C O M P T O N H E I G H T S N E I G H B O R H O O D N E W S L E T T E R ~ N O V E M B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 2

INSIDE: President’s Message - page1 • Tree Replacement Plan - page 2 • Real Estate Report page 3 • CHNBA Board Member Nominees - page 4-6 • Compton Heights Cave - page 7-8 • December Dinner Meeting Registration form - page 9 • Seeking Foster Parents - page 10 • Jeffrey Hill Letter - page 11.

President’s MessageDear Neighbors,

If you haven’t already, be sure to mark your calendars for the December Association Dinner and Meeting on Wednesday, December 5th. There is a flyer inside with more information. Come socialize with your fellow neighbors in beautiful Soulard Preservation Hall. You will need to purchase tickets to attend the dinner in advance, but the meeting is open to all association members. Oktoberfest this year was great. The weather was beautiful right up until when it rained at the end of the event. We did have live music and brauts though. Thanks to Betsy Carson for grilling 90 brauts! We had an overflowing Halloween hayride event this year with over 560 children and adults registered to ride the hay wagons. That’s a Compton Heights record! Special thanks to Cathy White and Dawn Jungermann for organizing the event and to Cathy, Diane Day and Michael Morris for managing those hay wagons. An extra special thanks goes to David Kennedy for building new, extra sturdy, mobile steps to let people on and off the wagons. Those steps were built well enough for someone’s deck!

This December will mark my last meeting as a board member and association president.

www.chnba.org1

I have appreciated my four years (three plus an extra!) on the board, but I’m also ready to leave to open seats up for new board members. I have greatly enjoyed serving on the board with my fellow board members. Four of us will slide off the board to be replaced by four new members. Speaking of whom, we have five candidates for board membership this year. Their bios are included in this newsletter. Four of them will be elected to the board at the December meeting. We will also present the recipient of the Margarat Calhoun Award during the meeting. I hope to see you there.

Sincerely,

Harold BlackorbyPresident, CHNBApresident@chnba.org

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Tree Replacement PlanIt seems apparent by regular walks around our neighborhood lately that there needs to be some attention paid to our street trees. The last several years of ice and wind storms along with this past summer’s drought and the general age of our trees has definitely left a mark on our once shady streetscapes. Many of you have called the street department to sign up for the city’s tree planting program. While this is a valid way to replace lost trees, the result is often lacking and slow. Many of our street trees are very small and incompatible species for continuing the grand nature of the neighborhood flora that we see in the mature trees of our past. When it comes to street trees, we have to take a long term view as it can take twenty to thirty years for a large canopy tree to reach maturity and join in with the original oaks that still line our streets today.

As part of our ongoing beautification efforts in the neighborhood, we need to start now before it’s too late to catch up. At the summer meeting, you may recall that a plan was introduced to replant many of the lost street trees. I have already taken a survey of all of the street trees, identifying which are missing or in need of replacement, and along which streets there are the most gaps. Additionally I have consulted with the landscape architect of Forest Park to identify three varieties of oak trees that match our historic neighborhood trees in appearance. These

trees grow quickly and are appropriate for streetscapes where we want to walk, park, and see under them to our beautiful houses beyond. The size of these trees upon planting will already allow them to be pruned up above cars and pedestrians to allow for more ease of strolling our sidewalks. Anyone who was out on Halloween this year can attest to the frustration of limbs and leaves crowding the sidewalks in many areas where existing trees are too small and have not been properly pruned.

This month I will be planting one of each variety on the north side of the point, where we are missing a few already. Please go by and take a look when you have a chance. The neighborhood associate will be introducing a plan at the December meeting whereby we will be working with homeowners to start getting as many of the missing trees replaced as possible. I hope you will all want to join up quickly to continue the legacy of our beautiful tree lined streets. Tyler Stephens, AIA Principal

COMPTON HEIGHTSREAL ESTATE REPORT

Real Estate ListingsA = Active P = Pending C = Contingent S = Sold.

A 3406 Hawthorne $875,000.00A 3013 Hawthorne $570,000.00A 2941 Russell $250,000.00

S 2930 Geyer $275,000.00

Information provided by Tyler Olsen Coldwell Banker Gundaker 4320 Hampton Ave. St Louis Mo. 63109

314-351-6005 office tylershomes@sbcglobal.net

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CHNBAMEMBERSHIP

Standard membership is $50 per year

Patron membership is $100.00

Lifetime membership is $1000.

This membership is tax-deductible to the

extent provided by law.

Your membership goes towards all neighborhood events as well as the upkeep and improvements needed

to maintain our historic and beautiful neighborhood.

If you would like to support the CHNBA please send your membership

check to Dawn Jungermann2908 Accomac StreetSt. Louis, MO 63104

JOIN TODAY!

ADSPACETHATCOULDHAVEBEENYOURS : )see last page of newsletter for details

Last month, some articles had some incorrect name spellings. We apologize to Patty Midden, Rachel Presley, Ilissa

Staadeker, Larry Doggett and Shelly Donaho for the errors.

OOPS!

FOR SALE

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Rev Nisha Full Moon

Dr Nisha Chand, at 3455 Longfellow, is a long-time resident of Compton Heights for nearly 35 years. Her parents, Drs. Santosh and Prem Chand were also long-time residents of Compton Heights as well, both deceased. They also loved Compton heights for its beautification and inspiration. Nisha has one brother, Rob Chand , who also lives nearby. Nisha is also known as “Reverend Nisha Full Moon” since she is a Buddhist nun. They are renowned for their commitment to charity and honor that ALL life is precious including the smallest animal. So, it made a lot of sense to start a charity that reflected those values: Nisha is Executive Director of a 501 (3) C non-profit organization called Small Animal and Farm Therapy Association (SAFTA). This organization is involved with offering animal assisted therapy using mostly rabbits, dogs, cats, horses, etc. to the disabled, deaf and blind, developmentally disabled, traumatized and autistic clients. Nisha is deaf herself, so she knows the clients’ needs firsthand. She is fluent in ASL. Her deputy director, Paula Arbutnot, works with her as a “right hand person”, note-taker and communications aide, so representation and meetings are not a problem. Nisha has been seen with her giant rabbits especially in Compton Heights, and loves the walks. She also actively participates in Compton Heights events and joins with the Compton Heights residents to get to know them. She would serve as a good candidate for a board seat for Compton Heights.

David Carroll

David Carroll has participated in community building for years, and would love the opportunity to help with our wonderful community. Here’s a synopsis of his life story from a recent community article.

Moving from a high-paid corporate recruiter to the director of an inner city nonprofit might not be the most likely of career moves. Then again, the defining moment that prompted David Carroll’s move wasn’t exactly the most common of circumstances either.

David Carroll, 41, Executive Director, North Grand Neighborhood Services“I was robbed at gunpoint while putting my key in the car door at 8 o’clock on a Monday night,” David recalls. The assailants took his car, wallet and phone; then, told him to lie down. David refused and an altercation ensued, but thankfully he got away uninjured. A few months later, the assailants were caught. “They were 15, 16 years old; it really shook me that these young boys’ lives could be ruined for absolutely no reason,” David explains. “It just seemed senseless. That’s when I decided I had to do something different. I refused to lie down when they were robbing me, but figuratively, I was lying down that whole time by not participating or giving back.”

CHNBA Board Member Nominees

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A St. Louis native, David feels lucky to have benefited from programs for low-income families that supported him all the way through graduating from Cardinal Ritter High School. He went on to Harris Stowe State University and wound up doing corporate human resources to staff information technology jobs at Capgemini. “I was doing well,” he says, “but I was never fully fulfilled.” To compensate, he coached, volunteered and mentored to make himself feel like he was part of the community. He pushed to bring together people who were struggling with those who were thriving.

After the robbery, he found a job recruiting mentors and tutors for at-risk middle schoolers. Three years later, he came to NGNS, where he has worked as executive director since 2010. “I thrive on knowing what we do matters, and it’s really helping,” he says. “The community isn’t thriving, but segments of the community are starting to thrive.”

Earlier this summer, all eight high school seniors working at North City’s Angel Baked Cookies graduated—news that thrilled David and the staff and volunteers at NGNS, which oversees the nonprofit bakery. “We’ve been celebrating 100 percent graduation among the kids that have been part of our program—in a neighborhood where only 50 percent of kids graduate from high school. We’re really proud of that,” David says.

“I have a dual bottom line in a nonprofit: money and people,” David explains. And, really, who can argue with that?

Howard Gotschall

Howard grew up in a small farm town in central Illinois, spending summers working for his father, a contractor, who built both commercial and residential projects. He went to the University of Illinois starting out in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, but found his way to where he belonged in the Civil Engineering department. With a father a contractor/carpenter, one uncle a plumber and another a structural engineer, it only made sense. Howard graduated in 1999 and went to work for a civil engineering firm in Springfield, IL as a structural engineer. He also started dating his wife, Leah, that fall. Two years later he moved to St. Louis, while Leah was in graduate school at Washington University getting a Masters of Architecture.

In 2004 they married and bought their practice house, a 1931 brick bungalow in Lindenwood Park, with the original kitchen and its 4 cabinets. Putting all of those summers working for his father into practice and numerous improvements, including a gut renovation of the kitchen, no more could be done to that little house after eight years. They looked at numerous houses in Compton Heights, Flora Place, Tower Grove and U-City and decided to stay in the city. They looked at the house at Compton/Russell five times and decided it was home, closing at Easter of 2012 and after a couple of months of renovation moved in on Memorial Day weekend.

Howard, Leah and their dog Millie, a tennis ball hunting Brittany, are very excited about their new marathon of working and improving a great house, with great bones and history, in a great neighborhood.

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Larry Doggett

Larry was born and raised in St. Louis County. He graduated from Ritenour High School and the University of Missouri St. Louis. Larry and Danielle have lived in Compton Heights for over 11 years.

He has been married to Danielle for 20 years. They have a son named Kyle who is an Urban Planner for a nonprofit in Chicago. Larry is an avid DIY’er who is slowly but lovingly rehabbing the 1906 home they own on Allen Ave.

After spending 30 years in the student loan industry, Larry has changed career paths. He is now working for an environmental services company that specializes in polymer technology which solidifies hydrocarbons and is used for spill control and secondary containment. He was down at the gulf for the BP spill working closely with the National Guard to clean up our beaches.

When not working or rehabbing, Larry volunteers with the Foster Care Coalition. He also enjoys golf, antiquing with Danielle, and trips to Chicago.

Steven Gant

I’m 50 yrs old and recently married to Emily Howard. I moved to Compton Heights 2 yrs ago when Emily and I bought a house together. Before that she lived in Lafayette Square and I lived down on Washington Ave. I have lived in St. Louis for 27 years; born in Chicago Illinois then moved to attended High School in Southern Illinois. After college at SIU Carbondale, I moved to the St. Louis area and worked for Famous Barr/May company in management for 15 years. Currently I am a multi store AP/OPS manager for The Home Depot in one of the three St Louis Districts. Some of my passions are documentary films, travel, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and architectural tours. We usually try to work in a Frank Lloyd Wright Tour anytime we travel. Living in Compton Heights has been a wonderful experience, and the last 2 years have flown by; we actually got married in the foyer of our home on Milton, then jetted off to Paris and had a reception in our home when we returned. The Neighborhood has been very welcoming to us and we have met a lot of wonderful friends and neighbors. I consider this the best place to live in St. Louis and never intend to leave!

Compton HeightsDinner and Membership MeetingWednesday - December 5, 2012

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Compton Heights

Dinner and Membership Meeting Wednesday - December 5, 2012

Please Join Us For the Evening! Spend Time with Old Neighbors

and Meet New Neighbors!

� � � ���� Cash Bar at 6:30pm

Dinner at 7:00pm Meeting at 8:00pm � � � ���� Location: Soulard Preservation Hall 1921 South 9th Street (Two blocks north of Russell at 9th Street) Food catered by Hendri’s. Use of the facility donated by Dr. Lindsay Barth

Everyone is welcome to attend the dinner and meeting but in order to vote on neighborhood issues at the meeting, you will need to be a paid Association member by December 5th.

If you are unable to attend the dinner, please come for the meeting.

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

2012 Dinner RSVP – Due November 29th

Name: _________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________ Email (optional) ____________________________________________________________ Number of dinner tickets at $27 each: __________ Annual membership dues for 2012 are $50.

Deliver to Cathy White 3205 Hawthorne Blvd. Make checks payable to CHNBA. Questions? Email Cathy at cwhite3205@sbcglobal.net or call 314.664.3784

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2012COMPTON HEIGHTS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Save the Dates!

Check theweb site.

www.chnba.org

www.facebook.com/Compton-

Heights-Neighborhood-Betterment-Association

Seeking Foster Parents You don’t need to be young, old, married, rich, or even a stay-at-home parent to be a foster parent. Many individuals and couples provide a safe, loving home to children in foster care without being any of these things! The goal of foster care is to provide love and security while attempting to reunite children with their families. Being a foster parent allows you to grow as you experience challenges and celebrate as you experience joys alongside the children in your home. If interested in foster parenting, please contact Family Resource Center at 314.534.9350 and ask for Megan in licensing!

www.chnba.org

Newsletter NotesThe newsletter is distributed to every resident in Compton Heights, local elected officials, and area businesses.

Board members contribute articles of interest pertinent to his or her committee assignments, and there is usually a message from the President. Also included are reports from Board members who chair the following committees: Beautification, Fund-raising, Neighborhood Relations, Neighborhood Standards, Safety & Security, Historian, and Real Estate. Non-Board member residents are also encouraged to submit articles of general interest to residents. All articles are subject to editing at the discretion of the Editor.

Businesses can advertise in the newsletter at the following rates:

Business Card - $10 (2”tall x 3.5”wide) ¼ page - $20 (5”tall x 3.5”wide) ½ page - $40 (10”tall x 3.5”wide) or (5”tall x 7.5”wide) Full page - $80 (10”tall x 7.5”wide)Camera-ready artwork and articles should be e-mailed to the Publications chair of CHNBA.

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HAROLD BLACKORBYPresident/Webmaster

BETSY CARSONVice-President

DIANE DAYTreasurer

JIM ORLINGSecretary

JEFF HILLFundraising/House Tour

TYLER STEPHENSNeighborhood Standards/Beautification

DAWN JUNGERMANN/CATHY WHITENeighborhood Relations/New Neighbors

CHNBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2012For contact information please refer to theBuzz Book.

DAWN JUNGERMANNMembership

JON REYCRAFTHistorian/Real Estate

TYLER OLSENReal Estate

TBABuzz Book

JON REYCRAFTHistorian

MIKE GRADYPublications

NATHAN GOLDBERGSafety and Security

Any Compton Heights Resident can write an article for the newsletter or advertise in it. Just think of something interesting to write about or boast

about a business you like or even your own business with an ad.

Send all articles and ads to Mike GradyNext articles, ads and artwork are due by January 15th.