MAY GREEN NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTS MAKE WISH LIST

Everything from making tenants responsible for maintaining rental property to fixing up Fort D made the list of ideas for cleaning up Cape Girardeau's South Side at a town meeting Saturday morning.

About 20 people turned out for the meeting at May Greene School to discuss ways to clean up the neighborhood, which 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.

City Councilman Melvin Gateley, who along with Councilman Tom Neumeyer hosted the meeting, will tabulate the top five suggestions made by residents.

Those suggestions will then be turned over to the City Council for review and action.

"It's going to be interesting," Gateley told residents. "I bet many of you have the same ideas."

Residents reviewed the results of a survey taken in July on areas of concern in the neighborhood. The five concerns noted in the July survey were trash, overgrown yards, junk, abandoned houses and poorly maintained property.

Then they started voicing their own concerns, and ideas on how to address those concerns.

Among the items mentioned:

-- Cleaning up the Fort D site

-- Paving gravel streets

-- Improved maintenance of alleys

-- Noise control

-- Enforcing building and property maintenance codes

-- Finding funds to help rental tenants purchase homes to encourage better maintenance

-- Making tenants responsible for keeping rental properties cleaned up

-- Saving existing trees and planting new ones

-- Weed control

-- Additional street lighting

-- Fencing "junk yards"

-- Targeting "repeat offenders" for code violations

-- Designating a city staff person to regularly enforce ordinances

-- Involving civic organizations in the cleanup effort

-- A more liberal trash pickup policy so that large items can be picked up more often

-- Improved drug enforcement

-- Establishing a time limit on ordinance enforcements on mandatory cleanups or demolitions

Neumeyer and Jim Williams, vice president of the Haarig Area Development Association, a group dedicated to revitalizing the Good Hope business district, both pointed out several organizations in the city are working to clean up the city's South Side.

It's time all those groups presented a united front to push city officials toward action, Williams, Neumeyer and Gateley said.

"In the past you've had the Downtown Merchants Association, the Downtown Neighborhood Association, the Haarig group and then you had this group," Williams said. "Our objective is to get all of these groups together."

All the organizations have the same goal, Williams said.

"We're going to let the city know we have problems and we want this done, not just lip service," he said. "We want them to use these existing laws and regulations instead of just knowing they're there."

Bruce Melvin, who lives at 325 S. Lorimier, said he's been with the May Greene Community Pride Group since it was organized.

"I care about the place, but I can't do it all myself," Melvin said.

He said his chief concerns are getting abandoned houses torn down and getting abandoned junk yards fenced.

"I think the south end of Cape could be a very beautiful place if people would just take a little pride," Melvin said.

Joyce Jenkins, who lives at 405 S. Ellis, said she's concerned about controlling noise in the neighborhood and the city's requirement that homeowners hire licensed contractors to fix up their homes.

If people have the skills to get the job done themselves and meet city codes, they shouldn't have to hire a contractor, Jenkins said.

"A lot of people can't afford to pay them, and that's what's keeping a lot of people from fixing things up," she said. "They're going to inspect it anyway. It's almost like they have an agreement with the contractors. If you do it up to code, what's the difference if you do it yourself?"

Gateley said he hopes residents will learn by example when they see group members cleaning up the neighborhood.

"We can pick it up a thousand times until the people get into the habit," he said.

MAY GREEN CONCERNS

Cleaning up the Fort D site

Paving gravel streets

Improved maintenance of alleys

Noise control

Enforcing building and property maintenance codes

Finding funds to help rental tenants purchase homes to encourage better management

Making tenants responsible for keeping rental properties cleaned up.

Saving existing trees and planting new ones

Weed control

Additional street lighting

Fencing "junk yards"

Targeting "repeat offenders" for code violations

Designating a city staff person to regularly enforce ordinances

Involving civic organizations in the cleanup effort

A more liberal trash pickup policy so that large items can be picked up more often

Improved drug enforcement

Establishing a time limit on ordinance enforcements on mandatory cleanups or demolitions