HSPI General Meeting, Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 7-8pm, Hope Lutheran Church at 500 Hickory.
Meeting called to Order at 7:02pm by President Mark Manovich; Introduction and Social Time Invite..
Community Reports
City of Dayton Police: No report
Community Engagement: No Report
Meeting Minutes: April and May 2024 Meeting Minutes will need to be reviewed and approved together at the next June meeting.
Presidents Report
Liberty School Developments: Liberty High School purchased the lot at Wayne and Wyoming that has been vacant for many years. Although HSPI let the City know that we felt this was not the most appropriate location for this school, and suggested it be built on a former school site in the Twin Towers neighborhood, and that this lot should be reserved for stated commercial use, the city accepted the submission of a design from Liberty School developers. The development is underway. On April 8th, Mark Manovich, as an individual and owner of a commercial property on Wayne Avenue, filed a complaint in the Montgomery County Pleas Court claiming that the City of Dayton and its Board of Zoning Appeals failed to follow the rules set forth in its Zoning Code. The Walnut Hills Association is also a plaintiff. No HSPI funds are being sought to fund this lawsuit, but Mark asked: does HSPI want to join this lawsuit as an additional plaintiff, in addition to himself and Walnut Hills. A motion was made for HSPI to join the lawsuit. Discussion followed. As Housing Development Chair, Karin Manovich, mentioned that she has been working on many other issues throughout the neighborhood and this lawsuit is part of a bigger picture. An example is the lower half of one of our neighborhood parks, South Park Green, was sold to developers seemingly with arbitrary processes, ignoring the rules and regulations we understood were in place. Rather than being public in their actions as required, it appears in several cases the city is making deals behind closed doors. The plaintiffs feel that the arbitrary process of the city administration and how they are making these decisions should be concerning to neighbors. Mark shared that the goal of the lawsuit is not monetary, it’s to highlight that the city ignored its own rules in this case. The motion for HSPI to join the suit as a plaintiff passed.
735 Wayne Building – Request for Input on color choices: The building owner (corner of Hickory and Wayne / the former Blommel Sign building) is going before landmarks to ask about colors and Mark will solicit feedback from us on the owner’s color choices.
Police Staffing Update: Staffing is down and the DPD is potentially losing more officers.
Wayne Avenue Sunoco Meditation Meeting: As HSPI president, Mark attended a second mediation meeting between the owner of both Sunoco Wayne Avenue locations (which have been plagued with crime that has spilled over into South Park, Twin Towers and Walnut Hills). It was also attended by many interested parties, including surrounding neighborhood presidents, business owners, the police and various social service providers. The police attended to make it clear that the police can now trespass any individuals off the Sunoco premises. Sunoco stated they have hired security people, but they cannot carry guns, which gives these security people less authority with troublemakers. They Dayton police and Sunoco security people are working through this together. The owner has been told that if their property continues to be an excessive nuisance, the city can shut down business for a year. Esther Price owners also attended and said they used to fuel up their over 50 trucks at these locations but have stopped.
Street Paving: South Park will not have any paved streets this year.
Committee Reports
Social: Please attend the Blommel Park Grand re-opening celebration from 4-6pm this Saturday, June 1st. It’s to celebrate the new toddler playground equipment and the fundraising efforts of an awesome team of neighbors. June 8th is our HSPI garage sale with over 60 homes listed! Shop. Or go to the HSPI Facebook page and sign up to be on the shopper’s map. June 15/16th will be our HSPI Pride event. More information coming soon! We’ll have two PPD’s this summer, July 13th and August 29th.
Parks: No report.
Block Captains: If anyone is interested in helping with block captain work, please let us and Amanda know.
Membership: HSPI currently has 57 households/members, contributing $1,165 to our coffers. We’re about 2/3 of the way to our goal.
Anti-Crime: Neighbors noticed an uptick in recent thefts on Perrine Street and asked for vigilance.
Housing & Development: The blighted former nursing home at 250 Park Drive is being prioritized for demolition in 2024. The owner of the property has given permission to the city to do an asbestos survey inside the building. Housing is working with the housing inspector to get the tire store at Wayne and Oak to store their tires in a fire-proof container rather than out in the open. Our housing inspector is now working on blighted garages in South Park. 442 Oak Street squatters (next to Blommel Park) was brought up as a concern by a neighbor and Housing will work on that.
Preservation Dayton: Invites South Parkers to an upcoming event on Friday, June 21st at 5pm – The Delco Loft Apartments Sneak Peek at 124 Madison Street. The cost is $10 for PDI members and $15 for non-members.
Announcements
Neighbor and Speakeasy yoga instructor Aaron Gehring announced South Park Yoga: Coming back in 2024! We will host every Saturday from 10-11am at Blommel Park starting this Saturday, June 1st through Labor Day. Aaron’s announcements will appear on Facebook’s Historic South Park Discussion group page.
Kick-off Pride month: Come to Branch and Bone this Friday, May 31st from 4-7pm with your hosts Dogs of South Park, an adoption event with Adopt a Pit. There will be a lot of Pride items for sale, as well.
Shakespeare in South Park auditions: Come to Hope Lutheran Church on June 1 and 2 from 7-8pm or June 10 and 11 at 6:30-8:30pm. The 2024 production is Love’s Labour’s Lost. Contact Galen Wilson with any questions at [email protected]
Free Flo Box: If anyone would like to donate products, please stop at the box, and view their Facebook page.
If you missed the very popular 2023 production of Shakespeare in South Park – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – you can watch the video on YouTube at thanks to David Esrati/The Next Wave.
The mosaic of the South Park Lady has been installed in front of the gazebo on Park Drive. Thank you to the Mosaic Institute!
Meeting adjourned at 8:04pm