The Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association (SARPA) is dedicated to the preservation of the historic, residential, and urban park character of Summit Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota. SARPA was commissioned in 1986 by Mayor George Latimer and the St. Paul City Council to preserve the residential quality of Summit Avenue for future generations.

As such, we are the official representative of Summit Avenue residents' views to local, city, state, and national government. SARPA works with other neighborhood organizations, developers, institutions, nearby retail establishments, and individuals to maintain Summit Avenue's reputation as one of the finest residential streets in the state of Minnesota and the United States.

Over the past year, we've been very busy! Highlights include SARPA:

- Improving communication, including upgrades to web page and blog, a new Facebook page, and resuming publication of a periodic newsletter, mailed to every Summit resident.

- Broadening our membership structure, and held social events.

- Sponsoring educational events. Our lecture series, focusing on Summit’s unique sense of place, was co-sponsored by Historic Saint Paul, and was very popular. We also held a traffic forum in the spring, with attendance from all four wards that Summit crosses.

- Continuing vigilance in land use, including drafting an infrastructure whitepaper, actively participating in WSNAC, and advising the city on other preservation and land use issues. These are often controversial — such as the House of Hope garden fence — but are integral to what we do.

- Increasing our work on gardening and public space. We seasonally plant (and water) the urns over Ayd Mill Road, and we support the gardens at the Monument and Overlook Park and holiday lighting at Nathan Hale Park. The popular Summit Garden Stroll highlights Summit gardens to almost a thousand visitors!

Over the next year, we'll continue and build upon these efforts. We're planning expanded educational activities, some outstanding social events, and more work on traffic and infrastructure, as well as our core focus on the preservation of Summit homes and gardens.

SARPA is an all-volunteer, membership-driven organization. We just can't do it without you! Please join today by going to the Membership page of this blog — just print out the form and send it in.

- Bethany Gladhill, SARPA President