Historical February 1983 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The Jan. 10 meeting of the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council (SDCC) revealed a 1983 budget that topped $190, 000 and a flurry of future neighborhood events and programs. Executive Director Ann FitzGibbons discussed an ambitious program of fund-raising and advance planning that includes a City/County Consortium application for landscaping and beautification of several streets in SDCC through summer youth employment; a portable pool program for kids in the summer; a storyteller’s program for the neighborhood in early summer; the “Rep (Theater) on the Road” to perform in SDCC on April 13; an Arts and Humanities Commission project this summer; and bus trips for the elderly and handicapped.
In fact, even the SDCC office had a brighter look to it with several very noticeable paintings on loan from neighborhood artists. Now, regarding that budget.
The bulk of the $191,000 is a Neighborhood Assistance Program grant from the state authorizing SDCC to seek $146,650 of financial assistance from business firms for a Home Maintenance Loan and Assistance Program. Businesses which make investments in this project are eligible for a state tax credit of 50 percent of the contribution, thus recouping 50 cents for every dollar contributed.
The challenge is now up to SDCC, which will have to stimulate the business community to participate in a big way. (See SDCC report.) The remainder of the budget is ho-hum, with authorized expenditures of $33,545, essentially the same as 1982. Chairperson of the Social Welfare Committee, Mary Watkins, outlined an ambitious volunteer program that will have an immediate, positive effect on the neighborhood via aid and assistance in a variety of ways. (See related article in this issue.) Ray Breun described the report on cable TV that he helped produce in October 1981. That report will now be sent to the City of St. Louis Cable Communications Manager in response to a request for ideas. And, finally, the negative fact that in the last three months there were 29 residency burglaries in the SDCC area, half by day, half by night.
The Block Watchers program will be reconstituted and combined with the Good Samaritan Network. (See SDCC Report.) For Skinker-DeBaliviere, it was an aggressive start for 1983.
Original photograph caption
Uncaptioned neighborhood photograph printed on page 11. It is preserved with the council coverage without identifying the people or presenting it as a photograph of the meeting. The Neighborhood Paper, February 1983. Photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Neighborhood Paper, February 1983.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: The $191,000 headline budget includes authorization to seek contributions, not proof of cash received. The reported $146,650 and $33,545 components do not sum to $191,000; no unreported balancing item is invented.
Original source: SD_Times1983_02.pdf, printed page(s) 11; PDF page(s) 11.
