Riverwood Estates 2010 Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the Riverwood Estates Homeowners Association was held at the Villas at Riverwood on February 6th 2010.  The meeting started promptly at 1 pm and ended at 3:15pm. There were approximately 35 attendees.  Financial, budget, agenda and other information was handed to all homeowners.  

Our guests speakers were Democrat State Representative (78th District) Margo McNeil, Hazelwood Mayor Matt Robinson, 8th Ward Councilperson Mary Singleton, Hazelwood Code Enforcer Larry Alberici and Neighbor Watch Coordinator Bill Blacksher.

Democrat Representative Margo McNeil's Comments:
The legislative session is underway for the 2010 session.  Missouri is in the midst of the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.  In the fall of 2008, this country’s largest and most trusted banks came close to complete failure.  The savings and retirement funds of all Americans were jeopardized – resulting in a distrust of our most basic institutions.  Some have called this current era - The Great Distrust.  A freeze on credit and loans plus a shut down of consumer spending resulted.  Unemployment (now a 9.7%) and foreclosures followed.  All classes of state revenue are down in comparison to last year – sales tax by 7.5%, income tax by 11.2% and corporate tax by 13.4%.  Total revenue is down approximately 12.5%. 

Because of this huge drop in revenue from 2009,  Governor Nixon was forced to withhold appropriated money in the amount of $900 million.  The projected deficit for next year is $ 480 million so the pain will continue. The budget situation is dire; however, it is important to remember that Missouri received $4.3 billion in stimulus and stabilization funds last year.  Were it not for those funds, the legislature would be cutting $4.3 billion from the 2010 and 2011 combined budgets. The stimulus money has been critical for keeping Missourians employed and for stimulating jobs in construction.

Getting out of this Mess
Stopping this downward spiral is the challenge of all but particularly our elected officials.  The way to get out of this hole is to get people working again and then the state will have revenue for schools, roads, public health, safety, and other items necessary for a productive and civilized society.  

In 1960, 33% of our jobs came from the manufacturing sector.  Currently only 9% of our jobs are from manufacturing.  Much effort will go into keeping the manufacturing jobs we have, however, that sector is not likely to grow.  Therefore, St Louis needs to reinvent itself by focusing on strengths and encouraging small business innovation.  St Louis’s strengths are: 1. Medicine (Washington University Medical School, Barnes Jewish Hospital and our other great hospitals), 2. Plant - Science (Monsanto, the Botanical Gardens, and the Dan forth Plant Science Center) and #3 Real Estate Investment. 

To this end, St Louis has 4 business incubators which work in conjunction with local universities where entrepreneurs can get resources; expertise and student support.  In addition Missouri has several Innovation centers spread throughout the state. They offer a wide range of management and technical assistance to businesses. The centers are familiar with up-to-date business management and technology innovations and help businesses apply these innovations to increase profits. 

The Governor‘s 2010 Jobs Bill includes three proposals geared to help promote the above efforts.  ‘Missouri Business First’ will give stable Missouri businesses planning to expand their workforce, tax credits above what companies moving into Missouri would receive. Its purpose is to keep Missouri businesses from being lured to other states. 

Missouri Science and Innovation Research Act, MoSIRA, will use part of the tax monies collected from science/ technology companies to build a fund for helping new science and technology companies grow from small to large size companies.  This piece of the solution is particularly important in keeping expanding companies - like Confluence Solar, located in the 78^th   - from moving their expansion project to another state.  Missouri’s small business administration divisions are working to aide entrepreneurs in developing business plans, assessing markets and finding financing.  This state and federal resource has been a big help to companies like Innovator and Titanova, both awarding winning small businesses, located in the 78^th district. 

Another piece of the plan is Training for Tomorrow.  The Governor will give community colleges $12 million to expand programs in high need areas like nurse’s aids and lab techs. Maintaining support for higher education is vital so that our workforce will be ready to support the businesses of the 21^st century which will require higher technological and educational skills.

The last piece of the job creation plan is a local issue focused on transportation.  Missouri has newly built and repaired roads; however, public transportation is in danger of collapsing.  Last year when Metro Transit cut service to the 78^th district and other areas of the region, some 16,000 jobs were affected.  For example, many home health aides and nursing home workers were unable to get to work. Many were forced to quit their jobs for lack of transportation. In addition, there were 2000 students at SLCC Florissant Valley affected by the cut.  Passage of the Metro Transit ballot measure is necessary for job stability and job creation.  I hope all will seriously consider this issue when going to the polls April 6^th.  

The St Louis region is at a crossroad in workforce development.  If we keep our sights focused on the future, keep our priorities at the forefront and prepare ourselves for the recovery, we will thrive.  Our future will be bright if we are patient and work together for a more prosperous region. 

Hazelwood Mayor Matt Robinson’s Comments
Mayor Matt Robinson has been on the City Council for 16 years before being elected Mayor. The City is now low on revenues as are all communities and he asked that people remember to buy gas and eat in the City of Hazelwood when possible to help out on receiving taxes for the city.  The federal stimulus money given to Hazelwood was used for sidewalks on Lindbergh.

There were inquires on why we have no grocery stores and he explained that the City is constantly working on that and other businesses to locate in the city. Noting how business has declined in the City this year, he mentioned that Council Meeting are now 45 minutes compared to previous 2 hour ones. 

The Ford Plant cleanup was done environmentally and was a success.  The Teson Bridge project is now completed.

Hazelwood Councilperson Mary Singleton’s Comments
If you have a concern about our trash service, please call Veolia Customer Service at (314-567-1800).  If your needs are not met by calling customer service, then call Mary at (314-831-7518) and she can help get the problem resolved. 

We have had and still do have storm water problems in our community and sub-division.  We received help from the city in the past but now after asking for help from everyone we can think of including the City, MSD, St Louis County, Missouri State, Army Corps of Engineers and DNR we have not had any success as of yet. Mary and other Individuals in the community, including Margo McNeil, our State Representative and the Riverwood Estates Trustees are still trying to come up with solutions to resolve the effects of too much water, moving too fast through our subdivision.  Mary would welcome participation by any resident who has ideas or would like to help.

Another city issue is the drop in sales tax revenue, which has led to cuts in part time and contract workers for the city.  City workers are being asked to do more work, so we should all be patient when interacting with them.  And we should all try to shop in Hazelwood, to help generate more sales tax revenue. 

The other issue is that the city is considering starting a process that would change the entire city’s zip code to 63042.  The good thing about that is that we would no longer have to explain that we live in Hazelwood, but have a Florissant post office address.  The potential downside is that we would have to notify everyone of a change of address and our insurance rates could be affected.  Mary would like to know the opinion of residents of Ward 8 if they would like to change their zip code.

Hazelwood’s Code Enforcer Larry Alberici
Larry Alberici is Hazelwood’s Code Enforcer for the City.  He drives though RWE daily checking for city code violations.  Larry is also very instrumental in upholding many of our violations that also affect the city. He mentioned the leaf pickup was now completed but was a month or more behind because of the weather 

Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Bill Blacksher’s Comments
Neighborhood Watch is more than just watching the street in front of your house for suspicious activity.  It is getting to know your neighbor so that you do care for their well being and their property.  Getting to know your neighbors can happen several ways.  One is attending your block's meetings. Hosting a summer block party is another good way as is a Christmas Cookie Exchange.  If you are a Block Captain, please attend the Block Captain’s meeting.  Our Block Captain meetings always include a police representative. 

Awareness is the final key to Neighborhood Watch.  The Hazelwood Police say that they would rather be called for a suspicious activity rather than not.  Watching out for your Neighbor is the key. Neighbors feed the information chain to the Block Captains who then distributes to others in the block and to the Coordinator.  The Coordinator then distributes to other Block Captains.  This network keeps us all informed and is best when all streets are covered.

Discussion was held on various subjects:  A discussion on the timely receipt of our indentures by new residents was discussed.  CVTO was asked if they could review for improvement.  Some Indentures were discussed, the need for them and how they are handled Trustees.