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Session 1809 May 7, 2001 Lynne Rajani, 106 W. Madison, St. Louis, represents a non-profit organization called Rebuilding Together. Rebuilding Together used to be known as Christmas in April. They would like the City Council to consider placing funds in the budget that could be used for their project with Community Block Grant. They repair homes for the elderly, disabled and low income homeowners. All of the work is done by volunteers. They usually do the work on the third Saturday in April. They have done 23 homes in the University City area. One proposal is that they would like to request $15,000 to repair at least six homes. They would match the funds from other funders in order to do another six homes in this area. The other proposal is to use the $15,000 to repair roofs, so repairs could be made to the homes. This would be leveraged with their volunteer labor in kind. Responding to Mr. Munkel, Ms. Rajani stated that she would prepare a list detailing where the work was done, if the funds are approved. Responding to Mr. Wagner, Ms. Rajani stated that Joan Botwinick was not associated with her organization, but they did know one another and referred clients between the them. Shelley Welsch, 7141 Delmar Blvd., 7141 Delmar Blvd., said that she was the Executive Director of the Green Center. She is requesting $30,000 in the next City budget to develop a Master Plan for University City's parks. She stated that the City would be a prime candidate for Proposition C funds, which is awarded by the newly formed Metropolitan Park and Recreation District, of which Phyllis Weber, a U. City resident, is a member. There are several requirements for receiving the funds, and it looks as though U. City would have no problem. She suggests that the City use $30,000 to hire a consultant to look at our parks and see how they all could be connected via greenspace, hiking and biking trails. The 1/10th of one cent sales tax would replace any money the city puts out now. Doing the planning now is essential. Responding to Mr. Wagner, Ms. Welsch stated that the $30,000 would be for a consultant and they came to this figure from talking with the City of Kirkwood. They are going through a similar process and plan. Ms. Susan Crowe, 6764 Chamberlain, stated she was the chairperson for the U. City East Housing and Diversity Committee. She is hear to support Lynne Rajani's proposal from Rebuilding Together. She said that they have worked with Lynne Rajani for the past two years and they completed six homes in U. City in the past year with about 200 volunteers. This is an excellent program and they do very good work. 2