Ellendale Meeting Notes for August 10, 2015
A PDF of the meeting notes can be downloaded by clicking here.
MEETING NOTES
Location: Abbott EMS, 2500 Abbott Place, St. Louis, Missouri
Call to Order 7:00 p.m.
Nancy Thompson from SLACO (St Louis Association of Community Organizations) addressed the meeting attendees and welcomed them to the meeting, and also let them know that she was acting as the MC for the meeting because we are working to reorganize the Association and since we do not yet have elected Officers she would step in and help until the next meeting when the Officers are nominated and elected.
Next, Nancy first thanked Lloyd Henry, with Abbott EMS, for once again hosting the meeting.
Nancy also thanked Irene Jones, resident, for arranging with another resident to have pizza for the meeting (from Racanelli’s).
Nancy gave a short introduction to Matt Sisul, resident and member of the Organization Committee.
Matt introduced himself to the assembly. He stated that he, his wife, and his 13-year old boy live on Fern at Emilie where they were lucky to purchase a parcel of land and build a new home on it two-and-a-half years ago. Matt works for the City of St. Louis and he thinks it is important to have a neighborhood association so we (residents) know what is going on in our neighborhood and also to have an advocate to voice what we want to see in the future. A neighborhood association is also a chance for the neighbors to connect and interact with each other, especially based on (points to map on wall) the fact that we have such a spread out neighborhood, which even has a dog leg of residents to the east.
Matt continued by recapping quickly what reasons the approximately 10-member Organization Committee concluded to recommend we continue to neighborhood association.
For the distribution of communication to the Neighborhood.
For having representation at other civic levels.
Gives us an opportunity to collaborate with other organizations within the 24th Ward (of which we are a part of).
To socialize.
Matt added that tonight’s meeting is not only for meeting our neighbors, but also to see who is willing to step up and be one of the five new Officers.
Nancy thank Matt for speaking and then introduced Jenise Nea, resident and member of the Organization Committee.
Jenise stood and walked over to the map of the neighborhood on the wall. She pointed out where she lived, on Lanham, and joked about how it is currently the cut-off portion of Ellendale due to the construction on Southwest. Jenise has 4 kids, she is a St. Louis Public Schools teacher, her husband is a firefighter, and they have lived in Ellendale for 16 years.
Jenise then asked if everyone would introduce themselves, tell the assembly a little about themselves, how long they have lived in Ellendale, etc.
Notetaker’s note: My apologies if I didn’t catch your last name or I misspelled your name. Hopefully though, I accurately recorded your other introduction information. -AS
Irene Jones, member of the Organizational Committee, lives on Fern at Emilie, has raised a son here in Ellendale, lived here for 15 years.
Jacqi Kamp, lives on Ellendale Avenue near Emilie (the house with the big garage you can see off of McCausland), is married and has two kids.
Anne Bannister, lives on Ellendale Avenue across the street from Jacqi, she grew up in the City and is a City girl, she has lived in Ellendale for the last 10 years.
Donna Vorwold, lives on Hermitage, she has lived in Ellendale for 53 years and has been/is the Block Captain for Operation Brightside.
Lisa Richardson, lives on Commonwealth, lived in Ellendale for 12 years, she has been retired for three years from MODOT where she worked in the office located in the City just east of the Ellendale Neighborhood.
Lelsey Wilson, member of the Organizational Committee, lives on Commonwealth, she is a realtor and has lived in Ellendale for 12 years.
Jim Puleo, lives on Magnolia and was born and raised living in Ellendale for 59 years.
Lloyd Henry, from Abbott EMS (does not live in Ellendale), the Abbott facility has been in Ellendale for 23 years and has approximately 580 employees who work out of this office. Lloyd also expressed how much Abbott would like to support the Association and he is going to put up a bulletin board near the entrance that will be available to post Ellendale Neighborhood information.
Charlie White, lives on Emilie across the street from Irene, he and his wife are retired and like to garden, they have lived in Ellendale for 18 years, and they are happy for all the good things they have seen happen in the Neighborhood.
Randy Munton, owner of the 7/11 at the corner of McCausland and Southwest for 26 years and has always been a proud supporter of the Ellendale Neighborhood and will continue to offer any support he can to the Association.
Jim Hayslip, lives on Commonwealth, he has seven kids and several grandkids who are often at his place, he has lived in Ellendale for 43 years.
Martin Fischer, lives on Emilie, has lived in Ellendale for 54 years and has been a member of the Neighborhood Association in the past as well as held Officer positions in the past. Martin also mentioned how he has seen the Association go through periods of dormancy and periods of activity. He also took a moment to explain that Ellendale in an old neighborhood association — that it has been around for a long time. Martin thinks having an active association is far better than not having one and is happy we are trying to bring it back. He also mentioned a little about the documents he brought for people to look at.
Barry Marquart and his wife Tiffany, live on Commonwealth at the big bend, they have lived in Ellendale for six years after they bought the house that Tiffany’s parents lived in while she was away at college.
Joan Merlo, lives on Emilie, grew up in St. Louis on The Hill and never even knew Ellendale existed, she has lived in Ellendale for three years.
Julie Rempe, lives on Commonwealth (in the old pig house, so-called because there used to be a pig there apparently), she has lived in Ellendale for only three months.
Angela Sebben, member of the Organizational Committee, lives on Ellendale Avenue just a few houses down from Anne and Jacqi, she has lived in St. Louis for only five years, she has lived in Ellendale for only five years though her husband has lived here a year longer and was born and raised in St. Louis, (I didn’t know what else to really say so I went back to taking notes).
Joan Bernell and her daughter, live on Hermitage, Joan was born and raised here and has lived in Ellendale for 63 years.
Karen and her wife Bella, live on Hermitage, and have lived in Ellendale for 8 years.
Jim [__________], lives on Magnolia, was born and raised in St. Louis and has been associated in one way or another with his house on Magnolia since he was 5 years old.
Sharon Tash, lives on Tennyson Square and also has another property nearby, she was born and raised in St. Louis, she has lived in Ellendale since 1977.
Once the introductions were complete, Nancy introduced Angela to go over a couple items that she had information about — the Wilkinson School and the construction on Southwest.
Angela recapped the information she had shared already on the Facebook page and the Nextdoor site and mentioned how the Committee is hoping that these two social media outlets will be a source for residents to continue discussions and other conversations outside of the general meetings:
Wilkinson School: I attended a Community Forum on Thursday evening, July 23rd. There was one other community member present who was also there interested in the Wilkinson School. I had another appointment after the meeting so I was unable to stay and speak with her. There were five of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Team 6 members present. The Team included architects, housing and real estate professionals, and others in similar fields. They discussed Cook School (which they thought would be well suited for possibly residential or mixed use); Gratiot School (which they seemed to agree was best suited for a commercial use like a tech company); Clark School (which they discussed could be best suited for a variety of things from possibly residential to possibly used for a trade school). The discussion of Wilkinson's best reuse possibilities were for it to be residential, particularly senior housing. The discussion suggested that any use for the building would be to restore/renovate the existing building, most likely having the main building access facing Canterbury. At this time, they did not say how much interest they have in the Wilkinson property yet or when it might actively go on the market. As of this meeting it was still not actively on the market.
Construction on Southwest: After a resident posted a question on the Facebook page about when the construction might be completed, I contacted our Neighborhood Improvement Specialist, Andrew Hernandez, and he got me connected with a Public Relations person at MSD — whose boss will be in attendance at the September 14th meeting. The short answer is that it is looking like sometime in late September or early October before the work might be completed. The long answer: Originally the portion of the big 2-year project they are working on was slated to be finished around mid-July, but they have run into some snags — a water main that they needed to re-route (which is why they had those water shut offs last week) and a gas main that they had to go around because they couldn't re-route it. Now they are unexpectedly being slowed down by really hard rock they need to break through, but due to the nearby gas line, can't break through by more powerful means, so everything has slowed down.
After Angela completed her recap, Jacqi stood to speak about other issues that have appeared on the Facebook and Nextdoor sites. She reiterated how utilizing these sites brings issues to people’s attentions. Jacqi asked about the issue currently with unmaintained pool and electrical extension cords crossing a yard and asked if anyone had any further information. Matt indicated that Andrew Hernandez, our Neighborhood Improvement Specialist, will be at our September 14th meeting to address it.
Jacqi continued to mention the historic Ellendale images album that has been set up on the Facebook page.
Next, Nancy asked Martin Fischer if he had any other information he wanted to share about the historical document he brought for people to see.
Martin explained how he was entrusted these items by Lem Lankford, a former Ellendale resident, who has since passed away. Martin has kept the documents for many years and has begun trying to preserve them. Some of the meeting minutes date back to the 1930s. There was a mention of the Ellendale train stop and how it was a different stop than the Maplewood train stop which used to be at the top of the stairs at Greenwood and Canterbury. The Ellendale train stop used to be just north of Southwest Avenue.
Nancy recapped the meeting and reminded the assembly about the next meeting on September 14, where nominations for Officers and elections will happen during the same meeting. And the next meeting seems to have a full agenda including a speaker from MSD and the NIS, Andrew Hernandez. Then after that meeting we will be on our every-other-month schedule.
Question posed by Julie: Is there anyone interested now in running for the Officer positions? She then directly asked Jacqi who was sitting next to her if Jacqi was willing to run? Jacqi said she would be interested if nominated. Nancy assured the assembly that there will be enough people to fill the positions.
Question posed by another resident: How long before the Association is legal? Nancy responded that that would be something the new Officers would need to deal with right off, but that it isn’t difficult to simply register the Association.
Statement: Lloyd offered Abbott services to help scan some of the documents Martin has for posting on the websites and elsewhere.
Nancy encouraged everyone to stick around and mingle and have pizza and get to know each other. She thanked everyone once again for attending.
Meeting closed about 7:40 p.m. Mingling continued well past 8:30 for some.