Minutes, July 21, 2026
Minutes for Clarksville CDC Monthly Meeting
July 21st, 2026
6:30 p.m.
Haskell House
1705 Waterston Avenue
Attendees: Billy Edwards, Amanda Russell Cox, BJ Friedman (virtual), Malcolm Greenstein, Paula Hern, Stephanie Lang, Felicia Miller
Guest: Hannah
1. Approval of minutes from the June 16, 2026 monthly meeting.
Paula moved and Billy seconded a motion to approve the June minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
2. Presentation of monthly financial reports. BJ Friedman.
BJ presented the June financial reports. Income from rentals was $23,331. Donations were $160. Other income brought the total to $23,593.04. Expenses were $25,287.46. The downpayment for our property and liability insurance was $17,096.28 which put our Profit and Loss in the red for $1694.42.
Good news is that our LOC balance has been paid down to $16,000. Brad is handling the renewal of the LOC. We should have our loan paid off in a few months.
3. Monthly property reports--CCDC properties managed by Prak Property Management.
Brad was not able to attend but provided a report. All units are occupied and there are no issues with our tenants. No significant repairs are needed at this time.
4. Haskell House monthly report
Mary provided her monthly report which is attached to these minutes.
5. Ice Cream Social
The Ice Crema Social is scheduled for August 16 from 1-3 PM. Chris will help with some set-up on Saturday. Felecia will create flyers to be posted at our usual locations. It will also be sent to CCDC members.
Billy suggested that 2 different flyers be created – one promoting contest participation and one announcing the event. The Board thought this was a good idea. Felecia will follow through with creating 2 different flyers.
6. Historical Research Ad Hoc Committee Update
The committee has met and Mary has proposed expanding the scope of the historical research to include more recent CCDC history. Stephanie and Hannah related their reluctance to expand the scope, citing time and money constraints.
Billy said we should stick to the original timeframe. Paula mentioned that the mission of the committee is to focus on Clarksville and Haskell House history, not CCDC history.
Billy moved and Paula seconded a motion to keep the original focus of the Ad Hoc Historical Committee to the 1870’s-1930’s. The motion passed unanimously.
Action items identified by the committee are to identify where Charles Clark is buried at the Oakwood Cemetery and Hezekiah Haskell is buried at the Evergreen Cemetery. Additionally, the committee will investigate the process and costs of erecting headstones for these Clarksville ancestors.
As part of Mary’s proposal, she thought oral histories of former Clarksville residents should be collected soon, as many of these folks are aging. Board discussion included Malcolm hoping the focus of the histories would be positive. Stephanie and Hannah brought up the issue of the interviews needing to be held between the interviewee and a professional with experience in gathering oral histories. These professionals would need to be paid.
While all thought gathering oral histories would be valuable and add to the Haskell House archives, the Board felt that this project might be done as a Phase II for the Ad Hoc Committee.
7. OWANA Steering Committee. Felecia Miller
Felecia asked if anyone would be interested in serving on the OWANA Steering Committee. She has learned about neighborhood issues she would otherwise not know. BJ volunteered.
8. City of Austin’s Arts, Culture, Music & Entertainment (AACME), Heritage Preservation Grant
The AACME grants are available and provide substantial support for Heritage Projects. Stephanie has received these grants and said they assisted RISE in two of their projects. She will put Felecia in contact with the grant administrator to discuss the feasibility of CCDC receiving one of the grants.
The Board will need to brainstorm ideas regarding what we would do and how much money we would need. Stephanie said it would be to our advantage to create an event or series of events to showcase whatever we would do. It was suggested that it would be a good idea to partner with Sweet Home Church since it is the foundation of the historic Clarksville community. They have archival material that is in jeopardy of disappearing without protection and digitizing.
Felecia will contact Pastor Manning and others to see if they would be interested in partnering.
9. Other Business.
Stephanie mentioned that RISE will not be participating in the Pease Park Conservancy. She said the Conservancy leadership is interested in CCDC participating and has money to support our participation.
We will discuss this at our next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Report for June 2026 from Mary Reed, Haskell House Manager
Expenses
$107.50 (lawncare)
Donations
$160.00
Visitors
160
My Activities in June
Met with a reporter from the Statesman to discuss development in and around Clarksville and its likely impact on the neighborhood.
Presented info about Clarksville and the HH to a group of people who were participating in the annual Green and Greener national conference. Most of them were from out of town.
Met the Black History Bike Ride cyclists at the Haskell House to provide them with information and answer their questions.
Signed up the CCDC/HH for AMD by completing an online form and providing a photo of the HH to the Austin Museum Partnership.
Scheduled four organizations to have information tables at this year’s AMD at the Haskell House. All four have something to do with either the preservation of Black history or education about that history. My hope is that each organization will promote their involvement in our AMD and the promotions will generate increase traffic at the HH on that day. The groups are: Black History Bike Ride, RISE, PARD and Planning Department (Equity-Based Preservation Plan/East Austin Historic Resource Survey)
Recruited three new docents for the HH.
Reached out to current docents who have not yet signed up for one or more Sundays between July and November.
Met with Aubrey to discuss editing and framing two Clarksville-related maps that would hang over the counter at the HH. Also discussed framing three photos that would hang on the opposite wall: the photos are of Mary Baylor, Pauline Brown and Don Baylor.
Scheduled lawn care at the HH
Organized July’s Clarksville Conversations event featuring Bob Ward and Terri Myers. Reached out to them for flyer copy and their headshots; edited copy; worked with Kim O’Brien on flyer; got flyer okayed by the speakers; and started promoting event.
Contacted 75 AISD elementary and high school principals about the Haskell House and asked them to share my information with their teachers.
Started lining up Clarksville Conversations speakers for 2027.
Coordinated with PARD to troubleshoot problem with the mini-split at the HH. A new mini-split was installed.
Updated Events page on the CCDC website to reflect all dates that the HH will be open in 2026 and Clarksville Conversations July event flyer
Unstopped toilet at the HH.
Prepared report for May.
Upcoming
Training session for three new docents on 7/24.
Will contact AISD principals again in early August.
September 20. Austin Museum Day at the Haskell House from 1-4. Will need board members to help set up, work during the event, and take things down after event ends.
October 14. Will talk to members of the Transportation and Public Works Department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group at the Haskell House. I met with members of this group last year.