11/4/24 Meeting Agenda

6:30 pm Zoom

Updates (6:30 - 7:15 pm)

  • Clean-up and vine-cutting event at Riverfront park (Pauline, Holly, Cheryl)

    • Event recap:  work completed, volunteer numbers, what worked, what didn’t, etc.

  • Corridor Center Development (Jock)

    • What are the next opportunities to minimize impact?  County-level? 

  • Plans for 2025 cohort of Laurel Neighborhood Gardens program (Jess)

    • Jess, Jimmy and Brian met to discuss current and future cohorts 

  • Fundraising focus (Brian)

    • December 3rd Giving Tuesday campaign:  Please appeal to friends and organizations for donations to L4P. Holiday giving and tax write off!

  • Sweitzer garden (Jess)

    • We will post a sign about the benefits of leaving stems for wildlife

    • Group weeding event in March

    • Grasses continue to be a problem; might be best to let it be

  • Sturgis Moore gardening and stormwater control (Cheryl)

    • Any plans for winter months or spring weeding?

Discussion (7:15 - 7:30 pm)

  • Possible regressive movements at Laurel Parks and Rec – Bill Bailey will no longer allow planting of native plants and returning to non-native ornamentals. How does this make Laurel look in the age of climate change?  How does it affect Laurel’s ability to attract the best and brightest?  Brainstorm how to appeal to the city to stop this backslide.

  • In-person meeting December 2nd.  Stosh to host?

11/4/24 Meeting Minutes

Attending the meeting – Jess Bolz, Mike McLaughlin, Holly Hoglund, Pauline Apling, Mike Maxwell, Dave Everett, Heidi Hess-Webber, Cheryl Dyer, Edith Goldman, Kristine Gilbertson, Justin Prister, Jock Haight, Liz Humes.

Updates

Cleanup and vine cutting at Riverfront Park (Pauline/Holly/Cheryl)  –  Volunteers from three schools showed up to help with the event.  They were great workers!  The committee will meet to figure out a better way to organize these events in the future.  The waiver signup was somewhat chaotic.  The kids need to sign in with the time that they begin/end so that they get appropriate credit.  We need four people to run the event.  Seven grabbers broke during the event.  The city won’t buy better ones.  Also, the city didn’t have trashbags for the event.  Lots of invasive vines were pulled.  It looks like the city has already picked up the piles.

Corridor Center Development (Jock) - The MNCPPC contact is David Green.  Jock called him but received no response as of the meeting.  Jock also called the Baptist church that is concerned about the threat of flooding/stormwater management.  Pushing concerns about flooding is a good angle because folks are still thinking about the floods in Ellicott City and in North Carolina.  After the election, there may be a new possibility for action at the city and county level.  

Plans for 2025 Laurel Neighborhood Garden program (Justin) -  Jess, Jimmy and Brian met to discuss the next Laurel Neighborhood Garden cohort.  Five gardens were planted this time.  Justin participated in the program and had lots of folks show interest in his garden and the program.  Challenges were 1) knowledge level of participants and, 2) lots of physical labor was required and folks didn’t expect that.  Jimmy is providing coaching which is helpful.  Next time, we need to be more explicit about how much time/labor is required.  Hopefully people will be invested because they participate in the work.  We have $1700 toward next year’s cohort.

Fundraising Focus (Brian) - We need to bring money in to the organization.  December 3rd is Giving Tuesday - encourage friends and family to make donations to L4P.

Sweitzer Garden update (Jess) - Signs will be posted to teach about the benefits of leaving stems over the winter.  Stems can be cut down to a foot or so since a more tidy garden is more of an incentive for folks to plant their own gardens.  We will have a weeding event in March.  There is grass in the garden but we might have to live with it.  Mike suggested that laying a thick layer of wood chips along the border might be a solution.  Liz suggested IDing the grasses because different grasses can be managed in different ways.  Jess added that Parks and Rec workers weedwack and blow grass into the garden.  Liz suggests writing a letter to the city about that issue. 

Sturgis Moore Garden update (Cheryl) - We are trying an experiment to dig a trench around the garden and fill it with wood chips to see if it retards grass intrusion into the garden.  In the spring, James will do a demonstration of how to trim a dogwood.  A weeding event will be planned for February or March depending on the weather.   


Planning and Discussion

  • James is getting complaints about the native plantings being unruly.  Liz indicated that the new director of Parks and Rec has made clear that he didn’t want Liz’s input and thought her job should be eliminated.  Liz has resigned from her position.  The city seems to be rejecting L4P as well as Liz.  Micke thinks that this is coming from a higher authority.  Liz thinks that L4P should push back.  There is a new unwillingness by the city to spend money.  The stress level is high.  We should keep in touch with James and Michelle.  The EAC is now subordinate to the sustainability committee.  It seems to be okay for us to plant natives along the river.  Liz is not aware of any complaints about that area.  Because of the drought, it’s not a surprise that the gardens are suffering.  The new head of DPW is Tim Miller and apparently he wants to see gardens on Main Street.

  • Edith is looking for ideas to get her HOA to stop cutting grass and blowing leaves.  Liz suggests blowing the leaves under trees as a compromise solution.

  • Stosh will host an in-person meeting on Monday, December 2nd.