Leeds Beautification Champs

One of the largest volunteer groups in years turned out for the Earth Day activities in Leeds on Saturday April 21. Without fanfare or rewards they not only picked up close to 35 bags of litter but also raked, mulched, trimmed and rejuvenated our small pocket parks on Main and Mulberry Streets. The LCA is extremely grateful for these folks who helped put a shine on Leeds.
 

Litter Pick Up

Sue Carbin
Jim Montgomery
Bob St. Pierre
Bruce Walker
Fran Thibault
Wayne Thibault
Tricia Reidy
Margaret Riddle
Jeep Eater Crew (20)
Annie Moorehouse
Rob
 

Mulberry St Park

Lora Sandhusen
Deb Jacobs
David Rondina
George Merriam
Linda Butler
Joshua Crane

 

 Flood Memorial Park

Joshua Johnson
David Abraham
Michael macDonald
Vanessa Oquendo
George Kohout

 

LCA Treasurer’s Report: April, 2012

Balance  3/ 13 /12 $3,033.37
INCOME EXPENSE
Household Membership 8  @ $10 $80.00 Collective  Copies  $28.00
Household Membership 1  @ $5 $5.00 Beaver Brook (1) $180.00
Business Membership  1  @ $25 $25.00 Joel Emrick $142.80
Donations $18.00 National Grid $10.00
Postage 1  @ $3 $3.00 Stephy Cho (2) $284.34
Pizza Party $469.34
MONTHLY INCOME $600.34 MONTHLY EXPENSES $645.14
Balance   4/ 10/ 12 $2,988.57
1. Rental + Soda
2. Pizza party exspenses

LCA Minutes: April 10, 2012

In attendance: Deb Jacobs, Alice Badecker, Stephy Cho, George Kohout, Sue Carbin, Justin O’Connor, Earl Meunier, David Rondina (notes)

 

1)    Minutes from 3/14/12: Accepted

2)    Treasurer’s Report (Sue C) spreadsheet handout

  • Current Balance                         $2988.57
  • 109 “members”
  • National Grid may have one more bill for us re: holiday lights at Mulberry St park.
  • Included hand out from Pizza Party finances: $469.34 in revenue, $50 in dues, $284.34 for pizzas, $180 for the Club house rental and sodas.   $5.00 profit.

 

3)    Earth Day Celebration    (April 21    9:00 – 12:00)

  • LCA will supply bags and a DPW dumpster in the grammar school lot
  • George will flyer the village and send a press release to the Gazette
  • Crews will target our two small parks (Flood Memorial on Main St and the Mulberry St park)

And also the messier streets of the Village. Willard’s crew will tackle Sylvester Rd.

 

4)    3rd Annual Bike for the Bridge bike ride (Sun May 20)

  • Poster is in production and Heidi has it for the Newsletter.  Stephy is asking BJ’s in Chicopee for donations.  We have already received inquiries about the event.
  • It is advertised on the Mass Bike poster for the 23rd
  • Priority for next meeting will be marketing the event.   Need to contact past volunteers.
  • Sue to call Chartpak for use of lot and also contact Gene T to call Rec. Dept. for baths

5)    Revised Website-   (Justin O’C)

  • There is a revised membership registration form, new officers have been corrected, more content has been added, updated events have been entered, Justin has the green light to initiate the “comment blogger” aspect.  Justin will filter for content.
  • George will research pay pal options for memberships
  • Thank you to Justin for all his work. His business, “On Design” will be put on the website.

 

6)    Spring Fling/Pizza Party-  (Sat Mar 24)

  • Approx 75 attended. Location (beaver Brook C.C. was a positive change.  Decorations were perfect.  Perhaps we try earlier in late winter/ early March next year?
  • Ordered 35 pizzas, 10 too many. Is pizza the only option? Other ideas? More appetizers?
  • Put Pizza Factory in Newsletter as a thank you.
  • Shawn Gunderson was great as a DJ – Thank him in the newsletter as well

7)    May Newsletter Content

  • Thank yous to Pizza Factory, Shawn, Golf Course
  • Garden Club activities, Memorial Day celebration, Bike Ride, High Tea June 10, Tag sale June 2nd, Block Party Sept 9th

 

8)    Old Business

  • CPA mtg on Keystone Arch:  Many spoke in favor of the project (in support of funding).  Also, it was linked to Broadbrook and Greenway.
  • Gateway Project:  Meeting at Salmon Studios on 4/11/12 Arts and Ind. Building 7:00pm  to view metal signs.
  • Spur to Hotel Bridge project from Rail Trail:  There was a meeting on 4/2 with Wayne Feiden and Sara Levally.   Need to do more in-depth analysis of cost, soil tests, etc.   Smith College to make “Large” presentation about this project at the school on 4/21/12 from 8:30-12:30pm.
  • Reminder: Still need to revisit the By-Laws.
  • Leeds Village Appts.: Peg informed us that she was finished with her time commitment with the management, tenants, etc.  Management seems to be “stepping up”.  Renters are not fully involved or invested in the cause.  Seems to be hitting a wall.  LCA is no longer producing the Village Appts Newsletters.  The “Open Gym” idea at Leeds School fell through due to not enough supporting numbers.

 

9)    Other

  • Laura Sandhusen inquired the LCA if there are specific funds to support Mullberry Park.  NO, we have no such allocated funds, but ask her to simply give us a proposal and a price and in reason it would be supported as are other similar scale requests.
  • Red Greene confirmed that it is .15 cents per copy to stuff PO boxes.  Does this also mean 01053 mail boxes??

 

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:45pm

 

Next Meeting                   Tuesday May 8th         7:00 p.m.         Leeds Grammar School

LCA Treasurer’s Report: March, 2012

Balance  2/ 14 /12 $3,224.41
INCOME EXPENSE
Household Membership 3  @ $10 $30.00 Collective  Copies 1 $39.49
Business Membership  0  @ $25 City of N’ton 2 $150.00
Donations $5.00 Joel Emrick $26.55
Postage 1  @ $3 National Grid $10.00
MONTHLY INCOME $35.00 MONTHLY EXPENSES $226.04
Balance   3/ 13/ 12 $3,033.37
1. Jan news & Traffic flyer
2. Donation Conservation land off Chesterfield Rd

LCA Minutes: March 13, 2012

In attendance: Deb Jacobs, Alice Badecker, Stephy Cho, Jon Deitrich, Michael MacDonald, Henry Brown, George Kohout, Sue Carbin, Jason Johnson, Red Greene, Ellen Rocket, Jim Mias, David Rondina (notes)

1)    Treasurer’s Report (Sue C) spreadsheet handout

  • Current Balance                         $3037.37
  • Hotel Bridge account balance $1320.84

2)    Newsletter

  • Reviewed the new April format produced by Heidi S
  • Red G. suggested investigating a new endeavor by the post office to pay .15 cents per copy of the newsletter and put in all of the p.o. boxes in Leeds.  He will look further into that.

3)    Website

  • We are about 90% transitioned into the new host site/web pages.  Joel will bring in a model of the site to the next meeting.   Jason said we can use his projector.
  • There is NO wifi internet connection at Leeds school to see the site live.

4)    Main Street re-zoning options

  • Wayne Feiden of the N’ton Planning Office speak on Monday the 26th at 7:00 in the music room as to what it would mean and esp. how it would impact the reuse of the Catholic Church

5)    Earth Day Celebration    (April 21    9:00 – 12:00)

  • LCA to host Leeds Litter Pick-up along with planting and cleaning of Mulberry Park and Flood Memorial Park.   Jason J. will research the Flood Mem.  plantings for suggested upkeep.

6)    Rail Trail Spur Presentation–

  • Four Smith College engineering students submitted their conceptual designs and possibilities for the spur from the Hotel Bridge up to Nonotuck Rail Trail
  •  3 concepts were presented as examples  Jackson St. spur  in Northampton, Snell St. spur in Amherst, and ??. This is a first step to see how much a spur would cost in order to move forward in any direction.

7)    LCA letter of support for the Keystone Arch

  • George K asked for the support of the LCA for  the application to the Office of Planning and Development for an application to the Community Preservation Committee for the repairs to the Arch over Beaver Brook at the Mill River.   The letter was approved and signed by LCA board members. Members encouraged to speak at the CPC mtg on April 4 @ 7:00  Council Chambers

8)    3rd Annual Bike for the Bridge bike ride (Sun May 20)

  • “Save the Date” notes went out via email and snail mail for the rest of the registered LCA members and past riders for this Hotel Bridge fundraiser.  Mass Bike and Bike Week Noho have been informed to help publicize the event.

9)    Spring Fling/Pizza Party-  (Sat Mar 24)

  • Please bring your raffle donations to 91 Water St. (Syephy & Alice’s House)   People are to bring a dessert or appetizer.  Cash bar at the Beaver Brook Country Club.  Time from 3-7pm.   Alice and Stephy bringing juice boxes and coolers, George will bring a water jug and coffee makings.   David will ask Pamela and Jeff to take some photos. Set-up to begin at 1:00

Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm

History Notes: Frank Parker, Flood Survivor

By Joel Emrick

My memories of Frank Parker are of an old man sitting on his porch at 16 Upland Road with his dog, Bakki, who we were told was a German war dog. Bakki would always chase passersby although now I’m told by Red Green if you put your hand up the dog would stop. No one told me that at the time and I didn’t dilly dally when I went by their house.

What makes Mr. Parker interesting is that he was just 7 years and old living with his family in the village center when the flood of 1874 came and destroyed most of the center of Leeds. As the Mill River first started rising Frank’s father told them to stay in the house assuming it wasn’t that bad, but shortly after he realized his mistake and had the whole family move to the knoll and escape the flood. The irony of this was their house was one of the few that survived. Mr. Parker lived to be 94 and his memory of that day was very vivid.

Frank Parker, came to Leeds at the age of 5 from Connecticut, worked 40 years at the Corticelli Mills and died in 1961. If you want to know more about Mr Parker, you can go to Forbes Library and look up in the Gazette microfilm the dates Aug 26, 1953 and Dec 4, 1957 (the later has a picture of Mr. Parker and Bakki which I think my grandfather took).

Leeds Rail Trail Updates

You may have noticed the new mini-oil derrick at the rail trail intersection near the Mulberry St Park. Come spring, a display with a map of the trail and a short history of Leeds village will be fastened to this stand to alert travelers they are passing through a special place called Leeds.
Headed down towards Look Park just past St Catherine’s Church and Alternative Recycling, there’s a steep slope that leads to a small parcel of land along the Mill River that was recently deeded to the City in
lieu of past taxes. This spring a team of engineering students from Smith College along with the DPW will design an accessible path from the Rail Trail to this parcel that will allow easier access to Main St. and
the Hotel Bridge. The team will be looking for input to their design from Leeds residents and Trail users. Once the design and cost estimates are concluded the more difficult piece of securing funds for the project will begin. Stay tuned for an announcement of an informational meeting with this design team.

Traffic Issues Discussed

Laura Hanson, Traffic Engineer of the N’ton DPW, met with twenty Leeds residents, mainly from Yankee Hill, to discuss creative measures for calming traffic. Trouble spots in the area caused by fast cornering, absence of crosswalks and lack of signage were identified. Laura gathered feedback on possible uses of fees set aside by the developer of the Beaver Brook / Chestnut Ave Extension project to address traffic
impacts generated by the future residents of the development. The DPW staff will meet in April with the N”ton Transportation and Parking Commission to discuss recommended measures. A follow-up meeting
hosted by the LCA to discuss the recommendations that comefrom the T & P Commission will be scheduled. For more information contact Jim Montgomery of Grove Ave.

Earth Day: Clean-up, Spruce-up Leeds

Saturday, April 21, 9:00–11:00

To commemorate Earth Day this year the Leeds Civic Association (LCA) will be organizing not only the traditional litter patrols but also teams of friends and families to spruce up our various little parks and green pockets around the village. We’ll need volunteers to plant flowers and shrubs and help with general clean up chores. Please join us for this healthy and satisfying community effort. For more information contact leedscivic@gmail.com

Spring Fling Pizza Party

Saturday, March 24, 3:00 – 7:00pm

It’s that time again to celebrate the end of long nights, cold days and woolen undies by joining your friends and neighbors for the annual Leeds Pizza Party. This year the event will be held at the Beaver Brook Country Club on Rte 9 in Haydenville. There will be music, food, raffles and a few new twists so be sure to mark the date on your calendar. Ticket prices are reasonable for individuals and families with discounts for LCA members. Come prepared to laugh, dance and munch a welcome to the spring season.