BigBadBob says:

Mr. Patterson’s reticence on the ability or even willingness for true progress in our city is spot-on. There seems to be a “resistance industry” whose sole reason for being is to trip visionaries and pioneers and developers or anyone else proposing true systemic change. That our neighbors Kansas City grab fresh ideas and just does them or even Chattanooga Tenn has a vastly superior fiber-optic grid or Indianapolis builds-out a lovely vibrant downtown area seems to be unknown/lost/disregarded on this institutionalized culture of St. Louis failure-mindset. That incompetence, corruption and vested interests exist everywhere is recognized but our city seems to have perfected the malady. Only successes like the Central Library, MX and, finally, Ballpark Village seem to carry us forward against the dark tide of small-thinking. Consider that the billion-dollar bet by Four Seasons & Pinnacle ended in a massive loss to the original play provides a painful object lesson for McKee and others who dare go into our night with the boldness of angels. Maybe a successful adaptive reuse of Union Station or the realization of the CORTEX vision will inspire others to push all their chips into the middle of the table. All the best of British luck with that.