Historical February–March 2016 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
2016 is a significant year on the national, state and neighborhood level.
As you have no doubt noticed, this is an election year and Americans will select a new president.
The struggle for party nominations is already quite contentious and no one is telling us strategies to improve safety, education and commerce in our city. Americans vote less than their European counterparts and take less interest in political life. Our fragmented institutions and frequent elections may tax the citizenry but this is not the time to stop paying attention.
If you are not registered to vote, you can do so at our Charing Cross library branch on Skinker, at the Election Board downtown, or at any library branch.
We elect a new governor as well this year. Those stakes are high as well. Politics can be nasty or dirty or ennobling but whatever else they matter. Politics decides who gets what from government and what is legal and what is not. Unfortunately, the voice of central cities is very muted in Jefferson City.
We need to act to make it more potent. 2016 is also the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council. Neighbors in Rosedale and Washington Heights joined 3 churches (St. Roch, Grace United Methodist, Delmar Baptist) and Washington University to form an organization to stabilize an increasingly diverse neighborhood.
The Council fought speculators, monitored crime, sold the neighborhood to the greater community and worked in countless ways to ensure stability.
Now fifty years later we can see the success of these efforts.
The neighborhood is far more stable and remains diverse.
It is not a utopia but crime is limited and there is significant pride of place.
The SDCC is talking of various ways to commemorate this anniversary.
There could be a plaque honoring founders.
A commemorative run has been suggested and also a neighborhood walk with canines. One of our concert series will be marked as a time of celebration. Fifty years is a long time for any institution to endure. Perhaps it is also to time to examine what it is doing now, what could it be doing, and why.
The SDCC should be the fulcrum of the neighborhood.
It is where residents should go with questions or concerns. Communication is always critical.
There are committee meetings and housing corporation meetings that residents can attend.
The more we know one another the stronger we are.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2016.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2016_02.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
