Why We Need Non-Partisan Elections in St. Louis

Except one, all the elected officials from the City of St. Louis are Democrats. Local, state, or federal — if their district is in the city they are a Democrat.  I firmly believe we need to break up the political machine in the city. Why?  Corruption:

Another state politician from St. Louis pleads guilty to a corruption charges — revealing new details about allegations involving other local government officials.

State Representative T.D. El-Amin entered a guilty plea in U-S federal court to one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.   El-Amin admitted he received $2,100 from a northside gas station owner, in exchange for helping the man get city hall  to stop a series of “nuisance inspections.” (Source: KMOX)

Of course State Reps would still be partisan even if our municipal elections were non-partisan.  It should be noted that the City of St. Louis is rare in having partisan municipal elections.  Cities such as Springfield & Kansas City appear to be non-partisan.  We should remember that Democrats are not the only ones that have issues.

Take former Republican State Rep T. Scott Muschany of Frontenac as an example:

On August 6, 2008, Muschany was indicted by a Cole County grand jury for the alleged sexual assault on May 17, 2008 of a 14-year-old daughter of a woman with whom Muschany had an admitted 2 year long extramarital affair.  Muschany resigned from the Missouri House of Representatives on September 9, 2008.

Muschany was acquitted of all charges March 20, 2009 after a jury deliberated for four hours. “Standing naked next to a 14-year-old girl in bed is not a crime,” defense lawyer Robert Haar told jurors who held the legal fate of Muschany in their hands.  (Source: Wikipedia)

We all need to remember that the majority of all elected officials, from a major party or not, are honest hard working public servants.  But I think the partisan machine in the City of St. Louis creates a closed system that can breed corruption.  Partisan elections for out local offices serves no purpose for the City.  In fact, it may work against the it.

We all know Missouri’s previous Governor, Republican Matt Blunt, made disparaging remarks about the city — something like a place where nobody would want to live.  Conversely, out-state Republican’s might wonder if a Democrat Governor is paying too much attention to St. Louis to earn party favors.

Partisan elections for local offices doesn’t help the city or its citizens, we need to go non-partisan.  This is the subject of the poll this week (upper right sidebar) so please vote.

– Steve Patterson

Irony or Evolution?

I grew up in Louisville, KY.  Like St. Louis, it’s a city that has its roots along a major river, with its economy based on manufacturing and trade.  And, like St. Louis, it’s a city of historic neighborhoods.

One of them is Butchertown, which, not surprisingly, got its name from the stockyards and packing plants that located there.  The neighborhood is the home of Stockyards Bank.  It’s also a neighborhood that’s seeing reinvestment and gentrification, and one that’s increasing in desirability.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but a recent case illustrates the tension that exists anytime change happens.  As with many traditional industries, the meat packing industry has been shrinking in Louisville.  The stockyards shut down in 1999, and there’s only one packing plant left now, but it’s been there for decades.  Recently, that plant was cited for zoning violations, and some of its neighbors were pushing the city to shut it down:

“In this day and age … it’s not an appropriate use here,” said Jon Salomon, an attorney who lives in Butchertown and represents the Butchertown Neighborhood Association. (Source)

Not surprisingly, the company “won”.  The combination of relatively-minor zoning violations and the potential for losing 1,300 jobs likely directly influenced the outcome:

After a 10-hour hearing Monday, the board approved JBS Swift’s request to modify its zoning permit to allow the expansions, after it illegally started construction on an enclosure for a hog-unloading area last fall. (Source)

The reality is that the plant generates truck traffic and some interesting odors.  When the area was primarily industrial, and the only residential uses were the workers’ shotgun cottages, these issues were the smell of money.  Now that many of the residents, especially the new ones, are no longer associated with the industry, the odors and the traffic are being viewed more and more as real negatives, especially to the further “revitalization” of the neighborhood.  This gets down to one of the fundamental challenges of urban living – when does being a historical use become a negative one?  When do the interests of new residents, especially well-educated ones with new and better ideas, start to take priority?

So what does all this have to do with St. Louis?  Simple – given our industrial base, we have the potential for similar conflicts.  The questions in Louisville really aren’t unique.  Was the decision correct?  Be careful of what you ask for? Don’t move somewhere and expect to change things to fit your definition of urban living?  Is NIMBY a good thing or a bad thing?  How do we balance reinvestment with retaining a diverse economic base?  How much gentrification is too much?

– Jim Zavist

UPDATE: 9/26/09 @ 7:45PM – comment section opened.

My Time in Old North St. Louis

In the Spring of 1991, at age 24, I moved to a 3-room flat on Sullivan Street.  It was quite a change from my first St. Louis apartment on Lindell.

My place was the one with the green shutters over the front door/transom (right edge). The four unit building didn’t have indoor plumbing when first built — my tiny bathroom had been built into a corner of the middle room.  The only sink was in the kitchen.  My rent in 1991 was $50/month, a fraction of the $330/month of the studio on Linedell.

In those days I’d talk with many neighbors after arson fires.  These fires were numerous too.  I’d go out later to check out another building lost to fire.

There were so many I don’t recall where they all were.  I’m not sure about the one above.  Hopefully someone can identify this building location from the contextual image below:

The myriad of issues that have faced this neighborhood has always fascinated me.  Population decline, loss of the middle class, highway construction, the Model Cities program, and the 14th Street Pedestrian Mall:

Through all the negatives there were many brights spots: great neighbors, Marx Hardware and, of course, Crown Candy Kitchen:

I haven’t lived in Old North St. Louis in over 15 years but it occupies a special place in my heart.  Much has changed from the three years I was a resident.  More of the old building fabric has been lost but more has been renovated and more built new.  Very soon the North 14th Street Mall will again become just North 14th Street again — the first time in over 30 years.

My Capstone (thesis) for my Masters degree in urban planning will be titled The Pedestrian Mall as a Revitalization Strategy.  The North 14th Street Pedestrian Mall, that I first saw 19 years ago, will serve as the primary case study in my research.

– Steve Patterson

Elevated Highway Separates Convention Center from Laclede’s Landing

Myself and others are calling for the removal of the highway lanes that cut through downtown, dividing the CBD & loft district on the West from the Arch grounds, Laclede’s Landing and Mississippi River to the East.  Too often the discussion about solving the division problem presented by the highway focuses on just three blocks at the center point of the Arch.

The other day I set out in my wheelchair to document just how bad a barrier the elevated lanes are North of Washington Ave.

The view above is looking East at the historic Eads Bridge.    More people would use this bridge if they could actually see it.  Heading into St. Louis from Illinois visitors see the other side of this overpass.  It doesn’t exactly say welcome.  As Washington Ave matures this is the point where we connect restaurants to the riverfront.

Turn to the South and you see the Arch and the barriers to getting there.

Looking North you get a glimpse of Laclede’s Landing hidden beyond the elevated highway.

At the end of Delmar/Convention Plaza you can see Morgan Street coming uphill in the Laclede’s Landing area.

Now on the East side of the highway you can barely see the Edward Jones Dome through the space under the highway.

Down the hill you find diners out on 3rd Street.

Heading back up hill I saw a group of conventioneers looking for lunch.

Continuing up the hill I was confronted with the elevated highway again, quickly killing the historic scale of the old cobblestone streets.

The conventioneers I saw exited the convention center, not on Washington Ave, but out of the side exit at 7th/Delmar/Convention Plaza in the upper left corner of the above map.  They headed directly toward the river.  We are not showing our visitors the best we have to offer.  Connecting the convention center with Laclede’s Landing would be a huge win for St. Louis.

St. Louis’ Planning a Mess on so Many Levels

Paul McKee’s NorthSide project may, eventually, be a good thing for the City of St. Louis and the entire St. Louis region.  But by that time most of us won’t be around.  We’ve had a 60+ year decline (1940-2000) and it will take at least 60 more to recover (2010-2070) from numerous past mistakes.

Looking at unused land (Pruitt-Igoe, 22nd Street Interchange, etc) as potential job centers connected by tree-lined boulevards and transit is sound urban planning.  But good urban planning in the community is best done by the community, not the private sector.

Famed planner (engineer actually) Harland Bartholomew guided much of the destruction of the city during his tenure, 1916-1950.  He rejected everything Jane Jacobs valued in cities.

The destruction continued after he retired his city job in 1950, guided by his 1947 Comprehensive City Plan.  Big picture planning basically stopped after he left.  Planning became seeking federal Urban Renewal & Model Cities money. In 1973 the Rand Corporation issued the report St. Louis: A City and Its Suburbs:

A summary statement of the research findings and policy implications of a series of studies conducted under the St. Louis project of the RAND Urban Policy Analysis Program. Three possible futures for the city are posed: continued decline; stabilization in a new role as an increasingly black suburb; and return to a former role as the center of economic activity in the metropolitan area. The analysis argues that without major policy changes beyond the local level, the city will most likely continue to decline, and suggests that, among the alternatives open to the city, promoting a new role for St. Louis as one of many large suburban centers of economic and residential life holds more promise than reviving the traditional central city functions. However, new resources, available to the city from sources outside the city, are essential to any improvement. Several mechanisms are offered for consideration: (1) a more substantial federal revenue-sharing program; (2) a state revenue-sharing program to support selected public goods; (3) a metropolitan revenue program, sharing revenue generated by industry in the metropolitan area; and (4) a metropolitan earnings tax.

This report shocked city leaders. The planning commission hired a consulting firm to update the 1947 Plan and to reverse the decline cited in the Rand Report.  The draft 1975 INTERIM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN was the city’s response.

The Interim Comprehensive Plan was introduced to the public as a replacement of the 1947 Comprehensive Plan . The City Planning Commission claims that the planning needs of St. Louis had changed over a period of thirty years and therefore the comprehensive plan for the City should change as well. This draft document was written for citizen review. The overall focus of this comprehensive plan was to provide citizens with the highest quality of life, socially, economically, and physically. The plan contains policies and recommendations for land use, transportation, public facilities and housing, all of which are aimed at establishing a quality residential environment, job opportunities, economic development, and expanded opportunities for the disadvantaged.

This never adopted draft plan is best known for the firm the wrote it, Team Four. The Team Four plan was urban triage — cutting off municipal services to those areas deemed too far gone.  Save what can still be saved.  Today this approach is applied to shrinking cities.   Back in the day it was viewed as a plot to drive black citizens out of the city. Many still feel that was the intent or would have been the result if the plan would have been officially adopted.

After the backlash against the Team Four plan the City of St. Louis got out of the big picture planning business kicking off the second 30 year period without a plan.

We look to the government to provide services where the private market has failed or those for the common good, such as fire protection.  But three decades of government being out of planning the primate market reversed the roles and developed their own plan.  Of course the private market’s main goal is profit.

Today’s residents, many not born when the city gave up on planning, are not willing to turn over community planning to a private business.  I don’t blame them.  So the first part of the mess is the city’s abandonment of planning.  Next is the realization that a businessman from St. Charles County wants to do the planning the city should have been doing.  Of course, the city has a poor track record of planning.

But the citizenry had an ideal of community planning so when McKee purchased thousands of properties people naturally got suspicious of his intentions.  Numerous meetings this year announced those intentions but poor community & media relations has made a bad situation even worse.  Myself and others of the media were barred from a meeting, a discussion board was set up by McKee’s company only to be taken down due to a mountain of criticism.  Uh, duh.

Tonight McKee is asking for public TIF funds to help finance his project yet a few days ago, at a public meeting, he objected to his statements being recorded on video.  In decades earlier deals could get done without such documentation by the public.  But it is 2009, not 1959.  Cameras are a fact today and public meetings are subject to being recorded.  Holding meetings in private to circumvent this reality is even worse.  Our elected leadership is not equipped to manage the conflict.

Parts of McKee’s plan are sound: developing the vacant Pruitt-Igoe site, using wasted land at the 22nd Street Interchange, planning for jobs at the landing of the new Mississippi River bridge, narrowing Jefferson Ave, and building a streetcar to tie the near North side into downtown, filling in gaps in the urban fabric.  Had these ideas come out of a community planning process most would be on board today.  Instead we have a huge mess with a substantial section of the city hanging in the balance.

I’m not sure which is worse; Harland Bartholomew’s highly planned destruction of 19th century neighborhoods, a 30-60 year gap in planning, or planning serving private interests.  None will lead to the city I envision St. Louis becoming.

See Matt Mourning’s excellent post With NorthSide Project, the Villain is in the Process for more thoughts on process (this sentence added 9/23/2009 at 7am.)

– Steve Patterson