Readers: Limiting NLEC to 32 Beds is Fair, Alternatives Exist

A week ago today the city’s Board of Adjustment ruled the New Life Evangelistic Center homeless shelter must 1) limit beds to the licensed 32 beds 2) seek a new license that would allow more emergency beds or 3) close. Larry Rice, however, wants to continue as he has been — stuffing far more people into a rundown facility after coercing them to do lots of free labor.

Here are the results from Sunday’s poll:

Q: Thoughts on the city calling Larry Rice’s NLEC a “nuisance”? (pick up to two)

1. TIE:
   1. Limiting the licensed occupancy to 32 beds is fair, considering the conditions. 28 [25.69%]
   2. There are other/better alternatives to NLEC available. 28 [25.69%]
2. Rice’s TV televangelism empire depends on a large visible homeless population 18 [16.51%]
3. NLEC was there before the condos & apartments 15 [13.76%]
4. Where will the homeless sleep if NLEC is limited to 32 beds? 10 [9.17%]
5. NLEC should be able to sleep 300, or more, if they want 3 [2.75%]
6. Other: 3 [2.75%]
   1. If NLEC had better job training and mental service, open all day Add as a poll answer
   2. it’s high time for NLEC to cease and desist. It’s not a church but a flop house
   3. It and he are nuisances.
7. NLEC is a religious facility, no government license should be required. 2 [1.83%]

The #2 answer is closest to the truth — Rice desperately needs to maintain the exterior appearance of lots of homeless. Without a visible homeless population he doesn’t have a hook to get donations.

In 2009, court documents estimated New Life has assets between $40 million and $50 million, including radio and television stations. In 2008, the center reported receiving more than $1.8 million in cash contributions. (stltoday.com)

I can assure you other non-profits do more for the homeless with a fraction of the total assets, social workers & researchers are now realizing there is a much more effective & humane way to help the homeless than how Rice has operated NLEC for nearly 40 years:

• Permanent housing, not a hard cot in a room crowded with hundreds of men
• Hot meals prepared by a trained chef in an inspected kitchen, not sandwiches out of a trunk on the street
• Social workers & occupational therapists to find & resolve problems, not free labor & religion
• Secure places to store belongings, not encouraged to carry bags to increase visibility
• Daytime space & activities, not being out on the street for 12 hours.
• Security inside & outside during operations, not ignoring everything that happens just outside.

In these examples the former is how other agencies in St. Louis are trying to end/reduce homelessness, the latter is how Rice maintains the visible problem that keeps millions in coming in. I don’t expect this to be over in May, Rice will fight to maintain his status quo.  He misses the old days of vacant warehouses, lack of restaurants, jobs and any sort of measurable economic activity downtown.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Thoughts on the city calling Larry Rice’s NLEC a “nuisance”?

Tuesday afternoon the city’s Board of Adjustment, after of 12+ months of hearings on a citizen petition, concluded Larry Rice’s New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC) was a nuisance:

A city board ruled Tuesday that Rev. Larry Rice’s homeless shelter downtown is a nuisance and will be closed effective May 12, 2015, unless he complies with city terms.

Rice’s occupancy permit allows him to have a maximum of 32 beds. Many nights, Rice allows upwards of 300 people to stay in the shelter. (stltoday.com)

A perfect subject for the final poll of 2014: Thoughts on the city calling Larry Rice’s NLEC a “nuisance”? The poll is in the right sidebar, vote until 8pm.

I have thoughts on this, but I’ll save my views for Tuesday when I post the results.

— Steve Patterson

Parking Garage Undergoing Time-Consuming Multi-Million Dollar Restoration; Businesses Closed, Jobs Lost

Old buildings require renovation/restoration to extend their useful life. Usually downtown buildings getting a complete makeover date from the 19th or early 20th century but for the last six months one built in 1967 has been closed during the restoration process.

The owners of this business expected to only be closed for a month, but it has been nearly six months now. The Papa John’s at Tucker is no longer listed on papajohns.com website, the nearest location is now listed at 3822 Laclede. After this long I decided it was time to start asking questions about the project. On December 17th I emailed the media contact for the general contractor, Tarlton:

Laura,
I’ve been watching the project at the parking garage on the SE corner of Tucker & Locust for months.

I have some questions:
1) what’s the scope of the project?
2) is it taking longer than originally expected? I ask because they Chinese restaurant only expected to be closed for a month or two.
3) when do you anticipate being finished?
4) cost of the project?

Thanks,

Steve

The next day I received the following response:

Hi Steve.
My apologies for the delay in getting back to you — I was traveling.
These are questions for the property owner.
Thanks, Laura

LAURA LUSSON, Communications Manager, Tarlton Corporation

Ah yes, the owner. That would be Tucker Parking Equities LLC & Tucker Parking Holdings LLC located at 24 Church St in Montclair NJ, both were formed in Delaware in 2007.  Getting nowhere with the contractor, I emailed building commissioner Frank Oswald asking what he could tell me about permit #516639, applied for on September 8th, I quickly heard back saying he wasn’t familiar, he copied a district supervisor but I’ve not heard from him. Also Friday morning I emailed Central Parking to ask when the garage would reopen, I’ve not heard back from them.

I’d hoped to have something more ‘concrete’ to report.

— Steve Patterson

Reading: Convention Center Follies: Politics, Power, and Public Investment in American Cities by Heywood T. Sanders

Friday I listed five books about St. Louis to consider as gifts.  Today’s book, a massive volume, isn’t about St. Louis. Well, not entirely. Chapter 8, titled “St. Louis: Protection from Erosion”, is the story of our own convention center folly. From the publisher:

American cities have experienced a remarkable surge in convention center development over the last two decades, with exhibit hall space growing from 40 million square feet in 1990 to 70 million in 2011—an increase of almost 75 percent. Proponents of these projects promised new jobs, new private development, and new tax revenues. Yet even as cities from Boston and Orlando to Phoenix and Seattle have invested in more convention center space, the return on that investment has proven limited and elusive. Why, then, do cities keep building them?

Written by one of the nation’s foremost urban development experts, Convention Center Follies exposes the forces behind convention center development and the revolution in local government finance that has privileged convention centers over alternative public investments. Through wide-ranging examples from cities across the country as well as in-depth case studies of Chicago, Atlanta, and St. Louis, Heywood T. Sanders examines the genesis of center projects, the dealmaking, and the circular logic of convention center development. Using a robust set of archival resources—including internal minutes of business consultants and the personal papers of big city mayors—Sanders offers a systematic analysis of the consultant forecasts and promises that have sustained center development and the ways those forecasts have been manipulated and proven false. This record reveals that business leaders sought not community-wide economic benefit or growth but, rather, to reshape land values and development opportunities in the downtown core.

A probing look at a so-called economic panacea, Convention Center Follies dissects the inner workings of America’s convention center boom and provides valuable lessons in urban government, local business growth, and civic redevelopment.

Reading the background on how the Cervantes Convention Center came to be is fascinating! There were competing proposals to locate a convention center elsewhere, including near Union Station.

Other chapters deal with other aspects, for example:

• Paying for the box (Ch2)
• Promises and Realities (Ch3)
• They Will Come…and Spend (Ch4)

If you want a complete overview of convention centers this is the book for you.

— Steve Patterson

Central Library Reopened Two Years Ago

St. Louis’ Central Library reopened two years ago today, after being closed for a major renovation. Earlier this year a cafe opened off the atrium.

If you haven’t yet visited I suggest you take the time to check it out. I haven’t spent as much time inside as I thought I would, be living two blocks West I do get to enjoy the exterior often.

Check out this video on the library to learn more about it:

— Steve Patterson