By Pauline Masson –
The lady who is often the first person to cry foul when the city shows any disposition to disregard the citizens may be the most versatile volunteer in the community, and the busiest.
I’m writing about her now because an interesting message popped up on my Facebook page this morning. It said, “Your friend Karla Stewart has posted a message on Do Better Pacific.”
Do Better Pacific, is Ms. Stewart’s current Facebook page, a second generation of her earlier page, Pacific Zoning Matters. If you haven’t read it check it out. She welcomes each new member by name, so you’ll be able to see who has been reading and commenting on the page.
With the board of aldermen caught in the challenge of hiring a new city administrator, and Ms. Stewart commenting on every aspect of the search, she posted the happy little snippet that I found this morning, encouraging citizens to help, of all things, the city.
“I had a good time today volunteering with Kelly O’Malley for the Genealogy Building,” she said.
“If you have time, call and see what you can do to help.”
Some readers are well acquainted with Ms. Stewart as a political activist who takes no prisoners when she takes on city hall. A quick recap of my exposure to her reveals a vibrant personality of derringdo and community service.
When she read one of my posts recently, about helping the homeless in our community, she called me and said her church, The Following, maintains a closet of donated clothing and personal items that are made available to the community and some homeless folks often came by to pick up items.
“I just cleaned out my closets,” I said. “I have some clothes but I’m not getting out much due to long Covid.”
“I’ll pick them up,” she said. And she did.”
She thinks she may have inherited her quest for activity from her mother and housemate Imajen Amos. Both are constantly on the move. One of their passions is helping to create order in the roomful of donated items at The Following’s free clothing closet. Ms. Amos was there today unpacking and sorting donated items.
For decades, the mother-daughter team took a trip together in the U.S. each year. They researched each destination and visited all the local landmarks, grand sights and historic places. They’ve been to Florida, Myrtle Beach, Nebraska, Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.
After Ms. Amos withdrew from traveling, Ms. Stewart looked to group tours. In May she was in New York City where in five days she visited, Central Park, Time’s Square, the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. She even found time to take the circle boat tour around Manhattan. She has already booked a cruise in the Caribbean this Fall.
The work that many of us know her for – and where I first began to pay attention to her – her Facebook commentary, is only a very recent activity in her busy schedule. She made her first post in Pacific Zoning Matters regarding the controversial subdivision, the Manors at Brush Creek on Lamar Parkway. She saw right away that she had a knack for making Sunshine requests to city hall on issues where she felt the city had withheld what the public needed to know. She posted the answers, to show the withheld details of what happened.
As a result of what she considered an unsuccessful attempt at getting officials to listen to residents, she decided to run for elective office. She signed up to have her name on the ballot of the April 2022 election, seeking the Ward 2 seat. But . . . she later jumped through hoops to have her name removed from the ballot because Anna Meadows had also filed as a candidate for the Ward 2 seat and Ms. Stewart said two opponents would serve up the seat to the incumbent. It was more important, she said, to have a new person in the seat than it was for her to win. So she withdrew.
I am probably one of the few residents who had not rubbed shoulders with her prior to the Manors at Brush Creek subdivision hubbub.
She is a lifelong resident of Pacific, a graduate of Pacific High School, a strong supporter of and frequent visitor to Adams Garden, where she visits the brick etched with the name of her cherished grandchild, Alexander Jackson Barrow, who suffocated at age three months in a daycare center.
“I’m blessed,” she said. “I have five living grandchildren and my angel, (Alexander).”
She has always been active in city events. She was on hand to volunteer with Ms. O’Malley in conducting Easter egg hunts in April, which she describe as more fun than work.
Along with her volunteer work and city monitoring, she has always had a day job.
She worked 12 years with Rite Point Pens in Fenton, which included a strike and walking a picket line for 20 weeks. After that she worked for 22 years with the Meramec Valley R-III School District. And for the past 12 years she has worked in the Security Department at Six Flags, Eureka. And he loves it.
After the Manors subdivision was built she had planned to quit posting on Facebook and concentrate on volunteering with Ms. O’Malley. She shut down her personal Facebook page. But within weeks she found she was hooked on talking the rest of us with each new insight on city business, so she re-launched her and much more eclectic page, Do Better Pacific and invited the public to join in.
I’m glad she did.
Karla is concentrating ‘Pacific Zoning Matters’ on mostly alerting the citizens to the sneaky tricks that Stevie Myers and his shady bunch keep trying to slip through the convoluted zoning process, usually to the benefit of some developer and with attendant disregard of the citizens .
‘Do better Pacific’ encourages citizens to step forward and take back control of our government processes. Stay informed and if necessary run for office.