Longtime Resident Ellen Lawrence Seeks Ward 2 Council Seat

Ellen Lawrence is a walker.

She says she walks several miles a day around Creve Coeur, and as she was walking the Mosley Road area lately to talk to residents about her concerns with a proposed residential development project planned on Mosley near Olive Boulevard, she said she kept on hearing people tell her she should run for city council.

She'd been thinking about ways to get more involved in the community, but said she wouldn't have considered running for office in Ward 2 had Tara Nealey decided to run for re-election.

Lawrence, who has lived in Creve Coeur for 30 years, is the Co-Founder and a Principal at The Athena Group, a Creve Coeur-based executive placement firm that also deals with managerial and technical hires staff. Lawrence was formerly a research biologist with Monsanto.

"You just can’t beat Creve Coeur. The location’s fabulous. The neighborhoods are wonderful, the services are terrific," she said in an interview Monday. "I love Creve Coeur and I want to be an advocate for Creve Coeur."

Lawrence said she'd be an advocate by using the project management skills she's honed in her business life, listening to people, coming up with solutions and then executing when it comes to following through on issues.

She would like to see more development east of 270 to fill vacant storefronts, and yes, she would also like to see a hardware store come to town. While not claiming to be familiar with previous efforts to fill that void she did say she wouldn't be afraid to try avenues which may have been explored before to see if they might work now. As the city continues ongoing efforts to hone a "downtown" Creve Coeur, Lawrence said she'd like to see more specialty retail as a part of it.

Lawrence said she would like to address changes to Creve Coeur's Aggressive Dog Ordinance, would support discussions that might lead to a kiosk or satellite branch of a library if not a full facility, and would also like to see mutual use agreements in place for city recreation facilities with Maryland Heights and elsewhere expanded.

She would also like to see the city put safeguards in place to make sure banks which have foreclosed on homes in Creve Coeur do what's necessary to maintain the property.

Lawrence said all she knows about her lone declared opponent, Rothman Furniture owner Jay Steinback is what she's read on Patch. Lawrence is aware that Nealey has decided to support him, but is ready to provide voters with a decision in April.

"I’m planning to talk to everybody and they’re welcome to ask me questions on how I would go about things... so the fact that she’s endorsed him, nothing I can do about that. All I can do is tell people what I bring to the table," Lawrence said.

The deadline to file for the April 2 election is 5 p.m. Tuesday.