GROUP AIMS TO CLEAN UP MAY GREENE NEIGHBORHOOD

Members of a group aimed at cleaning up Cape Girardeau's May Greene neighborhood will hear the results of a neighborhood survey Saturday morning.

Everyone is invited to attend the meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. at May Greene School, said City Councilman Melvin Gateley, one of the organizers of the neighborhood improvement program.

Gateley and City Councilman Tom Neumeyer, along with a number of South Side residents and business owners, want the neighborhood cleaned up.

They say they're tired of trash, abandoned or poorly-maintained buildings and weeds hurting the neighborhood's image and their property values.

The neighborhood is bounded by William Street on the north, the Southern Expressway on the south, the Mississippi River on the east and South West End Boulevard on the west.

Results of a July survey done by May Greene Community Pride will be shared at Saturday's meeting.

The survey identifies five areas of concern in the South Side:

-- Overgrown yards at 70 locations

-- Trash at 46 locations

-- Junk at 45 locations

-- Abandoned houses at 34 locations

-- Property in need of repair at 34 locations

Abandoned autos, abandoned buildings, missing house numbers, missing street signs, overgrown alleys and other abandoned items were also listed as concerns.

The survey also notes a lack of sidewalks along several streets and that the old St. Francis Hospital building at Pacific and Good Hope "continues to be an eyesore" in the area.

Not all of the things the survey identified are bad.

Some of the factors that add to the neighborhood's quality of life include a large number of vegetable gardens planted each year and property owners planting trees, shrubs and flowers throughout the neighborhood.

Ranney Park, Fort D, the cleanup of Smelterville and repairs to South Sprigg Street were all noted as assets to the neighborhood, as are neighborhood improvement projects funded by Community Development Block Grants and the new sewer separation project and the construction of new housing in the area, the survey indicates.

During the first part of the meeting, the group will review the survey results.

Then group members will divide into small groups to come up with practical suggestions for solving the problems identified in the survey, Gateley said.

Those suggestions will be taken to the City Council for review and action, he said.

"Another phase of this is to motivate the residents who live there to be involved in their own neighborhood as far as making improvements and adding vitality," Gateley said.

Neumeyer, who grew up on South West End Boulevard and now represents the South Side area, said city government and neighborhood residents will have to work together.

The city has already made substantial investments in the South Side, Neumeyer said, including the just-announced Jefferson-Shawnee Parkway Neighborhood Improvement project, curb and gutter improvements, street repairs and the paving of several gravel streets.

"We may be looking at some quality of life issues and getting the residents to tell us what kinds of ordinances would help them and protect them with their quality of life in the neighborhood," he said.

Residents, he said, need to "get involved" by helping with the planned cleanup.

One area of concern in the neighborhood is the planned closing of May Greene School, which Neumeyer called a "wonderful" asset to the neighborhood.

He said he'd like to see the building used as a sort of community center, with afterschool programs for children and adult education classes.

"There's probably 20 different activities that building would be useful for," he said.

Neumeyer blames what he called "slumlords" for some of the neighborhood's problems. There is a high concentration of rental property in the neighborhood.

"All you need is one bad house or a slumlord in one block and that can really mess up a neighborhood," he said. "Greed does not help neighborhoods. But there's a lot of folks who take pride in their homes and have nice property. There's no need to let someone who's greedy destroy the fiber of a neighborhood."