May the Road Rise to Meet You

Great news! I got a call today from a long-time resident who has offered to help me with my campaign! This is one lady I've been wanting to meet with personally. We set up a time for tomorrow evening, so I can share with her and her family who I am, what I'm about, and what my plans are for when I'm elected mayor of Woodson Terrace. She agreed with me, that our community needs a change, and she's ready to help.

Enough with the miscommunication that is going down around town! I remove myself from the hearsay, gossip, and over-generalizations. I'm recommitting myself to staying focused, staying on track with our plan. We've planned the work, now we need to work the plan. That includes spending my free time during the week (when it's light enough!) and weekends, going door-to-door, which I really enjoy doing. I have had a lot of success, getting out and meeting the residents. There are hundreds of more residents I still need to meet and tell my message to....and there are only 12 more weekend days to get the majority of these introductions done! Only 42 more days 'til Election Day.

Tomorrow is action packed for me. First, as a guest of Kathy Kuo, I will attend the Rotary Club breakfast in the morning. Then work and meetings, and more work. Thank God I love my job, it's sometimes hard to tear myself away. I have my appointment tomorrow after work, then there's a fundraiser I'm attending in St. Ann.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I attended the recent Rotary luncheon, which I emailed and called requesting an invitation. During this meeting, Tim Nowak from the World Trade Center St. Louis, presented plans and timing for the Midwest China Hub. You'll appreciate that he's local, born and raised in Overland, and a dynamic speaker. This is a regional effort and commission, aligned to promote the economic ties between China and the Midwest (we hope St. Louis!) by designating a commercial hub at Lambert for China Air, here in St. Louis. An agreement was formalized in January 2009. Most recently, Gov. Nixon allocated funds to support this effort. Tim explained to us that China is moving up the value chain and as such, they will exhibit more span of control for the logistical movement of their goods. Not only imported goods, but exported goods back into China. So the China Hub commission, on which Tim is a board member, seeks to position St. Louis as the premier location to present to the Chinese government precisely why it makes sense to land freight in and around St. Louis. If you think it sounds like a big deal and immense project, that's because it is.

St. Louis region, North County, Woodson Terrace.... we have the airport and the new airport expansion, we have Metrolink and railways, the interstates, riverways, all in very close proximity. Rivers, Rails, the Roads --- North County is multi-modal. We have room for this initiative to take root and grow. Someone at the Rotary luncheon compared the acquisition of this venture as being the monetary equivalent to St. Louis hosting an MLB All-Star event, every single month. That would be the pinnacle for the economic development of our region, North County, and Woodson Terrace. This effort is so wide, and far-reaching. One immediate benefit I see is that it would assist in retaining the talent pool we already have here in St. Louis. Imagine if this took hold. The kids who are in kindergarten right now would graduate from High School, within a completely re-imagined St. Louis city and county.

And as luck would have it, I know one of the Board Members for the World Trade Center St. Louis. I will be contacting them to see about getting personally involved. I want to do my part, as a concerned citizen as well as a candidate for mayor, to make sure that Woodson Terrace is part of the implementation plan, from the ground up.

As I learn more, I will be sure to post it here for your reading. I want you to feel as involved as possible, in what's immediately affecting our community.

Good night! See you soon!

Kathy
Candidate for Mayor of Woodson Terrace
email: kathy.wheeling@gmail.com
telephone: 314-488-5779


May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon the fields. May the light of friendship guide your paths together.

~an Irish wedding blessing