Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
Paul McKee’s “Northside Regeneration” has been controversial since before it became public, it has faced court challenges and has experienced delays. Now, however, it seems to be ready to move forward.
The question for the poll this week is what qualities should be priorities of the project? Please select your top from from the list provided in the poll in the right sidebar.
— Steve Patterson
Currently there are "11 comments" on this Article:
Don’t know what to make of this poll or these choices. There’s never been anything in St. Louis like Northside Regeneration. The idea that a man who has single-handedly tried to “save” a 1,000 or so acre area of one of the most abandoned areas of St. Louis is amazing. Then for him to be vilified for his efforts as a gentrifier and destroyer of historic architecture is testament to the power of the internet. And for him in turn to try to keep the whole thing quiet for years is manifest showing the impossible idea of being secret in this day of social media. The old guard meets the new age.
Now for McKee today to say during his recent KWMU interview that there was “nothing different he could have done” to have established better pr for his work shows how detached he is in this entire enterprise. Maybe there is something close to this in recent STL experience – Ballpark Village. Or perhaps Southtowne Plaza. The locals have become so weary of waiting and inaction that anything put on the table is viewed from a broader context as improvement. As evidenced by the wide range of options in your poll, everyone wants “something” to happen, and still know one really has any idea what it will be. Give us something! Please! We can’t take it anymore!!
All of this just goes to show how weak the idea of “planning” is in St. Louis; how little leverage government has over private development; and, the relatively minimal impact citizens have in determining the final outcome. Getting back to Northside Regeneration, Paul and Midge McKee will likely be pushing up daisies before much of anything in the list of poll options is accomplished. Possibly the greatest contribution Paul McKee will have contributed to the rebuilding of that area of the city will have been to assemble land for future developers. But ultimately whatever actually gets built there is anyone’s guess. Need proof of that? Just look how different Ballpark Village turned out compared to the pretty renderings offered during the “planning” stage in order to make the case for massive public subsidy.
Our city “government” lacks “leverage” because it fails to deliver on the basics of a manageable crime rate, decent schools and an appropriate level of services delivered for taxes paid. When both businesses and residents abandon a city, it’s not because of “poor planning”, it’s because of a poor reality. Most people have choices and most people will act in their own, selfish, self interests. Like you, I give McKee huge props for attempting to do what he’s trying to do. But it’s also incumbent on people who claim to support dense urban living to support most efforts, even imperfect ones, to keep the city viable – yes, we should strive for better, but don’t let the lack of perfection blind us to the reality that it takes money to survive – any viable city is the collective efforts of many, many people, each making their own small investments.
1. Any investment is welcome. Once a few projects are completed and are successful, then the momentum will build. If the initial projects are not done properly, then the project will stop. If the value of the locations are heightened by the central corridor’s improvements,(the corridor from the Arch to the Galleria), then a stronger demand for new development in North City will happen.
2. The city police department was controlled by Jefferson City up until last September 1st. if there is a complaint on how it was run, I would go there first.
3. The city schools are not good. A problem not unique to Saint Louis. There is a crisis of education in this country and common sense reform is needed. (and not the No Child Left Behind program)
4. These areas of Saint Louis were abandoned because access to cheap land was abundant and much easier and cheaper to develop. Redevelopment costs much more. This is where government policy is important. I’ve never been to a city that doesn’t have old areas like this. Saint Louis just has them in the old city limits and are easy to see.
5. Giving jobs to local people to qualify is great, but to help, there could be a scholarship program to Rankin or UMSL, as examples, to help them prepare for the demands of the job, (including workplace behavior, dress codes, etc.).
6. Given what other developments done by McKee has shown us, I expect to see suburban styled projects that undercut urban efforts. No amount of money can fix that. Like Ballpark Village, it’s a 100 million dollar strip mall with suburban parking lots. Can a pedestrian coming from a location other than Busch stadium even get there without walking through driveways and stepping over curbs? it’s not the cost of the project, it’s the mindset.
7. There is no saving the existing neighborhoods. The society that made them necessary is long gone, and the remaining residents are hanging on to an unsustainable landscape. There are very few pockets of good streets left, (north of Crown Candy, Hyde Park,etc.).
8. McKee went through his process of land acquisition his way to keep from causing land prices to spike by profiteers. Now those land parcels are assembled, things can happen.
2. The city’s high crime rate has little to do with state versus local control of the police department – funding and staffing levels have changed little with the shift in “control”. Yes, the police are part of the whole crime prevention and reduction process, but so are the courts, the jail / rehabilitation / probation / parole hierarchy and, unfortunately, an unwillingness by many in the public to “snitch” / cooperate with the police in identifying and locating criminals, and none of that has changed. When the perpetrators of drive-by shootings are protected by their communities, when human life is devalued and when “punishment” is viewed as just a fact of life, just like poverty, crime becomes a cancer that becomes very difficult to excise. Catch and release may be a great practice when it comes to fishing, it’s not so great in struggling, high-crime urban areas.
Victims of drive by shootings protect those with guns who commit violence?
Your prejudiced ignorance of life in black America disqualifies you. rom proposing any solutions to urban crime. We should abolish racist “tough on crime” incarceration that separates children from parents, tax those who profited from factory closure, and redistribute these funds towards rebuilding urban American for all Americans not the new white hipster gentry. These people are the least in need of assistance!
Similarly why are we subsidizing this racist capitalist Paul McKee who developed the same exurban areas which now compete with Saint Louis City? Does it seem odd that you’re asking the same evil man to fix a problem be created?
^ Oooh. Now we’re cookin’ with gas! Anything else to add, Doug? Or all heat and no light? Remember, good Catholics that they are, Paul and Midge are trying to give something back.
So, “do the crime, but skip doing the time” is your solution?! I don’t see any groundswell of public concern over all those white rednecks doing time in the Department of Corrections for burglary and drug convictions These “children” white, black, brown or yellow, aren’t there because they’re angels, they’re there because they were tried and convicted by a jury of their peers. Yes, there are fundamental survival reasons why “don’t snitch” remains a cloud over many communities, but the only way to control crime is for victims to cooperate with the criminal justice system. If there are no consequences, there will be no reason for criminals not to continue destroying their communities: http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2009/03/no-snitching-culture-still-holding.html . . http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2011/05/no_snitching_the_rules_that_allow_it.html
Anyone know where the announced 79 home pilot project in Saint Louis Place stands? 5 developers were selected for a $20 million or so project… here is the Oct.’12 article from the Post-Dispatch:
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Built St. Louis
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Top 5 homophones:
1) foreword/forward
2) hi/high
3) I/eye
4) aisle/isle
5) board/bored
Don’t know what to make of this poll or these choices. There’s never been anything in St. Louis like Northside Regeneration. The idea that a man who has single-handedly tried to “save” a 1,000 or so acre area of one of the most abandoned areas of St. Louis is amazing. Then for him to be vilified for his efforts as a gentrifier and destroyer of historic architecture is testament to the power of the internet. And for him in turn to try to keep the whole thing quiet for years is manifest showing the impossible idea of being secret in this day of social media. The old guard meets the new age.
Now for McKee today to say during his recent KWMU interview that there was “nothing different he could have done” to have established better pr for his work shows how detached he is in this entire enterprise. Maybe there is something close to this in recent STL experience – Ballpark Village. Or perhaps Southtowne Plaza. The locals have become so weary of waiting and inaction that anything put on the table is viewed from a broader context as improvement. As evidenced by the wide range of options in your poll, everyone wants “something” to happen, and still know one really has any idea what it will be. Give us something! Please! We can’t take it anymore!!
All of this just goes to show how weak the idea of “planning” is in St. Louis; how little leverage government has over private development; and, the relatively minimal impact citizens have in determining the final outcome. Getting back to Northside Regeneration, Paul and Midge McKee will likely be pushing up daisies before much of anything in the list of poll options is accomplished. Possibly the greatest contribution Paul McKee will have contributed to the rebuilding of that area of the city will have been to assemble land for future developers. But ultimately whatever actually gets built there is anyone’s guess. Need proof of that? Just look how different Ballpark Village turned out compared to the pretty renderings offered during the “planning” stage in order to make the case for massive public subsidy.
It has been said before but needs to be said again. Anyone is free to
invest money in the Paul McKee area
Our city “government” lacks “leverage” because it fails to deliver on the basics of a manageable crime rate, decent schools and an appropriate level of services delivered for taxes paid. When both businesses and residents abandon a city, it’s not because of “poor planning”, it’s because of a poor reality. Most people have choices and most people will act in their own, selfish, self interests. Like you, I give McKee huge props for attempting to do what he’s trying to do. But it’s also incumbent on people who claim to support dense urban living to support most efforts, even imperfect ones, to keep the city viable – yes, we should strive for better, but don’t let the lack of perfection blind us to the reality that it takes money to survive – any viable city is the collective efforts of many, many people, each making their own small investments.
1. Any investment is welcome. Once a few projects are completed and are successful, then the momentum will build. If the initial projects are not done properly, then the project will stop. If the value of the locations are heightened by the central corridor’s improvements,(the corridor from the Arch to the Galleria), then a stronger demand for new development in North City will happen.
2. The city police department was controlled by Jefferson City up until last September 1st. if there is a complaint on how it was run, I would go there first.
3. The city schools are not good. A problem not unique to Saint Louis. There is a crisis of education in this country and common sense reform is needed. (and not the No Child Left Behind program)
4. These areas of Saint Louis were abandoned because access to cheap land was abundant and much easier and cheaper to develop. Redevelopment costs much more. This is where government policy is important. I’ve never been to a city that doesn’t have old areas like this. Saint Louis just has them in the old city limits and are easy to see.
5. Giving jobs to local people to qualify is great, but to help, there could be a scholarship program to Rankin or UMSL, as examples, to help them prepare for the demands of the job, (including workplace behavior, dress codes, etc.).
6. Given what other developments done by McKee has shown us, I expect to see suburban styled projects that undercut urban efforts. No amount of money can fix that. Like Ballpark Village, it’s a 100 million dollar strip mall with suburban parking lots. Can a pedestrian coming from a location other than Busch stadium even get there without walking through driveways and stepping over curbs? it’s not the cost of the project, it’s the mindset.
7. There is no saving the existing neighborhoods. The society that made them necessary is long gone, and the remaining residents are hanging on to an unsustainable landscape. There are very few pockets of good streets left, (north of Crown Candy, Hyde Park,etc.).
8. McKee went through his process of land acquisition his way to keep from causing land prices to spike by profiteers. Now those land parcels are assembled, things can happen.
2. The city’s high crime rate has little to do with state versus local control of the police department – funding and staffing levels have changed little with the shift in “control”. Yes, the police are part of the whole crime prevention and reduction process, but so are the courts, the jail / rehabilitation / probation / parole hierarchy and, unfortunately, an unwillingness by many in the public to “snitch” / cooperate with the police in identifying and locating criminals, and none of that has changed. When the perpetrators of drive-by shootings are protected by their communities, when human life is devalued and when “punishment” is viewed as just a fact of life, just like poverty, crime becomes a cancer that becomes very difficult to excise. Catch and release may be a great practice when it comes to fishing, it’s not so great in struggling, high-crime urban areas.
Victims of drive by shootings protect those with guns who commit violence?
Your prejudiced ignorance of life in black America disqualifies you. rom proposing any solutions to urban crime. We should abolish racist “tough on crime” incarceration that separates children from parents, tax those who profited from factory closure, and redistribute these funds towards rebuilding urban American for all Americans not the new white hipster gentry. These people are the least in need of assistance!
Similarly why are we subsidizing this racist capitalist Paul McKee who developed the same exurban areas which now compete with Saint Louis City? Does it seem odd that you’re asking the same evil man to fix a problem be created?
^ Oooh. Now we’re cookin’ with gas! Anything else to add, Doug? Or all heat and no light? Remember, good Catholics that they are, Paul and Midge are trying to give something back.
So, “do the crime, but skip doing the time” is your solution?! I don’t see any groundswell of public concern over all those white rednecks doing time in the Department of Corrections for burglary and drug convictions These “children” white, black, brown or yellow, aren’t there because they’re angels, they’re there because they were tried and convicted by a jury of their peers. Yes, there are fundamental survival reasons why “don’t snitch” remains a cloud over many communities, but the only way to control crime is for victims to cooperate with the criminal justice system. If there are no consequences, there will be no reason for criminals not to continue destroying their communities: http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2009/03/no-snitching-culture-still-holding.html . . http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2011/05/no_snitching_the_rules_that_allow_it.html
Minorities face no consequences? Then why are so many of them sitting in prison yet white-collar Wall Street criminals remain in power?
Here’s an answer:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-divide-american-injustice-in-the-age-of-the-wealth-gap-by-matt-taibbi/2014/04/11/66a1e7c8-b291-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html
Anyone know where the announced 79 home pilot project in Saint Louis Place stands? 5 developers were selected for a $20 million or so project… here is the Oct.’12 article from the Post-Dispatch:
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/mckee-lines-up-five-homebuilders-for-northside/article_90bdaf03-4a63-5284-803f-b7c8e81b0a15.html