Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Association
January 13, 2021
7pm – 9pm, Online Zoom Meeting
Present: Pat Acquisto, Lisa Roggeman, Milton Murry, Lindsay Alsop, Karen Clifford, Tim Nowell, Doug Dick, Adam Rustige, Greg Roggeman, Carol Hofer, Emily Rogier, Emily Yale, Gabe Gassner, Joe Vaccaro
Apologies: None
Absent: None
Guest: Bryan Bollman & Andrew Crabtree – V.L’s Urban Farm, Aaron Dohogne, Angelica Ware
A new business called V.L.’s Urban Farm is requesting a letter of approval from the Board to open a business on Ivanhoe Ave. between Forest & Meadow and Butterfly Fitness. They are currently distributing their produce at Tower Grove Farmer’s Market. They anticipate growing and selling mushrooms from the store, with a viewing window visible from the street. They will be selling various mushrooms and micro greens as well as being a distributor for other farmers’ produce.
Hours of operation will be Mon-Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 8am-7pm, Sun 10am-4pm. They are a vegetable distribution service. There will be no large truck deliveries. They will utilize the regular trash/recycle dumpsters. This is a store for local residents, and they will be able to produce up to 250lbs of mushrooms per week. No permit is required if growing and selling your own product.
Pat will write up a letter of approval and forward to Joe to accompany his letter of approval.
Aaron Dohogne is working through Forest ReLeaf to have more trees planted in our neighborhood. He will be starting a fundraiser on the LPNA Facebook group to raise $900 for 30 trees. These trees will be planted in private resident’s yards or tree lawns on a first come, first served basis. All monies raised will go to Forest ReLeaf who are aware of his fundraiser and have set aside the 30 trees for our neighborhood. A donation to the fundraiser would not secure a tree for the donor. Recipients of a tree would be asked to dig their own hole and Aaron will deliver and plant the tree.
Aaron is asking LPNA for a donation of $500 which will help purchase 16 trees. It was decided that we would let Aaron complete his fundraiser and that LPNA would make up the difference with a donation. The fundraiser would occur between February and March. LPNA will look at having volunteers to help with digging the holes and delivering the tree, to assist Aaron.
The Minutes from November 14, 2020 were approved. Motion made by Tim and 2nd by Emily Rogier.
Neighborhood Meeting – this will be a webinar to be held on March 1, 2021
Guest speakers: The midwives/doulas on Ivanhoe, and Darlene Green – St. Louis City Comptroller.
Association Business.
Elected Officials & Karen Clifford.
LASM & Machacek Library.
Committee Reports
Streets & Properties:
- Marquette: House was condemned.
- Sutherland: House was condemned and will be boarded up.
- Hucks: Had a meeting with the manager. Cameras were installed facing Marquette. Karen has permission to review the tapes from the cameras at any time. They have an occupancy permit. Karen has confirmed all requested upgrades. They have been issued a friendly C&D regarding “undesirables”. They will be screening all potential employees in the future.
- 65xx Hancock: The owner has been issued a C&D. There were several calls for service made after the C&D was issued. Karen assisted the neighbor with obtaining a restraining order against the neighbor and has spoken with the City Counselor to set up a meeting with the owner.
- Panera: There have been delivery issues and loud music coming from delivery trucks. Karen met with the General Manager and there is a C&D issued against the property. The General Manager will contact the delivery company.
- 69xx Pernod: Letter was sent to the owners and the house is boarded up.
- 70xx Lindenwood: Owner is operating a landscaping business with no license. 2 Large trucks are parked at the corner and there is illegal storage facing Wabash Ave.
- 38xx McCausland: A C&D was issued. There have been 8 calls for service over the last year. Background checks will be completed on new renters.
- 70xx Oleatha: Property has a new roof. There will be a follow up in 2 weeks. The owner will be applying for more permits for various work to be done.
- Property next to St. Michael’s: New owners will possibly be building 2 or 3 homes on that space.
Events:
- Tweetup: January 26th from 6pm-8pm via Zoom. This will be promoted via Facebook, Nextdoor, Twitter, our website and Joe’s e-blast. Take out from Biggie’s is recommended.
- Lindenwood Live!: First concert is scheduled for May 23rd. The Committee has not yet met. Tim will try and book the same bands from last year. Greg will touch base with the food truck owners and request payment closer to the date of the concert. This is all pending approval by the City for large gatherings.
Beautification:
- Park: Emily emailed Kim Haegele regarding the status of park improvements. No date yet as to when they would be started. Also waiting on feedback regarding the sewer backup report. The Spring park cleanup will be held on May 8th, before the first anticipated concert.
- Green Team: Nothing to report.
- Community Garden: All beds are taken.
- Wabash Garden: Nothing to report.
- Ivanhoe Planters: Rye is not yet growing but has been watered.
Communications
- The shop is up and running. Procedures were discussed and decided upon: purchase item online, this generates an email from PayPal – Lindsay is alerted of the payment and any inventory alerts created. Greg will send an email to Tim advising him of the purchase. Tim with get the items from the park building and email Karen who will collect it from Tim and deliver it to the purchaser. Greg needs verbiage to post on the store link and Pat will write this up. Flags will be added to the store list. Century Homes payment will not be done through the website but done via emailed invoices.
Block Captain Report
- Had the first meeting via Zoom and there were 10-12 attendees. Vince and Joe spoke. April’s meeting will be via Zoom. We have 1 new block captain. It was decided that in order to be a block captain you have to be a member in good standing. Emily R and Patti will update the list of block captains and send it to Greg to update the list on the website. Once this is done, there will be a call for new block captains on Facebook and Nextdoor.
Membership Report
- There was a rash of new member payments on PayPal after Lisa posted a reminder about renewals being due and new member info on Facebook and Nextdoor. Various Board members are working on follow up’s with members who’s dues are due. We have approximately 270 members. Lisa will post a quarterly membership drive on Facebook and Nextdoor.
Treasurer’s Report
- Lindsay requested a donation to Operation Brightside. Our last donation to them was 2 years ago. A motion was made by Doug to donate $250 and 2nd by Lindsay. Motion carried.
Safety Committee
- The first meeting was held on December 17th. It was a brainstorming meeting, and they are working on a mission statement. The next meeting is scheduled for January 21st. There are 7-8 members. There is a central email address created: safety@lindenwoodpark.org. The City is not doing anything to combat the theft of catalytic converters, ie. Work with scrap yards to deter it etc. Can the safety committee come up with ideas?
Old Business
- Century Homes: a plaque is in the process of being made. Had to have the sample redone. Once complete, the committee can start campaigning to sell the plaques.
New Business
- Church at 3615 McCausland: Sacred Practice Reiki Studio will move into the old Russian church building. Their hours will be 8-10pm, 7 days a week. They will hold one-on-one sessions of 5-6 people. Temporary signage initially. No zone change is required.
- Donna Baringer has not yet paid dues after multiple requests and promises to pay them.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9.10pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Roggeman