The President’s Report
January 2019
I hope your holiday season was filled with family love. Christmas to me has always been to focus on family values, and spending this time together is equally important for our younger generations to build on traditions. My family traditions began over 80 years ago when my Dad’s Sicilian family first decided to do a Christmas Day family reunion. My Sicilian Grandfather was one of 14 children and the list of my relatives goes on from there. I have never missed a Gagliano family reunion and pray this tradition continues well past my lifetime. We were fortunate to celebrate with 128 family members and many blessings were bestowed on us. We all rang in the New Year opening our doors to new possibilities for our future. This neighborhood has been blessed with wonderful, sharing neighbors and our 2019 forecast for an even stronger neighborhood is well on it’s way. STCA wishes you a Happy New Year filled with HEALTH, HAPPINESS, and LOVE.
Neighborhood News
The campaign to reduce speeding on our neighborhood streets is well underway. We have distributed about 70 signs to our members. We will have more signs available for our members to pick up on January 8 at our next General Membership meeting. The more signs visible in our neighborhood the more impact we should get. I have seen vehicles slow down when they see a sign, so please participate in this worthy venture and help put a stop to this dangerous violation affecting our quality of life.
Accomplishments by STCA in 2018
1. Continuing to increase membership for a stronger voice
2. Successful Business Expo and Business Membership Drive
3. A Continuing relationship with JPSO for neighborhood crime reduction
4. Bringing the neighborhood together to address postal concerns, with some improvements reported
5. Successfully stopping a new Shock House from opening on Jefferson Highway
6. Successfully stopping an illegal auto repair shop in a residential neighborhood
7. Successfully fighting for more funding to improve a Jefferson Highway Business grant program between Causeway and Clearview ( in the works)
8. Successfully supported two new businesses to establish themselves on Jefferson Highway
9. Helped in repairing street lights
10. Helped and supported improvements to the sewer lift station on Karen and Canton
11. Groundwork started for additional stop signs in our neighborhood
12. Successfully forming an Alliance with Ochsner to support our Jefferson Highway improvements between Causeway and Clearview
13. Supporting a new farmers market for our area residents to enjoy
14. Forming and implementing a campaign to reduce the speeding violations on residential streets
November 2018 Meeting Recap
JPSO officers were present to give the update on our neighborhood Crime Stats and offered more advise to reduce crime in our neighborhood. Our neighbors were given time to ask questions and get the answers they were looking for.
Our November meeting discussed the Ochsner Expansion. Our guest speaker was Ms. Emily Arata from Ochsner. She used visual aids to review all the upcoming improvements and how we will be affected. She discussed the Michael R Boh Center for child development, West Tower Parking, Tom & Gayle Benson Cancer Center, Innovation Center Plans (Smart Hospital), Rehabilitation Hospital, Community Initiatives, Chamberlain School of Nursing with grant opportunities, Ochsner Day of Service, and planned infrastructure improvements. Lots of information for our residence and many thanks to Ms Arata.
Kim Catalano Realtor sponsored a Turkey raffle. She gave away 10 turkeys to some very happy members. Thank you Kim!
January 2019 Meeting
The General Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at Jefferson Playground, Room # 2 upstairs in the gym (4100 South Drive). The doors will open at 6:30 pm and we will start promptly at 7:00 pm. Our first guest speaker is Ms. Emily Arata from Ochsner. She has asked to come back to introduce the opening of the neighborhood farmers market. She will have lots of helpful information for you about the market, vendors, parking, time and more. This is very exciting for us and we also thank Hippie Kitchen for reaching out to Ms Arata to get this venture going.
We are very fortunate to have the support of our JPSO Officers. They will be joining us to update our crime stats in the area and to answer any questions from our neighbors.
Our very own IT specialist Sebastian Rey will be our 2nd guest speaker for the evening. He has continued to research and gather more historical information on our neighborhood. It is very exciting to know how our neighborhood was established and this helps us to look ahead.
Dr. Stacey Spies our First Vice President will take over after Sebastian with “Getting to know your Neighbor Games” that she has developed to improve community relationships. This was a big success for our members in November 2017 and we want to open our doors for better relationships in 2019.
We thank anyone in advance for donating a dessert for the community table and we will most graciously accept all.
Upcoming Events
Our annual membership drive is this month. We are asking all of our members to please continue supporting your Civic Association and to help in this effort please encourage your neighbors join too. United we are strong!
Our next General Membership Meeting is on March 12, 2019. We have invited the Jefferson Parish Planning Department Director to address our members about the River Road Condo project and are awaiting confirmation. We have also reached out to Mosquito Control to speak. We hope you will make every effort to attend. Thank you all and look forward to seeing you!
Go Saints Go!
Happy Mardi Gras and Stay Safe!
Lisa G. Loup
President
Suburban Terrace Civic Association