NewsOctober 22, 2017
Officials, south Cape residents discuss Purpose Built model
Plans to improve south Cape Girardeau with a long-term Purpose Built Community revitalization model began taking form Saturday during a public meeting at Shawnee Parks Center in Cape Girardeau between city officials and residents. If successful, the Purpose Built Community model hopes to revamp the south side over the course of 10 years, but some residents say they need change now...
Plans to improve south Cape Girardeau with a long-term Purpose Built Community revitalization model began taking form Saturday during a public meeting at Shawnee Park Center in Cape Girardeau between city officials and residents.
If successful, the Purpose Built Community model hopes to revamp the south side over the course of 10 years, but some residents say they need change now.
Mayor Harry Rediger said those needs have been “heard loud and clear” by city officials modifying the Parks and Recreation Stormwater Tax to incorporate short-term solutions to problems with sidewalks and crosswalks.
City manager Scott Meyer said solutions for other south-side issues are underway, with plans in motion for Ameren Missouri to convert 79 street lights from current 100-watt bulbs to 250-watt LEDs that would provide more visibility at night.
The city also announced new initiatives to clean up south Cape Girardeau with a Fall Alley Sweep on Nov. 6 and 7 that offers free trash pickup to certain residents, as well as a vegetation/brush cleanup and removal pickup Nov. 9 to 14.
In previous planning meetings, Rediger stressed the plan needed help from south Cape Girardeau residents to “quarterback” efforts for lasting improvements.
He said he hoped for such leaders to come forward by the year’s end.
“We need to rally pastors to help shepherd this whole program, and we need to be together,” Rediger said.
In response, Ward 2 councilwoman Shelly Moore helped summon over a dozen south Cape Girardeau pastors, mentors and community leaders to Saturday’s meeting.
Receptive to discussion, Rediger opened the meeting by emphasizing the importance of focusing on a common goal — eliminating generational poverty.
The Purpose Built Community model, originating in the East Lake neighborhood of Atlanta, aims to change neighborhoods and lives in areas with high crime and poverty by focusing on three key points: mixed-income housing, cradle-to-career education and community wellness.
The housing model could include the construction of housing units that could allow low-income residents a rent subsidy, but rent to others at the current market rate.
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Education improvements detailed by Cape Girardeau School District superintendent Neil Glass primarily included providing south side residents with an early-learning center to serve infants to 4-year-olds,
“[Infants to 4-year-olds] are the population that we’re really not reaching in a significant fashion,” Glass said. “When they start kindergarten, we’re so far ahead in the game that it’s not even funny.”
Possible improvements with the school system involved mentoring organizations to help student through elementary school and junior high.
Glass introduced former Southeast Missouri State University football players Wyky Jean, Kweku Arkoful and Cantrell Andrews, who spoke about their roles at Central Middle School with their Honorable Young Men’s Club and its importance to the students.
“I’ve seen myself in some of those kids,” Andrews said. “Growing up with them, they have some of the most potential out there. We came together, and we were like, ‘What can we do to catch those kids that are good at math already, but don’t know it yet?’”
Andrews said since the group’s inception in 2016, the mentoring group has grown to over 160 children.
“I love what the Honorable Young Men’s Club is doing,” Glass said, adding a quote from Frederick Douglass: “It’s easier to build a strong child than it is to fix broken men.”
Other community-wellness efforts primarily focused on building a park or aquatic center in south Cape Girardeau to help businesses and the possible development of trails to connect schools and parks with a community center in a healthy way.
Nearly a year since it was first discussed, the revitalization plan is far from being final, but many south Cape Girardeau residents remain hopeful for the plan because of its holistic nature of improving the community — inside and out.
Although general crime rates have dropped, local violent-crime rates and drug offenses have risen — all while Cape Girardeau continues to see an uptick in population.
Meyer said while Cape Girardeau has fostered many great communities, others have been overlooked.
“A rising tide raises all boats, but your boat doesn’t rise if it’s got a hole in it. You just get wet, and I think that’s what we’ve got,” Meyer said. “Our job with Purpose Built is to repair those holes or buy new boats.”
bmatthews@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3652
Pertinent address: 835 S. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 63703
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