Group seeks to create a neighborhood park on Cape Girardeau's south side

A group of energetic Cape Girardeau women wants to create a neighborhood park on the city's south side.

A park is just one of the projects led by a group called Authentic Voices, which seeks to craft a better future for the struggling, impoverished area.

The group has about eight members. All but one live on the city's south side. Most are moms. All but one are black.

Organized in 2014, the group already has seen some successes. It convinced the city's parks and recreation department to install swings and a small playset in Indian Park, adding to the playground equipment in place.

Members recently installed a Little Free Library box, filled with donated books, and a metal "sit and read" bench along Frederick Street behind St. Mary's School.

Clockwise from top left, Vanessa Rutherford, Koreena Woodson, Melissa Stickel, Valaree Rutherford and Melia Neal pose with the playground set they lobbied the city of Cape Girardeau to install at Indian Park.Laura Simon

They plan to install four more library boxes and benches on the city's south side in the coming months in partnership with other community groups.

Park project

But the group's most ambitious project is the park project.

"We do have an anonymous donor who has agreed to provide the land," said Melissa Stickel, the only white member of Authentic Voices and the only member who does not live in south Cape Girardeau.

Stickel said the group doesn't want to identify the five-acre site south of Highway 74 until the agreement is finalized.

They hope to obtain private grants to move forward with securing the land and obtaining themed playground equipment.

"The land would be donated to the city, and the city has agreed to maintain it," Stickel said.

Julia Thompson, the city's parks and recreation director, said there have been "no formal discussions" with the group about the park project.

Stickel said, "We are not asking the city to go build us a park." She added, "In reality, they would not do it."

Group member Valaree Rutherford said, "We have a vision."

That vision includes restrooms and two picnic pavilions.

Rutherford said her neighborhood doesn't have a suitable park where children can play. Rutherford said she won't take her 3-year-old son to Ranney Park because it is frequented by unsavory characters.

"They shoot dice there. The winos are there," she said.

The city's Shawnee Park is in the south side, too. But Rutherford and other members of her group said use of the Shawnee Park baseball, softball and soccer fields are limited to sports leagues.

South Cape deserves a quality park, she said.

"We should not have to go to Kiwanis Park or some other park in another part of town," Rutherford said.

Stickel said the city has "spent a ton of money" improving other city parks in recent years, but done little to help the south side in terms of parks.

"You can't deny it," she said.

Zoia Martin said the city government "just gives us the crumbs."

'A lost community'

Betty Mosley said her neighborhood south of the bridge route has become "a lost community" of Cape Girardeau.

Mosley said it seems the rest of Cape Girardeau has forgotten about her neighborhood.

Group member Koreena Woodson said the area has no neighborhood grocery store.

"There is no school there," she said.

Sidewalks are crumbling.

"Where are you supposed to walk that is easily accessible?" she asked.

The south side would benefit from better sidewalks and creation of walking trails, the group said.

"It is a no-brainer for us," Woodson said.

In their neighborhood, many people don't have cars, she said.

Schoolchildren are bused to Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools. If they miss the bus, parents often have to walk them to school, the group said.

According to online mapping, it is distance of more than 1 1/2 miles to Jefferson and nearly two miles to the Franklin school.

They would like to see the Cape Girardeau School District build a new elementary school south of the bridge route.

The neighborhood once was home to May Greene Elementary School, but the district closed the school on Ranney Avenue in 1999 and shifted most of the students to Jefferson Elementary School.

Woodson said the school is missed.

"Maye Greene was a little heartbeat of the community," she said. "Everybody tried to help everybody succeed."

Members of Authentic Voices said providing a neighborhood school would allow children to walk to school and eliminate some of the transportation headaches parents face.

Cape Girardeau school district superintendent Jim Welker said it has no plans to build an elementary school south of the bridge route, "but it doesn't mean it could not be considered."

Welker said he understands the women's desire for a school south of the bridge route.

"I actually applaud their effort," he said. "They didn't feel like they had a neighborhood school."

He added, "We certainly want to find ways to connect with that part of town."

Community voice

Members of Authentic Voices said they will continue to speak up for south-side residents even as city officials explore the idea of redeveloping the area through a Purpose-Built Communities model that originated as a way to revitalize a crime-stricken, poverty-plagued neighborhood of Atlanta.

Mayor Harry Rediger said the city is in the beginning stages of looking at implementing such a project here. Planning could take a year, he said.

There are there are three major components to Purpose Built Communities: mixed-income housing; a cradle-to-career education system that ensures student growth, learning and achievement at every level; and community-wellness programs and facilities that promote healthy living and productive lives.

Stickel said she remains optimistic about the potential for such an effort.

But she and other members of Authentic Voices said they are proceeding with their own efforts to improve the neighborhood.

"We wanted to be an authentic voice for the community about what life is really like when you are struggling," said Stickel, who grew up in poverty.

The group's members have talked to city building inspectors about substandard housing. Mosley said tenants often are afraid to speak up for fear they will be evicted.

"We wanted to be a voice for the people. A lot of them are scared to go to their landlord," she said.

As a result of their efforts, they said, the city has taken steps to address the issue.

Woodson said Authentic Voices is committed to helping their neighborhood.

"We have a certain loyalty and love for the south side," she said.

As for the free libraries, Stickel said her group is participating in "a national movement."

Every Little Free Library is chartered as part of the national organization, she said.

Stickel said Authentic Voices has received donations of books. One elderly woman has donated books almost weekly, she said.

While "Little Free Library" boxes have been set up nationwide, few have benches next to them, Rutherford said.

"We wanted ours to stick out. Most free libraries don't have a place where you can sit down and read," she said.

Rutherford said St. Mary's School helps maintain the box and has donated surplus books to the streetside library. She estimated the box can hold about 40 books.

Rutherford said the group gets personally involved in each project.

"It is not about the money with us. We put posts in. We poured the concrete," she said of the library project.

Rutherford said the same will hold true for the park project.

"We are going to use our blood, sweat and tears in this park, too," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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