Politics & Government

Group Home for 20 Teenagers on Madge Avenue?

Boys Hope Girls Hope sent out post cards informing residents of a meeting next Monday.

Brentwood residents on Madge and Powell avenues last week received post cards with unsettling news, for some.

The card was an invitation to a meeting at St. Mary Magdalen to learn about a group home for teenagers that would like to locate at 8815 Madge Avenue. It's the lot at the corner of Brentwood Boulevard, west of the Pasta House Co. parking lot.

The card came from Boys Hope Girls Hope. It states the program is "a high impact residential scholarship program for positive youth from disadvantaged backgrounds."

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Dona Juranek, who lives on the block, said she called Boys Hope Girls Hope St. Louis executive director Brian Hipp, who told her 20 teenagers would live there.

"It's not a small house for three or four kids, it's 20 teenagers, and their hormones are raging," she said.

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She's also not sure of the effect of the group home residents on the neighborhood.

"They come from violent, at risk homes," she said. "It's scary for the people who live right next to it."

She said Magde is a narrow street, and traffic and parked cars will be a problem.

"You can't even turn down Madge and turn left anyway, imagine with the kids, the traffic, the staff," Juranek said.

She wants to know why only residents of Madge and Powell are invited to the informational meeting.

"Why are they scheduling the meeting at a church instead of city hall, and letting all the residents of Brentwood know, not just my street and Powell," she said. "This impacts all of Brentwood."

She said Hipp told her 80 percent of the group home residents go on to college, and any that don't behave are kicked out of the house. (This previously stated that 80 percent are college students, and when Patch contacted Hipp he made that correction.)

The informational meeting is in the St. Mary Magdalen Church basement, Monday from 7 - 8:30 p.m.

A follow-up to this article includes a more in-depth description of the facility and the students.


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