Re-Developing North Side St. Louis

A close friend sent me an intemperate e-mail several days ago about the move to revitalize what he called St. Louis’s “burned out” neighborhoods. His message was inspired by the report that McEagle Properties was trying to purchase 1,233 parcels of city-owned land as part of an $8 billion, two-square-mile redevelopment project. His e-mail raged against what he thought of as the insanity of improving those neighborhoods without enacting programs that would positively affect the school district, protect existing residents, disrupt drug use, reverse the horrific employment situation, and address the always vexing challenges race plays in St. Louis. Many of us, no matter where we live or what our backgrounds may be, could sympathize with his helplessness and frustration.

After spending a few hours during the next several days mulling over his concerns, I’ve concluded that St. Louisans cannot expect a developer to address society-wide problems that for more than 60 years defied government-sponsored solutions. Everyone who has visited the North Side in the past decade has seen the devastation, abandonment, the heart-breaking landscape of vanished dreams and aspirations. What few of us seem to know is how to reverse the massive devastation brought by decades of disinvestment and abandonment. Since President Reagan, the federal government has washed its hands of anything remotely resembling urban renewal. The State, with its rural-dominated legislature, has no interest in helping the City find a way out of its difficulties.

If federal and state governments are indifferent to the problems demonstrated so powerfully by the North Side, where can citizens look for solutions? Forget the City. It has neither the resources nor the ambition to tackle those persistent economic and social challenges. Local developers have tried for decades to turn individual neighborhoods around and have achieved some success with infill housing and store-front offices. But they are working at a small-scale and have no hope of addressing the larger issues of disinvestment and abandonment that characterize much of North St. Louis. So, what then?

Then you have to examine what people like Paul McKee and McEagle Properties have proposed. It’s easy to find reasons not to like their proposed development. You may object to their high-handed treatment of people living in the North Side. Perhaps you dislike the inevitable gentrification their project will bring. Perhaps it’s the vagueness of the plan that upsets you. Perhaps, like my friend, you think McEagle’s scheme will not result in “regeneration” but rather displacement.

In any case, the McEagle plan is the only one that attempts large-scale revitalization of the North Side. My advice with regard to that plan is to consider a number of options. You can turn your back, walk away, and let the chips fall where they may. You can jump on the opposition bandwagon and work to defeat it. Or you can form groups of like-minded citizens and work to guide the plan in directions you think appropriate.

If the famous organizer Saul Alinsky were alive he would tell residents of the North Side to organize and engage in appropriate actions that would get them a place at the decision-making table. But Alinsky is long gone and McKee is here, brandishing his plan like a preacher thumps his Bible.

The option I advocate is to become part of the process to ensure citizen concerns are not only heard but are incorporated into the plan. That requires hard work and dedication, both of which McKee has demonstrated. The challenge for average citizens is to follow that example, whether you agree with his plan or not.

Please note that this essay was published on April 25 in the St. Louis Suburban Journal West County edition as an Opinion Shaper column.