Resident Says City Official Threatened Condemnation on Old Bonhomme Project

Editor's note: There were some definite misunderstandings of what Barbara Minton said, and some of the words were quoted, which turned out not to be 100 percent accurate.

For the record, this is what should have been reported:

"I voiced this to Mr. Gartenberg, and was told that if we didn't get with the program, the City would have our house condemned." - Barbara Minton.

Also, the quote about the destruction of trees was an attribution but not a quote, therefore quote marks should have not been used.

The Olivette Patch the errors that were recorded in this article.

For a second week, a group of residents who live either along or near Old Bonhomme Road voiced vociferous objections over a planned $2.4 million rebuild of that road from the University City limits to Olive Street Road.

One even told the Olivette City Council that a city official threatened her with the possibility of condemning a portion of her property in order to make way for the street-improvement and sidewalk, gutter and curb project.

In her comments at Tuesday's council meeting, Barbara Minton, who lives with her husband John at 500 White Rose Lane and Old Bonhomme Road, said Public Services Director Mike Gartenberg had made the threat.

"He came to our house to talk to us about the (road) project. This is what he told us: 'Either you get with the program, or we (the City) will condemn your property,'" Minton said.

Gartenberg, a late arrival to the regular bi-monthly Olivette council meeting, flatly denied it: "I never said that to them."

"We are just in the planning stages," Gartenberg said. "We are not in the position right now to acquire right-of-way or talk about removal of shrubs and other plantings. I have talked to many people about this project already."

Minton, in particular is very unhappy with the project.

"I am upset with the (proposed) destruction of trees," Minton said. "Five foot sidewalks for this project are an insult to nature. I don't know how they are going to get this done within their $2.4 million dollar budget. We are not interested at all in being compensated for any loss of our property."

Thursday, the Olivette Patch will have more from the council meeting.

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