New officers for Mesa Springs Association

       Responding to a plea from long-time previous leaders, three Mesa Springs residents have stepped forward to keep their neighborhood association going.
       They are Barbara Novey, president; Johnny Russom, vice president; and Jennifer Manwiller, treasurer.

The new Mesa Springs Community Association officers (from left): Jennifer Manwiller, treasurer; Barbara Novey, president; and Johnny Russom, vice president. Behind them are people at the meeting.
Westside Pioneer photo

       “We can't let this go by the wayside,” Novey said, referring to the officially named Mesa Springs Community Association (MSCA). One of the larger such organizations on the Westside, it is the city-recognized advocacy group for the area of about 500 homes south of Fillmore Street, north of Uintah and west of I-25.
       A Mesa Springs resident since 1996, Novey said she hopes to increase MSCA membership and welcomes people to get in touch by e-mail. The MSCA e-mail address is mesasprings@gmail.com. The next meeting of the group will be May 10, she said.
       Novey, Russom and Manwiller were introduced by outgoing leaders George Gravenstein (president) and Steve Schwartz (vice president) at an association meeting March 8 at the Mercy Center on Cooper Street .
       The announcement was met by applause from about 20 people in attendance.
       Gravenstein and Schwartz, who had held their posts since 2004 and 2005, respectively, had been politely requesting in association newsletters over the last couple of years that others take their places, and they finally announced last month that they were definitely retiring in March.
       But they are happy to work with their successors. “We're not going to fade away,” Gravenstein said at the meeting. “We'll help you if you need help.”
       The new trio have not been involved with the association previously, although Russom had personally sought resident support for his petition drive last fall to stop a future subdivision just west of the current homes and then addressed City Council about it. The project is also tied in with the city-planned extension of Centennial Boulevard between Fillmore and Fontanero streets.
       But now that council has approved the subdivision concept plan by the MVS ownership group, Russom said he is ready to “welcome them to the neighborhood, so we can work together instead of it splitting us apart.”
       Manwiller said she met Russom through his petition drive, and that made her more aware of what was happening in the neighborhood. Like him, she's lived a year and a half in Mesa Springs and had not been involved in civic activities before. But after several years of travelling - like a “gypsy,” as she put it - she feels as though she's “putting down roots” in Mesa Springs. “It's like this little lost treasure,” she said. And so, when she realized officers were needed for the association, “I took a deep breath and decided to jump into this.”

Westside Pioneer article