Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Association
Board of Director’s Meeting at Epiphany Church
Wednesday, April 19th, 2023, 7pm.
Present: Pat Acquisto, Lisa Roggeman, Milton Murry, Greg Roggeman, Tim Nowell, Carol Hofer, Emily Yale, Adam Rustige, Jenna Stout, John Harris, Bret Narayan
Apologies: Doug Dick
Absent: Brian Kolde
Amendments to the previous Minutes: 69xx Oleatha – not 39xx and Mark Klose – not Kloss.
A motion was made to approve the Minutes from February 18th, 2023 by Carol and seconded by Tim.
Introduction of Bret Narayan, newly elected Alderman of the 4th Ward.
- Looking forward to supporting the old 23rd
- Pat explained how we have allocated a budget in the past (committees made decisions with Joe).
- According to the Comptroller’s office, Ward capital will more than double and our projects that have been allocated a budget should not be affected. Pat gave Bret a list of all our current and on-going projects. We are happy to work with the other neighborhoods in the 4th Ward to determine where future budgets could be allocated.
- Bret’s first concern is safety/crime, then development.
- Suggestion made by Tim to utilize rubberized speed humps instead of concrete speed humps. Bret will take heed from the Traffic Dept. regarding a traffic calming study to determine devices.
- New businesses – explained our procedure. Bret will send new business info to Pat.
- Events – Bret will continue to waive our fees for our events.
- Park – Bret said he “allocates more money to parks than the Park’s Dept. asks for usually”. Explained we have requests for 2 pickleball courts converted from one tennis court, but the surface needs to be redone as does the hockey rink. Money has been allocated for this to happen. Water fountains also need to be fixed – apparently a problem with the plumbing – this has been on-going for over 2 years. Building renovation is also allocated.
- Social media presence – Bret is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prefers email, but any issues to be funneled through CSB first. After 7-10 days if nothing has been done, contact Bret.
- Bret’s email is narayanb@stlouis-mo.gov. Phone #: 314 200-5177
- Takes Facebook issues and will log them with CSB. Aldermanic requests are elevated via CSB.
- Several alley dumpsters are in a shocking state. Equipment is broken and parts ordered from China are backordered. We have $40k allocated for dumpsters in our neighborhood.
- Recycling – would like to contract it out. This is a Mayoral decision.
- Block Captain Program – meet quarterly, link between LPNA and neighbors.
- The best way for us to get info out was Joe’s e-blasts and our LPNA newsletter – Bret does not currently have a group email set up.
- Promo – would like to add Aldermanic info to the welcome packs – also 4th Ward info. Bret will get something made up and printed.
- Meetings – supplied Bret with our neighborhood meeting dates and times. May have a conflict with other neighborhood meetings that meet at the same time as ours. Gave Bret our calendar of events.
- Invited Bret to Meetups – can’t make April 25th, but will be at the May Meetup.
- Promoted Lindenwoodpark.org for events and info.
- Invited to stay for the duration of the meeting.
Neighborhood Meeting: to be held at Watson Terrace Christian Church, June 5th at 7.30pm
- Guest speakers: Sonya Gray, Director of Personnel or Betherny Williams, Director of Streets. Chief Robert Tracy if neither are available.
- LASM & Machacek Library.
- LPNA Business.
- Elected Officials.
Alderman’s Report
- It was decided to hold a “thank you” for Joe during the first concert. Tim will check with the band if we can use their sound system.
- 69xx Oleatha: Scrapper. Did not show up for court and is still being fined every day.
- Marquette: Sidewalk was damaged. Marked him as a priority. Pat will contact Streets to ensure he is top priority and send Bret the address. Bret will assist too.
Committee Reports
Events:
- Meetup: Meetup will take place at El Paisano on April 25th, from 6-8pm.
- Flea Market: May 20th at Watson Terrace Christian Church at the same time as their BBQ. They will use 30% of their space for the BBQ. May 19th is for setup and donation delivery from 6.30pm – 8.30pm. Leftover items could be stored at the park building for pickup, unless Watson Terrace will let us leave it there. 12 tables currently sold. Waiting for 9 more applications to come in. LPNA will have 6 tables. Maximum 30 tables. $20 per table, max 2 tables per person. Need volunteers.
- Lindenwood Live: Tim is working on confirming 4th band (September). Need signs for no parking – Pat and Tim to discuss. Food trucks still coming in. Down 1 dessert truck – only have ice cream truck. 6 for each concert, would like 8. Southside Wine needs to confirm as they have truck issues. Rockwell is confirmed. Abigail’s is doing 2 concerts. Tim will follow up with Benton Park Prints.
- Lawn & Garden Contest: Pat will ask Miriam Moynihan if she would be interested in being a judge and running with it.
- House Tour: Have a committee meeting on 4/20. Thinking of making it a house and neighborhood tour. Currently have 2 possibilities but would like 10. Will be choosing and approaching owners. The red roof house is not in the neighborhood.
Beautification:
- Park: Park cleanup is scheduled for May 20th. Aaron will be organizing mulching, weeding, planting flowers etc. No pruning as it’s not the right season for it. Pat will ask her nephew to provide perennials. Steve Meyer who has the corner bed at Pernod & Jamieson needs mulch. May consider paying someone to weed eat because the City does a bad job and damages the trees. Boy/Girl Scout groups or school groups are welcome to help us but must be chaperoned. May want to consider changing future park clean up dates to April in order to get school groups to help. Emily is trying to get the water fountains switched on and/or repaired. Resurfacing of tennis courts and hockey rink is still out for bid. Bret suggested looking for sponsorship from City Soccer SC to pay for it to make the process go faster. Bret will speak to Daniel Flynn, his contact there. They recently sponsored Willmore Park’s rink.
- Community Garden: Collected potting soil from Seed St. Louis, added flower beds. All beds are accounted for. Requested compost from the city but there wasn’t anything available. People are ready to plant. Picked up a wheelbarrow from the alley.
- Wabash Garden: Daffodils and tulips are done but irises should be blooming soon. Weeding needs to be done. No mulch needed.
- Green Team: Had a successful clean up. 11 participants including 2 new people. Collected 19 bags of trash which is record. There’s a large hole, possibly from an old sign and asked MODOT to fill. Tim will send Pat the volunteer list.
Communications
- Still need to get the website moved. Will search for a new host that will be faster and handle our email as we’re using it now. Must have an email migration tool, not only for the website.
- The calendar is stuck on one month and won’t move forward.
Membership:
- 51 Welcome packs were delivered in March for new residents who bought property in November, December, and January. The next batch will be delivered in May for Feb, Mar and Apr. Always looking for volunteers/block captains to help deliver.
- Currently have 245 paid-up members. Lisa and Greg checked every member’s expiration date, and the spreadsheet more or less matches the online system (except for those with no email addresses). All paid-up members who were not in the system have been added. 18 of 42 people have renewed membership in response to a physical letter mailed to them since January 2023 and renewed.
Safety:
- Adam purchased 20 clubs. We will promote them once Adam is back from vacation.
Block Captain’s:
- Laurie held a successful meeting with approximately 15 attendees. Operation Brightside was there, as was Brian.
Century Homes:
- Getting ready for the summer sale. Have a little over 500 eligible homes, through 2024. Will not be doing porch deliveries but will have a common location for them to collect. Have sold 70 plaques so far. Need 10-15 to place an order. Will look at adding another photo of a different house for the website.
Treasurer’s Report:
- $5603 as at the end of March. Had a couple of insurance payments, bought clubs and Hot Lava were the main outgoings. Have started getting payments for dues, flea market and Lindenwood Live.
- Hampton Chippewa Business Association will be promoting the Meetups. Eggs & Issues will be scheduled for June.
- Carol will check to see if we’ve paid dues to SLACO.
- Greg will set up a forward for Carol’s LPNA email address to go to her work address.
Old Business
- Nothing to report.
New Business
- We need to buy more t-shirts. Tim and Lisa will do an inventory of what we have.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8.50pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Roggeman