St. Louis Marketplace – a predictable failure

One of the biggest fallacies promoted by civic leaders in St. Louis (and elsewhere) is their overblown & costly projects are going to “spur development.” This is often the basis for approving a TIF district (Tax Increment Financing) and the use of eminent domain to steal people’s homes & businesses for the public good. Such thinking is seldom questioned at the time and rarely questioned after the fact.

I’ve said it before but it is worth repeating – spending x-million dollars on a project does not necessarily mean a) the area will benefit from this “investment”, b) the greater public good is actually being served and c) that what is being built is worth a shit. In the case of St. Louis Marketplace – none of these are true.

Don’t get excited about a grocery store at St. Louis Marketplace – this quote is from a December 1996 story in the St. Louis Business Journal (click here to read full article). At the time St. Louis Marketplace was only four years old. In the eight years since we’ve seen two other anchor spaces vacated – Builders Square & Sam’s. Smaller stores such as a Sears Hardware & Appliance store have also closed. Linda Tucci continues in the same story:

I do not know the status of the bonds and debt at this time. My understanding is these are often paid over a 20+ year period so it is my assumption the bonds are not yet paid in full. Given all the vacancies, I doubt the project is able to cover it’s debt load.

Heathcott’s quote above was from a story in the Riverfront Times regarding an big-box sprawl TIF project proposed at Loughborough & I-55 (read story). It appears St. Louis is about to repeat past mistakes.



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Preservation Board Agenda for December 20th available online

The Cultural Resources office of the St. Louis Planning & Urban Design Agency has posted their December 20th Agenda.

Three of the four items on the agenda are proposals for new construction in a historic district – two in Lafayette Square and one in Soulard. All look very promising!

The link for the forth item isn’t working at the moment (I sent them a nice email letting them know). It is an appeal of a staff denial at 4239 McPherson in the Central West End.

The meeting starts at 4pm on Monday December 20th at 1015 Locust, 12th floor board room.

Living for the City

Stevie Wonder’s Living for the City is a great song about hard times, racism, & pollution. Below is an excerpt from the lyrics:

Our city & region has a lot of sorrow and we should all be motivated to “make a better tomorrow.” This includes demanding our elected officials stop their thinking that any development is good development. We need to stop having the fire sale of our land. If we don’t place value on our urbanity who will?

Just enough isn’t good enough!!!

– Steve

Full Lyrics for ‘Living for the City’

Preview ‘Living for the City’ on iTunes Music Store

Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety misses the mark

The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety has a nice site outlining ways to reduce deaths & injuries on Missouri’s roadways.

Four of their eight essential strategies involve education & enforcement while the other four involve building or rebuilding roadways. What about reducing auto trips? What about building are cities where walking or cycling is a viable option? What about increasing mass transit?

The road building industry – including the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) – can’t see options for today’s mess of roads other than more roads. Sure, building median dividers makes a highway safer but what if we reduced the traffic on the highway with a high-speed train between towns?

– Steve

St. Charles County suburb considers something besides single family houses

Chingy’s new hometown of Dardenne Prairie is looking to diversify it’s housing stock. If you are like most people in the St. Louis region you are more likely to know of rap star Chingy than the suburb of Dardenne Prairie. This St. Charles County municipality is largely a bedroom community of single family subdivisions – including the one where rap star Chingy lives. Yes, the St. Louis rapper moved out to the extreme suburbs after making it big in 2003 with his first album, Jackpot. Like so many people in St. Louis – once they hit the jackpot they flee to the land of vinyl siding and front garages.

I’ve been to Chiny’s subdivision – not his house but a neighbors – friends of mine. Like many of the newest subdivisions, the garage doors face the street (and many houses have three-suv garages). A thin veneer of brick graces the front of the houses – putting on a good face. As I recall, this particular subdivision did a better job than most with trees at the entrance but failed to have street trees in the tree lawn.

Up until now, this small municipality has been strictly single family homes on lots with a minimum size of 10,000sf. Period. The city is divided into three wards with two aldermen per ward. To find your ward you don’t worry about precincts – you just look for the name of your subdivision to see which ward you are in (click here to see list). But, city leaders are looking to diversify starting with proposed townhouses.

A developer is proposing a townhouse project which includes what I’m told are “True” Federalist style facades, are closer to the street and rear garages are served by alleys. Townhouse lot size would be 3,945sf – less than half of the single family requirement. Some existing trees on the site are to be saved and included as part of a public park.

All kidding aside about Chingy & suburbia, I do see signs that many of these municipalities are beginning to understand some of the negative ramifications of isolated single family subdivisions. They are a long way away from creating vibrant & diverse neighborhoods but adding townhouses to the mix is certainly a start.

– Steve