WPLNA Meeting – Zoom Invite – Tues. 11/10/2020 at 7:00

The WEST PINE LACLEDE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION will meet via ZOOM on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 pm.  

Join Zoom Meeting 
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73880139917?pwd=MlhodVJCWC9EUUNEVGh1SG90N2NsQT09 

Meeting ID: 738 8013 9917 
Passcode: PnE53P 

We have no guest speakers and any new agenda items would be welcomed.  

Minutes from our October meeting are appended below and will be presented for approval.  Please take a minute to review them before joining in the meeting as we will be limited to 40 minutes.  

All are welcome.

WEST PINE LACLEDE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

Minutes:  10.13.20  (draft until approved) 

President Harold Karabell called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. via Zoom.   

Because we had a special guest at this month’s meeting, the normal procedures were tabled to allow for his presentation.  

Special guest:  Jake Lyonfields to discuss Proposition R, a St. Louis City ballot measure to fund early childhood services by means of a property tax increase. 

Prop R is an effort to increase public dedicated funding for early childhood development services and childcare for 0-5 year olds via a modest increase in the amount of funding going to the Mental Health Board’s (MHB) from the payment of annual property taxes. This measure’s ballot placement enjoyed near-unanimous support from the Board of Aldermen. The increase would equate to about $11.40 for a home whose assessed valuation is $100k. Fiscal mapping done in partnership with UMSL’s Community Innovation and Action Center (CIAC) showed an enormous lack of investment in early childhood before the pandemic, reports have shown dire access gaps in St. Louis with only 19% of children eligible for state subsidies able to access seats at licensed EC programs, (a proxy for quality since Missouri is one of the few states without a quality rating system).

The Mental Health Board would distribute the estimated $2.3million via an accessible grantmaking process. Using MHB, an existing allocating body with grantmaking experience, will significantly reduce the need for administrative costs, meaning more money goes directly to services for kids. While public and charter schools would not be able to access these funds due to strictures set by the state statute that enables MHB to collect and distribute tax revenue, the funds can be used in a variety of specific ways prioritizing efforts that would increase the quality of early childhood experiences for lower-income 0-5 year olds including but not limited to:

  • Professional development for the early childhood workforce.
  • Training or consulting to help providers meet or exceed quality standards.
  • Community outreach and recruitment.
  • Health and developmental screenings as well as supports for babies and children with special needs.
  • In-home and community-based support for social emotional development.
  • Investment in programs’ family well-being resources and their efforts to help parents, guardians, and pregnant women maximize said resources.
  • Efforts to ensure effectiveness and accountability including data collection, evaluation and quality improvement.

Campaign website: https://yesonproprstlcity.com

TREASURER’S REPORT (Terry Werner) : 

            Checking:       $2,348.77

            Savings:          $1,062.48

            Time deposit: $7,412.91

BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE REPORT (Lorraine Simpson):

  • Volunteers have planted hundreds of tulip and daffodil bulbs in medians.  
  • Plans are underway to plant a plum tree and install a plaque at the cul-de-sac at West Pine and Sarah to honor the memory of our neighbor and good citizen Ahmoy Nickolai.
  • Terry Werner complimented Lorraine on the quality of the grabbers distributed to walkers in the neighborhood to pick up trash.  More are available upon request.  

SECURITY (Marshall Michener): 

  • In response to numbers of license plates and/or tags being stolen and a couple of car jackings in the neighborhood, Jim Whyte of the Neighborhood Association has used local cameras to help identify perpetrators.  Happily new cameras have been installed at 4451 Forest Park.   
  • Terry Werner reported a couple of car break-ins on West Pine and Marshall Michener found an opened Amazon package and returned the package to the addressee. 

DEVELOPMENT:  

We are still awaiting revised plans from the developer’s architects for the proposed building on the 4100 block of Lindell Boulevard.  Once received, a special WPLNA meeting will be scheduled via Zoom.  A major concern is access and egress to and from the proposed apartment building, especially the developer’s plan for a curb cut on Lindell and concerns about the volume of traffic at the east end of the West Pine/Lindell alley.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. 

Respectfully submitted,

Diana Gualdoni

Secretary