Building from 1987 as blighted than those from 1887

The term “blight” is often used when referring to old buildings, generally applied to the kind many of us see revitalized as part of a repopulated inner city.  Most would consider the area at Page & Goodfellow (map) blighted.  To me the source of the blight is not the earth 20th century buildings on a 19th century street grid.  No, the blight comes from late 20th century failures:

This gas station is from 1987.  Someone probably argued a shiny new gas station would revitalize the neighborhood. It didn’t and now it is bringing down the neighborhood.

City records show applications to construct a new station on the site: one in February 2008 and one in October 2009.  Both applications are listed as “canceled.”  Cheap auto-centric development in the city is about short-term profit, not a long term revitalization strategy.  Gas station, strip shopping center, drive-thru restaurant, etc. are not going to help in the long term.  In the short term they provide a way for politicians to talk about all the investment happening.

Cheap structures such as this can’t sustain themselves for more than two decades.  They are quickly dated and there is almost always a newer version down the street.

– Steve Patterson

Non-profit runs out of money, boards building

I recently received an email from a reader asking if I knew why the Pillar Place Apartment building was now boarded.   I didn’t know the name but once I looked up the address provided to me (3407 Lafayette) I knew the building.  In August 1990, when I first moved to St. Louis, the building was vacant, just waiting to be reused.  By February 1993 I was delighted the building was renovated into apartments.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch February 27, 1993:

“On Wednesday, they [the Brown family] became one of the first six families to move into Pillar Place, a newly renovated apartment building for 19 low-income families at 3407 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis.
“This is one of the happiest days of my life since I moved to St. Louis,” said Brown, 29, who came here from Mississippi 11 years ago.
The 19 Roman Catholic religious orders and a nonprofit corporation that came together to make Pillar Place will celebrate with a grand opening there at 1 p.m. Sunday.
They have taken a four-story building listed on the National Register of Historic Places and converted it into two- , three- and four-bedroom apartments for people “stuck in the funnel” of temporary housing.
“We realized the real need is for permanent, affordable housing,” said Sister Mary Louise Denny, a Sister of Loretto and a board member of the Intercommunity Housing Association, which helped start the project. “This will be a drop in the bucket – we could have found 10 times the number of people who need this. But it’s a start.”
The building opened in 1907 as the Loretto Academy, a posh school for girls and a residence for the Sisters of Loretto. The school moved to Nerinx Hall in Webster Groves in the 1950s, and the retired nuns who then made the building their home moved to the suburbs in 1988.
About that time, the St. Louis Equity Fund was started. Through the fund, area companies invest in partnerships that provide low-income housing. In return, the companies can earn tax credits. The Intercommunity Housing Association – made up of 13 religious organizations – joined with the Equity Fund and six other religious groups to raise the $1.5 million needed for renovation and organization of Pillar Place.”

From the  Intercommunity Housing Association website:

“Formerly Loretto Academy high school for girls converted into 19 two, three and four bedroom apartments. Pillar Place serves about 22 adults and approximately 70 children. The complex has a large parking lot, two playground areas, a picnic area, and vegetable gardens for the tenants to use.”

Also from their website is an overview of who they are and what they do — uh, did:

“IHA is a not-for-profit organization with 501(c)3 tax exempt status.

Our support services are paid for through generous donations of individuals, families, churches and religious groups, civic organizations, corporations, foundations, and special events.

The operating expenses of our buildings including mortgage, insurance, maintenance, and repairs are partially paid for out of tenant rents which are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Tenants at Pillar Place and Compton Place pay rent based on their income. They also pay their own utilities. The apartments at both locations offer ample space, providing residents with feelings of comfort, dignity and self-worth they may not have experienced before.

The families of IHA have come from various backgrounds. Some come from shelters, often a family may live in one room at a shelter while they wait for an opening. Some have lived in another family member’s basement, some have lived in hallways of buildings, some have lived in their car. Some of our families are immigrants who have fled oppression and abuse. Others are referred from agencies and organizations in the area. All must meet our guidelines for admission, including police checks and credit checks. A home visit prior to their admission is required for all tenants before acceptance.

Intercommunity Housing Association’s staff, board members and volunteers are constantly working to provide for the 33 families and over 100 children in need. However, they cannot do this alone. Individual and corporate donations are the driving force behind our success. The programs offered make a significant impact on their lives by bringing security and stability. This is accomplished by moving beyond the fundamental needs of a roof over their heads. IHA supplies our residents with the tools necessary to help improve their life circumstances and move them to independence.

History of IHA and What we offer

IHA was created through the collaboration of 19 religious congregations of women who saw the need to provide more than affordable housing for the poor of St. Louis. They saw the need to help the families that came to live at the two apartment complexes to become independent through social, economic and educational supports. Our families are primarily African American, single parent families with an average of 4 children. For the past sixteen years, IHA has provided life skills training, after school tutoring, summer children’s programs, camps for the children, bridges to work and financial assistance with furthering their education.”

Many had to find new homes.  Attempts to reach someone from the IHA were unsuccessful.  I contacted 19th ward alderman Marlene Davis who indicated the non-profit ran out of money for their operations and needed building improvements.  The future of the building is uncertain.  Hopefully someone can take over the property.

I was concerned about the other properties the IHA owns, a row of six buildings near Bates at 5300 – 5328 South Compton:

“Four-family flats converted into fourteen one-bedroom and three-bedroom townhouse style apartments to provide permanent housing. The complex has a playground area, picnic area and fenced yard. Each townhome has its own parking pad in the rear. Compton Place serves about 16 adults and approximately 30 children.”

IHA has worked with their investors to ensure these occupied buildings remain occupied.

– Steve Patterson

Your household divided by a green line?

Do you diligently recycle every item in your house? Have you given up buying bottled water and even bring home bottles and food containers from places where recycling isn’t available? Have you opted for more vegetarian meals and created a plan to recycle gray water to your garden? Then you are someone who believes the planet is in trouble and are willing to make lifestyle choices to support your eco-concerns.

Then there’s your significant other: well-mannered, smart, a perfect fit, and totally opposed to giving up meat even one day a week. He/she recycles when it’s convenient, refuses to give up long showers, and doesn’t believe small personal choices have any impact whatsoever on global warming.

You are at odds. It’s a source of constant friction: he scowls at the vegetarian chili; she resents the single-ply toilet paper and the constant washing of his reusable water bottle. And worst of all is the sense of moral superiority that the significant other exudes while performing small acts of green living.

According to an article this week in the New York Times, therapists are counseling more and more couples who are having a hard time reconciling their green practices. It is their observation that:

“While no study has documented how frequent these clashes have become, therapists agree that the green issue can quickly become poisonous because it is so morally charged. Friends or family members who are not devoted to the environmental cause can become irritated by life choices they view as ostentatiously self-denying or politically correct.”

As climate change becomes an ever more divisive issue, not based on the science which is irrefutable, but on different personal values, it can lead to a parting of the ways. Some couples now look deep into their future and see different journeys and destinations as their partner adopts more green values. At stake now are differing ideas on how to live, how to invest money, what to eat, and what values to pass on to the children. There may soon be a need for a new kind of therapist: a sort of eco-therapist who can help couples and families to work out differences regarding green practices.

So here’s our question:  Does a green line divide your household? Between those who choose to live green and those that don’t?  The weekly poll is in the right sidebar.

– Deborah Moulton

Endangered species: the sidewalk newsstand

With demand for the printed newspaper decreasing I fear the loss of an already rare sight in St. Louis: the sidewalk newsstand.  You need content to have a newsstand.

I love the colorful newsstands of New York City but I don’t know that we will ever have these in St. Louis.  For a long time a stand was located at 8th & Locust, but that went away a few years ago when the current plaza was built.  The benefits to the newsstand are numerous: creates activity, vendor can offer directions, sell snacks and water to pedestrians, eyes on the sidewalk help with safety.  They do require space but smaller versions than the New York example exist.

I want to see the printed newspaper and magazine survive if only so the newsstand will also survive.

– Steve Patterson

Parks and recreation in St. Louis

Neighborhood parks were very important to St. Louis’ long-time planner (1916-1950), Harland Bartholomew.  From the Parks & Recreation section of the 1947 City Plan:

Large parks are very useful but they supply only one part of the city’s recreation requirements. There is a surprising deficiency in neighborhood parks, playfields, and playgrounds. It is always difficult to provide ample park and recreation areas after development has taken place but that is not justification for neglect of an extremely important public facility. If stability and improved environment in the various residential areas of St. Louis is to be assured, it is imperative that adequate local recreational areas be acquired.

Each of the 82 residential neighborhoods in the city should have a neighborhood park, and playground. Each should have a large playfield in reasonably close proximity. These requirements are in addition to such overall facilities as large parks and parkways. (continue reading)

While I have disagreed with Bartholomew’s thinking numerous times (multiple airports to fly around the region!?!) I wonder how the idea of places for kids to play applies in 2010?  Playground design is different.  The playgrounds of 1947 and earlier would be deemed too unsafe by today’s standards. Few parents today would even let their children out of sight anyway.

From what I’ve seen kids seem to enjoy new playground equipment. The water features at Citygarden were a big hit last year.  Thoughts anyone?  What works? What doesn’t?

Thanks to Matt Rankin for the donation of archives from his late grandparents, Lou & Georgia Buckowitz.

– Steve Patterson