Author: Tom Eblen

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.

As the leaves begin to change and the weather begins to cool, many of us start to prepare for the very cold temperatures that follow in the winter months. At this time of year, staff members at Cardinal Valley Elementary School begin to look for coats, hats and glove for students.

Cardinal Valley has many students who live in poverty: 97 percent are on free and reduced lunch. There are many students who are learning English as a second language and, as such, face language barriers in getting resources. Currently there are 700 students at Cardinal Valley.

If you would like to donate a coat, gloves or hats for the annual coat drive, it would be greatly appreciated. Coats should be sized for children ages 4-12. Items can be dropped off on the front porch at 721 Aurora Ave. (Ann Olliges).

Thank you so much for your consideration and help with keeping these students warm during the winter months.

Kentucky American Water Co. contractor ATS Construction plans to repave the east side of Mentelle Park on Friday, Oct. 21. Parking on that side of the street likely will be prohibited beginning late Thursday.

This work is being done because the water company’s previous contractor did a poor job of repaving last year when the street’s original 1906 water main was replaced. Company officials agreed to redo the work after Council Member Jake Gibbs and neighborhood association members complained.

 

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association’s fall general meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at Ashland Elementary School. The business meeting includes election of association officers. The ballot, as prepared by the nominating committee, can be viewed or downloaded from this link:  mna-2017-ballot. Other association members are welcome to nominate themselves for any office, either by emailing secretary Liz Reucroft no later than Oct. 19 or by making a nomination from the floor at the meeting. Please plan to attend this important meeting to find out what’s happening in your neighborhood.

National Provisions, the National Avenue food complex hailed in the New York Times Travel Section in 2015, has closed and employees have filed complaints about unpaid wages and bounced paychecks. For more details, click here.

Thanks to Ray Debolt for creating the new Little Free Library near the center of the Mentelle Median. (It is installed on a post in the memorial garden that had held a deteriorating bird house.)  This is a great new addition to the neighborhood. Take a book, leave a book.

For more information about Little Free Libraries, click here.

Over the years, our neighborhood has been identified by many names. On the deeds to our homes are such designations as Morningside, Morningside Addition, Eastside, Bullock Addition, McGarvey Addition and Mentelle Park, which represent some of the neighborhood’s many subdivisions and developments over the past 129 years.

In an effort to clarify why we are called the Mentelle Neighborhood and what our boundaries are, the Mentelle Neighborhood Association embarked on a landmark sign project.

A Kentucky Historical Society marker was installed on Mentelle Park to explain some of the neighborhood’s history, including the famous Mentelle School where Mary Todd Lincoln was a student. (For a more detailed account of that history, see this website’s history page.)

Secondly, several smaller signs welcoming people to the neighborhood have been installed in the right-of-way of streets along our boundaries, which reach from Richmond Road to National Avenue and from Walton Avenue to Mentelle Park and Memory Lane.

Our neighborhood is fortunate to have a diverse population of talented people. We hope that by increasing the neighborhood’s sense of identity, more residents will want to participate in neighborhood projects and activities.

All the best,

Ann Olliges, Marker/sign project leader