Author: Tom Eblen

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association board met at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 at Local’s on National Avenue. Here are the highlights:

• The board discussed numerous complaints received from residents of the 700 block of Aurora Avenue about loud music late at night coming from Cosmic Charlie’s on National Avenue. A board member will meet with the club’s owners to figure out the best way to eliminate the problem.
• A new neighborhood Field Guide (a directory of dues-paying association members) is being distributed to members. Thanks to advertising revenue, this directory was produced at a profit of $200. Periodic addenda will be distributed with updates, corrections and additions. Please email Vice President Linda Worley with any changes to your information. To protect members’ privacy, there will not be an online version of the directory.
• If you are not included in the directory but want to be, please join the association or renew your membership. (The neighborhood boundaries are roughly East Main Street, Walton Avenue, National Avenue and Mentelle Park.)
• The board voted to donate $1,000 to the Ashland Elementary School PTA for use toward a new playground.
• The association now has 104 members. So far, 93 people have signed up for emailed updates from this website.

If you have any questions, please email President Shelly Fortune or Secretary Tom Eblen.

Board meetings are usually held at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. Any Mentelle Neighborhood resident is welcome to attend, but please check with President Shelly Fortune in advance for the location. The board has been meeting at various businesses in the neighborhood in search of a good permanent site.

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association board met at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 at Cosmic Charlie’s on National Avenue. Here are the highlights:

• The Internal Revenue Service has approved the association’s application for non-profit status. Thanks to Bethany Baxter for shepherding the paperwork.
• Nighttime noise coming from the Jif peanut butter plant seems to have been reduced considerably. Shelby Reynolds and Jake Gibbs, the 3^rd District Council member, worked with the company, which hired a noise consultant to resolve mechanical issues causing the noise. Please notify a board member if you hear otherwise.
• City officials have rejected a request for speed tables on Aurora Avenue, per city policy, because not enough residents favored them.
• Linda Worley and Shelby Reynolds are completing an update of the neighborhood directory, which should be printed and delivered to dues-paying association members within the next few weeks.

Board meetings are usually held at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. Any Mentelle Neighborhood resident is welcome to attend, but please check with President Shelly Fortune in advance for the location. The board has been meeting at various businesses in the neighborhood in search of a good permanent site.

Martha Jane Stone, a longtime Lexington musician who had lived in our neighborhood since 1933, died Wednesday at age 97. At the neighborhood history program in May at Bell House, she told some delightful stories about her memories of the neighborhood, from bus companies competing for passengers on Cramer Avenue in the 1930s to the World War II victory gardens on the other side of National Avenue. Read more about her on Kentucky.com.

Martha Jane Stone, left front, at the unveiling of the historical marker in May.

Now that winter is here, please remember that shoveling your sidewalk after a snowfall is a good way to be a good neighbor. Mentelle is a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, and keeping sidewalks clear of snow and ice helps keep it that way.

Also, please be mindful of elderly or disabled neighbors unable to shovel their sidewalks. If you are able to do it for them, please do. If not, reach out to another neighbor who is able. If you are unable to find someone, Jake Gibbs, our 3rd District council member, asks that you contact his office and he will try to find a community volunteer to help. You can reach him at: jgibbs@lexingtonky.gov.

This year Lexington has a new, tougher snow-shoveling ordinance. It requires property owners to clear their sidewalks 24 hours after the officially declared end of snowfalls of four inches or more. (However, no property owner will be cited if their street has not been plowed.  Most of the time, Mentelle Neighborhood’s streets are not plowed.)

 

The new ordinance is complaint-driven. The city Code Enforcement staff will not look for people to cite. They will respond to citizen complaints reported to LexCall, 311. If someone complains about your property, Code Enforcement will follow up. If the snow is greater than four inches and the street has been plowed, they will leave a warning. They will return after 24 hours. If the sidewalk has not been cleared a citation will be issued. The initial fine is $100. (That’s the same fine for all nuisance violations, such as not mowing grass.) This essentially gives homeowners 48 hours to clear their sidewalks after a four-inch snowfall before being cited. To help people adjust to the new ordinance, Code Enforcement will give only warnings — no citations — during the first big snow.

There are no exemptions from this ordinance. “Snow birds” must make arrangements to have their sidewalk cleared in their absence.

Neighbors, 

Our neighborhood school, Ashland Elementary, is trying to build a new playground. The goal is to build a playground next summer that is accessible and inspiring to all of Ashland’s students and supports more active, artistic, beautiful, creative and diverse play and garden spaces that better reflect the school and its focus on the arts.  

Estimates for final playground design are between $85,000 and $100,000. The Playground Committee at Ashland has set a goal to raise $100,000 by March 31, 2017 in order to ensure that the playground is completed by the start of the 2017-2018 school year.  To date, $22,000 has been raised through Jog-a-thons, donations gathered at events, and some generous family donations. In addition to fundraising, the committee is applying for grants and approaching local and neighborhood businesses for support. But the playground committee also needs our help.

The committee is asking that families and the neighborhood association consider a donation. No gift is too big or too small!  If you are considering your charitable donations for this year or next, please know that this is a special project of the Ashland PTA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and your contribution is tax-deductible. 

If you are interested in making a gift, please send an envelope marked ‘Playground’ with your name and address to: Ashland Elementary School, 195 N. Ashland Ave., Lexington, KY 40502.  Checks should be made out to Ashland PTA with ‘Playground’ in the memo. Please include your name and address so a letter acknowledging your donation can be sent to you.

If you have any questions about giving or ideas to help raise additional funds, please contact Mentelle Neighborhood resident Stephanie Spires at SeaSpires@gmail.com

Thank you!

Shelly Fortune, MNA President

Mirror Twin Brewing Co., 725 National Ave., is having an appreciation event 11:30 a.m. until midnight Sunday for residents of the Mentelle and Kenwick neighborhoods to celebrate its first few months in business. There will be $3 pints and 10 percent off Rolling Oven pizzas.  More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1807198669518573/

Please plan to attend Melody Flowers’ annual Hot Cocoa Social on the front porch of 54 Mentelle Park from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4.  She will be collecting donations to put in the Salvation Army kettle of Mentelle’s most dedicated bell-ringer, our neighbor Ron Mitchell. It’s always a good time for cocoa and friends!

About 40 residents attended the Mentelle Neighborhood Association’s general membership meeting Oct. 26 at Ashland Elementary School, which included the election of officers.

Elected for the calendar year 2017 were: Shelly Fortune, president; Linda Worley, vice president; Tom Eblen, secretary; Richard Coles, treasurer; and board members Elaine Cook, Bethany Baxter, Shelby Reynolds, Jessica Mohler and Ann Olliges.

Officers reviewed the past year’s highlights, which included:

• The association got a new website, which includes a blog for news updates. Eventually, the association hopes it will replace the more costly and less timely printed newsletter. Residents can sign up for email alerts whenever a news item is posted. So far, 90 people have signed up.
• A state historical marker was placed in the Mentelle Park median to commemorate the entire neighborhood’s history as well as the history of the nearby Mentelle School, where Mary Todd Lincoln was a student.
• Neighborhood identification signs have been posted at many entrances to the area. Some signs are still pending because of right-of-way issues.
• The association sponsored several well-attended neighborhood social events in the past year, including a beer tasting, the summer picnic and the Easter egg hunt and book swap.
• There has been an increase in association membership. There are now 76 life member households and 22 annual members. Anyone interested in membership should contact Richard Coles.
• Jake Gibbs, the 3rd District Urban County Council member, awarded the association a $1,500 grant for street-tree planting. That is $500 more than in recent years. Since 2012, the association and city have provided matching grants to help Mentelle residents plant 45 trees. Nine more trees are scheduled to be planted, and money is available for six more. If you are interested in getting matching funds to plant a street tree, contact Elaine Cook.

Other items of note:

• Speed tables are being considered for Aurora and Given avenues and Bullock Place as the result of a recent city traffic study.
• The board is working with the city and the J.M. Smucker Co. to address noise coming from the Jif peanut butter plant at night. Several residents have complained.
• The board met recently with the owners of Cosmic Charlie’s, a music club moving to National Avenue. It was a positive meeting, and the owners said they want to work with the neighborhood to avoid problems with traffic or noise.
• An updated neighborhood directory will be published soon.
• This year’s neighborhood home tour, which was to have been in September, was canceled because not enough residents could open their homes. Shelly Fortune said she hopes to organize another tour in 2018. (Mentelle had its first home tour in 2014, and it made about $3,000 for neighborhood projects.)  Mentelle alternates home tour years with the Kenwick Neighborhood Association. Shelly also asked for suggestions of other fundraising ideas for the association.
• Richard reported that the association is in good financial condition, with $7,994.14 in the bank. A financial report is available upon request.

Following the meeting, David O’Neill, Fayette County’s property valuation administrator, discussed his process for reassessing home values. State law requires reassessments every four years, and Mentelle Neighborhood is scheduled to be reassessed in 2017 and 2018. He said to watch for an assessment notice in the mail after April 15. If you do not receive a notice in the mail, you can check your property information on Fayettepva.com. Please check it for accuracy.  The deadline for correcting or contesting an assessment is the third Monday in May.

State Sen. Reginald Thomas attended the meeting and urged residents to sign up for email updates from his office.

The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation brings its monthly deTours program to Kenwick next week, with a tour of two bungalow homes at 268 and 272 Lincoln Ave. at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2. The tour is free and open to the public. For more information, call (859) 253-0362 or click here.