Rock Island Preservation Society
Rock Island Preservation Society (RIPS)
Rock Island, IL
January 17, 2012
RIPS Membership Meeting
Tuesday, January 17, 7 pm
Home of Diane Oestreich, 816 22nd Street
A cold snowy evening and illness made for a small turnout at this business meeting.
1. Call to order: President Linda Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:15/
2. Minutes of the October Meeting & a Summary of our November movie, The Greenest Building was emailed by Diane Oestreich. In lieu of a December meeting or social, we attended the Moline Preservation Society dinner and presentation on Monday, December 12. The turnout from RIPS was very poor and many of our members noted date/time conflicts.
3. Vice President: Pam Saunders – We need meeting sites for February 21, March 20 & April 17. Linda volunteered to host the February meeting (unless someone else offers). Daryl Empen will host the March meeting at the Gas & Electric Credit Union to review our award candidates. Pam will check with Jackson Square and Boldens to see if April is available. She has other ideas as well.
4. Treasurer: Daryl Empen Our current RIPS balance is $3619.11 and we also have $4397.65 in the Villa donation fund. The RIPS balance is actually about $275 more than last year, so we do not need to raise dues, despite this year’s expenses. We received cash donations of $32 from the popcorn sold at the November Greenest Building movie. This was given to Clayton Peterson to partially defray his expenses in purchasing the popcorn and other treats. Clayton generously absorbed the unreimbursed costs as a donation to RIPS. We only received $100 in 2011 as a Villa donation.
5. Corresponding Secretaries: Clayton Peterson, Martha Dismer Martha needs newsletter info early, because she has a new computer and software, for a February newsletter. We will include a call for award nominees, officer candidates, a membership renewal form, and Linda will write something to expand on the importance (and success) of preservation for a city’s economy..
6. Business items (report only if needed and not necessarily in this order). Since it has been several months since we had a full business meeting, there may be additional updates. Some of the following is provided for your information, but does not require additional discussion.
Hauberg Christmas Tree Report –. Clayton, Diane, Leslie O’Ryan & Pete & Terri Cone decorated the Hauberg front hall tree. Since the Hauberg folks had given us a wrong date to take the tree down, only two of us, Leslie and Diane, were available for that task.
Endangered Buildings – Old Lincoln School - The good news is that an online ad has been prepared for Old Lincoln. See it at http://historicrealestate.preservationnation.org/viewlisting.php?id=742 Click on the tabs for pictures & description. This is a “featured” ad, which means that it will pop up when someone visits the site for other buildings. It was paid for by the Broadway Historic District Association and prepared by Alan Carmen.
The bad news is that the City Council rejected the tarp to protect the roof. This was a decision that several RIPS members individually supported, based on information solicited from preservation professionals across the state. Basically no one had experience with such tarps and most felt it was unlikely that a tarp would stay in place in high winds. More bad news is that bids are being sought to begin demolition immediately after the July deadline.
Another endangered building, the former First Church of Christ Scientist has been purchased and renovations are underway for reuse as the Karpeles Manuscript Museum. Read and see more at http://qctimes.com/news/local/old-ri-church-on-renovation-fast-track/article_dce89d02-3b45-11e1-9cd8-0019bb2963f4.html andhttp://historicrealestate.preservationnation.org/viewlisting.php?id=742
Website - Diana Alm- Although Diana wasn’t present, it was noted that our Awards section needs photos of the awards and also that for 2011 there is a video of Linda at the City Council meeting rather than a list of the award recipients. It was felt that the video should be an option rather than the only link. The “slideshows” under the Tours tab for Watch Hill was also considered extraneous. There seemed to be no way to download any of these tours as PDFs, which is desirable.
Neighborhood Partners - Linda said that the RI Fire Chief was the featured speaker at the last NP meeting. He explained things such as why a fire truck always accompanies an ambulance (often access. Moving help, and even ladders are needed; sometimes additional EMT help is also needed; ALL RI firemen are EMT trained). If it is obvious that additional help is not needed, the fire truck returns before the ambulance. Linda also said that NP representatives learned about police activity near schools, with an itemized list of actions. Many actions relate to speeding and cell phone use. Linda has volunteered to serve on the Knowledge thru Neighbors taskforce which recently presented the successfulFinancial Peace University. That task force will be addressing sustainability and she hopes to promote existing and historic buildings as major contributors to sustainability and encourage the "care and feeding" of such older buildings. She would also like to learn more about the GROWTH maintenance programs for new homeowners.
Excess Equipment – RICHS wanted our large folding tables that we no longer use. It was approved at a previous meeting to donate them to RICHS. However they still haven’t contacted Linda to pick them up. Linda will contact them as a reminder.
Officer Elections – coming in February. Volunteers willing to take an office are welcomed and encouraged. Contact Linda or Diane.
AWARDS – We discussed several new candidates for awards which will be added to the master list for photography and evaluation.
Other Business – We discussed approaching the new Karpeles museum to see if they could use/reuse the Villa arch or a part of it. The problem that would be created by laying it on the ground in its entirety was explained by Linda. We had earlier talked about putting the header piece, with the inscription somewhere.
7. Announcements, Events, & General
8. Adjourn
Diane Oestreich
309 788-1845
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309 788-1845
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