PRIDE GROUP ZEROES IN ON CITY'S ASSETS

Cape Girardeau needs to capitalize more on its historic and cultural assets, members of the new Cape Girardeau Community Pride Coalition say.

Coalition members hope to work closely with the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau to increase tourism to sites around the city.

The coalition, made up of numerous organizations including the South Side Investment Group, Haarig Area Development Corp., Downtown Merchants Association and Downtown Neighborhood Association, met Tuesday.

"A lot of us don't feel that we have tapped into our resources here," said Becky Richey, a member of the coalition representing the Downtown Neighborhood Association. "Here we sit on one of the greatest bodies of water in the world." she said.

The city needs to play up its Mississippi River heritage more and promote more of its historic sites, group members said.

Ted Coalter, who represents the Haarig Area Development Corp. group in the coalition, said the city should capitalize on its Civil War history.

"Cape's got as much Civil War history as anybody," Coalter said.

The Haarig group has set revitalizing Civil War forts C and D as one of its goals to help revitalize South Cape Girardeau's business district.

Fort C stood on the site now occupied by the old St. Francis Hospital. Fort D is adjacent to May Greene School.

But there are numerous other historic sites around the city that could draw visitors, and their dollars, Coalter said.

The city needs "an aggressive effort to dig out whatever history is in Cape that we can utilize as a cultural or tourism resource," he said.

The state is putting more of an emphasis on promoting cultural tourism, and the city should capitalize on that, Coalter said.

"But first you've got to get people that want to move in that direction," he said.

The coalition has adopted five goals aimed at making Cape Girardeau a better place to live: reduce crime, beautification, economic revitalization of downtown, historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization.

Each member organization will be responsible for adopting several action plans to help achieve those goals.

The Haarig group and the South Side Investment Group have already outlined their action plans.

The Haarig group has established committees to encourage development or demolition of the old St. Francis Hospital, promotion of the two Civil War forts, establishing cleanup projects, and identification of property eyesores.

The South Side group is working on a booklet to help encourage neighborhood pride for South Side residents, weekly surveys for trash, weeds and other problems, and identifying areas for beautification projects.

Other member organizations within the coalition are working on outlining their action plans, Richey said.