Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association

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Email Jerica Etheridge:
jetheridge @ edmc.edu

Next Events:
Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6pm - Winter Traveling Social (begins at 409 E. Grove, then moves to 402 E. Grove)

Next meeting:
Thursday, March 1 @ 7pm, 512 E. Taylor St.

DGNA Board:
President: Brad Williams
Vice-President: Jerica Etheridge
Secretary: Terri Clemens
Treasurer: Melanie Hunter

What's New?

1/4/2012: DGNA Meeting Minutes

The January, 2012 meeting of the Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association was held on Jan. 4 at the home of Jerica Etheridge. The website is having a problem, so minutes could not be approved. Treasurer Melanie Hunter reported $2,775.71 in the treasury. Brad reported that the house at 705 E. Front will not be demolished, but will be saved by a local couple, who plan to rehab it to be once again a single family residence. They plan to have it ready for possession by new owners within a year. Thanks to the city staff, to Brad and to concerned neighbors, who worked hard to keep this house in our neighborhood.

There was further discussion about neighborhood vacant houses. Luminaries were beautiful this year, with at least 20 blocks lit. Thanks to all who helped to light the neighborhood.

The winter traveling social will be on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6pm beginning at 409 E. Grove, the home of Karen Schmidt and John Elterich. Karen is trying to find a second location to follow hers.

The flea market will be on June 2. The next meeting will be at the Eatons, at 512 E. Taylor on the first Thursday of March at 7pm (3/1).

11/3/11: DGNA Meeting Minutes

Treasurer reported 2953.10 in our bank account.
The Day in Historic Dimmitt’s Grove committee met on 10/18 and will meet again in February or March to review status of various committee members assigned tasks and continue planning
At this time 705 E Front may be sold to an owner interested in rehabbing or will possibly be torn down.
We are looking for volunteers to host the Winter Traveling Social in January of February. Date to be chosen by the first host volunteer.
We will be placing out luminaries once again this year on December 17th. Further communication to come from Jerica Etheridge.
There have been a couple reports of Paintballs and eggs damaging houses in and around Dimmitt’s Grove.
The next meeting will take place on Thursday, January 5th at 7 pm at 407 S. Evans.

9/1/11: DGNA Meeting Minutes

The Sept. meeting of Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association was called to order at the home of Diana Krieg and Dawn Peters, 402 E. Grove. 16 neighbors were in attendance. Minutes from the July meeting were not posted, so will be reviewed at November meeting. Melanie Hunter reported $2955.10 in the treasury. A date for luminaries will be announced at the November meeting. Jerica will be in charge of signing up neighbors and getting supplies. 705 E. Front has been vacant for years and has now become the property of Habitat for Humanity. Bob Russano addressed the meeting about concerns about its possible demolition. Habitat will be deciding to demolish or rehab it, after an inspection. A vote was taken to allow Bob to convey the message to Habitat the the neighborhood association is behind a rehab project at 705 E. Front, in spirit, as Habitat deems best, in the interest of preserving the integrity of the neighborhood. The Chili Cook-off will be Oct. 2, from 4 to 7, at the home of Herb and Pam Eaton at 510 E. Taylor. We will have three prizes for chili and this year will add a prize for dessert, side dish and appetizer. Founder's Grove and Downtown neighborhoods will also be invited. Bring your best chili, or an appetizer, side dish or dessert, along with your taste buds to participate in the judging. The Nov. 3 meeting will be hold at 605 E. Grove, the home of Drake and Heidi Flessner, at 7 PM.

6/16/11: Bake Sale is coming up soon! See our pricing / tips sheet if you're planning on baking!

6/10/11: May DGNA Meeting Minutes

The May meeting of Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association was called to order at Jerica Etheridge's house at 7 PM on May 5 by President Brad Williams. Minutes were approved. There was no treasurer's report.

At this point, only 3 people have signed up for the flea market, coming June 4. The Chili Cook-off will again be hosted by Pam and Herb Eaton at 510 E. Taylor on Oct. 2. The Bake Sale will be at the Farmer's Market on July 2. If you need to drop off things the day before, contact Terri Clemens at 828-8848 oroldstuff33@hotmail.com.

We hope to print a newsletter this summer to provide a calendar to those who don't have email. Jerica will send an email asking for newsletter articles.

Jerica will host a traveling social hour in July. She will ask a friend to provide the second spot. A date is coming.

We discussed putting signs in yards for a self-guided walking tour, using the posts from the Museum of History that were used for the Pillsbury signs. Each house would have its own history, provided by the owners or a committee, along with photos or whatever, printed and then laminated to hang outside for a limited time. Then, an invitation to the community would bring people to tour the neighborhood. We could combine this with a Day in Dimmitt's Grove, or it could be a stand alone project.

No burglaries were reported. A drug bust at 604 E. Grove took place in April, witnessed by many neighbors.

The next meeting will be at Marie Litta Park on July 7 at 7 PM.

3/28/11: Neighborhood Flea Market & Bake Sale Information and Signup

Time to sign up for the neighborhood flea market and to save a date for the Farmer's Market bake sale.

The flea market will be Sat. June 4 from 9 to 3. If you'd like to participate by having a sale at your house, call or email Terri Clemens at oldstuff33@hotmail.com or 828.8848. Five dollars will get your location on the maps and help pay for the group ad in the Pantagraph. On Saturday morning, Terri will walk the neighborhood and pass out maps and collect your $5.

The bake sale will be at the Farmer's Market on July 2. Please let Terri know if you can bake. Guidelines can be provided if you're not sure what the health dept. wants or how to price your things. Baked items need to be at Terri's house the night before the bake sale, unless you plan to deliver them to the booth bright and early. Last year, we made over $500 and only had 8 bakers. This year, let's try to spread the baking around a little more.

3/28/11: Vrooman Mansion Dinner on the Titanic, April 8-9

The Vrooman Mansion is serving a 9-course Titanic 1st Class meal, catered by Lancaster's, including wine! Contact the Vrooman for more information, (309) 828-8816 by Wednesday, March 30. Tickets are $80 per person for this 9-course meal with wine:

1st course - for the hors d' oeuvres - Shrimp Canapes & Blintz's with cream frache and Caviar
2nd course - Spring Pea Soup
3rd course - Poached Salmon paired with a Chardonnay
4th course - Tournedos of Beef with Mushrooms paired with a Merlot
5th course - Quail with Cherries paired with a Pinot Noir
6th course - Punch Rose Sorbet
7th course - Asparagus Salad with a Champagne Vinaigrette
8th course - Chocolate Painted Eclairs with Vanilla Cream
9th course - Fruit and Cheese paired with Port

3/9/11: Note from Karen Schmidt re: Neighborhood Preservation ordinance vote

Hi All,

The Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance (aka the "vacant house" ordinance) is up for a vote on the upcoming City Council meeting, March 14. Many of you have worked hard to see this ordinance developed, and I want to alert you to this vote. As the City has held many public input sessions, it is very likely there will not be an open session for additional comments.

Whatever your point of view about this, I want to encourage you to drop an e-mail to the City Council (citycouncil@cityblm.org - this gets all Council members plus our City Manager and Deputy City Manager) or call the Council (contact information is available here:http://www.cityblm.org/page.asp?show=section&id=2732&menuid=2732)

The ordinance is posted on the city web site here:

http://www.cityblm.org/news.asp?id=9495

Karen
--

p.s. from your webmaster: the ordinance is also posted to the DGNA web site here:

http://www.dimmittsgrove.org/Draft_NPOrdinance.pdf

2/21/11: Minutes from January Meeting:

The January meeting of the Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association met at 606 E. Grove on Thursday Jan. 6. Twelve neighbors and Councilman Bernie Anderson were in attendance. Minutes were only recently posted, so approval was tabled until the next meeting. Treasurer Melanie Hunter reported a balance of $2,983.54.

President Brad Williams reported on a city work session concerning the vacant house ordinance, now called the neighborhood preservation ordinance. According to the city attorney, this ordinance would help the city with law enforcement. It would deal with only the most offensive of vacant houses. We have many in our neighborhood. We need to be pro-active in support of this ordinance. Our council members need to know how we feel about it.

Jerica Etheridge reported that sixteen blocks were lighted this year with luminaries, down six blocks from last year. Next year, we may consider having a party after the lighting of the luminaries to make it a more enjoyable event.

Karen Schmidt reported for the nomination committee that they have a partial slate and hope to post a complete slate for new officers by mid-February for a March meeting vote.

The winter traveling social hour will be hosted by Ken and Carol Kashian at 510 E. Grove and Mel Hunter and Stephanie Davidson at 603 E. Grove. It will be on Sat. Feb. 26, beginning at 5:30. It's possible that another stop will be added. Look for information elsewhere on the website for details.

Brad reported that there have been four break-ins near the corner of Grove and Clayton in six months. This winter there has been a house break-in with a basement window broken, but nothing stolen, a car break-in at Olive and McLean, and a house break-in in the 100 block of S. Clayton. Brad attends a police focus group, where he learned that burglaries are up this season, but 14 arrests have been made. Keep an eye out for unusual activity in your neighborhood and call police even if you're just suspicious.

The next meeting will be Thursday, Mar. 3 at 7 PM at 512 E. Taylor, hosted by Pam and Herb Eaton.

2/7/11: Community Development Block Grant information:

Information about 2011-2012 Community Development Block Grants is available here (pdf). The proposed action plan of objectives for the program year 37 will be available at the Bloomington Public Library, in the Office of the Community Development Division, 115 E. Washington Street, 2nd Floor in the Government Center and in the City Clerk's Office.

Comments must be submitted in writing by 5:00 pm on Monday, February 21, 2011.

The Public Hearing will be part of the City Council Meeting on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 7:30pm in the City Hall Council Chambers, 109 E. Olive.

10/13/10: Fall Newsletter

The Fall Newsletter is now available here, and will also be posted at Marie Litta Park.

8/17/10: Chili Cook-Off Date

Herb and Pamala Eaton will host this year's DGNA Chili Cook-off on Sunday, October 3 from 4:30-7:00 pm. Founders Grove Neighborhood Association will be invited as guests, and invited to compete in the cook-off. Founder's Grove will be hosting a Halloween costume party / Happy Hour on Friday, October 8 at 5:30, and Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association members are invited and invited to compete for best costumes!!

7/7/10: Bake Sale Guidelines

Pricing and other guidelines for the 7/31 DGNA bake sale are available here.

7/7/10: Minutes from July 1 Meeting

The July 1 meeting of Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association was held at the Marie Litta Park at 7 PM. President Brad Williams called the meeting to order. Minutes were approved. Eight neighbors were in attendance. There was no treasurer's report.

The neighborhood flea market had more sales than we've had for a few years. Fourteen neighbors signed up, but two did not open because of rain. The early rain cleared up and sales recovered well.   Ad and printing costs were $12 more than the $5 fees brought in.

Our new fund-raiser, a bake sale at the Farmer's Market, will be on July 31. Terri Clemens and Brenda Steele are the committee for this event. Guidelines are on the website for pricing and suggestions. Items should be labeled for nuts, no gluten, no sugar, etc. and priced. If pricing is a problem for bakers, they can be delivered to 606 E. Grove the day before unpriced. We will be setting up at 6:30 at the free non-profit space at the Farmer's Market. We need bakers. This is an opportunity for those who have benefited from the association to contribute.   Dawn and Diana will help at the sale. Please contact Terri at oldstuff33@hotmail.com if you can bake or help.

We need hosts for the summer traveling social hour. The first volunteer can choose a date.   Please contact Jerica to volunteer at jetheridge@edmc.edu.

It is time to start planning our next Day in Historic Dimmitt's Grove. We need volunteers for a committee to begin planning. Please contact Jerica at jetheridge@edmc.edu.

Some fireworks problems are bothering neighborhood dogs and ears. Karen Schmidt is providing city ordinance information on the website.

Karen Schmidt planted the Adopt-a-Pot planter for DGNA on Front and Prairie Streets.

The next meeting Sept. 2, will be at Marie Litta Park unless it rains, then it will be at the library.

7/3/10: Fireworks Reminder

Friendly reminder re: fireworks: Two laws control the use, sale, distribution, and possession of fireworks in Illinois: the Fireworks Use Act and the Fireworks Regulation Act. Fireworks in Illinois are defined as any explosive composition, or any substance or combination of substance including blank cartridges, toy cannons, firecrackers, torpedoes, skyrockets, Roman candles, bombs or other fireworks of like construction. Possession of an illegal firework is a petty offense if you have less than one pound of fireworks, a class B misdemeanor if you have between 1 and 3 pounds, and a class A misdemeanor if you have more than 3 pounds. Dimmitt's Grove Neighborhood Association asks that people be mindful of how much fireworks can really upset our pets and young children, and refrain from setting them off over this Independence Day holiday.

6/9/10: June Newsletter posted

The June newsletter is now posted. Current and past newsletters available here.

4/30/10: April Newsletter posted

The April newsletter is now posted. Current and past newsletters available here.

4/27/10: Newsletter Schedule

The deadline for submitting announcements for the April newsletter is tomorrow! Beginning with the June newsletter, we'll observe the schedule posted here. Newsletters will be posted on the first of the month, February, April, June, August, October, and December. Deadline for submitting announcements & other content on the 20th of the month prior. We'll send out reminders via the email list, FB and Twitter.

4/22/10: Newsletters are Up!

Newsletters are caught up on our newsletter page, here. Newsletter issues are available in pdf format for download and printing. We're actively seeking items for the April newsletter -- deadline for submissions is 4/28/10. Have recipes, gardening tips, or other summer news? We'd love to include them in the newsletter!

3/26/10: Facebook and Twitter

Just a reminder, you can follow us on Twitter, and/or become our "fan" if you're on Facebook. Why follow/fan?

Our Twitter feed selectively includes news items from local bloggers and news sites, and reposted items from local businesses, such as daily specials. Not on Twitter? Not sure that you want to be? Check out these stories for more information: Top Ten Uses of Twitter (PC Mag) and Twitter 101 for Business. Our feed is public, so you can go to http://www.twitter.com/dimmitts from any browser to view updated posts (called "tweets"), without having to register for anything.

Our Facebook fan page includes links and news about upcoming and recent events in and around the neighborhood, and can also be used to share photos of gardens or events or other neighborhood-related things (you may want to check with any human subjects of your photos before posting).