| |
-
To your health!
-
The neighborhood Health Fair will be on Saturday, April 26, from
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., in the Adams Center.
The fair will provide useful information for daily health and free
evaluations related to vision, hearing, diabetes, kidney function, STDs,
HIV, and bone density. Besides that, there will be games, prizes, "and
plenty of free food and refreshments," a spokeswoman said. The fair is for
residents of all ages, not just children, or not just adults, she added.
The fair is organized by the David Ranken Neighborhood Health
Committee with the help of neighborhood nurses Pam Talley and Diana Green.
Co-sponsors are ARCHS, the FPSE Community Council, and the Staying Alive
program of the Effort for Aids. -
Fixx-up gets grant
-
The Fixx-up Fund for FPSE has received $5,000 from the Affordable
Housing Trust Fund, and is able to continue its emergency repair program
for low-income homeowners. If you have a house problem that you cannot
afford to fix, call Joan, the volunteer coordinator, at 727.6237. You will
need to have income documentation.
-
Lighthouse needs
-
The Lighthouse Community Outreach Center needs help to fill in for
the departure of Phil, Brenda, and Abigail Bogear (who moved to Indiana)
and Lloyd and Judy Hansen (who are moving to Virginia). Volunteers are
needed for the board, to assist at the center, and to locate and hire a
new program director who will provide leadership and vision.
LCOC has been serving neighbors, particularly children, for more
than ten years. "Many lives have been influenced in a positive way
thorough the hard work of LCOC's staff and volunteers," new board chair
Terry R. Koebbe said.
Because of lack of funds, the center has already discontinued the
director at the Potter's Workshop (Nikki), and will have to discontinue
two more staff soon (Ellen and Josh). Right now it is important to
encourage financial supporters to be a generous as possible and to have
people who care about others and want to make a difference to help out,
Koebbe said.
The center will continue its summer programs for children with
assistant pastor Rick Russell in charge.
To help out in any way, call Koebbe at 314.592.1856 or Katie
Yeckel 314.592.1948. -
Test marketing
-
A test session for the proposed farmers' market will be on
Saturday, June 21, 2003, at the Adams Center parking lot at 4317 Vista.
The market will be open for business from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
To make suggestions for the market's name or get more information,
contact Brooks Goedeker at 633.7900 or goedeker11@hotmail.com. -
Everything's coming up . . .
-
Brightside flowers will be distributed Saturday, May 3, from 9
a.m. to noon, Submit orders to block captains or call Sonda Thompson at
534.1709.
Varieties available are: Marigolds (3-4" blooms, yellow, gold, and
orange); Zinnias (daisy-like blooms in mix of orange, white, and yellow);
and Dianthus (lacy serrated blooms in mix of pinks, reds, and bicolor)
-
Blitz thanks
-
Blitz day co-commander Sonda Thompson sends a special THANK YOU to
the people who gathered enough fortitude to grab rakes, brooms, and
shovels and helped pick up trash around the neighborhood.
Sonda does not remember ever seeing so many changes in the weather
in one day: it began at 6 a.m. with a cloudy, overcast sky; by 7 a.m. the
sun was out but it was still chilly; later, it rained, then sleeted, then
hailed, then had sunshine, more clouds, and more sleet. At 2:30 p.m.
there was a hard rain only to have the sun come out again about 30
minutes later.
Sonda found out from Brightside's office that the
FPSE schedule was so early because the staff wanted to avoid a conflict
with the Easter weekend. -
Security Task Force notes
-
Narcotics officers seized enough drugs at 4352 Gibson on April 3
to warrant a drug trafficking charge, according to Sue Lauritsen, Security
Task Force chair. Sue said that neighbors had been upset about activity at
the property for some weeks and that improvement is possible now that the
property is in the nuisance property system. A meeting with the landlord
will be set up to explain his choices, she added.
The STF is organizing small focus groups to meet with the beat
officers to discuss concerns and trust issues. Meetings will be for about
an hour with different people involved. One issue is communicating
information, both positive and negative, Sue said.
For more information, contact Sue at 314.871.1850 (pager) or
314.220.3943 (cell). -
H&EDCorp meeting
-
The board extended the terms of current officers until June.
Originally, the terms were to expire at the end of last December. George
Jones distributed to board members a ballot prepared by the nominating
committee. Another nominating committee meeting will be held with a
minimum of a one-week notice to be sent by the executive director. The
deadline for nominations will be the May board meeting.
There has been no "organizational audit" since 1996, which means
the organization has not been looking at itself, Irving Blue, the new
executive director, said. He added that the corporation cannot move
forward in the current situation. Blue asked the board for permission to
begin the process of investigating the cost of an audit.
Presently there are no contracts for the auditing and property
management services. The corporation needs additional services: legal; web
master / public relations; and janitorial services. Blue's suggestion is
to have annual contracts, running with each fiscal year. Advertising
will be in April with submission of qualifications in May and awards in
June, consistent with the budget. The computer and telephone systems also
need to be upgraded, Blue told the board.
Kate Reese reported on the Mainstreet Committee's meeting about
the master plan's provision for a historic district on part of Manchester.
A panel had answered questions for the committee. After discussion of
whether the next step should be a meeting for just board members or for
board members and owners, the board adopted a motion to invite just the
board members to the 6 p.m. meeting at Adams Center on May 21. -
Mainstreet (Manchester) details
-
The draft minutes of the April 16 Mainstreet meeting state that
committee discussed the ramifications of having part of Manchester
certified as a federal historic district.
Preservation consultant Karen Baxter said that a National Register
Historic District provides a federal tax credit, which allows of 20% of
rehabilitation costs to be applied to your income tax. If an owner rehabs
without using historic tax credits, the only guidelines requiring
compliance is city building code, Baxter said. City historic districts may
require additional design review, but this is not what is being proposed
for Manchester, she said.
So far, Baxter has canvassed the area to determine district
boundaries, investigated the history of all the buildings, determined what
buildings are contributing and non-contributing, and prepared a map with
boundaries. According to the draft minutes, Tyler Stevens, the project
architect, has worked on a master plan for Manchester. He was hired by
McCormack Baron and Associates. -
Introducing Irving Blue
-
Irving Blue comes to Forest Park Southeast with vision: vision for
the development of Manchester; vision for development in all areas of the
neighborhood; and vision for improvement of the housing corporation's
operations.
Blue is the new executive director of the FPSE Housing and
Economic Development Corporation. Recommended unanimously by the H&EDCorp
board, he began work on April 1. During his first week he took time to
meet people active in the neighborhood and to outline some of his vision
for the Buzz.
He is enthusiastic about what can happen in FPSE and what he can
do here. Before coming to St. Louis, he worked in Kansas City as an urban
planner. In that position, he had to maintain a city-wide, management
viewpoint. He says he relishes the idea of switching over to neighborhood
work and seeing things from the grass roots level.
For Blue, Manchester revitalization is FPSE's important next step.
He believes Manchester requires residential development, closely followed
by new entrepreneurial ventures.
Getting more commercial development depends on more Manchester
residents because, Blue says, new businesses will come if they see
"rooftops" that house prospective customers. He notes that good efforts
are already completed or underway on Manchester, particularly at the
corner of Tower Grove. Now, development should be a residential effort,
followed by more combined business and residential space. Possibly, the
initial efforts need financial subsidies, Blue suggests, but he thinks
that once visible progress is in place with one going concern, other
entrepreneurs will be drawn to Manchester.
He thinks that the current general economic downturn favors new
independent businesses where the combination of commercial and residential
space will be attractive. Other factors needed to draw new development are
making the street pedestrian friendly. That means, for instance, slowing
down the cars and trucks, clearly marking cross walks, and softening the
appearance of the store and home fronts. Boarded up, deteriorated fronts
have a negative impact; cleaned up, more attractive fronts may not have a
conscious positive impact but they will be an improvement over a negative
impact, Blue says.
While Manchester needs special attention at this time, Blue also
wants to expand housing development throughout the neighborhood while
preserving progress already made. For Blue, Manchester is not a dividing
line. People will move back and forth across Manchester and efforts in
all parts of the neighborhood should be comparable to what has been
accomplished so far, he said.
Blue wants to bring housing corporation operations into the
Twentieth Century. He says that fully conscious it is already the
Twenty-First Century. But he sees current equipment and operations as way
behind, so Twentieth Century goals are first. For example, he wants to get
better equipment, get information about the corporation out to the
community, and use the Internet for virtual tours of the housing and
business spaces available in FPSE. "That's the way home shopping is done
today," he notes.
But not just equipment and communication are on Blue's mind. He
expects performance from himself and from all the staff so that those who
come to the H&EDCorp will leave saying to themselves, "the service was
good beyond my expectation."
| |