Historical April–May 2014 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
With the facilitation of a consulting firm, residents have met over the past months to work on a master plan for the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood.
The result was explained in penultimate form at a recent meeting.
Some of the ideas make sense and could be acted on, e.g., planting more flowers at the barricades or recognizing that as a multigenerational neighborhood, we might want to make it easier for residents to age in place. Other ideas require considerable capital to implement and the involvement of numerous actors outside the neighborhood. Such an idea is the construction of a bridge over the Forest Park Parkway to ensure greater safety to those who wish to access Forest Park. It’s a good idea, one that should have happened initially.
But where will the money come from?
Another idea is the creation of a distinctive district around the Delmar Metro station, change the existing street network, and foster multiuse development on adjacent parcels.
The plan mentions the possibility that Metro might wish to relinquish its garage at DeBaliviere and Delmar and that could also be a site for mixed use development.
A sound barrier along the north side of the Parkway would also be desirable. Are these realizable dreams or chimeras? Where’s the money?
The planners speak of creating a CID, an improvement district with a dedicated tax.
This CID would have to be voted on by the neighborhood and would add a fraction to everyone’s property tax.
To make things equitable, Washington University, which owns a significant amount of property in the neighborhood, would have to contribute.
As a nonprofit institution, the university is not taxed. How much this new tax could raise and how quickly is open to conjecture.
The planners feel it could be a catalyst to raising other funds. Would the neighborhood buy into this?
There are CIDs in the Central West End but they are used for security patrols.
Also advocated is increasing voluntary giving to the SDCC.
The SDCC is facing belt-tightening conditions.
The CDA grant which the council has received for years has been shrinking as federal funding has declined.
The council will need to increase its revenues from other sources if it wants to maintain its present staffing and activities.
In a matter of weeks, I will have been a neighborhood resident for 25 years.
In that time, I have seen considerable improvement in housing stock, falling crime, and continued diversity.
My friends, some of whom have lived here for over 4 decades, would concur. We’ve come a long way, we defied the odds and we are a model to other city neighborhoods. Success should not father complacency but at the same time we should be realistic about where we are. Taking steps that we can afford to improve certain conditions should begin and block units should be involved in planning.
I would love to see that bridge; if for nothing else it would make it far easier to walk the dogs southward. But, we have to think long and hard about what we want to pay for and how to do it.
My parents always used to caution me that Rome was not built in a day; I share that caution with you.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2014.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2014_04.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
