Readers: Pruitt-Igoe Site Not Redeveloped Because It’s North of Delmar

The line “build it and they will come” from the 1989 film the Field of Dreams isn’t necessarily true. However, I can guarantee you if you do absolutely nothing not only will they not come those around will leave. For the last two decades I’ve watched the neighborhood north of Cass Ave deteriorate.

“Location, location, location” is the phrase often repeated about disinvested areas. Sorry, but locations are what we make them to be. In the 1950s the St. Louis Housing Authority, with federal funds, totally changed the area from what it was before. It’ll take planning and money to change it again.

Here is the poll question and answers from last week:

Q: Why Do You Think The Pruitt-Igoe Site Has Remained Vacant For 40 Years?

1. It’s north of Delmar 57 [33.14%]
2. Lack of demand, plenty of easier areas to develop 55 [31.98%]
3. Lack of forward thinking by St. Louis leadership 26 [15.12%]
4. Other: 14 [8.14%]
5. Stigma attached to the site 13 [7.56%]
6. Environmental contamination of the site 5 [2.91%]
7. Unsure/no opinion 2 [1.16%]

I find it depressing that “It’s north of Delmar” was the top answer. How long are we as a city going to let ourselves be divided this way? I’ve lived north of Delmar before and currently I’m only two blocks south of Delmar.

Here are the “other” answers:

1. #1, #3, and #6 all play a part.
2. All of the above.
3. All of the above
4. spatial deconcentration
5. Combination of the above culminating in the “lack of demand…” choice
6. haunted and/or subgrade obstructions
7. In an effort to do something big, we miss the small opportunities.
8. combo of stigma, location, and possible contamination?
9. As usual, the city is waiting, fruitlessly, for a “silver bullet” project
10. foundations from the 33 buildings are still in place
11. There’s no one reason, but the sheer size of the site has been detrimental
12. All of the above; except for unsure/no opinion
13. It’s not exacly surrounded by nice neighborhoods meaning who’s willing 2 invest?
14. high cost of development, lack of subsidy

Please note that answers in the polls are presented in random order to each viewer. Foundations as a problem are just a myth, they weren’t an issue when part of the site was developed into a school.

Some aren’t content just letting the site sit idle, tonight an exhibit opens with ideas:

The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group hosts the first exhibition presenting the winner and 31 finalists in Pruitt Igoe Now, an ideas competition that examined the future of the 33-acre forested vacant site of the former housing project. Entrants in Pruitt Igoe Now came from a wide variety of disciplines and explored futures that included design intervention, urban redevelopment, agriculture, cultural memorialization and forest management.

The event starts at 6pm tonight, 2700 N. 14th Street. More info here.

— Steve Patterson