Attendees: Kristin Arkin-Leydig, David Mindock, Mark Moore, Ben Kohut, Arianna Morris, Donna Wickham, Linda Dailey, Molly Stawinoga, Emily Holben Walker
Call to Order (Kristin) at 6:45; Molly to take minutes
Approval of January Minutes
Donna moved to approve
Emily and Linda seconded
Egg Hunt
Fundraising outreach
Permit with Bradley (Lisa submitted)
For Saturday, April 19
Order supplies (Kristin)
Kristin is working on getting egg fillers.
We’ve previously done Oriental Trading – prices are a lot higher than in the past – going through Costco or Walmart instead.
Candy, stickers, erasers, and toys
No gum
Reach out to Timbuk Toys (Kristin)
They would love to continue working with us
They will do a table and run the grand prize giveaway/golden coin thing
Last year, they gave us a prize for each age group, and a younger child picked an older child’s toy → we need to ensure folks in their age range take the corresponding toys
Create Flyer and Half Sheet (Ben)
Ben has started drafting
Quarter/Half sheet
This will help since we have ~12,000 homes in the neighborhood
Could include a QR code that sends to event info
Content: community meeting March 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m. + egg hunt info with QR code
Distribute the first week of March to get them out
Next meeting on March 13
Half sheets are for Bradley
Get prints of Flyer and Half-sheet
Eisenhower Rec Center
Annual Sponsors
Event Sponsors
Neighborhood signs (can’t use canal trail anymore)
It’s Denver Park and Rec policy to not have any signage on the trail
We could still try to put some on the utility poles
Half sheets go out in student folders the Friday before spring break. Kristin to ask Lisa when they are needed.
Arianna can use work printer to print around 50, Kristin usually gets them from FedEx
Stuff eggs
Last year, we did ~3,000 eggs
April 5: we will stuff eggs at Kirstin’s
Event insurance (Kristin)
Need one mil dollar insurance plan, Linda did it last year
Kristin handling
Reach out to coffee cart (Kristin)
Now that we have permit, Kristin will do this
Day of set-up
Signs: we still have them
Signs with the donation QR code – we cannot reuse because it goes to Donna’s
Committee Updates
Communications
Website
Facebook
Lisa has the FB passwords – Arianna is meeting with her tomorrow
They will establish our strategy
Arianna at least wants the passwords/admin stuff
Arianna will make the cover photo in Canva
Can link the Facebook to the meetup group; also can direct people in the meetup to Facebook
Add link to subscribe to newsletter
Nextdoor
Newsletter
Emily will send newsletter sometime before Feb. 18 about Denver Parks and Rec doing summer sign-ups
Eisenhower rec gives us an early bird signup
Communications committee will meet and divide responsibilities for future newsletters
Meet Up (Emily)
Emily would appreciate comms support
Categories
Website
Written: newsletters, emails, announcements
Social media
Flyers to be finalized the week of Feb. 17
Arianna can pull data of folks who have moved into the neighborhood
Eventually – we could think about mailers/door hangers
Next steps:
Let’s catalog what Emily does and how she does it so we know how to tap in
Communications committee scheduled meeting for Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at Arianna’s home
Idea: community stories
Goat mystery solved: baby goat passed away and mom was shipped to Fort Collins
Fundraising
Liaisons
Inter-neighborhood Cooperation (INC)
(6:30-8) – zoom and rotates in person
David and Ben interested
Mayoral group – different in person locations
Typically during the day
Being involved in those committees would be important for land use/development goals
Mark is interested – free starting end of April
Kristin to send an email on what INC is and what the mayoral group is
Mark - Mayoral LUP
David and Ben - INC LUP
Bethesda Park (4301 E. Iliff Ave) open house
This will be an opportunity to discuss plans for the park’s development and share your thoughts on how we can make it a space that serves our community for years to come.
When: February 27th at 5:30pm to 7:00 pm
Where: Denver Academy Johnston Commons, 4400 E Illiff.
Southmoore Park open house
Denver Parks and Recreation invites you to drop by our open house to discuss improvements at Southmoor Park. Stop by anytime during the meeting to share your feedback. Spanish language interpretation services will be provided at this meeting. For more information visitdenvergov.org/ParkProjects.
When: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 | 4:30 – 6:30 PM
Where: Southmoor Elementary, 3755 S Magnolia Way, Denver, CO 80237
Volunteerism (Kristin on behalf of Donna)
Thomas Jefferson Class of 2028 fun run, est May (Kevin and Jill Krug)
Should we host a Goodwill Donation Drive?
Canal Clean up
Decided to pivot from a May cleanup to late summer when there will be less snow/water.
Movie night is Sept. 6 – we don’t want the cleanup near movie night
We will need at least 9 volunteers
Canal clean up on Sept 20 → Donna reaching out to the conservancy to make sure it works.
Molly to help with Comms
Treasurer's Report (Linda Daily)
Board Objective 2025 (Emily)
Emily asked attendees to all say why they care about the neighborhood/why they are involved in UHNA.
Mark - Cares because he lives here. Canal, park, proximity to Kingsoopers/retail
Donna - Reminds her of neighborhoods in small town, building community, strategic demographics - reach outside of families with kids (Older adults, Families without Kids). Block party community garage sale. Is planning a volunteer canal cleanup (looking into Sept. 20 date with conservancy)
Dave - Likes the food truck events in the summer, wants more water in the canal and to create more of a community center at the library and rec centers.
Linda - Lived here through happenstance. Been here 12 years. Favorite part of neighborhood is knowing her neighbors. Community garden.
Kristin - build community, Robin singer starbuck - Uhills. Would love more local businesses in the community, having a more mixed-use feel.
Molly - Renter in the neighborhood, here this past year. Perifery of everything here. Get young people involved. Civically engaged and voter registration NPO. KAL to send the ranger for Eisenhower for info on Denver mulch dropoffs.
Arianna - Most affordable neighborhoods with a yard. Very centrally located. Focus - lock down processes to dream bigger.
Ben - Moved here 3 years ago. Loves the outdoor space. Wants more engagement of place where people can come together. Third places.
Emily - Everyone in the family moved back to Denver. This is Denver’s first suburb; loves the suburban amenities and urban appeal. Wants to figure out the farmer’s market situation (more details below).
Common themes
Land use/planning groups – we need representation
Farmers market
Maybe community survey
Community center
Bring farmers market back to UHills
Redevelopment support
Community stories
We don’t have any guest speakers for our March meeting
Speaker Ideas
We could get Gabby to do an “intro to the community center” presentation
Kristin will reach back out to Kristin Monroe again to see
Emily, Kendra, and Jennifer (RNO UHills North) could attend a future meeting to talk about the farmer’s market moving
The farmer’s market is moving. It’ll be in unincorporated Arapahoe County around Iliff/Parker – the vacant King Soopers right by the dump. (Emily)
The ownership group of UHills Plaza is still largely local
Robin who runs and owns the market said that they’re building a new bank in the UHills Plaza
It’s too late to change what’s probably going to happen this year
There was a survey a few years ago: what do you love about U Hills?
What they wanted more of is a community center
Our community would likely want to be a part of it
How can we make sure they don’t keep adding more big box stores
We could also do a garden swap; Arianna knows of a nonprofit that could be good to talk to
If we don’t have a way to swap produce – could donate extra produce
Denver food banks
We have a community garden at Bradley! We donate to local food pantries; we could figure out a way to have a table and some baskets – that’s part of what we donate to local food banks.
What about Sprouts area? – Diana Romero Campbell said they have construction plans for the summer
What about Tamarac?
Happy Canyon was owned for years by someone convicted of fraud; maybe new ownership would be interested in developing that place
Donna would like to know what group owns the Sprouts shopping area – they filed permits with the city
Movie theater + tuesday morning just went out of business
Arianna could work her realty contacts to see who owns what plazas/developments
The other neighbors may need some support from our RNO to figure out the Happy Canyon construction practice zone
Action Items/Bike rack
Kristin and Arianna are meeting with Diana Romero Campbell on Thurs
Dahlia/Hampden/Happy Canyon construction – most dangerous intersection in the state
We haven’t been including folks who didn’t attend in December/January on emails – we will add them to meeting invites
Eddie might know what they’re doing with the intersection at Dahlia/Highline canal
Kristin thinks the planned work was just increasing signage
Driver behavior is way better at Dahlia, worse on other places on the canal
Donna: They don’t have the data that it’s a dangerous spot
Close meeting - 8:40 p.m.
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