Editor’s Notebook — Suburban Development And Segregation

Historical May 1994 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

I attended an interesting forum recently at the Historical Society.

A panel of suburban developers discussed their projects: residences, office complexes, shopping centers. Mary Domahidy of St. Louis University facilitated the debate. Although I have read a great deal about the making of the suburbs and about the development of edge cities, this was the first chance I’ve had to listen directly to those involved in these types of developments. Frankly, I was quite depressed by what I heard.

The residential developer was perhaps the most disturbing.

He said he would save a tree if he could because trees sell.

All said that demand drives where they locate their projects.

They make no conscious effort to locate in outlying white areas. That’s what the people want.

The residential developer said he’d really like to create some homes in the city. But, he said you’d have to cordon off an area to make sure it was secure, etc. What’s really sad is that the development mentality does not seem to have changed much since the early 70s when our neighborhood was redlined by real estate and the insurance industry. White prospective buyers were never shown homes here.

It was a dedicated group of neighbors of both races who banded together to keep the neighborhood diverse and make it stable.

They showed residences themselves and people bought.

There was no cordon.

There were people dedicated to living in the city and making it work.

It was also interesting that the residential developer worked in south and west counties and St. Charles—not at all in north county.

The others had their facilities in west county.

It seems that every time I begin to think that certain conditions have improved, reality hits me in the face. Is it people who want racial and socioeconomic segregation or is it the developers who only provide developments that insure it?

They certainly make a lot of money off of it.

Most of us in the audience were incredulous.

We shouldn’t have been.

Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, May 1994.

Read this article in the original newspaper issue.

Original source: SD_Times1994_05.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.