21 January 2020 / 6:45 PM / Missouri Foundation for Health
MEETING MINUTES
6:45 pm Meeting called to order (Vincent Chewning)
FPSE Neighborhood Business
6:45 – 6:55 pm Crime and Safety Report (Ed Slade, SLMPD Liaison)
- Major crime has been quiet. There was a shooting on 4500 Chouteau. Investigation is ongoing.
- Car break-ins on Manchester are up, 15 on the year. 10 of 12 were in the evening hours, 8 on Manchester and a couple on Chouteau.
- Camera work is getting synced to the crime center downtown and should help decrease crime
Ron Coleman: reporting crime through the app may not be seen, it goes to the Real Time Crime Center. Instead, you should call 911.
6:55 – 7:00 pm Treasurer’s Report (Adelina Mart)
- You can review the treasurer’s report online
- Just shy of $2,000 this year, $500 higher than this time last year
- Thanks everybody for the donations
- At the December meeting the Board proposed a $10 suggested donation with a minimum of $1 for membership dues. This vote will take place in the February meeting.
7:00 – 7:05 pm FPSENA Board “Code-of-Conduct” Update (Vincent Chewning)
- Two meetings ago the Board proposed a Code-of-Conduct to the by-laws. There were two comments:
- To remove “Speak with one voice”
- To add “guest speakers”
- The vote to put this into the by-laws will be held in the February meeting.
GM: Recess has opened south of Manchester. They petitioned for a liquor license. Had and idea to leverage that approval to leverage a home repair fund. But she decided against going forward with it. Does want the neighborhood to benefit from development.
7:05 – 7:10 pm Infrastructure Committee Update (Vincent Chewning)
- Cortex-Tower Grove connector project sheet was passed out.
- Outlines dedicated bike lanes from Tower Grove Park, down Vandeventer, to Sarah Street into Cortex.
- Green Street: Will be doing a lot of infrastructure updates for the Unify Project south of Manchester. They committed to engaging the Infrastructure Committee to keep them informed and that resident concerns are being heard. There are no real updates at this time.
- Chouteau Park playground: It’s delivered and boxed at the park. It’s too cold to construct but it’s in the queue to be done in Spring.
GM: Is the connector project series?
- Roddy: Tower Grove is the busiest bike route in the city. We have the matching money and the Taylors (Enterprise) have put up some money, as well as the City. Says it’s highly likely at this time.
GM: What’s the process for getting trees planted?
- Ron Coleman: There’s a ward capital budget allocated for tree planting. You can call the citizen service bureau (314-622-4800) to have a tree planted in your front lawn, or request anywhere around the neighborhood. There are over 50 tree species to choose from. It doesn’t have to be a resident’s front lawn. You can request anywhere in the neighborhood.
GM: Will residents be told if trees will be cut down or trimmed?
- Ron Coleman: Typically the resident is not notified. If it’s trimmed you might get a notification to make space (like to move your car, etc.).
Special Presentations and Discussion
7:10 – 8:00 pm FPSE Feedback Working Session (Community, FPSENA Board)
The Board wanted to continue December’s discussions to hear resident thoughts about the neighborhood and Drury’s proposed engagement process for redevelopment along Kingshighway and the frontage of the neighborhood. The Board conducted a workshop to solicit neighborhood feedback and get everybody thinking about the future, and pass that feedback to Alderman Roddy and other neighborhood organizations.
The rest of the meeting consisted of two workshops and discussions. Attending members were put into groups to freely discuss thoughts stemming from workshop questions. After, volunteers shared their group’s answers to the rest of the members.
The first workshop asked three questions:
- List what you think are the core characteristics of the neighborhood
- Which of those core characteristics are important to preserve? Why?
- What characteristics have room for improvement?
Members volunteered to read their responses. All written responses are below.
The second workshop asked two questions:
- Of the core characteristics you listed and of the characteristics members shared, how do you think the Drury development could impact them?
- How do you think the Drury development would affect you?
Members volunteered to read their responses. All written responses are below.
Sarah W. Mangapora: one of the things that we heard from the last meeting we had is that you guys didn’t have an opportunity to have your voice heard. That’s something that is extremely critical to this process because we represent the neighborhood. We are the neighbors. This isn’t a community with the people involved. This exercise was not supposed to be us vs. them. It was supposed to highlight the things that we love about the neighborhood, the things that brought us to the neighborhood, the things that bring us together right now because we’re talking about trees, how we access the park and enrich our lives. Those are the things that are really important to us as community members and stakeholders, and we need to keep those in the forefront. The most important thing to take away from this moment tonight, is that you had an opportunity to talk to you neighbors one-on-one and listen to what they had to say because if we don’t listen to each other, we’re not going to get very far. Thanks to everybody for participating in this exercise… it’s not always comfortable, but it’s critical in keeping the community together.
8:00 pm Adjournment (Vince Chewning)
You can listen to the recording of this month’s meeting on Anchor and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
You can download this month’s meeting minutes below.
