The Ward25.com Blog!

The Ted Drewes on South Grand officially opened yesterday for the summer! Their summer hours are 11:00am to at least 10:30pm on the weekdays and until at least 11:00pm on the weekends! In case you are in the mood for some late night frozen custard, you can call them at 352-7376 to make sure they are still open.

Ted Drewes on South Grand, St. Louis

For those that don’t know, Ted Drewes Frozen Custard has become an integral part of St. Louis over the years…and one of their two locations (4224 S Grand Blvd.) is located right here in the 25th Ward!

According to their website, Ted Drewes Sr. first opened Ted Drewes Frozen Custard at the South Grand location in 1931. While only open during the summer hours for ice cream, Ted Drewes lights up again from November 28 to around December 20 to sell the Canadian balsam Fir Christmas Trees that are brought to St. Louis from Nova Scotia.

See a previous post I wrote on Ted Drewes in December 2008 here.

Alderman Dorothy Kirner was the subject of a “You Paid For It” story on FOX 2 News on Sunday, May 3, 2009. Incoming Alderman Shane Cohn was also interviewed. See video below:

I just received the final election results from the St. Louis Board of Elections today. They are broken down by precinct. The 25th Ward is divided into four precincts (1, 2, 3, and 4). Basically, Precinct 1 and 4 are located East of S Grand Blvd. and Precinct 2 and 3 are located West of S Grand Blvd. See a map of the 25th Ward here.

As you can see from the results, the vote was split between East and West Grand. The majority of voters East of Grand voted for Shane Cohn while the majority of voters West of Grand voted for me. Thanks again for all of those who supported me during the campaign!

Precinct 1: East of Grand
Total registered voters- 1876
Total voters this election- 288
ANGELA SINGLER 68 23.61%
SHANE COHN 159 55.21%
TRAVIS REEMS 25 8.68%
DEBORAH KOTRABA 36 12.50%

Precinct 2: West of Grand
Total registered voters- 1160
Total voters this election- 258
ANGELA SINGLER 142 55.04%
SHANE COHN 74 28.68%
TRAVIS REEMS 12 4.65%
DEBORAH KOTRABA 30 11.63%

Precinct 3: West of Grand
Total registered voters- 1655
Total voters this election- 226
ANGELA SINGLER 101 44.69%
SHANE COHN 89 39.38%
TRAVIS REEMS 18 7.96%
DEBORAH KOTRABA 18 7.96%

Precinct 4: East of Grand
Total registered voters- 1761
Total voters this election- 281
ANGELA SINGLER 55 19.57%
SHANE COHN 165 58.72%
TRAVIS REEMS 21 7.47%
DEBORAH KOTRABA 40 14.23%

I have uploaded the vote breakdown by precinct which you can access here.

Now that the 2009 election for Alderman of the 25th Ward has come to a close, I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to everybody that voted on March 3, 2009!

It was truly a great experience to meet so many new neighbors over the past five months and to spur discussion and action on how we can improve our city and the neighborhoods we live in. I am proud of the clean campaign that we ran and honored to have received over 34% of the votes in a four-way race.

While we were only a mere 121 votes shy from victory, I am excited that we are finally going to see a change in leadership in our Ward…something we desperately needed.

What’s next? Well, based on your comments and suggestions, I hope to utilize this website to help “reconnect our community” through publicizing what is going on in our Ward. Hopefully, future posts will foster comments and discussion that will lead to increased accountability, transparency, and positive changes in the 25th Ward.

Thank you again for your support from the bottom of my heart!

What would you like to see this website offer? News in the 25th Ward? Political coverage? Neighborhood Issues? What do you think? Leave a comment to this post or email me your thoughts: angie@ward25.com

Hello! I’m Angie Singler, a St Louis City Democratic Candidate for the 25^th Ward Board of Aldermen. Welcome to my website!

I’ve been proud to call the 25^th Ward my home for 25 years. It’s here that my husband and I raised our three children, we developed long-lasting friendships, and I learned what it takes to be an important part of our community.

We need a change in the Dutchtown and Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods now more than ever! And I’m ready to take an active role in restoring what once was the stable 25^th Ward. I will be an Alderwoman who has lots of energy, follows through with citizens concerns, gets the community more involved in decisions, and is active in bringing about the positive changes we really need in our community!

I humbly ask for your vote on Tuesday, March 3^rd, 2009…so we can truly, “reconnect our community!”

I am being attacked by negative political robo calls! Here is what I know so far:

The phone numbers that appear on Caller ID and are making these automated robo calls are:

352-0000 (Miller Plumbing)
801-0011 (Missouri)
437-9283 (Gladius Communications)
and a Private Wireless Number

Someone is paying to make these phone calls to voters in the 25th Ward and are not identifying themselves or who they support. Additionally, most of the numbers that show up on Caller ID are “masked” and are not the numbers in which the calls are actually calling from. I intend to get to the bottom of this because these negative political attacks are wrong and need to stop.

Please call the Office of the Attorney General (1-866-662-2551) if you have received any of these phone calls at any time during this campaign IMMEDIATELY so they can investigate who is responsible for these annoying calls and this form of dirty politics.

Read  a message from the Missouri State Attorney General here.

I just received an email from the Dutchtown West Neighborhood Association (DWNA) notifying everyone that two of our neighbors that attend the DWNA monthly meetings had their homes broken into this weekend. One neighbor was home at the time when the suspects came in. The other neighbor was not at home and the suspect came through a window. We deserve safer neighborhoods! Please remember to get out and vote on Tuesday, March 3rd!

[A neighbor just emailed me another incident reported by the Dutchtown South Community Corporation and Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Association: Burglary at 5XXX S Compton. The South Bureau is investigating a burglary from the above location. Wanted for this is a white male in his early 50's having gray hair. The suspect was seen operating a red full sized pickup with an attached flat bed trailer. This same suspect is likely involved with the burglary from the 500 block of Bellerive where a large Snapper mower was stolen. If anyone locates a subject and/or vehicle matching this description please call 911 and Captain Speiss at 444-0110]

I wanted to make a short post on my website to thank all of the volunteers that have helped with the campaign so far! We are coming down to the wire with only 15 days until the election! If you are interested in volunteering one weekend to help get out the vote or would like a yard sign, please let me know by emailing or calling me: angie@ward25.com or 337-8197.

Below are just a few pictures of friends and family that came out to help put up “Angie Singler for Alderman” signs one weekend:

I just recieved a phone call from Judy at Miller Plumbing (352-0000) regarding all of the robo calls that everyone has been getting about the upcoming Alderman election. Judy said that someone is using the Miller Plumber number and have not been authorized to do so and have no connection with Miller Plumbing.

I assured Judy that these calls are not coming from my campaign, and if anyone knows who is responsible for these phone calls please come forward and contact Judy at 352-0000.

On Thursday, January 22, 2009, the official Democratic Club in the 25th Ward voted to support and endorse Angie Singler for Alderman of the 25th Ward!

St. Louis City Democrats

At the meeting, Angie spoke about how she has been in the 25th Ward for over 25 years and wants to focus on making our neighborhoods more safe, being a more accessible and transparent elected official, and also working towards bringing in new development and positive changes to the 25th Ward and the City of St. Louis. After receiving the endorsement Angie Singler stated, “I am thrilled to have the support of the Democratic Club and ask for your vote on March 3, 2009!”

The 25th Ward Democratic Club is an open meeting whose voting members consist of any person who is a Democrat, is registered to vote in the 25th Ward, completed a membership form and paid $6.00 ($4.00 for members over age 60), and has not supported any other political party other than the Democratic Party.

September 20, 2008 seems like a long time ago. I can’t believe it has been over four months since I created www.Ward25.com. Being the only candidate to have the courage to recognize we need a change in the 25th Ward and step-up and run for Alderman before the race was open and the incumbent dropped out, seemed like like a huge task at the time. Now, as the first month of January is almost over and the primary on March 3, 2009 is about one month away, a lot of things have changed. As it was announced that the incumbent dropped out of the race, three others candidates decided to enter. I am excited that we will finally see a change in leadership in our Ward and hope we can truly start to reconnect our community and see some great progress.

Back in September 2008, I wanted to create a website that will allow people to not only learn about who I am, but also be a place where people can learn about what is going on in our neighborhoods. Since its creation, this website has reached over 1500 visitors and received over 8200 page views as of today! As I have mentioned throughout this campaign, If elected Alderwoman, I aim to turn Ward25.com into a hub of information for the 25th Ward. Neighbors will be able to see budgets, expenditures, City Hall developments, and new news about our neighborhoods 24/7. This is one tool that will allow us all to be connected. Having a cell phone, email access, and even sending newsletters or letters to neighbors that do not have internet access is another way to keep connected. Supporting and encouraging participation at our local neighborhood associations will be another vital way that we come together as a community to make our Ward a better place to live, work, and play.

It has truly been great to speak with friends and neighbors over these past few months, many of which I have known since I have been a part of this community for over 25 years. I think it is important that we have an Alderman that has roots in our community, that remembers what it was like when Cleveland High School and Resurrection School were open. Someone who has lots of energy to devote to serving as Alderman, who will listen to peoples ideas and will actually follow through in a timely fashion. Someone that is proactive in bringing about change and not simply reactive. As I have mentioned before, my husband, Norm, and I raised our three children right here in the 25th Ward. Norm has been a resident of this area for 50 years.  All of my kids attended Resurrection Elementary School. Dan and Tim are graduates of St. Mary’s High School and have both graduated from college, and Liz is a graduate of Notre Dame High School and is currently a full time student in college.  I care deeply about our neighborhoods in the 25th Ward, my roots here run deep, I have been endorsed by the 25th Ward Democratic Club, and I am ready to help reconnect our community!

If you would like to contact me, I would love to hear from you. My email is angie@ward25.com and my phone is 337-8197.

Thank you to all who attended the campaign party on Saturday (Jan. 17th)! Over 250 people came throughout the night and we ended up giving away lots of prizes to those that attended! It was great to see and meet so many neighbors. If you did not get a chance to attend, I will be hosting another smaller meet-and-greet soon, so please be on the lookout!

Angie Singler Campaign Party!

A BIG thank you to Grbic’s Restaurant and Banquet Hall for the beautiful space to host the campaign party!

Thank you to Blues Judge, the six-piece live band, for providing music during the party!

Thank you to Steve Patterson, from http://www.urbanreviewstl.com, for his kind words of support and public endorsement during the evening!

Thank you to all my campaign volunteers who helped serve food, set-up, clean-up, and run the event!

Thank you to all of the following local businesses and individuals for their donations for the event: Chava’s, Chimichanga’s, Hammerstone’s, Hederman Events, Hodak’s, Kickers Corner, Mangia Italiano, Pasta House, St. Louis Cardinals, The Tan Company , Windler Florist, Cherri Wilson, Cathy Torrillo, Christy Roberts, Donna Torrillo, Edie Rice, Elly Rodriguez, Ginny Wever, Glen & Shauna Barton, Jodie Brown & Greg, Linda Puleo, Margie Petri, Matt Rice, Michele Bolin, Missy Tobey, Pat Reitmeyer, Tony & Kathy Boeger, and The Torrillo Family!

If you are in need of a campaign yard sign, please let me know! We were out this weekend knocking on doors, delivering flyers, and putting out yard signs at the addresses of those neighbors that requested one!

All of the campaign yard signs were printed by a union printer! As many of you know my husband, Norm Singler, has been a member of the Operating Engineers Union Local 399 for 25 years. So, it was important to me that I support a union printer and make sure all of my signs have the union logo on the bottom of EVERY sign.

Call me at 314-337-8197 or email me at angie@ward25.com and I will make sure you get a yard sign ASAP!

Hope to see you all at the Campaign Party on Saturday (Jan. 17th) from 6-10pm at Grbic’s.

Angie Singler Campaign Signs!

You are invited to meet Angie Singler, candidate for 25th Ward Alderman, THIS SATURDAY on January 17th from 6-10pm at the beautiful Grbic’s Banquet Hall in the 25th Ward!

There will be free door-prizes, a 50/50 raffle, live music (a six piece blues band), a cash bar, silent-auction/raffle, and bowls of chili, hot dogs, & nachos to warm up from the cold winter weather! I hope to see you there!

January 17th, 2009 from 6-10pm

@ Grbic’s Banquet Hall
(Formerly Bailey Farms Dairy)
4071 Keokuk Street, St Louis, MO 63116

The next monthly neighborhood association meeting for the Dutchtown West Neighborhood Association is on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 7:00pm at the Resurrection School Building Basement (3880 Meramec St.)

Take a look at their new website here.

If you live on the West Side of Grand and are interested in improving our neighborhood, please come! I hope to see you there!

Neighborhood Clean-Up of Amberg Park in October

Parks, Parks, Parks! The two parks that are located in the 25th Ward are Mount Pleasant Park (located at Michigan Ave. and Dakota St.) and Amberg Park (located at Keokuk St. and Gustine Ave.)

Mt. Pleasant Park

Amberg Park (Photo by Steve Patterson) during a neighborhood association clean-up event.

I believe that both of our parks should be the “jewels” of our neighborhoods. If I receive the honor of being elected Alderman of the 25th Ward, I would listen to what everyone in the community has to say about both parks and help develop a master park development plan for both the short and the long term. For example, fixing the broken swings at Mt. Pleasant, fixing the broken fountain at Amberg Park, installing pedestrian lighting in both parks to help increase visibility and deter crime, placing decorative trash cans instead of ugly barrels, and installing more park benches and picnic tables to increase the parks use are all the types of improvements that I would advocate for if the community supports them. While some of these items are short term fixes, we should develop a long term park development plan so that we as a community have a sense of direction and “guide” to know what improvements to make and how money should be spent more wisely in the future.

Broken Park Swing @ Mt. Pleasant

Barrell Trash Can

Tree Stump in middle of Park @ Mt. Pleasant

Broken Water Fountain @ Amberg

Street Light in the middle of the park @ Mt. Pleasant

As I have been speaking with friends and neighbors in our community throughout this election, there have been many suggestions on ways to improve our parks including creating community gardens, installing family friendly picnic areas/gazebos, and reorganizing the ball fields to make them more usable and attractive to organizations like the St. Louis Kickball and Softball leagues. Increasing park traffic and making them more “usable” will really help reconnect our community. What ideas or suggestions do you have? Feel free to leave a comment below.

To read more about the history of the parks click the link below called “Read the rest of this entry”

Continue reading »

Graffiti tends to appear in some of the most interesting places in the city…and even around our Ward. Take for example the graffiti that has been plastered all over the old Netties Florist Building (now owned by Walter Knoll Florist and up for sale) at 3801 S Grand Blvd. The building sits at the corner of S. Grand and Chippewa and is one of the first buildings you notice as you begin to leave the 15th Ward and enter into the 25th Ward. When Netties was bought out by Walter Knolls, the building was emptied and a “for sale” sign went up. If you walk past and look in the windows, the place looks abandoned with random items thrown everywhere like someone has raided the place. As the building has sat empty for months, it finally got tagged with massive amounts of graffiti (see pictures below).

Graffiti on vacant Netties building close up

If you drive around the 25th Ward, you can see more graffiti on other prominent and less prominent areas like on the south side door of Cleveland High School at 4352 Louisiana Avenue.

Graffiti on vacant Netties Building	Graffiti on vacant Netties Building	Graffiti on vacant Netties Building	Closer Look at Graffiti on vacant Netties Building	Graffiti on Wall Behind old Burger King
Graffiti on South side of Cleveland High School

I believe that when people see graffiti and litter and other evidence of “lawlessness” then they jump on the band wagon and are more likely to litter and spray graffiti in the area. It’s like when you drive through a neighborhood where all of the lawns are mowed and it looks like people really care and take care of their property…it creates a certain perception that it is not “OK” to throw garbage on the ground or deface buildings. A supporter sent me an email with a link to an article in the Los Angeles Times on this topic recently which you can read here. The article talks about how the “mere presence of litter” increased theft in an area and explains more about the “broken windows” theory. Very interesting.

Here in the 25th Ward, it is important to call the Citizens Service Bureau and the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer when you see any graffiti. The city coordinates with a program called Operation Brightside, which is a federally funded program through the City of St. Louis that receives complaint’s about graffiti. Operation Brightside will contact the owners of the property to get permission to remove the graffiti (or a city ordinance permits them to act within around 10 days without hearing back from a property owner) to remove the graffiti. However, if the markings are out of reach, or the weather is too cold for a power washer, then the property owner is cited by the building division until removed.

Operation Brightside Headquarters (4646 Shenandoah Ave.)

I am in favor of increasing funding to services that work, like Operation Brightside so that they can have more manpower to address these issues more effectively and efficiently. I am also in favor of advocating property owners and real estate agents to light up vacant buildings at night so that those that choose to commit crimes and tag buildings are less likely to do so. Adressing some of the other big concerns in our Ward (like increased police patrols and investments in beautification) will help get rid of graffiti as well. What are your thoughts? What about creative solutions like temporarily covering graffiti with brick colored tarps in the winter or until the grafitti can be permanently removed?

For those of you that have been asking what the boundaries are in Ward 25, see the map below. You can click and drag the map to move it around as well as zoom in and out by clicking on the “+” and “-” in the map on the left hand side. All of the 28 Ward boundaries in the City of St. Louis will be redrawn after the U.S. Census in 2010. You can also find the map and more information on the 25th Ward on my website here.

A new restaurant just opened in the 25th Ward: Señor Pops at 4101 S. Grand Ave! Señor Pops is the first Puerto Rican Restaurant in St. Louis, which are very popular in both New York City and Chicago. Owned by Anthony Gonzales and Managed by Angie Smock, Señor Pops is currently open for lunch Tuesday and Thursday 11am to 9pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 11pm, and Sunday 11am to 3pm.

Señor Pops: 4101 S. Grand Avenue

Senor Pops Logo

Store Front

Lunch Specials

Lunch Menu

Prices Range from $5.50 for “Pop’s Quesadillas” to $8.50 for “Pop’s SUPER Burrito.” Take a look at the current Menu by clicking on the images above.

It is great to see a new type of international restaurant come into our Ward! The restaurant manager, Angie, said that they wanted to stay in the Dutchtown area because they already own and operate another business across the street, Tuba’s Cycle Center (4036 S. Grand Avenue). However, they would like to see drastic improvements for that stretch of S. Grand Avenue. Installing decorative trash cans, pedestrian lighting, white holiday lights on the roof lines of businesses, all are Ward improvements that are missing in our area.

Driving South on Grand from 40/64, you can see the excellent improvements made by the South Grand Community Improvement District around Grand and Aresenal. With the lighting, trash cans, banners across the road for events like the Festival of Nations, it really looks like their is life, energy, and progress going on in that area. And then it just stops at the Grand and Gravois area. If elected Alderwoman, I would focus on implementing ward improvements for the S. Grand area from Grand and Gravois down to the Holly Hills area. I would work with the 15th Ward Alderwoman, currently Jennifer Florida, to help continue that same “feel” that is around the Tower Grove area and help bring it down towards our Ward. Wouldn’t it be great to have S. Grand be a long stretch of unique stores, businesses, international restaurants, and a “place to go” like the Loop in Delmar or Washington Ave. downtown? It’s time to really bring the energy and aggressiveness to address the issue head on…to be proactive and invest in the area so business want to come into our Ward instead of waiting around and hoping that they do.

For Señor Pops, plans are to open for dinner once they recieve their liquor licence (for Margaritas and beer and not pre-packaged alcohol). They need the support of neighbors 350 square yards from the restaurant to get their permit. In the meantime, lets support this new local business! Stop by for lunch sometime, I hear the Fajitas are excellent…and a great price at only $7.50!