The Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group’s Outreach Committee\u00a0met on\u00a0Friday, October 14, at 8:30 a.m., at the offices of the\u00a0Fifth Avenue Committee, at 621 Degraw Street. The agenda included discussion of choosing future meeting dates and times to best accommodate all Committee members, brainstorming the future of the Outreach Committee, and discussion of key initiatives for outreach to the broader community.
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Committee Members Present<\/u>
Sabine Aronowsky
Eric McClure
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CAG Member (non-Committee)<\/u>
Louis Kleinman
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Guests<\/u>
Natalie Loney, EPA
Terri Thompson, National Grid
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Sabine will create a Doodle poll for future best meeting dates and times.
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Participation on the committee has been poor; nearly 20 people are listed as Outreach members, but attendance has been in the low single digits.\u00a0 Eric will check attendance rules for committees vs. full CAG [follow-up: Attendance rules are the same; attendance at 50% of committee meetings is required. \u00a0Given that standard, most Outreach Committee members have failed to meet their attendance obligation.]
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People have a limited capacity to help; assigning tasks might be the best approach.
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The Admin Committee should crack down a bit on non-active members, both at-large and organizational members. There should be more coordination between Admin and Outreach to communicate with CAG members about attendance.<\/p>\n
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Sabine suggested that we hold a re-orientation at every September meeting to get people back on the same page.\u00a0 Are there summary materials that could be distributed?\u00a0To this end, could EPA do a recap at the November general meeting?\u00a0Outreach could communicate to the broader community about the November update if we schedule that.<\/p>\n
Should we invite the new Brooklyn Parks Commissioner to the November CAG meeting?
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Are we at the membership cap for the full CAG? If there are CAG openings, where are the gaps?\u00a0 Are there neighborhoods or communities that are underrepresented? \u00a0Outreach can explore filling those gaps, perhaps in partnership with Admin.
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CAG Outreach and Timeline Flyer: Louis suggested that the flyer is too wordy.\u00a0 Streamline it: CAG was formed in 2010, collects concerns from the community, etc.\u00a0Should be distributed to Community Board Six, especially the waterfront committee, elected officials, community groups.
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Natalie will confirm if the information on the CAG Timeline is still accurate.
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Every organizational CAG member needs to be distributing notices and materials.\u00a0 How do we hold them to account<\/p>\n
Fourth Street Basin work<\/u>
Will begin October 24, or shortly thereafter.\u00a0 Debris removal in preparation for dredging.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay to communicate now with larger community (via the CAG website & Twitter feed).
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EPA will be present at the kickoff to do outreach on-site.
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Critical for Outreach Committee to be involved.\u00a0 EPA would like attendance from CAG members, and help in communicating what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
EPA will issue a press advisory and will have a fact sheet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"