Historical September 1996 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
This is one of my commentaries occasioned by a periodic visit to my hometown, Detroit.
Each time I travel the streets I used to know so well, I become very sick at heart. Along the city’s main artery, Woodward Avenue, is the site of an abandoned auto plant and countless boarded-up or otherwise derelict buildings.
My old street doesn’t look bad but the nearby shopping area has lost many of the businesses I used to enjoy.
These trips make me very grateful to come home to St. Louis. Heaven knows this city has its problems.
It needs more jobs, more money for housing and the list could stretch on. But, we’re not as bad as we could be either.
I would suggest to anyone who spends time denigrating this town that he or she go to Detroit. Needless to say, there is no Skinker DeBaliviere in Detroit nor in many other places.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch informed us this summer that we were among the 14 lowest crime neighborhoods in the city.
We were the only neighborhood in the central corridor to have that distinction. It’s thanks to good block units, the SDCC, the police, and very special residents.
I hope that our special haven continues to be a model in this city and beyond. So, there’s good news today.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1996.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1996_09.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
