PNA & MSU Meeting


Monday February 27th, 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Fire Station #1 Community Room
(Located at the west end of the Fire Station at Grand & Holland)

The PNA officers and Board of Directors meet several times a year. We cover topics such as completion of the University/City agreement (details of agreement on page 3), parking control during home football games, building projects on campus, and student behavior in our neighborhood. These meetings keep communication between the neighborhood and University open. Communication between us was seriously lacking in the past, but the current administration at MSU has been much more open with us, benefitting both groups.

While the Board & Officers have done an outstanding job communicating neighborhood concerns and issues with the University at these meetings, it has been some time since the PNA's General Membership has had the opportunity to meet with school officials. The next meeting is your opportunity! We will have a brief business meeting with our Board & Officers from 5 to 5:30 and then open it up to the rest of the neighborhood.

MSU officials will give a presentation on their part of the University/City agreement and other topics of interest to the neighborhood. The meeting will open for Q & A. It will not be limited to any particular topic - you pick! For example, if you were bothered by the Bonfire & Pep Rally (who wasn't), this is a good chance to let them know how you feel. If you think the University should do more to educate their students how to act responsibly and treat neighbors and the neighborhood with some respect, tell them! The "Public Affairs Mission" should mean something. The broader area of the "Mission" is unattainable if they can't even get their students to act reasonably at the neighborhood level. They need to honor the agreement with the City regarding the area south of Grand.

This is a chance to remind the University that the PNA is not just a few people with minor complaints. We are a highly cohesive group of people - 200 households (approx) strong - who want to live in peace and enjoy our neighborhood! We need to work together to peacefully co-exist with the University and the student population in our neighborhood.

Please come and help us show MSU that we care about and are willing to fight for quality of life in our neighborhood!
 

Home Tour Canceled

The Phelps Grove Home Tour for 2006 has been canceled. We had an unexpected number of people pull their homes from the tour. We were down to 4 homes, which wouldn't be enough to have a successful Home Tour. The organizers of the event felt that it would be better to lay off a year than have a weak tour. Finding homeowners willing to put their homes on the tour is the hardest part of putting on this type of event. Other organizations that put on these tours have similar problems. Some have opted to repeat homes every year. This is not the approach we want to take.

This cancellation is not the end of the tours, just a break. These tours have been an extremely effective fund raiser for the PNA and we will continue them. We will focus on the 2007 tour. We hope that those who volunteered their homes for 2006 will consider 2007. We would love to talk to anyone interested in putting their home on the 2007 tour! Call Renee at 863-0246.

The organizers Joyce & Phil Schickedanz introduced the Tours and led us through 2 highly successful events. MANY MANY thanks to them!

Neighborhood ID Banners

City Council recently approved the PNA's request for permission to place neighborhood identification banners in the neighborhood. Vice President Terry Rowland designed the banners and worked with City Planning Staff on the agreement with the City to allow them. Terry is currently working with Public Works on banner locations and searching for suitable insurance for the signs.

We hope to see the banners up this spring! The signs show pride in our neighborhood and help separate the neighborhood from the campus. The funding for these signs was originally to come from (in part) the City. The funding has been eliminated, but thanks to the success of the first Homes Tour, the PNA will be able to fund the signs and replacement signs as they wear out.

Annual Membership Dues

It is time to collect dues for 2006. We have enclosed a membership form and return envelope with this Newsletter. Dues are just $10 a year.

The dues help pay for mailings of Newsletters as well as notices of events affecting the residents. They fund other events such as the Home Tours, yard waste pickups, trash pickups, Phelps Helps concerts, planting projects, etc.

Please continue your membership in the PNA to stay informed about activities and issues that effect the area. Thanks for helping keep the Phelps Neighborhood strong!

If you did not receive a form and envelope with this mailing, it means you are already paid through 2006.

Bennett Street Changes

For those of you on our southern border or those who travel the area, you are seeing dramatic changes along Bennett Street! The Fassnight Storm Water Project is moving forward. In a previous Newsletter, we erroneously reported that houses were being removed from the south side of Bennett (due to a typo). Now we can accurately report that houses are being removed.

The PNA was relieved when the City opted to leave the houses north of Bennett when developing the greenway to relieve flooding in the area. We certainly had compassion for those on the south side during the planning process, but had an obligation to protect our neighborhood which technically stops at Bennett. Several alternative plans were looked at that would save the homes on the south side of Bennett. These alternatives were not economically feasible for the City and/or were ineffective for significantly reducing the risk of flooding in the area.

Our thanks to PNA member Ann Fuhrman for keeping the association current on the project!
 

SMSU/City Agreement

Most of our members are aware of the history between the neighborhood and SMSU, so this information will be "old news". But for our newer members it is important to recap the history.

Before Southwest Missouri State University became Missouri State University...

After many years of fighting...after years of being ignored by SMSU...after years of block busting purchases of our homes...after years of backdoor meetings between SMS and City staff (always excluding neighborhood input)...in a galaxy far, far away....

Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but for those of us who were on the front lines - it was us versus the evil Empire!

We successfully brought about an agreement between the University and City that protected the neighborhood from further university encroachment. This agreement was in the form of a formal, legal contract, something no other neighborhood managed to get. The Rountree neighborhood, the Midtown neighborhood - both strong and effective organizations, did not manage to get contracts that protected their neighborhoods from university encroachment. We did. Thanks to tireless volunteer hours from PNA activists.

SMSU planned to take (with the City's behind the scenes approval) both sides of Normal street from National to Kimbrough. These blocks were planned for surface parking (we pointed out - stupid to place them across a major arterial street from the University) , then athletic fields (ground ready for other development, disruptive to the neighborhood because of the associated noise), then after we got seriously into the fight, wait for it....
Married Student Housing. Okay, tear down 80+ homes to put in a complex of apartment buildings for Married Students....why? When we asked why, it was discovered (big surprise!) that there was no actual shortage of housing for married students.
It was just the least offensive plan the university could defend. The truly sad part of the story was how hard we had to fight the City to get our voices heard. But we did, and here was the result. The formal agreement adopted by the City Council and the University Board of Governors called for the University boundary to be:  The Normal/Delmar alley from National to Dollison, Grand west of Normal street.  The temporary lots south of Normal were removed and made into green space.  The titles to 5 lots on Grand were transferred from the University to the City (where the Fire Station is)  The single lot at 635 E Normal was transferred from the University to the City to sell (new home now under construction)
The detention basin south of Grand, west of National was constructed (the park-like design was at Terry Rowland's insistence (then PNA President).  The western most parking lot (Dollison & Normal) is to be made into green space. The east side of Normal at Dollison is to be vacated and turned into green space. Kings from the south will be terminated at the Normal/Delmar alley. The last two items effectively separate parking lot commuter traffic from neighborhood traffic. The only way to access the parking lots will be from the private drive off National Street and Kings from Grand.

The neighborhood will benefit from the change in traffic flow. But the main benefit is the benefit of no more fear of University encroachment! No more block busting property purchases! No more "temporary" (ie. graveled) parking lots interspersed throughout the neighborhood. No more shifting of the "transitional" zone. The heaviest concentration of student rental property will stay where it is and not invade more stable parts of the area.

Even though this is a formal contract, PNA officials and members must remain vigilant. The 10 year plan started in 1997. We have less than 2 years left to see its completion. We need to make sure that with changes in University administration and changes of City Council members, that the plan is completed without significant changes.

 Care to Join the "Fray"?

There are several openings on the Executive Committee. We meet the second Tuesday of each month for approximately 1 hour. This group is the heart of the PNA. We talk about neighborhood and citywide issues and problems. We plan projects such as our Annual Clean ups, Concerts, etc. A representative from the MSU Police Substation is normally present to help us solve problems in the neighborhood. We sometimes have City staff or officials to discuss specific issues.
If you are interested, call anyone from the list above.

Grand Street Improvements

In the City's recently approved Capital Improvement Program (CIP) there is a project bordering our neighborhood to the north. Improvements to Grand Street from National to Campbell include a possible median and planting strip from National to Holland. This project is not scheduled to start until 2009 but we felt it was important to be vocal early, before the project is designed and our input unwelcome.

We feel that it is extremely important that access to Dollison not be limited from Grand. A median there would make it right-in, right-out only. By the end of 2007, Kings street is to be terminated at the Delmar/Normal alley to separate parking lot commuters from neighborhood traffic. When this happens, all neighborhood traffic that enters Kings from Grand will be shifted to Dollison. If Dollison in inaccessible from the east, the next entrance into the neighborhood would be Holland. Holland is an inferior street to Dollison as it is much narrower and has stop signs at every cross street. It would also mean anyone who's destination is east of Holland would have to back track on Normal, Delmar, Loren, etc. Dollison is also a major entrance to the Phelps Grove Park.

When you consider the number of curb cuts (mostly for MSU) on Grand from National to Holland, it makes one wonder if a median will work.
There are a few houses between Dollison & Holland that could be restricted by a median. However, most of those properties are primarily accessed by the alley. We will voice our opposition to a median at Dollison. If anyone has questions or concerns, please call Renee at 863-0246. We will keep you updated as the project enters the planning stages.
 

Officers:
President: Renee Tyson               863-0246
Vice President: Terry Rowland      864-5756
Secretary: Nancy Murrell             869-2388
Treasurer: Nancy Danielsen         869-3685

Board of Directors:
Nancy Danielsen                         869-3685
Ed DeLong                                  831-5904
Phil Schickedanz                         866-6036

Executive Committee:
Above Officers & Directors and;
Pokey Alrutz
Spike Anderson
Bill Bultas
Ann Fuhrman
John Gregory
Kenny Knauer
Bob Shaw
Vicky Trippe
Francie Wolff

Website: www.phelpsneighborhood.org

This edition of "Neighbor to Neighbor" was written and edited by Renee Tyson and Nancy Danielsen.