Mentelle Neighborhood Association

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

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association has received a city grant to plant street trees. MNA matches the grant money at $100 per tree. Property owners pay only one-third of the cost: $100 for each tree, 2 inches in diameter, delivered, planted and mulched. That’s $300.00 value.

“Street tree” specifications require these trees to be planted on the strip between the sidewalk and the curb, or within 10 feet of the sidewalk.

Requests will be recorded in September; payment will be due Sept. 30th.

Please send your request to: elainecookharp@gmail.com

Kentucky Underground will be called in October to inspect each location for compatibility with utility lines underground and overhead. After all the properties pass inspection, Lexington’s Urban County Forestry Program issues a blanket permit for the trees.

Chris Yarber of Earthworks will plant the trees in November.

This is the fifth street tree project the MNA has done over the past eight years, each time resulting in new trees that benefit our neighborhood in many ways. It is a great opportunity to have positive impact on our community for years to come! The trees add life and character to our streets, cool homes, clean the air, reduce stormwater runoff, increase property values, attract wildlife, and grace our environs with beauty.

Thank you for your interest in this project to improve the environment of our neighborhood.

Elaine Cook

 

The 113-year-old neighborhood congregation Temple Adath Israel is preparing to present the first Lexington Jewish Food Festival from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28.

Many of the foods on the sampling menu aren’t available in local restaurants: matzo ball soup, potato knishes, borscht, latkes and kugel, among others. The emphasis is on homemade, using fresh, local ingredients including produce from the Temple’s community garden, a 2014 Lexington in Bloom award-winner.

Additionally, there will be a bake shop with challah, babka, strudel and more, all of it made by temple members, and TAI is bringing back H₂Oy, water bottled specially for the temple by Highbridge Springs in Wilmore.

Festival visitors will have a chance to visit the historic sanctuary, and an open Torah scroll will be on display. The temple also has a Holocaust museum, the first such permanent exhibit in Kentucky.

Tickets for the festival are $18 a person; children 12 and younger may piggyback on an adult ticket. Each ticket will allow up to 16 samples, depending on the value assigned to each sample. (Fun fact: The ticket price was chosen because the number 18 is significant in Jewish culture, festival co-chair Pat Shraberg said. In Hebrew, each letter has a numerical value. Letters 10 and 8 spell the word Chai, which means “living” or “life,” so the number 18 is considered to be good luck.)

The festival will be in the social hall at Temple Adath Israel, 124 North Ashland Ave. More information is at Facebook.com/lexjewishfoodfestival