February 2021

Farmers Market Stakeholders Association Meeting Minutes

Meeting Information

Date

February 9, 2021

Location

Virtual Meeting

Time

6:00 PM

In Attendance

  • Lawrence Sweeney; Ivy Sweeney; Rico Roberts; Officer Shawn Hejke; Gail Crawford; Savannah Nordstrom; Jonas Park; Mark Walz; Russ Lockwood; Nick Colletti; Johnny Garcia; Marc Lombardi; Jody Rivera; Brenda Snitzer; Adrian Pittman; Dr. Woody; Willard’s iphone

Minutes

  1. Farmers Market Update- Savannah Nordstrom- she’s been the coordinator for the DFM, Shed farmers and new vendors for 3 years now. There is a Texas wine tasting this weekend. We have new tenants – Industrious office sharing opening in May; Ka Tip is opening a new pet boutique next door; and the replacement tenant for the Cajun Tailgators space will be announced soon
    1. Crime stats – Officer Hejke –
      1. Overall crime is down 46% from this time last year.
      2. Homeless camps have been cleaned up. There are 2 quality of life officers who visit the camps every day.
      3. Convention center traffic is an issue due to Covid vaccines, which will go on quite a while.
      4. Street racing/stunts/loud cars have been an issue, but they haven’t had any reports in our neighborhood lately.
    2. Code enforcement – Johnny Garcia –
      1. Ninfi Lopez is the code officer working our area – his phone number is 469-515- 0830.
      2. Johnny’s email address is juan.garcia3@dallascityhall.org
      3. They continue to take calls through 311 so they can log incidents
      4. Re graffiti reports, they do their due diligence in communicating with the property owner, checking the Dallas Central Appraisal District records, etc. for abatement of the graffiti. There is a graffiti form to be filled out, and then once it has been abated, it’s important to notify their office to close the case so no 
      5. Re homeless encampments, they communicate with the Office of Homeless Solutions and are on standby to address problems. 72-hours notice has to be given to the vagrants. Shelters are full right now, so more homeless are on the street.
    3. Stewpot – Brenda Snitzer –
      1. They are working with Downtown Dallas Inc. and the Office of Homeless Solutions about the homeless issues. They are asking people not to sleep around their building, so they are ending up on Marilla.
      2. They have funding for next year to get people into rapid housing starting in March, and have been doing rent and utilities services.
      3. The annual Soups On event is coming up.
    4. Pandering – Jonas Park – he lives in Deep Elum and is fearful of coming to the Market because of pandering, wants to come up with a creative solution. Drag racing is also any issue. Lawrence encouraged him to become a member of the FMSA for further discussion.
    5. See Say Now App- Rico Roberts – We are encouraged to use the See Say Now App by Downtown Dallas Inc. to report incidents, or call 311.
    6. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 pm.