“Don’t Go North of Delmar”

The year was 1990.  I was 23 and had just moved to St Louis from the Oklahoma area where I was born & raised.  The apartment manager on Lindell probably thought she was doing me a favor, instead she was doing the region a great disservice.  “Don’t go North of Delmar, ” she instructed.  The next day, out  of curiosity I went North of Delmar.  I didn’t get shot or even shot at.

That trip, and many since, reinforced my love of the city’s architecture and street layout.  I think it was on this first trip North of Delmar that I discovered Fountain Park, the police station on Page at Union (since razed) and so many wonderful streets long abandoned by whites out of fear of living in proximity to a black person.  Oh the horrors!

The apartment manager, I later learned, grew up near O’Fallon Park on the city’s North side in the late 30s-50s. North St Louis was no longer the place of her childhood.  In the first part of the 20th Century restrictive deed restrictions were placed on property to keep streets white.

The famous Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer, originating in North St Louis,  in 1948 found that the restrictions were not unconstitutional but the using the courts to enforce them was. The began to open up previously all white areas to non-white persons.

Block by block over the next several decades white families began to sell, often in a panic induced by real estate agents engaged in “blockbusting.”  Panic selling reduced prices which meant more people would panic sell.  Falling prices also meant homes formerly unaffordable were now affordable to more people.  Had people not sold in a panic North St Louis might look very different today.

Delmar became known as a dividing line between the black North side and the white South side.

Of course there are whites North of Delmar and blacks South but you get the idea.  This “rule” gets passed on as young 23 year olds move to the city.  Well, they try to pass it on.  In 1991 I moved from Lindell to Old North St Louis — well North of Delmar.

Fast forward to the present.  Ald. Kacie Starr Triplett has introduced Board Bill 328 to honorarily rename  Delmar to Barack Obama Boulevard.  The street would still be Delmar — it would just have some additional signs added for the honorary designation.

I like the symbolism — Barack Obama being the one person in a generation that can bring white and black together.   He himself being the product of a white mom and black father.

Again, this is an honorary renaming only.  When Easton was renamed for Dr. Martin Luther King in the early 1970s they changed the legal name of the street.

So while I like the symbolism I wonder how effective, if at all, having this desigation will be toward breaking down the Delmar barrier.  Will people just start saying, “Don’t go North of Obama Boulevard?”

Out To Bid; $400K Monuments at Lambert Airport

Budgets are tight everywhere these days.  Seldom do municipalities have extra cash but at Lambert International Airport it seems they have money for two fancy forty foot monuments to alert I-70 drivers of the presence of the airport — like they could miss it.

According to the city’s Board of Public Service, these monuments will cost $416,233.00.  Bids were to have been opened on the 9th.  I heard talk of $500k+.

These are 40 feet in height and 13 feet across the top and lighted.

You’d think making the airport more user friendly would be a better way to spend $400,000 – $500,000.  At least the LED lighting is a low energy way of lighting them.

I’d say spending this money on solar panels or wind turbine to help offset energy use at the airport would be a good alternative.  I think drivers on I-70 know the airport is there.  Apparently they wanted a 3rd monument at I-70 & I-170 but that got dropped from the bidding documents.

I rather like the design but I question this as the best use of limited resources.

Meanwhile former Chief of Staff for the outgoing Missouri Governor Blunt, Ed Martin, wonders if Gov-elect Jay Nixon will “help the City sell Lambert Airport just like Democrat Mayor Daley is doing in Chicago? The sale will generate hundreds of millions for us to pay off our underfunded pensions, cut taxes, and hire cops.“  Yeah, we should be more like Chicago…

1920s ‘Modern Bungalows’ Plan Book Now Available

Last month I did a post about a copy of a vintage 1920s plan book that I had recently digitized.

I’ve now made it available in one of two formats: a free PDF download or as a bound soft cover book. Both are available from the self publishing site LuLu. The PDF is free but the printed & bound version is $9.99 plus shipping. I receive less than 50 cents per paid order.

To preview the book, download the free PDF or to order the bound version click here.

Keep in mind this is a scanned version of a 20+ year old photo copy.  Preview or download the PDF before ordering the bound copy if you think you might be disappointed.  The book is 152 pages.

I’ve treasured the information in this book for over 20 years.  If you enjoy bungalows I think you will like this book.

Fountain Park Residents Come Together In Park

Last month I joined residents of the Fountain Park neighborhood (map) as they came together in the namesake park and raked leaves.

It was nice to see young & old alike out helping in their own neighborhood.

The park is stunning and in very good condition. The fountain needs some attention (it was drained for winter).  A woman who lives in one of the big homes facing the park came out to help.  She has lived there for 35 years.  She said the park used to be far more beautiful – well maintained and with flowers.  Plus she is not fond of the current color of the fountain – it used to be more subdued like the base is currently.

The park is pretty unique in the city –I can think of only a few others like it  – none being as grand.  The park is a gentle oval with houses facing it all around.  It is two blocks long.  Euclid Ave is bisected by the park although Police and others drive through the middle of the park on a sidewalk rather than going around.

The “Suburban Track” streetcar right-of-way runs along the bottom of the above aerial view.  Compared to parts East of Jefferson, this was very suburban.  But it was still walkable and connected via transit.

I’m glad I stopped by to help these residents — I did some leaf raking using one hand.

A good morning’s work.  I think they will continue neighborhood improvement efforts in the Spring.

Will She Or Won’t She?

Yesterday I updated my St Louis Municipal Elections Spring 2009 page with all the candidates that have filed for office as of the last date published by the St Louis Board of Election Commissioners, 11/25/08. I’ve added a few additional names to the list for those that I’ve read are running but did not file as of the date of the last list.

In 2009 we will elect Mayor, Comptroller and Aldermen for the 14 odd-numbered wards for a total of 16 races. Based on filed and announced candidates, only four of those are contested at this point. The remaining 12 face no opposition.Talk about apathy of voters all you want but it is the apathy of citizens to seek office that gets me. Anytime I talk about term limits someone always says to just elect someone else. Sure that sounds good, but when your ballot only has a single candidate for a race that is rather hard to do.

No candidate, even if I like them, should be elected to office due to the lack of an opponent. People tell me they’ve thought about running but the incumbents bank account intimidates them – keeping them out of the race. Term limits are an effective way to open races up periodically. I think we need term limits for all city offices set at three 4-year terms. This will give a person plenty of time to accomplish their agenda, retains institutional memory but open up races so that voters will have a choice of candidates. I had previously said the limit should be 8 years but 12 may be a better compromise.

A 3-term limit in effect today would prevent seven incumbents from running for the same office in 2009: Darlene Green, Greg Carter, April Ford Griffin, Joe Roddy, Phyllis Young, Matt Villa and Fred Wessels. For Young & Wessels, 2009 marks 24 years in office – they are both going for their 7th terms! Some of you reading this site were not event born when they were first elected to office. When was the last time they had an opponent? Asked another way, when was the last time voters in their wards had an option to elect someone else?

In the 23rd Ward we have a 4-way race so far. If Francis Slay had not stepped up the political ladder he’d be the only person in that race. If the incumbent, Kathleen Hanrahan, was running again we most likely would not see any of the current four that are running in the race.

In the 25th, my previous ward, everyone is wondering if Dorothy Kirner will run for a second full term. Kirner defeated me 55.9%-44.1% in 2005 after she won a 2004 special election to fill a vacancy when her husband, Ald Daniel Kirner, passed away. Filing remains open until January 2, 2009. Angie Singler, whom I’ve endorsed, was the second person to file for any race when the filing opened on 11/24/08. As such her name will be first on the ballot in the 25th Ward race. Shane Cohn, who I also know, has declared himself a candidate. If Kirner signals to others before filing closes that she is not going to run again I think we will see more candidates in this race – others may just be sitting on the sidelines patiently waiting their turn.

The next few months are going to be interesting.