St. Louis Archbishop Burke is aborting St. Louis’ Neighborhoods

I am royally pissed off. Burke is a big bully on a power trip – threatening his followers into submission. No wonder the church is riddled with pedophiles – the Archbishop teaches power and control through his actions. If Burke were the CEO of a corporation the Board of Directors would have sent him packing already.

So where are all the Catholics in our region – rallying to save St. Stanislaus from being fleeced by the Archbishop and numerous parishes from being closed? They are kneeling in submission like the obedient slaves they are. Like the best controlling masters, he is pitting his slaves against each other in a survival of the fittest competition. The slaves of parishes remaining open and in the outlying areas of the Archdiocese see the closures as giving them strength – adding to their numbers. Never mind that a century of history will be lost all over the city as numerous parishes are closed.

So these good obedient Catholics remain silent. They are unwilling or too afraid to speak out against their master wielding his interdict whip. But, we’ve seen this silence before – during the Holocaust and recently with the whole pedophile priest scandal. Catholics – ask yourself how well that worked out? What good does your silence bring? You are the Enron employee that knows what is going on but says nothing until it blows up in your face. Speak up dammit.

So why am I so upset?

I am not Catholic.

It is not my church or heritage being destroyed, you say.

True enough.

However, I have a financial commitment to the City of St. Louis. My life is here. I care about what happens in our region. So much so, I cannot sit by and watch this power hungry man destroy decades of history and the future so many of us are building.

I earn my living as a REALTOR® and buyers get concerned when you’ve got boarded up churches down the street – it doesn’t exactly send a positive message. The proposed closures all over south City and in North County should be of concern to everyone in the region. The closures of churches on the North side in the last few decades were damaging to that part of the city. Those closings did not strengthen the remaining churches on the North side – it weakened their entire base. While I think the South side is in a stronger position going into these closings than the North side was it will still be a major setback to those neighborhoods. You weaken enough neighborhoods and you weaken the entire city. A weak city at the core creates a weak and non-competitive region.
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Save St. Stanislaus Kostka Church from the greedy Archbishop!

I am neither Polish or Catholic but I know the value of maintaining the rich history that is St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in North St. Louis. While the St. Louis Archdiocese has for decades closed city parishes the lay board governing St. Stanislaus has managed to maintain its own buildings, grounds and saved for a rainy day.

If anything, the St. Stanislaus lay board should run all the affairs of all the St. Louis parishes!

The parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka church have put together a very informative website which will get you past the rhetoric that diocesan spokesperson Jamie Allmman is spewing.

From the St. Stanislaus Kostka website:

Cha-ching!!! Archbishop Burke can’t be happy when a parish does well – who needs the church structure if parishes can make it on their own? As many of you know, the Archbishop is pressuring the lay board to turn over control of the church to the archdiocese. You can help them stay independent – go to the site, read what they have to say, sign up for their email list and call archdiocese and tell them what you think of their greedy tactics (the phone number is on the site).

Click here to Save St. Stanislaus Kostka Church

Click here to read my previous post on this subject from 12/8/04.

Thank you for helping Save St. Stanislaus Kostka Church!

– Steve

St. Louis’ Central Library: One of the world’s most beautiful

From the Saint Louis Public Library website:

Recently, the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Library was named one of the 12 most beautiful and historical libraries in the world. As part of this honor, Central Library’s Great Hall is featured for May in the 2005 Renaissance Library Calendar. The calendar is in its fifth year of publication. It contains libraries from Austria, Croatia, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The St. Louis Public Library is one of three U.S. libraries featured in the distinguished publication. The Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington in Seattle and the Library of the Boston Athenæum are the other two. Library and information professionals, as well as book lovers in more than 40 countries chose the winners.

The calendar is published by ISIM, Information Strategy and Information Management, which is based in Sweden. For details or to purchase the calendar for $12.95, call the St. Louis Public Library Foundation at 539-0359.

I must agree. The library is a great example of civic design.

– Steve

I’m still too angry to talk about the Century Building

Last month demolition began on the historic Century Building in downtown St. Louis. The failure of the city to recognize the value of saving this building serves as a turning point for myself and others. Mark my words – Mayor Slay will be remembered for letting this happen on his watch. Even though time has passed, I am still too angry to dedicate an entire post to this tragedy.

Instead I want to share another turning point in my life involving the demolition of a historic building – The Biltmore Hotel in Oklahoma City in October 1977. Unlike the Century Building, the Biltmore Hotel was imploded in a highly dramatic fashion. Explosive experts had little concern for collateral damage because the city had already cleared adjacent blocks downtown. Four city blocks, including the block with the Biltmore, were razed to construct a single super-block (read: too big) containing a $39 million botanical garden. Yes, a downtown botanical garden adjacent to the Myriad Gardens convention center – a typical 70’s bland concrete mass on another super-block.

The Oklahoma Biltmore Hotel, built in 1932 at a cost of $4 million, was the tallest building in Oklahoma for many years at roughly 245ft containing 28 floors. Although short compared to the Empire State Building which opened a year earlier in NYC, the Biltmore was as costly on a per-foot in height basis. Amenities included 17 full-time elevator operators for seven elevators, five telephone operators, its own ice plant producing 110 tons of ice daily and three radio channels in every room. When imploded on Sunday October 17, 1977 it was the largest steel framed to be demolished with explosives. In 1995 another explosion occurred in downtown OKC – this time from homegrown terrorists. Since September 11th, many comparisons have been made between the planned demolition of the Biltmore to the collapse of the Twin Towers (due to similar steel structure & colapse pattern).

I still recall that Sunday when the building was imploded. I knew instinctively it was wrong. I cried that day. Nearly 30 years later it still brings tears to my eyes. The following day the Daily Oklahoman printed a story titled, “Youngsters Feel Sorry for Biltmore.” Four 8-year old boys were interviewed for the story. One said, “If all downtown looked like that old hotel it would look a lot better than all these dumb new buildings that reflect light.” This boy, Rodney Ferguson, was referring to the popularity of mirrored buildings. Rodney’s friend Daryl Osmus said, “I think they should fix up these old buildings. They could fix them up and make them better.” Rodney concluded, “In a way I’m glad I came [to see the demo] and in another I’m not.”

The promise of a renewed downtown for Oklahoma City did not appear as a result of the urban renewal project. Other areas are showing signs of life but this area remains devoid of life. Somehow I knew at the young age of 10 the demolition of this great building and the construction of the urban renewal project was a bankrupt idea. I didn’t have the vocabulary at the time to express why.

Today I have the vocabulary, forum and passion to express what should and shouldn’t be done to cities. I also have nearly 30 years of seeing cities unnecessarily torn apart in the name of progress.

I intend to do my part to help build better places.

– Steve

Vintage Postcard of Biltmore Hotel
Picture of Implosion
Oklahoma City National Memorial

Desco is seeking more buildings to raze in the city