Last week saw officer elections for at least two of Covington’s neighborhood associations: Eastside +, which represents the Eastside neighborhood, and the Residents of Mainstrasse, which represents Mainstrasse.
Mainstrasse’s election was contentious and saw a high turnout. People crowded into the Sparen Realty building on Greer Street to cast their votes.
Groups within the Residents of Mainstrasse Association diverged over the neighborhood’s vision, the way preceding officers had enforced beautification standards, recent changes to electoral procedures—which some characterized as overly restrictive—and conflicts on social media. A police officer monitored the proceedings in the back of the main lobby, where the voting took place.
The elections for Eastside+, a relative newcomer among Covington’s neighborhood associations, on the other hand, saw the official election of members who previously served as interim officers from January to June—Melissa Kelley as chair, Fred Wilson as co-chair, Susan Strating as secretary and treasurer, and Pam Mullins, Lennette Beasley, and Teresa Huddleston as members at large.
The Mainstrasse elections culminated in the elections of William Dickson as president, Joe Stevie as vice president, Colleen Tarrant as secretary, Brian Goldberg as treasurer and Stacey Tarvin as member at large.
But what are the neighborhood associations, and what do they do?
Covington has about 20 neighborhoods, each with its own characteristics and demographic makeup. The neighborhood associations formed to advocate for respective areas of the city, especially as it relates to beautification, cultural events and festivals, and common concerns about infrastructure, like traffic and parking. Although the associations have elected positions and by-laws, they aren’t binding political organizations with the power of law behind them like a city council.
“I certainly felt it was needed,” said Melissa Kelley, the new president of Eastside +.
Eastside + began meeting informally late last year. As interest in the group grew, housing became a concern among residents.
“They [the residents] hate the term ‘affordable housing,'” Kelley said, adding that they preferred the term low-income housing.
Kelley and other Eastside residents gave credence to this at a public comment session with Kenton County’s Planning and Development Services in April. There, residents discussed the emergence of real-estate investors going door to door looking to buy up people’s houses.
“The big thing is people don’t want to be pushed out of the neighborhood,” Kelley said.
As such, the neighborhood associations can serve as a centralized way of bringing concerns to local governments and administration.
Reyna VanGilder, the chair of the Covington Neighborhood Collaborative, said that associations in other neighborhoods have addressed issues such as parking in Licking Riverside, property turnover in Westside, and short-term rentals in Mutter Gottes.
The Neighborhood Collaborative serves as a kind of hub, Van Gilder said, aimed at “bringing together the neighborhood associations into a forum to discuss ideas and hot topics.”
Each association contributes a voting member to the collaborative, but anyone is welcome to attend meetings and serve on committees. The collaborative itself also oversees the Covington Beautification Awards, which highlights home renovations and improvements throughout the city. Nominations for the award are open until the end of July and announced in September (view a list of last year’s winners here). Finally, the collaborative also engages in community charity drives, such as a book drive in collaboration with the Roost Latonia, a local coffee shop and store, which took place in February.
As it relates to the election for the Mainstrasse association, the tension leading up to the vote was peculiar to the internal dynamics of the neighborhood and stemmed from both conflicts on social media as well as changes to the criteria for who could run for a leadership position.
“It’s important to listen to people,” said new Residents of Mainstrasse President Will Dickson.
Dickson said he wasn’t interested in casting aspersions on anyone but hoped the new leadership could represent the diversity within the neighborhood.
The Covington Neighborhood Collaborative meets on the first Thursday of each month at the Center for Great Neighborhoods, 321 West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Note: VanGilder stated that the July meeting will be canceled due to it falling on Independence Day.
Nominate a house for Covington’s Beautification Awards with the collaborative’s online form here.