Poll on displacing homeless living under the Tucker bridge
Last Friday was the final deadline the City of St. Louis gave to the homeless persons living in the old railway tunnel under Tucker Blvd.
The homeless living in a place called ‘Hopeville’ have to be out from the Tucker Tunnel before 8 a.m. Friday in preparation for the City of St. Louis’ $34 million construction project. However, some homeless have resisted the move, waiting until the last minute.
Two homeless men are hanging onto what they call home at Tucker Tunnel. (KSDK)
The name “Hopeville” is a recent name for the space under the road. Others have called it scary and dangerous. The deadline is now past and the removal of the tunnel and collapsing road will proceed.
The poll this week seeks to find out your thoughts about removing the homeless to reconstruct this stretch of Tucker Blvd. The poll is in the right sidebar.
– Steve Pattersoon
Tucker needs to rebuilt since it's in danger of collapsing, and you can't do that safely with random people wandering around. While I personally don't believe that the city has any duty to provide the homeless with camping facilities, we have plenty of places where they can be accomodated, everywhere from the current ad hoc location, next to the floodwall, to the vacant Pruitt-Igoe site to any one of a number of vacant buildings.
Bigger picture, are the dynamics behind homelessness, everything from the economy to local politics to regional resources to dealing with mental and dependency issues. Governing magazine has a good article this month on the issue (http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-se…), titled Poverty Comes to the Suburbs, that's particularly applicable here. Until the suburbs do a better job of providing resources, core cities like St. Louis will continue to bear a disproportionate share of the regional burden.
St. Louis is a relatively affordable place to live, IF you have a job – you can put a roof over your head even if you're making minimum wage, unlike some other parts of the country. Some homeless don't want to work – that's their choice, so be it. Some homeless want to work but can't find a job (no address, appearance, transportation, etc.) – these can be fixed, let's do it. Some are homeless because of the recession – there are already resources available, let's connect them. And some are homeless due to chemical dependency or mental illness – these are both the toughest to “fix” and the most visible, and, unfortunately, will probably always be with us, unless we go back to warehousing people in “institutions” and sanitoriums.
All valid ideas, but I don't see what it has to do with a bridge replacement. I agree with you that the roots of homelessness and how we can help them are important issues, but this was simply a matter of a bridge replacement project until a certain local publicity hound realized he could take advantage of the homeless to get more television time.
My comments are a result of the minority voting in the poll for “The homeless had to go, but the city could have been more sensitive to their needs.” I agree with you, it should be just a bridge project, and, by inference, that the city owes the squatters nothing more than adequate notice to vacate. I'm not sure how or why the city could be “more sensitive” than it was – anything beyond benign neglect/tacit approval gets into spending tax dollars on service delivery and essentially approving long-term camping on city property.
I posted on StlToday and stand by my observations from the last few years going down there, that I never witnessed more than 1 that seemed a permanent resident and many others at various times just getting away from above. So I was a bit taken aback when I saw what looked like a hooverville on the front page of the STLPost. Seemed to me that my observations and a recent incarnation of the population are somewhat at odds, and yes I took photos from all of those previous visits.
I had other thoughts but mainly the point above.
I tried posting this from Facebook Connect but it didn't work.
1.5 years ago or less, and for many years prior, there may have been 1 or 2 homeless individuals living in the train tunnel that stretches from the old Schnucks N or the Post-Dispatch all the way to the 12th ST Diner at the base of the Wash Ave Apartments. I have driven in the tunnel several times per year since 2002/3. So how did so many come to make it home just before the city “buried” it? I think they were seeking media attention, pure & simple–or someone was.
On another subject, why didn't the City reinforce the structure, secure the N entry, add lights and asphalt throughout the tunnel, then install an elevator at Tucker & Wash Ave? Free underground parking (or even charge for it). The excavation came at no cost, and the tunnel is large–the fact that it reaches Tucker & Wash Ave places a pedestrian entry point at a prime location.
It is funny you bring up parking for it, as that was my push for awhile. It did not go anywhere, although it would have only cost 10m.-12m more from my estimation, not including individual buildings responsibility of shoring up their own structures, to create a dual deck garage freeing up area on either side of tucker for real development. I approached several that had parts to play in it, and they just did not seem interested. Mainly due I think to the need to shore up the structures, but that was going to have to happen anyway with the Great Fill.
The great fill only came after other potential uses were explored, parking not being one of them. The other I think was MSD stormwater retention or something like that.
And by the way the tunnel did not make it all the way to Washington, only St. Charles I think.
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