2025 started with an onslaught of ice and snow and our neighborhood was greatly affected by the lack of plowing. Thanks to our Alderman, Bret Narayan for being vocal about it and helping to eventually get us plowed out! The LPNA Board of Directors is made up entirely of volunteers who step up to organize our many events throughout the year. Our current Board of Directors consists of: Adam Rustige (President), Lisa Roggeman (Vice President), Jenna Stout
(Secretary), Pat Acquisto (Treasurer), Tim Nowell, Greg Roggeman, Milton Murry, Emily Yale, John Harris, Sara Davis and Greg Todd. We had another packed year of events this year, including:
Meetups (formerly Tweetups) are organized each month by Lisa Roggeman, and they take place at a different bar/restaurant in or around our neighborhood. Meetups are happy hours, where neighbors have the opportunity to meet new people, chat to visitors and try out a favorite restaurant or visit a new one. They are typically held on the 4th Tuesday (or Wednesday) of a month and it’s a great way to support our local businesses. This year we had Meetup’s at
Ari’s (January), Biggie’s (February), Afghan Kabob House (March), El Paisano (April), Salt & Smoke (May), Pietro’s (June), Chilanguita (July), Babe’s/Vinnies/Pizza-A-Go-Go (August), Aya Sofia (September), Farmhaus (October) and Trattoria Marcella (November). There is no Meetup scheduled in December.
Our 4 Neighborhood Meetings were held on the first Mondays in March, June and December, with the September one held the Monday after Labor Day. We had great turnouts for all meetings, and we try to cram as much Lindenwood Park feedback as possible into them. We had feedback from our Alderman Bret Narayan and NIS Karen Clifford, and our State Representative Nick Kimble. Molly Pfeiffer from Machacek Library always has excellent info for us about exciting
happenings at the library, and Katie Weintraub from Lindenwood Area Senior Ministry gives us amazing feedback about the wonderful programs available to seniors in our neighborhood. Our Police Liaison Officer Gus Karagiannis also gives us the crime feedback and takes questions from those in attendance. We had some amazing guest speakers such as Darlene Green – Comptroller, Alan Jankowski – Commissioner of Forestry, Jay Unnerstall – Author of book on
Lindenwood Park, Shawn Ordway – Interim Assessor, Ava Hohn – Recycling Program Specialist, and Donna Baringer – Comptroller.
The Flea Market organized by Lisa Roggeman, took place at Watson Terrace Christian Church on May 17th. We had a great response from vendors renting tables and then a huge response from the neighborhood, with people donating items to the LPNA tables for resale. There were 26 tables full of wonderful items. Anything that wasn’t sold was donated to various charities. Our net profit was a little over $600. The flea market is a fun event, held inside during the spring and thank you to all our volunteers who made this event possible!
Lindenwood Live is organized by Tim Nowell and Greg Roggeman. This year we had 4 FREE concerts. The Phoenix Band performed in May, Ivas John in June, and Mad Steve & The Rockets and The Bedlam Brothers in August. They were great and we, once again, had a very generous turnout. T-shirts and flags were sold from the LPNA booth as well as info handed out and membership dues collected. Jay Unnerstall sold his Lindenwood Park book, we launched the opening
of the updated park building, Food trucks were a huge hit – we had some old favorites as well as several new ones and Rockwell Brewery and Slinks Drinks took care of the beverages.
Our Lawn & Garden contest was organized by Pat Acquisto and her team of judges. Various gardens were nominated and the judges visited all of them and then sent in a score and the highest scores won the awards. Congratulations to all the winners involved. Thank you to all the nominees for making a wonderful effort to spotlight your beautiful gardens.
The LPNA Trivia Night was organized by Pat Acquisto and was very well attended and a great success. Local businesses were once again, exceptionally generous with their donations towards attendance prizes and raffle baskets. There were 15 tables sold and a profit of around $3,800 was made. Volunteers helped by collecting money, providing snacks, setting the questions, decorating, setting up tables and cleaning up afterwards.
No LinFest this year, but instead, we held our first House Tour! It was a hot day, with Lindenwood Park Place opening their doors and allowing us to hold our registration there. We had 9 amazing houses for people to tour, and thank you to the homeowners for opening up their homes for this event. Approximately 170 tickets were sold, and an estimated $5,000 profit was made that will go straight back into the association for upcoming events.
The Holiday Lighting Contest is headed up by Matt Walbaum. Every December a group of people travel around the neighborhood looking for the best or most unique display of lights and holiday decorations. Winners are rewarded with a winning sign in their yards. We always have such amazing displays!
Our Block Captains group is run by Laurie Klein. There were 4 meetings held throughout the year with block captains sharing what is happening on their blocks. Our guests this year were Lisa Roggeman, Bret Narayan, Karen Clifford and Kent Flake. The 2025 Block Captain’s meetings were held at Timothy Lutheran Church at 6pm. Thanks again to Rev. Dinger who has been so gracious in letting us borrow one of the rooms in his church for our meetings.
Our Membership committee is run by Lisa Roggeman, with Greg Todd, Greg Roggeman, Sara Davis and Emily Rogier. We have several thousand households in Lindenwood Park and currently have only approximately 300 paid-up members. Dues are $15 per household per year and can be paid online or by check at any of our events. The membership committee also handles putting together welcome packs for all new residents who move into our neighborhood. Welcome packs are partly delivered by Block Captains. We did a door hanging blitz to try and increase membership. The area we blitzed was Arsenal to Fyler, Hampton to Watson, and nearly 700 door hangers were distributed.
The Safety Committee is run by Adam Rustige. In the first couple of years, we started by promoting the #9PMRoutine and gave away 911 magnets. We continue to report weekly crime data from SLMPD on Facebook. Our elected leaders continue to promote a decrease in crime and, looking at what is being reported in our neighborhood, that seems to be true.
The Beautification team, run by Milton Murry and Sharon Panian. They head up the community garden and the Wabash native flower garden. The community garden is located behind St. Michael’s Universal Church at Leola & Smiley. Seed St. Louis (formally Gateway Greening) provided seed packets and seedlings at low prices. Some raised beds and the compost container were repaired. Vegetables and flowers were grown in the beds, with some excess veggies being donated to the Senior Center on Arsenal. Garden members currently pay an annual fee of $10 for the growing season. Responsibilities include maintaining their raised bed plot and contributing to the community garden maintenance, as well as helping to keep the church property clean. We appreciate the church allowing us to use their land free of charge. The Wabash Flower Garden consists of native perennials and is located across from 7080 Oleatha, backing onto Wabash.
We spread mulch, weeded and watered throughout the season. They are desperately looking for someone to take over the care and maintenance of this garden so please contact us if interested.
MODOT is no longer supporting the highway cleanups, but our Green Team, headed by Tim Nowell, decided to continue to keep the entrance to our neighborhood clean. 4 highway cleanups were completed this year, with an average of 6-10 volunteers helping to pick up trash and debris along I-44E. An incredible amount of trash (and some weird stuff) is collected each time, and we dispose of it ourselves now that MODOT won’t collect it. LPNA pays for a company to cut the grass at the I-44E exit at Jamieson (the triangle) to try and keep the weeds and long grass in check. We also take care
of the weeds in the median area too.
Our Park Chairperson, Emily Yale, with the help of Aaron Dohogne, organized 2 big Park Cleanups in the Spring and early Fall. They was fairly well attended by volunteers who mulched, weeded, planted, collected trash, picked up downed limbs and did a general tidy up of the park. Several seniors from local schools earned community service hours by helping us! During the Summer we were able to move all our stored items back into the building office that had been
recently renovated.
Our Communications team do a great job of keeping neighbors updated with current events. Our website is constantly updated by our Webmaster, Greg Roggeman, who is assisted by Greg Todd. They do a great job of keeping things current. Pat Acquisto keeps a watchful eye on the Facebook group and Lisa Roggeman is constantly posting information to keep everyone in the loop.
Our Century Homes program is run by Jenna Stout, Kaye Campbell and Miriam Moynihan. We are proud to have our over 100-year-old houses recognized throughout the neighborhood with a Century Homes plaque. This year we have sold 11 plaques. There are now 118 Century Home plaques in the neighborhood!
Local Author and Board Member, Jay Unnerstall, delighted us by writing and publishing a book about Lindenwood Park which is full of history, beautiful pictures and 4 self-guided tours. He also gave a few great presentations to promote the sale of the book. If you still need a copy of it, you can purchase it from our website at www.lindenwoodpark.org/shop
or from a few select stores in our neighborhood.
We are very grateful to our Neighborhood Improvement Specialist (NIS), Karen Clifford who is instrumental in helping us take care of so many neighborhood issues and we value her dedication to Lindenwood Park!
We would like to thank everyone who participated, volunteered and attended any of our events throughout the year. The LPNA Board members are all volunteers who donate an immense amount of time and energy to the neighborhood, from attending many meetings, writing up and posting info on social medial, keeping the website up to date, finding people to participate in events, soliciting sponsorship, setting up chairs for meetings, providing snacks, giving up weekends
and various other days to be present, and so much more. We appreciate all the help and involvement that is given. If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events or would just like to help with anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
When people ask, “what do I get for my membership dues?” THIS is where your $15 per year per household goes. Events don’t just happen. Flowers don’t plant themselves. Trash doesn’t miraculously disappear. Bands don’t play for free. We appreciate our members who diligently renew their membership every year. You can sign up to become a member, or renew your membership to the Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Association. All monies received are put back
into our neighborhood. Sign up today at www.lindenwoodpark.org/join.
On behalf of the LPNA Board, we would like to wish you and your family Happy Holidays and a peaceful, joyful and healthy 2026. We look forward to seeing you at our events next year!
Sincerely,
Lisa Roggeman, Vice-President
Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Association
www.lindenwoodpark.org