Wish Smokers Would Be Neater

We are almost at the end of five months of St. Louis’ smoke-free ordinance for most establishments.  The other morning I snapped the above pic on Washington Ave.  Really? Can’t smokers be a bit neater and properly dispose of their butts? Opponents of the smoke-free law will likely try to say this wouldn’t be a problem if they could smoke indoors but the health risks of that are worse than this unsightly mess.

– Steve Patterson

Readers: Expand the Zoo-Museum District

More than half the readers that voted in the poll last week said the five Zoo-Museum Institutions (Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, and Botanical Gardens) should not offer discounts as proposed by one member of the ZMD Board:

Q: Should Zoo-Museum Institutions Offer Discounts to City & County Residents?

1. No, more of the region should fund these institutions so we all pay a lower rate. 41 [32.03%]
2. No, leave it as is. 30 [23.44%]
3. Yes they should offer something, but not free parking 19 [14.84%]
4. Yes they should offer something, especially free parking 16 [12.5%]
5. Maybe, let each institution how to thank city & county residents 13 [10.16%]
6. Other answer… 5 [3.91%]
7. No, reducing the tax rate would be better 2 [1.56%]
8. Unsure/no opinion 2 [1.56%]

I think expanding the size of the district so more of the region shares in the costs is a good idea. Of course those of us already paying wouldn’t see a rate reduction, does that ever happen? Still I could see counties such as Jefferson and St. Charles paying something, just not the same as St. Louis City & County. But the more of the region paying in then there will be those who think some or all of the institutions should leave the city.  I suppose there are already institutions in the region that could be added?

Here are the other answers that were provided:

1. erect big signs thanking STL/CO citizen funding to make freeloaders feel guilty
2. Yes. City/County residents should get basic member discounts.
3. County residents should get a discount; they subsidize City residents.
4. Perhaps free parking for out-of-state cars to encourage local usage of other tra
5. expand the district

I thought #3 was interesting.  The city has about 25% of the combined population of the city & county and it only contributes 15% of the tax revenue, so one could twist that into the county subsidizing the city. Of course the city foots the bill for police & fire services to these institutions.

– Steve Patterson

More on Cities, Suburbs and Demographics

Yesterday I posted my reaction to a CBS News story on cities.  I said; “Middle class couples with school age children are still locating in new homes in edge cities but once the youngest starts college the parents seek out interesting and walkable areas. Those who can afford private schools aren’t waiting, they are living where they want while junior is still in school.” I reader asked for my source, which I didn’t have.  Today I have sources to look at the emerging trends:

In a historic first, many young, prosperous Americans are moving from the suburbs to the city. The flip side: The communities ringing big urban areas now have the largest poor population in the country, the [Brookings] report shows. The suburban poor rose 25% over the past decade, almost five times faster than in the cities. Suburbs are developing many of the same problems that are usually associated with cities – poverty, housing problems, crime. They are also accumulating a disproportionate number of elderly people. (WSJ: Bright Flight: Affluent Leaving Suburbs, Moving to Cities, May 2010)

In St. Louis we may think the city continued losing population, business as usual right?  But not so fast, lower income blacks are leaving cities and more affluent whites are moving into cities.

Suburbs still tilt white. But, for the first time, a majority of all racial and ethnic groups in large metro areas live outside the city. Suburban Asians and Hispanics already had topped 50 percent in 2000, and blacks joined them by 2008, rising from 43 percent in those eight years.

Suburbs are home to the vast majority of baby boomers age 55 to 64, a fast-growing group that will strain social services after the first wave of boomers turns 65 next year. (HuffPost: Suburbs Losing Young Whites To Cities, Brookings Institution Finds, May 2010)

Racial shifts are certainly happening:

The decline in major cities’ black populations is “one of the most important trends out of the 2010 Census, and I do think it’s a long-term trend,” says Mike Alexander, research division chief for the Atlanta Regional Commission, a planning agency.

From 2000 to 2010, the city of Atlanta’s black population fell by 29,746 people. During that period, the black population in the broader Atlanta metro area rose by 40%, an addition of 490,982. Those numbers tell Alexander that blacks are relocating in suburbs, not in other cities. “This black migration to the suburbs” mirrors what whites have been doing for decades, he says. (USA Today: Blacks’ exodus reshapes cities, May 2011)

Just like the white flight half a century ago, the blacks leaving cities are the stable middle class and up.  This has huge implications:

The problem with the changing demographics of urban areas is that many of the African-Americans fleeing places like Chicago and Detroit are wealthier and more educated than the ones staying behind. That means that Blacks with more money are taking that cash to less diverse suburbs, and buying homes in white communities. The Black communities left behind in the cities are then more shutoff from the world of money and political power, meaning whole Black neighborhoods have less of a chance of being revitalized. (BET: The Danger of Fleeing to the Suburbs, May 2011)

The Brookings’ State of Metropolitan America report from 2010 is a168 page PDF with a detailed analysis of the changes happening in America’s metro areas.  The report was finished last year so it wasn’t based on 2010 census figures released this year.

The report defined the various types of metropolitan areas listing St. Louis in the “skilled anchors” group:

Skilled Anchors are slow-growing, less diverse metro areas that boast higher-than-average levels of educational attainment. of the 19 nationwide, 17 lie in the northeast and Midwest, including large regions such as boston and philadelphia, and smaller regions such as Akron and Worcester. Many boast significant medical and educational institutions. (p9)

That is St. Louis! In the body of the report Brookings goes into more detail, comparing Skilled Anchor to Industrial areas:

Skilled Anchor and industrial core areas are more similar than distinct. They experienced rapid decentralization amidst only modest growth in the 2000s, and an above-average share of their commuting occurs by car (the highest rate in industrial cores). immigration to these metro areas—with a couple of notable exceptions—is quite low, though most retain significant African American populations as a consequence of their former manufacturing might. They have among the oldest age profiles of the metropolitan types, the result of low in-migration and a significant aging-in-place boomer and senior population. (p164)

So the black exodus isn’t as pronounced in St. Louis as in other regions.

Brookings did offer some suggestions for these regions:

Finally, new demographic realities must be met with new governance arrangements. More than ever, the lines between cities and suburbs—and the long, fruitless history of battles and mistrust between them—must be transcended. cities and suburbs increasingly share challenges like poverty, growing elderly populations, and influxes of new Americans. At the same time, the fiscal crisis has dramatically undermined the capacity of individual jurisdictions to address familiar existing needs, and has compromised their ability to react to new realities. States are facing their own intense fiscal stresses, which will get worse before they get better, and thus they can- not be counted on to support the local government status quo. (p165)

Once again this is a huge fit for the St. Louis region!  None of this is new, for several years now people such as author Christopher B. Leinberger have been writing about these shifts in population:

Perhaps most important, the shift to walkable urban environments will give more people what they seem to want. I doubt the swing toward urban living will ever proceed as far as the swing toward the suburbs did in the 20th century; many people will still prefer the bigger houses and car-based lifestyles of conventional suburbs. But there will almost certainly be more of a balance between walkable and drivable communities—allowing people in most areas a wider variety of choices. (Atlantic Magazine: The Next Slum? March 2008)

– Steve Patterson

PR: HUD AWARDS $153 MILLION TO REVITALIZE SEVERELY DISTRESSED PUBLIC HOUSING IN EIGHT COMMUNITIES

The following is a press release:

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded $152.7 million to help eight cities across the country transform severely distressed public housing developments into mixed-income communities.

Housing authorities in the following cities developed highly successful revitalization plans to transform the physical condition of a public housing community and make a positive impact on the lives of their residents: Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; Louisville, Kentucky; Patterson, New Jersey; St. Louis, Missouri; Taunton, Massachusetts; Phoenix, Arizona; and Portland, Oregon.

“No one can dispute the exceptional track record of HOPE VI to improve housing conditions for hundreds of communities and most importantly, thousands of families,” said Donovan. “As we move toward the next generation of neighborhood revitalization – one that links housing, education, transportation, healthcare, and other support services – we will always remember it all began with HOPE VI.”

The following housing authorities are being awarded grants through HUD’s HOPE VI Revitalization Program:

• Boston Housing Authority will receive $22 million to revitalize the Old Colony public housing development;
• Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver will receive $22 million to revitalize the South Lincoln public housing development;
• Louisville Metropolitan Housing Authority will receive $22 million to revitalize the Sheppard Square public housing development;
• Housing Authority of the City of Patterson (NJ) will receive $18.4 million to revitalize the Alexander Hamilton public housing development;
• St. Louis Housing Authority will receive $7,829,750 to revitalize the Arthur Blumeyer public housing development;
• Taunton Housing Authority will receive $22 million to revitalize the Fairfax Gardens public housing development;
• City of Phoenix Housing Authority will receive $20 million from FY 2011 funds to revitalize the Frank Luke Addition public housing development; and
• Housing Forward (Portland Housing Authority) will receive $18.5 million from FY 2011 funds to revitalize the Hillsdale Terrace public housing development.

The eight housing authorities announced today were selected among 36 public housing authorities that applied forFY 2010 HOPE VI Revitalization funding.  Six of the grantees will be funded from FY 2010 HOPE VI appropriations; two awards will come from FY 2011 funding. Later this year, HUD will conduct a competition to award $65 million in FY2011 funding to implement the Department’s new Choice Neighborhoods Program.HUD awarded high marks to applicants who plan to extend neighborhood transformation efforts beyond public housing linking housing interventions with early childhood education programs. The Obama Administration is challenging communities to build upon the HOPE VI lessons to employ a comprehensive approach to community transformation.  Choice Neighborhoods aims to transform neighborhoods of poverty into viable mixed-income neighborhoods with access to economic opportunities by revitalizing severely distressed public and assisted housing and then linking these neighborhoods to well-functioning services, effective schools, public transportation and jobs.

Housing authorities are competitively selected for HOPE VI grants based on many factors including the effectiveness and project readiness of their revitalization plans.  HUD gives recipients the flexibility to develop revitalization plans that meet their local needs.  Among other criteria, grantees are selected based on the capacity of their  housing authority and its development team to administer and manage completion of the revitalization effort; the severity of physical distress of the development; the ability of the housing authority to supplement the HOPE VI grant with funding from other sources, private, state or local government; the ability to provide supportive services to displaced residents; and the proposed green development and energy efficiency strategies.

Since 1993, HUD has awarded 260 HOPE VI Revitalization grants to 133 housing authorities– totaling nearly $ 6.3 billion. HUD began awarding HOPE VI grants following a 1992 report by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing that found approximately 86,000 public housing units in the U.S. needed revitalization.  HOPE VI Revitalization grants are used for an array of activities, including: demolition of severely distressed public housing; acquisition of sites for off-site construction; capital costs of major rehabilitation; new construction and other physical improvements; costs for mobility counseling and relocation; and community and supportive service programs for residents, including those relocated as a result of revitalization efforts.

Read a summary of the HOPE VI grants awarded today. #

Principal Cities vs. Edge Cities

As I was watching CBS Sunday Morning yesterday I was thinking about what to write for today, then I saw the segment Cities on the rise like never before and liked how it started:

Connie Curran remembers her years in the suburbs as “dull.” She told [Seth] Doane she started thinking about moving to the city a month after she moved into the ‘burbs.

“I bought this house – it had a white picket fence,” Curran said. “My sister saw it and she said, ‘You’re on Wisteria Lane!’ It was a great house and it was very peaceful. It was very homogeneous – and it was very boring.”

So last year, at age 61, this nurse-turned-healthcare entrepreneur – who found a new lease on life after beating stage-four cancer – settled into a spectacular home in San Francisco.

“When I saw that view I thought, ‘Now this is city, and this is a neighborhood. I’m living life. This is life. This is the luxury of middle age.”

She defined the luxury of middle-age as the ability “to move to the city and to enjoy the richness and vastness of the things that are here. I hang around 24th Street and usually pick up some flowers, pick up some fruit.”

Curran says walking everywhere keeps her fit. (full story)

By the end of the story, however, I grabbed my iPad and fired off an angry email to CBS Sunday Morning. What happened?  They talked about the fastest growing city in the U.S., Olive Branch MS. Olive Branch is technically a city, but it functions as an auto-centric suburb of Memphis TN. The fastest growing city in Missouri? Wentzville:

Wentzville is the fastest growing city in Missouri from 2000 to 2008, according to recently released data from the U. S. Census Bureau. Wentzville increased in population by over 200 percent, adding more than 16,000 residents to the city since the 2000 Census.

True, as a percentage increase it is higher but they remain the dull homogenous non-place edge cities many are fleeing for principal cities and first & second tier suburbs. St. Luislost population in the last census count but I suspect the changes are more dramatic. Areas like downtown, Lafayette Square to the south, and Old North to the north, saw population gains.  The biggest losses came from north St. Louis.

In the 1940s St. Louis’ planners didn’t see the middle class trend to the suburbs. The reverse is happening now.  Middle class couples with school age children are still locating in new homes in edge cities but once the youngest starts college the parents seek out interesting and walkable areas.  Those who can afford private schools aren’t waiting, they are living where they want while junior is still in school.

So the story started off great but ended with a family in an edge city as an example of “cities on the rise.”

– Steve Patterson