Officials to discuss plans for south Cape

Cape Girardeau city officials will discuss improvement plans for the south part of the community at a public meeting Thursday at Shawnee Park Center.

Authentic Voices, a neighborhood group, will host the "community workshop," starting at 6 p.m.

The group has hosted a number of meetings over the past several months to solicit input from south-side residents on how to best improve the impoverished area.

Melissa Stickel, one of the leaders of Authentic Voices, said the meeting will provide an opportunity to inform neighborhood residents about parks improvements that would be funded if voters extend a sales tax in April.

At the urging of Authentic Voices and others, the Cape Girardeau City Council has promised to create two new neighborhood parks on the community's south side.

Those parks would be among the parks and stormwater projects that would be funded with the sales-tax measure.

Constructing permanent restrooms in a number of city parks, including Indian Park, also is on the drawing board. Indian Park is heavily used by minority residents, who have complained about the lack of permanent restrooms there.