Dreams for south Cape

When Denise Lincoln hears the city's south side could land a minor-league baseball field, a recreation center, a trail system and new industry, she has one reaction.

"Great plan, on paper," said Lincoln, who manages the Cape Girardeau Area Family Resource Center. On a daily basis, she meets southside residents with more immediate needs, such as paying utility bills and keeping their children in school.

But those are just the people the city needs to support the big dreams suggested by the draft comprehensive plan.

The plan defines south Cape Girardeau's borders as Good Hope Street, the Mississippi River, Southern Expressway and Kingshighway, excluding the Shawnee Sports Complex Park.

Cape Girardeau planner Martha Brown said the plan also suggests extending the levee system south, putting 1,500 acres now in a flood plain into development.

"The reason that's attractive is the transportation network is in that area," she said. "It has the river, the railroad, the airport and Interstate 55 are all there. It makes it very attractive for industrial development and general industry."

Brown said securing an east-west highway with access to all parts of the city is a vital part of that plan.

The plan calls for establishing a Southern Community Development Corporation District, a group of residents, city officials, bank representatives and state lawmakers devoted to economic and community redevelopment.

An industrial development by the river would be good "if it provided jobs" that allowed people to get off government assistance, to buy their own homes, Lincoln said.

Trying to reconcile an ambitious long-range plan with immediate needs could be the city's biggest challenge in reinventing south Cape Girardeau.

"We're all applauding the fact that it was a successfully communicated message that got through," Lincoln said. "Though, knowing it's a 20-year plan, and we're probably last on the priority list."

She admits such remarks sound jaded.

"I'm afraid that I do talk daily with folks who have lived in the hope and promise that things can and will change," she said. "There's been a parade of folks that have floated ideas that for whatever reason didn't happen."

Landlord Jason Coalter recalls the days when "Good Hope" was called "No Hope."

"Now I call it 'Some Hope,'" he said.

When he's not working at his family's printing company, Coalter is working on renovating homes on the city's south side.

He has $2.5 million in loans for 100 rental properties, he said, while walking through the gutted interior of 224 S. Ellis St., which is being renovated without government subsidies.

Some homes get minimal work, he said, because the renters are on a fixed income and unable to move. Some people have accused him and his partners of being slumlords. He shrugs off the charge.

"We went and started buying slumlords out," he said. The homes his rental company owns will not be sold for some time. He expects to see a boom in south Cape Girardeau. When that happens, he'll sell the renovated homes. Until then, he wants to keep them under control.

As he stood on the porch of a South Hanover Street house with resurfaced walls and ceilings, new stairs, a small vaulted kitchen ceiling, and a back door with a frosted, floral-patterned window, Coalter saw a heap of garbage piled on a lawn two doors down.

Coalter said the city's immediate priority should be "holding all citizens of Cape Girardeau accountable, regardless of which sector they live in, whether they are landlords, homeowners, renters."

Accountability, Brown said, starts with establishing and enforcing maintenance standards, making sure what she called "stressed properties" are inspected, and creating an occupancy permit for rentals to ensure homes meet city codes. Those actions will help stabilize neighborhoods, she said, but residents need to get involved.

Eldon Nattier and his partner James Coley have been investing in south Cape Girardeau since putting $15,000 on the Rose Bed Inn in 1995. Today, they own all of South Sprigg Street's 600 block except for one vacant lot.

Nattier said those who revitalize south Cape Girardeau will need "lots of interest and fortitude."

The city's next comprehensive plan meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Osage Community Centre, 1625 N. Kingshighway.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127