Cape City Council to hold meeting Monday night in Red Star neighborhood

The Cape Girardeau City Council will take its show on the road tonight, holding its regular meeting at the Red Star Baptist Church Activity Center.

It's rare for the council to meet outside city hall. Mayor Harry Rediger said he can't recall such a move in the six years he has served as mayor.

Rediger said the council decided to go to the Baptist church in an effort to spark greater community involvement through the city's Neighborhood Development Initiative.

"We are going to reach out to them," the mayor said, adding he hopes Red Star residents will become more active in bettering their neighborhood through projects of their own and by alerting city staff to problems ranging from potholes to streetlights.

City officials established the neighborhood program in 2014, but progress has been slow.

A neighborhood association, the Red Star Neighborhood Revival, was formed about a year ago with a core group of about a dozen people. The neighborhood is defined east to west by the railroad tracks near the Mississippi River and Big Bend Road, and north to south by Cape Rock Drive and Isle Casino.

The association has applied for not-for-profit status in an effort to protect itself from any future legal liability, said Robert Loyd, the group's president. Loyd has lived in the Red Star neighborhood for more than 40 years.

He said membership declined recently when some objected to seeking not-for-profit status. Loyd said it has been difficult to convince Red Star residents to become involved in the association.

"It is definitely an uphill struggle," he admitted.

But the group has made some progress. Loyd said members cleaned up the neighborhood in April, hauling off debris.

Loyd said he and others in the neighborhood would like to see the city install more streetlights and address a problem of stormwater runoff on North Main Street. He said the neighborhood has been plagued by poorly maintained rental property.

The Red Star neighborhood is at a tipping point, he said, and that it faces further deterioration unless it can pick itself up.

Loyd has been encouraging residents to attend the council meeting.

"That is our last, best hope to get attendance up," he said.

Loyd added he is encouraged by the council's decision to meet at the activity center.

"That is a good thing," he said.

Rediger said the council hopes to hear from Red Star residents at the meeting. But he said the program's success depends on the residents.

"We don't want to dictate it," the mayor said.

Rediger suggested the council may hold a council meeting on the city's south side later this year in an effort to encourage development of a neighborhood group in that area.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

1316 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.