Author: Tom Eblen

A note from Jill and Ray DeBolt, the Mentelle Park Median Committee chairs:

A huge thank you to all those who worked on the Mentelle median over this spring and on our workdays, May 15 and May 22. The following neighbors contributed a total of more than 60 hours of sweat equity to keep the median beautiful:

Jill and Ray DeBolt
Gil Dunn
Tom Eblen
Janet Howard
Susan and Jerry Janecek
Tom Lillich
Barbara Wagner
Shirley Warren
Logan Wilson

A special thanks to Logan Wilson, who donated a large amount of mulch, and to Gil Dunn for providing the trailer to haul the mulch.

Based on a lot of good feedback from neighbors, the MNA board has scheduled a community yard sale day for Saturday, June 19, from 8 a.m. until noon. (While anyone can have a yard sale anytime they wish, organizing it as a neighborhood-wide event at a single time allows us to do some marketing and attract more customers.)  More details to follow.

 

From Jill DeBolt, Mentelle Median Committee chair:

Thank you to all those who came out last Saturday to work on the Mentelle median. We put in a total of 36 work hours weeding and edging the beds and removing some invasive plants.

This Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon, we need help spreading mulch to keep the weeds down and the beds looking good.  Any and all help is greatly appreciated, even if you can only help for a short time.

Please email Jill DeBolt if you have any questions or concerns.

Efforts to improve the appearance of the Mentelle Park median — a city park where we have many of our neighborhood activities — aren’t new. In fact, they have been going on for more than a century. The widow of bourbon distiller James E. Pepper, who lived at 9 Mentelle Park, organized this effort, which was mentioned in the July 30, 1910 issue of the Lexington Leader.

Lexington government is sponsoring a hazardous waste collection event on Saturday, May 22.  The Mentelle Neighborhood Association will help coordinate a neighborhood pick-up and delivery of  hazardous waste products from your homes and garages. This service will allow you to free-up your Saturday so you don’t have to wait in line to drop off your waste!

On Friday, May 21, you may drop off one box load of any of the hazardous waste products on this list at the Ashland Elementary School parking lot between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  We will take this load to the drop off center on Saturday. Please note:

• This service is limited to members of the Mentelle Neighborhood Association.  If you are not a member but live in the neighborhood, we request that you join our Association or pay $15 cash when you make the drop off.
• Please limit your load to one medium-size box.  Many families will want to participate, so please be reasonable.
• You must limit your items to things on the list.  Do not ask for exceptions.  Please be sure items are well sealed so they will not spill.
• This is a first-come, first-serve service.  Once the pickup truck is filled, we will cease taking items.

Looking for a good book?  Come look through the boxes on the porch of 52 Mentelle Park (if it’s not raining).  There are slightly damaged new books and advance reader copies for all ages. Enjoy!

From Jill DeBolt, chair of the MNA’s Mentelle Median Committee:

The Mentelle Park median, where many of our neighborhood activities are held, was beautiful this spring with all of the flowering bulbs.  If you enjoy the median and are able, we need your help to keep it looking good.

Saturday work days are scheduled for May 15th and May 22 from 9 a.m. – noon.  We’ll be weeding the beds and mulching.  If you have any questions or concerns, please email Jill DeBolt.

Any help is greatly appreciated!   Also, special thanks to those of you that have already been out there working.

Like most neighborhoods, Mentelle has issues with traffic and parking. The Mentelle Neighborhood Association has formed a committee to study these issues and work with city officials to solve them. But the committee needs your help. Please click here to fill out an electronic survey about your thoughts, opinions and concerns with traffic and parking issues in the neighborhood.  Thanks for your help!

To celebrate Preservation Month in May, The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation is sponsoring a series of free online webinars to help owners of old homes learn how to take better care of them. The majority of homes in Mentelle neighborhood date between the 1890s and 1920s, so this information could be quite helpful!

Topics include window restoration, painting old surfaces, repairing old masonry, how to apply for historic tax credits and more. Register for these free webinars here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkfuGsrzosGdJndZsOaEfVnnRnXlUeJfhP

The annual flower sale at Heritage Baptist Church, 163 N. Ashland Ave., began today and runs through Saturday. For more info, go to the Facebook event page. This is a great way to get some beautiful plants at good prices and support the activities of one of our neighborhood’s places of worship.

If you have spent some socially distanced time during the past year cleaning out your basement, garage and closets, you may have some junk — I mean formerly prized possessions — that you would prefer to have someone else own. So, is there interest in doing a neighborhood yard sale this summer?  Having our neighborhood yard sales on the same day allows us to do some marketing and draw a bigger crowd of buyers.

Please comment below if you would be interested in participating in a neighborhood yard sale, and if so, when.  Based on responses, the MNA board will consider organizing one.