Oakland City MARTA Station finally getting Murphy St. elevator

From https://leadership.saportareport.com/transit/2019/08/12/marta-begins-installing-oakland-city-station-elevator:

MARTA staff has been installing supporting equipment such as fire protection, elevator communications, CCTV cameras, and a new MARTA Police Department area in the concourse to ensure the safety and security of the station.

The current schedule has the elevator opening in mid-October, after a round of safety inspections and testing. MARTA and Schindler are working to complete the project sooner to better serve customers.

Reopened NPU-S bylaws effort

After bringing the (proposed) revised NPU-S bylaws to the July NPU-S meeting and to assorted neighborhood associations, several people have suggested clarifications and changes, and others wrote in with questions.

Given the level of interest shown in the bylaws update, and given that the bylaws must be submitted to the City by September 30th, the Executive Committee has signed off on a plan to reopen the update effort in a timely manner.

Briefly, we will hold a special bylaws meeting to put together a ballot of proposed changes.  They will then be voted on at the September General Meeting. This way, each change can be considered by the entire Body, instead of presenting a completed work for an up-or-down vote.

Here are the details:

• The bylaws meeting will be held September 7, from 11am to 1pm, at the Outdoor Activity Center (1441 Richland Rd).  If you cannot make it in person, you can participate either online  at https://meet.google.com/mrr-esmf-jgn or by calling in on the conference line at 314-474-2124‬ PIN ‪323 519 045‬#.
• The goal of the meeting is not to come up with a finished set of bylaws. Instead, the goal will be to create a ballot of proposed changes to the bylaws, along with explanatory text for each proposal. 
• The ballot will be published on social media and distributed to the neighborhood organizations ahead of the September 19th General Meeting. 
• At the September meeting, the Body will participate in a "vote-a-rama" on the ballot items. 
• Each proposal will be brought up for a tightly limited debate; then the ballots will be collected and counted. 
• In accordance with City of Atlanta Code of Ordinances, "there shall be no restrictions upon a resident's right to vote on the approval or disapproval of the bylaws". (https://library.municode.com/ga/atlanta/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIIICOORANDECO_PT6BUPL_CH3PL_ARTBNEPL_S6-3016BY)
• Winning proposals will be incorporated into the NPU-S bylaws and submitted to the City by the September 30 deadline.

This approach should offer a good balance between speed, openness, and flexibility. We are grateful for the renewed interest that the community has shown in this fundamental topic.

Closing the Homeownership Gap in Metro Atlanta and Beyond, August 28, 8:30am, The Carter Center

Presented by Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, in collaboration with Urban Institute, National Association of Real Estate Brokers, NeighborWorks^Ⓡ America.

The racial wealth gap has been growing over the past five decades and has reached the point where white households hold more than ten times the wealth of black households. The homeownership gap between black and white families is 30 percent.

On August 28, 2019, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP), in collaboration with Urban Institute, National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) and NeighborWorks^Ⓡ America, will host a summit entitled Closing the Homeownership Gap in Metro Atlanta and Beyond.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The Carter Center
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30307

The event is free to attend, but registration in advance is required. REGISTER NOW.

The event overview and presenters can be downloaded here.

Special Election: Vice Chair

So our Vice Chair, Daniel Burroughs, is moving out of the area, leaving the NPU with a vacancy. On Sunday, the Executive Committee appointed Morgan Cooper, our current Secretary, to act in capacity as Vice Chair for the remainder of the term; but in accordance with Article VIII, Section 5 of our bylaws:

Section 5: Whenever any vacancy occurs, the Executive Committee may select a person to fill such vacancy until the next meeting of NPU-S. The person selected by the Executive Committee to fill the vacancy shall be considered a nominee for the position. The vacant position shall be filled by election at the next meeting of NPU-S.

Therefore, at the August meeting, we will take nominations from the floor and hold a snap election for the position of Vice Chair.  This election is only to complete the existing term, which ends  December 2019; in November, the regular NPU-S officer elections will be held for the 2020-21 term. 

General Meeting this Thursday, 8/15, 7pm

This Thursday the 15th will be our NPU General Meeting for August 2019, held, as always, on the third Thursday of each month.

At this meeting there will be two presentations, a special event approval, and a zoning ordinance vote, plus announcements about developments with Atlanta Streets Alive and the NPU-S Bylaws effort. 

And, of course, reports from the police, code enforcement, public works, and many more!

See you there!

When: Thursday, June 20, 2019, 7-9pm
Where: VICARS, 838 Cascade Rd SW
Agenda: http://bit.ly/NPUSAgendaAugust2019

NPU-S Calendar of Events, August 12 - 18

Coming up this week on the NPU-S calendar:
NPU-S Events:

• Monday, August 12 - ARTlanta OPEN Mondays - 7pm, Stained Gallery (1719 Sayers St SW). Open mic & networking event for musicians to showcase their talents and mix & mingle with their peers within the art and music community. 
• Update: the Fulton Fresh Market ended at this location last week, our apologies for the error. Tuesday, August 13 - Fulton Fresh Market - 1pm, Outdoor Activity Center (1442 Richland Rd). Every week, attendees participate in a 30-minute UGA Extension SNAP-Ed nutrition education food demonstration and then are provided with a free bag of in-season produce from our mobile market.
• Tuesday, August 13 - Graymont Drive Neighborhood Organization - 6:30pm, St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church (1558 Venetian Dr). Monthly meeting of GDNA, which operates over Graymont, Elizabeth, Lockwood, and Westmont. Contact DionneMoore2015@gmail.com for more information.
• Thursday, August 14 - NPU-S General Meeting - 7pm, VICARS (838 Cascade Ave).
• Saturday, August 17 - WAWA Walk with a Doc - 9am,  Lionel Hampton Trail (390 Willis Mill Road) Free, registration required. Weekly walk with health professionals, ask questions while getting fit. https://wawa-online.eventbrite.com
• Saturday, August 17 - Westridge/Sandtown Venetian Hills Neighborhood Organization - 10am. Monthly meeting of WSCO, which operates over the entirety of Venetian Hills. Contact VenetianHillsPresident@gmail.com for more information.

External Events:

• Monday, August 12 - NPU-V Meeting - 7pm, Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority Resource Center (341 Kelly St SE). NPU-V encompasses the communities of Mechanicsville, Summerhill, Peoplestown, Pittsburgh, Adair Park, and Capitol Gateway.
• Wednesday, August 14 - Opportunity ATL Job & Resource Fair - 9am, Impact Event Center (2323 Sylvan Rd). Free on-site services for jobseekers. Register at https://www.opportunityatl.org/job-fair.
• Wednesday, August 14 - NPU-T Meeting - 7pm,  Lee & White St Community Room (1020 White St SW). NPU-T encompasses the communities of Ashview Heights, Atlanta University Center, Harris Chiles, Just Us, Castleberry Hill, West End, and Westview.  Please note, this is a different location from the regular meeting space.
• Saturday, August 17 - Atlanta Planning Advisory Board General Meeting - 10am, Atlanta City Hall (55 Trinity Ave).

If you have any local events that you'd like to see on the NPU-S calendar, please send email to events@npu-s.org. Please be sure to include the date, time, and location of your event!

Proposed bylaws changes

In February, NPU-S called a meeting of a Bylaws Committee to go over the current bylaws and review proposed changes. After a period of review and revision, the Executive Committee approved the proposed changes for vote at the General Meeting.

The timeline originally was to hold the vote in August, as the bylaws were introduced to the General Body at the July meeting. However, since the August meeting is typically lightly attended, and the deadline for bylaws submission to the City is end of September, it seems like a better idea to give the community extra time to review and comment on the bylaw changes. Vote will be held at the September meeting.

The directory containing the bylaws is at:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=131Em9xdTcMX9CmO_lIaBBJSV931Be5aN

There are four PDF documents in the directory:

• 2017 bylaws - the current bylaws that the NPU operates under
• 2010-2011 bylaws - a previous version for historical comparison
• The current proposed 2019 version, and
• An annotated version of the proposed 2019 bylaws.

The annotated version uses colors to show the differences between the 2017 version and the proposed version. Added sections are highlighted in green; changes sections are highlighted in yellow, and deleted sections are in highlighted in red with strikethrough.

Most of the changes are minor:

• Some sections were simply moved into more appropriate areas. For instance, Article I, section 4 was moved to Article III, section 6.
• In other cases, clarifying language was added. For instance, text on what defines an "active community association" was added in Article V, Section 3.  

There are two fundamental changes to the bylaws:

• First, the number of standing committees is collapsed from nine committees to four. The purpose of this change is to have fewer, larger committees, instead of many one-person "committees" that cannot work effectively.  This codifies the "teams" system that the NPU is currently using. All responsibilities from the previous committees are preserved, merely swept into the new committees:
• The new Land Use Committee takes on the responsibilities of the current Land Use, Zoning, and Transportation committees.
• The new Quality of Life Committee takes on the responsibilities of the Human Development and Public Safety, Environment, and Recreation and Cultural Affairs committees.
• The new Assistant Services committee takes on the responsibilities of the Senior Services and Education committee.
• The new Policy Committee takes on the responsibilities of the APAB committee.  It also formulates NPU-S's official positions on citywide and regional issues.
• Second, the role and responsibilities of the APAB representative is enhanced. The purpose of this change is to create a system around the NPU's relationship with the City and its neighbors.  Currently, the Chair winds up being the face of the NPU, but this can lead to the NPU taking positions that are at odds with its constituency.  By creating a committee, this change hopes to ensure that the NPU's official positions reflect the will of the community.  The APAB representative is assigned as head of the Policy Committee by default, and by default the role of APAB representative is assign to the Vice-Chair. These responsibilities can be delegated to other people.

Physical copies of the bylaws will be available at the next NPU meeting. 

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, please by all means get in touch with with the Chair at chair@npu-s.org (or call 404 890 0089), email the executive committee at exec@npu-s.org, talk with your local neighborhood organization, or come to the General Meeting.