16 JUNE 2020 / 6:45 PM / Zoom

MEETING MINUTES

6:45 Meeting Called to order (Vincent Chewning)

FPSE Neighborhood Business

6:45 – 6:50 pm Crime and Safety Report (Ed Slade)

  • Ed Slade provided an abbreviated version of the neighborhood crime and safety report, from 5/27 – 6/14
    • 5/30/20 @ 16:36 (13XX Kentucky) DESTRUCTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY 20-022918. A subject, reported to be under the influence, broke out the windshield of the victim’s vehicle with a water cooler before fleeing the scene.
    • 6/3/2020 @ 2:45 (43XX Manchester) PROPERTY DAMAGE 2ND DEGREE 20-023662. A witness stated three black males, nothing further, attempted to remove the bank’s ATM from the exterior wall. The ATM was not stolen however sustained damage in the attempt.
    • 6/5/20 @ 10:15 (1234 S Kingshighway) UUW FLOURISHING 20-024074. The victim stated he was flourished with a black rifle by a black male in a white Pontiac Grand Prix. The victim obtained the license plate and the vehicle and plate were entered into the area Law Enforcement computer system as wanted for the crime.
    • 6/6/20 @ 8:00 (45XX Gibson) PEACE DISTURBANCE 20-024245. The domestic nature of this incident precludes any information to be released.
    • 6/13/20 @ 03:00 (4121 Manchester/Novak’s Bar) UUW 20-025397. The victim reported talking with a female when a white/Hispanic male approached him and pointed a black handgun at him and demanding him to stop talking to his girlfriend. Both fled the scene in an undescribed sedan.
  • WUMCRC’s crime report was not presented, but can be found here: https://ccwestsafety.wordpress.com/criminal-activity-maps/
  • General Member Question: Can The City’s Finest and Campbell’s security provide a crime report? 
    • The Board will reach out and ask TCF to attend a meeting and/or provide crime reports in the future. They’ve presented in the past and have been willing to share and talk and previous meetings.
  • General Member: What are the rules with vacant, undeveloped property when it comes to loitering? 
    • For emergencies, 9-1-1, for non-emergencies, the non-emergency number, or the Citizens Service Bureau. A general member states that it’s the responsibility of the property owner to report. The Board will look into who should be contacted and what can be done to resolve these issues. 

6:50 – 6:55 pm Treasurer’s Report (Vince Chewning)

6:55 – 7:00 pm Vote for Treasurer

  • Candidates
    • Don De Vivo:  Resident since the 90s. Was a member of what was called the Forest Park Community Council. Has the constitution from the community council and wants to give everybody a copy of it. Says the association needs to look into community issues a little harder. Says there’s a lot of development going on and wonders why people from Park Central are making our development decisions in our neighborhoods. Say that’s something that the Treasurer really should look into, since it’s all related to financing real estate. He has a background of being a real estate broker and thinks it’s imperative that we get more involved in this. Says he wants to talk about the Board Code of Conduct, stating it takes away the democratic nature. Have a board of directors. He says the Code has taken away a person’s right to have their own opinion. He’s running for Treasurer to promote democracy and change the Codes of Conduct, and he can also help raise funds for home repair and different things. He’s associated with a nonprofit and thinks he can raise funds on our own and put some of these programs in place.
    • Steve Chodes: Steve has been in accounting and finance for about 30 years, and three years ago retired as CFO of Hazelwood School District. He’s currently serving as interim CFO at Brentwood School District. He and his wife moved to the neighborhood about six years years ago. They currently own a house on the 4400 block of Gibson and they believe in committing some time and effort to the neighborhood. And as such, he currently serves on the neighborhood Infrastructure Committee and has also served as Treasurer for the NeighborhoodA association in the past, Aand it’s something he enjoyed and would look forward to doing again. 
    • Results: Steve Chodes: 77% | Don De Vivo 23%
  • Reminder that the Neighborhood Association accepts Venmo for dues: https://venmo.com/FPSE-NA

7:00 – 7:10 pm Neighborhood Improvement Specialist Update (Ron Coleman)

  • Ron Coleman was unable to attend, but he provided the Board with three talking points:
    • Refuse is down, so please be patient and try to keep the alleys and dumpsters
    • Parks are open they always have been but the playgrounds and equipment, restrooms, etc are technically not open
    • Summer Camp is back open in the city.
  • General Member: Why do certain properties get code violations and others don’t? Is upset about getting a code violation on the community garden. Believes it’s a strategy to get more land. Says Code violations are a city tool, and is abused and used unfairly and inappropriately.
    • The Board had previously reached out to Ron who said those with weeds were cited. 
    • Board: If you’ve been cited, you can also just look and see if there are other properties around that may be getting similar complaints. Geo St. Louis is a resource that we have to be able to take that information that is out there already, and use it for our own personal use.

7:10 – 7:23 pm Great Rivers Greenway (Shaughnessy H. Daniels)

  • Provided an update on the Brickline Greenway. You can read about the making of the Brickline Greenway here, and you can find the most recent 2020 update here. The Board has reached out for the presented PDF and minutes will be updated on the website to include the PDF presentation if received. 
    • Great rivers Greenway is the Metropolitan Parks and Recreation district. They support St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles. The vision is to build a 600 mile network of greenways – 45 greenways total. To date, they’re at 16 greenways and 125 miles.
    • The vision of the Brickline Greenway system is to connect St. Louis’s four major parks (Arch, Forest Park, Fairground Park, and Two Grove Park) and knit 17 neighborhoods in between. 
    • The project started 10-15 years ago when the Chouteau Pond was an idea. As conversations about better connectivity and developments grew, the idea grew to a multi-agency effort for better connectivity in the city. A framework was developed for the Greenway for multi-faceted engagement and feedback for a guiding document. The plan included guides for identity, alignment, equity, and economic growth. One of the opportunities they’re looking at is how the greenway can catalyze growth and economic development, about ½ mile radius out from the Greenway. How the Greenway may look is still in rendering and the concepting phase. They’re collaborating with the residents and organizations to closely refine designs. 
    • They’ve engaged a national leader in development and fundraising to help them identify opportunities for who might be interested in funding this project. They’ve also engaged a local design firm (Lamar Johnson Collaborative, as well as Marlon Blackwell, David Mason and Associations, and local artists including David Davis, to advance the design of the Greenway. All the designs will be based on community engagement.
    • Creating new steering committees and new working groups that will be focused on specific geographies: Central West End to Grand Metrolink Station, and Fairground Park to Grand Metrolink Station. They will continue on with an economic development and equity working group to ensure that economic development and equity practices are woven throughout the design and throughout the planning process. And then they’ll also have a universal design group to make certain everything is based on universal design.
    • They’re working with David Davis on a project for a memorial for Mill Creek Valley for the houses that were raised to build the central corridor and the highway. The design will also work with the MLS design, all to commemorate that area that is no longer there.
  • For the FPSE area, much of the first leg of development will focus on the areas around the Armory, the Foundry and the Cortex, with engagement and design in 2021 moving west towards Forest Park. The streets have not been set yet.
  • General Member: Wants them to consider the Parks Department and their resources given the amount of and growth of greenspace in the City. Greenway says they always try to think about operations and maintenance on the frontend of greenway design and planning. They’re working closely with the City and having these conversations. They don’t want to max the City out on this greenspace. 
  • For more information or getting involved, you can reach out to sdainels@grgstl.org

7:10 – 7:20 pm Cortex Connector (Cindy Mense, CEO of TrailNet)

    • The Tower Grove-Cortex Connector is well-connected with Great Rivers Greenway. The project is a curb to curb street right of way along Tower Grove Avenue, to Vandenventor and connecting to Sarah. You can see early concepts and renderings in the PDF below.
PDF: Tower Grove – Cortext Connector
  • TrailNet is pulled together by partners and works closely with City. There were no for-profit entities involved.
  • Working with the Board of Public Services, Alderman Roddy, Alderman Rice, and Alderman Davis, they applied for a Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Grant, awarded for a project’s ability to reduce pollution in a variety of different measures. The project is going forward with East-West Gateway and seeks approval in August.
  • Looking to fill a funding gap of $600k of a $9.4M project.
  • Total project cost is $9.3M for 2.2 miles using ward funds, privately funded match lead by Arch to Park, federal funds for 80% of the full cost. Funding gap remaining is $600k. They feel confident in meeting the gap.
    • Total Project Cost $9.3 M for 2.2 Miles
      • Ward funds
      • Privately funded match lead by Arch to Park
      • Federal funds for 80% of full cost
  • Timeline:
    • Feb. 2020 Grant application submitted
    • April 2020 Public comment period 267 comments
    • May 2020 EWG Transportation Planning Committee (TPC) recommendations
    • Aug. 2020: EWG Board Approval
    • 2020-21: Professional Engineering and Construction Design 2021-22: Environmental Review (potential exists to begin construction in 2022) 2023-24: Construction
  • General Member: The Forest Park South Business Association was interested in being involved – would there be an opportunity for businesses to help/contribute similar to a 50.50 sidewalk grant?  Some businesses had expressed interest in streetscape improvements – would be great to leverage their interest! Cindy says they seek whatever resources are out they would love to take that information back to the engineers and sequenced into the engineering to be helpful.
  • You can read more about the Tower Grove – Cortex Connector here: https://trailnet.org/2020/04/07/youre-helping-build-a-bike-lane-tower-grove-ave/
  • For more information or getting involved, you can reach out to Cindy@trailnet.org.

7:20 – 7:30 pm City Updates (Alderman Roddy)

  • Acknowledged the concerns around the justice system and the events that happened in Minneapolis and across the country.  d around the country when it comes to police reform and policy changes.
  • Was on the phone with the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and said The City will be getting body cameras soon, with more changes forthcoming.  

7:30 – 7:40 pm Community Announcements and Follow-Up (Community, FPSENA Board)

  • Tim with the City GIS will present work he’s doing next month.
  • The Board has discussed having Arch City Defenders as a speaker at an upcoming meeting
  • NNO will be the 2nd Saturday in October (October 10). This is still in the planning phase
  • PCD is identifying applicants for their Stay in Place program.

7:45 PM Adjournment (Vincent Chewning)

Powerpoint PDF presentation of June’s meeting can be found here.

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 update below.