HHPNC Live Blog: Thursday, July 7

8:32 p.m.: This Historic Highland Park Neighbohrood Council just unanimously approved sending a letter of support to Associate Maya Zaitzevsky in support of James Graham's effort to secure a conditional use permit that would allow him to serve beer and wine with food until 2 a.m.

7:36 p.m.: Member Luis Antezana has made a couple of outreach suggestion which have sparked a larger discussion among the neighborhood council. Antezana suggested the council could become more well known in the community by hosting a clothing/food drive or a rummage sale.

Member Dr. Stan Moore suggested board members could also volunteer their time to the Summer Night Lights program, which launched on Wednesday, July 6.

7:22 p.m.: This evening's HHPNC meeting is now underway. The council has reached item number four on the agenda, "a discussion of what creative HHPNC projects will benefit and grow the entire community, costing little money, requiring only organization, and work."

As they are likely to be working with a reduced budget next year, the council is trying to find cheaper and more creative ways to increase their presence in the neighborhood.

8:06 p.m.: The board approved their preliminary budget for the upcoming this year. According to treasurer Mark Reback, this preliminary budget is due by next Friday, July 15. This budget will in the area of $40,000, less than half of what the board worked with last year. In addition to an anticipated 10 percent cut in funding, the board will also be without a healthy portion of rollover funds, which they received last year. Among the cost saving measures the board approved tonight was a reduction in the number of night's the council would rent space from the . The board would cut their rental budget from $3,600 to $1,800 by cutting the number of meetings per month from two to one.