On April 17 the City Council voted unanimously  to abate the $36,500 bond payment that would have been added onto the Real Estate Tax bill for 2013.  This abatement is the result of the excess funds left over in the City’s  St. Louis Street project fund to bury the utility lines and install the new street lights.  One of the major reasons for the surplus was a greater than anticipated grant from the Greater Edwardsville Area Community Fund.  That grant was the result of a drive engineered by the Historic St. Louis Street Association to raise private donations to fund the grant.  Over $184,000 was raised by this effort.  The action by the City Council is just one more example of the City’s willingness to work with its citizens to make the City a better place for all.  It was also a recognition by the City of the Commit. HSSA paid over $12,000 over the 6 years of the project to make this happen.

Membership dues for the coming year are now due.  The dues are $25 for each adult member at a membership address on St. Louis Street.  Only dues paying members may vote at the meeting. Please send you check for dues payable to Historic ST. Louis Street, % of John Mullane 809 St. Louis Street or bring them to the meeting.

As you can readily see, the project is well underway.  JF Electric has essentially completed all of their work. The Street is now operating completely on the under ground system.  If a tree falls on the lines on St. Louis Street, it should not affect your power. JF has cut off the top of the poles on all but a few poles on the West end.  The power lines remain there because Charter has not completed its work and the power to their cable service comes in from the West.   Charter still has 7-8 houses to hook up but they have their lines buried. They were early in getting their lines buried but stopped short of getting all of the houses hooked up.  Hopefully that will be done by the end of July.

AT&T has not started their part of the project.  The delay was caused by AT&T having to redo their engineering survey.  That led to another round of negotiations which resulted in AT&T agreeing to do the work for less than their original bid.  It is a long story, but one with a happy ending.  Our hat should be off to the Mayor and his staff for bringing this final piece of the puzzle to a conclusion.  AT&T is preparing to start their portion of the work during the middle of July and hope to be done by the middle of August.  Our hope is that the project will be completed by September 1. 

In the meantime, we are all enjoying the new lights on our street.  There was some early concern about their brightness.  We are told that as the lights continue to burn, the brightness will diminish.  That prophesy does seem to be coming true. 

All of the digging and placement of pedestals is not over.  AT&T will surely have some equipment that they will place for their boosters and connection boxes.   Many however have started to do some landscaping around the transformers and pedestals.  Notable is that done by the School District and Emil Crook.  Others of us are waiting until all of the work is done before we start landscaping.  By spring of next year, there will be little or no evidence of the construction that took place this year. 

The days of the power company cutting our trees back are over.  We should start seeing the limbs grow out to reach the sunlight available in the middle of the street.  If you want an idea as to how it could look, go to the west end of Randle Street.  The street has a beautiful canopy of trees shading the street. 

Once the project is complete, we will all appropriately celebrate this historic event on our historic street.

The project is proceeding as planned. It is anticipated that JF Electric will present its proposed contract to the City of Edwardsville before the City Council meeting of December 20. lf approved, as anticipated, the project should start shortly thereafter. It is possible that staking of the project could begin before that date. ln the meantime, the city has been in negotiations with the company supplying the lights for the street. ln addition, AT&T and Charter have been contacted to begin working on the plans to bury the telephone and cable lines. It is hoped that the project will be completed by early spring, in time for reseeding where necessary and replacing plants and shrubs which have been disrupted.

Fund raisers Larry Hepler and Joe Gugger have been busy and report that they have raised pledges in excess of $176,000 for the Greater Edwardsville Glen Carbon Foundation Fund which was started to improve historic St. Louis Street. Letters have gone out to those who have pledged and 85% of the pledges have now been collected. The city will be requesting a grant from GEACF to help them complete the project to beautify this historic district.

The City Council approved the creation of the special service area at its November 1 meeting, and the bonds are being prepared and will be issued on December 15. An informational meeting is being planned for those affected by the project once the contract and the construction schedule are finalized. Keep turning to the Historic St. Louis Street website for updates as the City project proceeds.