Candidates Must Actively Seek Out Endorsements

A week ago I posted my sole endorsement for the upcoming primary (see 20th Ward Endorsement: Shannon J. McGinn).  The next day I got a call from another candidate in the primary in one of the 14 even numbered wards.  Why had I not contacted that candidate?

I met this particular candidate at the Board of Elections on the first day of filing in November and gave s/he my card.  I heard nothing until the day after I made my sole endorsement. And this person called me to ask why I didn’t contact them!  Really?

Hopefully some of you out there are contemplating a run in 2013. You can start laying the groundwork now and pick up steam in mid 2012.  One of the many things you need to do is determine the support you want/need to win.  Like voters on election day, you can’t sit back and hope they find you.  If you want to be elected to public office for a four year term you’ve got to go out and earn it.  You want my endorsement, you’ve got to ask for it.

The same applies to unions or professional organizations like the St. Louis Association of REALTORS.

– Steve Patterson

Readers Like That McKee’s NorthSide Project is in Smaller Pieces

Last week readers weighed in on Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration project.

Q: Current Thoughts on McKee’s Northside Regeneration Project? (pick 2)

1. I like the smaller piece approach McKee has been forced into 43 26.88%
2. McKee should break out & detail more pieces 39 24.38%
3. McKee should push for the full enchilada 30 18.75%
4. I like the project more now 14 8.75%
5. I never liked the project 14 8.75%
6. Other answer… 7 4.38%
7. McKee should abandon project 7 4.38%
8. unsure/no opinion 6 3.75%
9. I used to like the project but not anymore 0 0%

Seems like the opposition is shrinking.  Here are the other answers:

1. never going to happen, will just result in loss of irreplaceable architecture
2. I dont like McKee
3. Should incorporate more of the ideals on New Town at St. Charles
4. Irrelevent what I think, it will never happen.
5. McKee should be in prison
6. The Plan furthers Team 4
7. I hope the project is successful, but that he is a good neighbor in the interim.

Clearly the opposition wanted to provide their own answers!

– Steve Patterson

From Death & Life to Retrofitting Suburbia

Fifty years ago Jane Jacobs published her now-classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities.  Her book was a criticism of the Urban Renewal policies she observed in the 1950s.  Unfortunately too few paid any attention to her observations until it was too late.  Inner cities were gutted and suburban sprawl has leapfrogged way beyond anything sustainable.  Jacobs’ book offers little t0 help us  in the 21st century.

In the last 50 years we’ve had various planning trends & terms:

“There’s a 15- to 20-year cycle on urban planning terms,” says Robert Lang, urban sociologist at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. “Remember ‘urban renewal’? Smart growth is near the end of its shelf life.” (USA Today : Will ‘intelligent cities’ put an end to suburban sprawl?)

I’m betting on “retrofitting suburbia” as a lasting planning process for the next 25-40 years.  In April 2009 I did a book review on a new volume: Book Review: Retrofitting Suburbia, Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. The book is $75  and worth every penny (Left Bank Books).  Unfortunately neither the St. Louis or St. Louis County library systems have this excellent book.

In January 2010 co-author Ellen Dunham-Jones presented an excellent TED Talk on the subject.  In 20 minutes you can get, for free, the basic concepts presented in the book.  Please take time to watch all 20 minutes.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_uTsrxfYWQ

I’m excited about gradually building on parking lots, densifying corridors, daylighting creeks, and restoring wetland areas.  This retrofitting should be applied to the suburbanized parts of the City of St. Louis as well the rings of suburbs around the city.

Dunham-Jones says:

“The growing number of empty and under-performing, especially retail sites, throughout suburbia gives us actually a tremendous opportunity to take our least sustainable landscapes right now and convert them into more sustainable places.”

Agreed!  The St. Louis region must begin planning for the future now, if we wait our jobs and economy will suffer.  I have a framed picture of the cover of Death & Life next to my desk because it is such an important book.  I may need to frame the cover of Retrofitting Suburbia as well.

– Steve Patterson

St. Elizabeth Academy’s Historic Structures Should Be Preserved

Contributed by Christian Saller

St. Elizabeth Academy, (SEA) located at 3401 Arsenal Street in the Tower Grove East neighborhood since the late 19th century, seeks to demolish its most historic campus structures. This long-term goal is referenced in brochures produced to promote a “master plan” for the institution. These buildings are structurally sound and have been well maintained. The Tower Grove East Neighborhood Association, while expressing support for and interest in assisting SEA, voted unanimously to oppose this demolition. This action was subsequently communicated to the leadership of SEA and to 6th Ward Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett, herself a graduate of the school.

SEA contains historic structures that form the basis of a National Historic District established in the Tower Grove East neighborhood in 1983. The campus includes a 1914 gymnasium with the last known lamella roof in St. Louis. The original school building, facing west on Crittenden Street, was constructed in 1894, with adjacent wings dating from 1914 and 1922. The current plan to consolidate SEA in the 1957-vintage structure on Arsenal Street while abandoning and destroying the original historic structures will exert a negative impact on the established Historic District, the larger neighborhood of Tower Grove East, and the City of St. Louis.

The historic SEA campus fostered development of a distinctive two-block cul de sac, Crittenden Street, which runs from the west side of SEA to a gate at S. Grand Blvd. across from Tower Grove Park. The relationship of SEA to these residential structures is a key aspect of the historic district itself. The buildings on these two residential blocks are of unusually high-quality construction with a cohesiveness of scale, set-back, materials, and architectural detail. It is clear to even casual observers that builders and architects of Crittenden Street saw an opportunity to develop a charming residential district for residents of varying means, with picturesque structures that complement one another while varying in size and occupancy. The presence of SEA made this distinctive street possible, terminating as it does at S. Grand Blvd. near a main pedestrian entrance to Tower Grove Park. The significant relationship between the historic institution and the dwellings to its west was formally articulated in the National Register nomination for the district nearly 30 years ago. The character and atmosphere resulting from this architectural juxtaposition are perhaps unique in the City of St. Louis. From its inception, the Crittenden Historic District accommodated a variety of incomes, institutional, and residential uses that do not merely co-exist but complement one another in an intimate and gracious extended community. At the same time the district includes characteristics commonly seen in more exclusive private streets.

Loss of the historic core of SEA would be a detriment far beyond the loss of the structures themselves. The carefully conceived character of the entire Historic District would be permanently undermined and diminished. In the varying fortunes of the Tower Grove East neighborhood over the years, Crittenden Street was relatively stable and intact, due in part to its unique configuration and the ambiance afforded by the presence of historic SEA. Today, Crittenden Street is a highly desirable place to live and its stability has contributed to the revitalization of adjacent blocks, including Pestalozzi and Arsenal Streets, which border it on the south and north, respectively. Destruction of the core buildings in this district will alter the aesthetic character that makes it historic in the first place and will erode the value of its related structures. Their original, historical reference and context will be gone.

Understandably, institutions such as SEA face challenges in maintaining and utilizing historic structures, as do homeowners with houses of similar age. As part of an established Historic District, the SEA campus is eligible for historic tax credits that could provide 20% to 25% of total project renovation costs. The 1957-vintage structure where the school seeks to consolidate is itself also now potentially eligible for historic tax credits, which was not the case when the district was established. The executive director of Landmarks Association, Jefferson Mansell, has offered pro bono services of his organization to write a historic register nomination for the 1957 building, making it formally part of the historic district and eligible for these credits. If the historic campus behind the 1957 building is destroyed, this structure would not be eligible for credits without the original institutional fabric.

The leaders of SEA should reconsider their stated course of action and recognize the importance of retaining these historic buildings. Practical alternatives to demolition exist and should be exhaustively explored. The costs of demolishing these buildings, preparing the site, and perhaps eventually constructing a new building are likely greater than those of renovating and improving the existing structures to more aptly suit the school’s contemporary requirements. I hope for SEA to prosper and thrive at its current location for generations of students yet to come, ideally in the handsome historic structures that give the school its distinctive atmosphere and identity. The most prudent stewardship of the millions of dollars in donations currently sought by SEA’s capital campaign would be to fund renovation and reuse of the historic buildings.

If historic buildings of this caliber are not a priority for protection by the city’s Preservation Board and our elected officials, it is hard to imagine what historic structures should be saved anywhere in the City of St. Louis. These architecturally significant buildings are located in a neighborhood that has stabilized and substantially improved in value over recent decades, in no small measure because of investment in and renovation of historic buildings throughout the district. The structures in question are among the most historic and architecturally significant in the entire neighborhood. Needlessly demolishing them in the name of “progress” would be an antiquated and counterproductive approach to addressing the challenges posed by older buildings. The leadership of SEA wishes to strengthen its student enrollment and position in the St. Louis region and says that it is committed to the city and to the Tower Grove East neighborhood. I hope that it gives action to this commendable sentiment by embracing the valuable resource of its historic campus and the surrounding urban community of which it is an inextricable part.

- Christian Saller

Prior Post: St. Elizabeth Academy Raising Funds To Raze Historic Structures by Steve Patterson, October 2010

Chriustian & Rene Saller live on Crittenden

Poll: Thoughts on Local Control of the St. Louis Police?

The controversial idea of returning control of the St. Louis Police to local officials rather than with the state in Jefferson City is again a hot issue. A recent editorial in the St. Louis American got me thinking this would make a good poll question:

Given our determined opposition to the proposed elimination of the city earnings tax and of the state income tax, both promulgated by billionaire ideologue Rex Sinquefield, and the many times we have questioned the leadership and motives of Mayor Francis G. Slay, we can understand why it raises suspicions to see Sinquefield helping to fund the latest effort to put St. Louis city government in control of its own police force, with Slay stumping for it heartily. Sinquefield has ponied up $300,000 to fund a ballot initiative for local police control in St. Louis and Kansas City, and Slay – so often silent when needed – has been very outspoken in favor of passing local control this session.

We certainly agree with critics of Sinquefield and Slay that they may have ulterior, and even sinister, motives for supporting local control, which for years has been a rallying cry for the African-American and progressive communities in St. Louis. Furthermore, we have a long-standing criticism against the form of local control currently provided for in the St. Louis City Charter, which would become the governing document should the state Legislature pass new legislation that ends the current system of administration by a police board appointed by the governor. The City Charter provides for a single police commissioner who reports to the director of Public Safety (a mayoral appointee) and who could be fired by this mayoral appointee – or the governor – “with or without cause.” Plainly, this would make the police commissioner helplessly vulnerable to both city and state politics. (full editorial – recommended!)

State Representative Jamilah Nasheed (D-60) has introduced House Bill 71 which “Allows the City of St. Louis to establish and maintain a municipal police force completely under the city’s authority.” There are no shortage of opinions on this issue, here’s mine.

If I were to organize city government from scratch I would do many things differently.  Local control of police is logical.  We don’t live in the Civil War era anymore.  That said, there are many officers who have risked their lives for years that have earned their pensions, soimething they fear they might lose under local control.

I’m no expert on union contracts & pensions but hopefully those that are experts can find a way to make this happen, it is time.

As always the poll this week is located in the upper right corner of the blog.

– Steve Patterson