The hotel manager was kind of a jokster and made a crack asking if I would be fine with having 2 wheels on my car instead of 4. Good first impression. We went and got a bite to eat at a place called 'The Tin Can' in the downtown area at the suggestion of a contact (Bob Ernst, a retired urban planner) that was set up through Jeff Deitner, a former Landscape Architecture Student at NDSU.
The waitress seemed interested in why we were in the area (our ID's giving it away) and we told her what we were up to. She responded with a look of disbelief and told us that the northside was the worst neighborhood in Missouri, and we were "crazy" for even thinking about it. She then warned us that "the kids will shoot ya."
We manage to get back to the hotel to see a police officer in the lobby and I decided to ask him about the neighborhood. He informed us that bulletproof vests would be a good idea, and that two weeks ago there was a murder two blocks from the hotel, in my site area. He must have been able to sense my thoughts with my blank stare and then said "But this hotel is safe...thats why I'm here." All of this happened before I had seen the site for myself, but WOW what a first impression I was given from these people.
This perception is something that is a tough thing to combat, especially when the feelings are so very strong. I went to see the site the next morning. I have never seen an area so devastated by disinvestment and abandonment. There was the good, the bad, and the ugly in a 3 block area in places. To be clear, the good isnt anything I would want to live in, but based on the realtivity of open lots a block that seemed to have its housing stock, even if it wasn't in good shape was the best in the area.
A few pics
Typical of the housing stock. 
This street has so much character, but as you can see the structures are dilapidated. 
This is in the middle of my site or what my site was. I say 'what my site was' because it became very clear that my effort to contain this project within the neat borders of certain streets wouldn't fly. The problem of disinvestment are too great and sprawl across most of the city proper to be honest. The thing that sets this neighborhood apart is the abandonment that followed decades of disinvestment and the eventual clearing of those deficient homes. Bob took us on a 4 hr ride throughout St. Louis, which proved to be extremely beneficial to see the context of the area. He seemed to know everything as far as the history of the northside area. We discussed the problems that St. Louis has (there are many, but I'll try to keep it short and organized.)
Political
- St. Louis is one of a handful of cities in the country that are a county and a city at the same time (separate entities, same exact area). In this case it proved to be a terrible move, because while other cities can still generate property tax revenues from the high priced suburban land, St. Louis is contained to only the area of the city proper, which has dropped in population from over 900,000 in 1950 to a little more than 300,000 today.
- Politics within the city of St. Louis is for the most part racially based. Blacks live in north city, whites in south city, and more recently a mix is occurring in the middle of the city with Bosnian and other recent immigrant populations.
- The city has the same number of alderman (city councilman) as they did back in 1950, but with only 1/3 the people to represent them and less money to divide between their wards.
- The federal government has largely removed themselves from the disinvestment prevention and recovery game. This occurred in the 1980's when the Reagan administration cut funding for UDAG or Urban Development Action Grant programs throughout the country.
- The Missouri state legislature is rural dominated and seems to show no interest in reviving St. Louis.
- McKee's development proposal, while handled very incorrectly in my eyes probably has the right idea on the scale that needs to happen. These types of band aid projects that have happened, and are happening in certain areas, while aesthetically better than nothing or crumbling structures are not helping out the overall problem of lack of jobs/economic development in the area.
Who can afford this that currently lives in the area? An if not from the area why would one invest $180,000 in such a bad neighborhood?
Economic
- The city of St. Louis is in no position to fund the recovery of urban areas. Their idea of spurring economic development is to create TIF districts and offer other incentives to the developer. This strategy common practice in many cities, along with tax abatement areas, etc. The problem with this that I see is that the public part of that public-private partnership ends with the money and very little input is given regarding community development.
I'm still kinda chewing on all of this information, but what has become clear is that my 'site' that I had cannot be my site. While some might view this as a step back I really don't think this is the case, just part of the process. The steps I think I want to take going forward:
- Stay in contact with Bob, he seems willing to help and point me in the right directions when needed. He also has already given me a few other contacts.
- Possibly talk to our economics department and make a contact there that specializes in economic development within cities and towns.
- Talk to Mike Allmendinger and Doug Burgum to get the developers perspective.
- Read Read Read
