A Fun Time Was Had By All

Tonight’s ‘The Walk’ in The Ville neighborhood was a fun time. I only made it to the first two places before having to return home. Us newcomers were very welcomed by the usual patrons. The bar owners were very happy to have new customers. I enjoyed spending time hanging out away from my usual places.

Leading the walk was stlsyndicate “kingpin” Brian Marston. Brian’s wife Amanda Doyle managed to beat me at a game of darts but on the next game I did better than her but I was beat by 6 points by a guy named Tony. So close… Brian & Amanda publish The Commonspace website and blog. Other bloggers included Rick Bonasch of STL Rising and Antonio French of PubDef Weekly.

The second stop, the Harlem Tap Room, was established in 1946! That is history folks! The place was also packed. I nice place to stop and have a drink. Despite the devastation in much of this area along Martin Luther King Drive a strong community does exist. The time is now to build upon what remains — not displace — just add to.

Our region can no longer ignore half the city.

– Steve

Reminder: Walk in The Ville on Thursday

Metropolis’ well-known event, The Walk, will take the show to The Ville neighborhood on 2/9/06. The Walk will start at 6:20pm. More details here.

– Steve

The 1970s Plan to ‘Deplete’ North St. Louis

Over on PubDef.net Antonio French linked to a story he wrote back in 2002 regarding some history from the early to mid 1970s. This is a fascinating read and it certainly fills in some gaps in my knowledge.

French talks about a couple of reports and plans prepared in the early 70s. One is known as the “Team Four” plan, from French’s story:

The Plan recommended that each area of the City be grouped into one of three groups: Conservation, Redevelopment, and Depletion, these distinctions being based on factors including age, physical qualities, loan policies, public service level and population stability. Race is not mentioned specifically.

Apparently much of the older areas of North St. Louis were designated as “depletion.” French quotes from the plan how to deal with the depletion areas:

“Efforts must be made to adjust services and public investments so as to provide for those who are remaining in these areas. Yet these efforts should be pursued without encouraging new investment until the City determined that Redevelopment can and should begin.”

Fast forward 30 years and we can see the results of not encouraging new investment. I haven’t read these plans yet but I will be getting copies to review. In case you missed the link above, click here to go to the post on PubDef.net. The city’s website has a simple summary of various planning documents here.

– Steve

Sunshine Law & St. Aloysius

Today I made a formal written request to the City Counselor’s office for two documents related to St. Aloysius:

I had requested communications via fax or email because otherwise they send out letters in the snail mail. I received a reply back via fax indicating they’d get back to me by the 13th of the month.

I had requested any fees be waived as this was in the public interest. They denied my request to waive any costs. Yes, I’ll be getting an estimate of costs to produre two documents. By law they are allowed to charge up to 10¢ per page along with time to research the request. I’ll be curious to see how much time it takes them to research a current file.

I fully expect St. Aloysius to be on the agenda for the February 27, 2006 meeting of the Preservation Board, however, the items are not yet posted.

– Steve

Fate of St. Aloysius Receives National Attention

The future of the buildings at the former St. Aloysius Gonzaga is receiving national attention from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The issue was featured yesterday in the Trust’s Preservation Online website.

It is sad that we continue to raze quality urban buildings in favor of uninspired new construction. But the wrecking ball hasn’t struck yet so don’t be so sure it is going to happen.

Click here to read the Preservation Online story.

– Steve