Can You Hear Me?

I go to restaurants, stores, and events in the city every day.  I talk to waiters, waitresses, store clerks and hear conversations.  I’ll visit one of our parks or street projects and strike up a conversation with any passer-by.  Yet, I’m continuously amazed by how many people have no idea of the amenities and opportunities available in Chesterfield.  I seek out opportunities to share what is going on in Chesterfield.

I recently visited a local retailer, shopping with my family, and struck up a conversation with the salesperson.   Not surprisingly, the conversation strayed to the construction work going on at .  “Where’s that?” said the sales clerk.  “Our Central Park is off of Lydia Hill is,” I responded.  “Chesterfield has a pool?” asked the clerk.  Hoping to better explain the location, I referenced the and .  Both of which were unknown to the clerk.  I then fell back to describing the location as being along Chesterfield Parkway, west of .  

Unfortunately, this is not an unusual occurrence.

I’m hoping that this blog will give me an opportunity to share my voice with a broader audience.   I’ve worked for the City for almost 23 years.  I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have observed a new city in 1988, develop its own unique personality and leadership.  It is almost inconceivable to believe that Chesterfield is but 23 years old as a city.  We have come so far.  We have a lot to share and I hope to advise and inform a new audience.  It is truly a shame that in a city of almost 50,000 people, so few people take advantage of what we have.  Communication is one of the most difficult challenges that governments have.  People seem to be motivated to contact when things go wrong, but there is so much more to be offered.

I’ll take this opportunity to share tidbits of information related to events, facilities and my piece of your local government.  

In the meantime, I want to introduce you to the City’s website at www.chesterfield.mo.us.  Take a few minutes, visit, surf, and get an idea of what is going on.  Take a look at the “City Projects” tab on the right side of the page.  This tab takes you to a page, where there are three different types of projects described. 

• Active Projects: This is a current listing of all development projects which the City is involved with.  This list shows the history and status of new zoning and land development.  It will keep you current on where any development project is.  When you see a public notice sign show up on a neighboring property, see what is going on.
• Capital projects: These projects are typically one time large construction projects that the City has undertaken to build parks, streets or some other amenity
• Street reconstruction projects: This list provides information on our annual street reconstruction activities, and includes a description of the work processes and expectations.  It provides contact information and forms that might be useful to those impacted by street reconstruction and describes where our contractors or public works crews are doing major work.

We spend a great deal of time attempting to provide you with current information.  Not only what we are doing, but how we are doing it and what you might expect.  Who to contact if things are not going properly. 

I’ll close this this blog with a simple reminder, we have a customer service desk that is available to you at 636-537-4000.   You speak to a real person, who will make every effort to get you in touch with the person who can help you.

I hope this turns out as well as I expect it to.  Look forward to next time.  Thanks.