4 kids

  • Highly invested in this neighborhood and North Carolina

Q: What is your top issue?

A: Making sure our democracy stays intact by rebuilding middle class through variable minimum wage, work-force housing, incentivizing companies to provide housing


Primary Candidate Nina Tovish

  • Running for city council

  • Lives in Shiloh

  • Believes in being able to speak to council members with concerns at any point, not just during campaigning

  • Believes in inclusivity, accountability


Close

  • We will have officer elections in June

Meeting Images:


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