Historical February–March 2022 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Dear neighbors, I had no idea when I moved into the neighborhood in 2016 that I would be running to serve as your 28th ward alderwoman a year later. Luckily, I had 10 years as a St. Roch parent to get to know many of you so when I moved onto the 5900 block of Pershing it already felt like home.
In my four-and-a-half years in office I’ve been lucky to work with many more neighbors in Skinker-DeBaliviere as well as the West End, DeBaliviere Place, the Central West End, Hi-Pointe and Wydown Skinker. It’s a wonderful place to represent because so much of the positive energy in the city is generated in these neighborhoods. I’ve also gotten a good perspective on what it means to live in other parts of the city by seeing what my colleagues are faced with in other wards.
I am honored to have served you in this role as alderperson and grateful for all the lessons I’ve learned along the way. You’ve heard me write about climate change in this column before, and the chance to support meaningful action to address the crisis is the reason I resigned in January. I’m now directing the Midwest Climate Collaborative and look forward to serving my community in this new role. I’ll be applying much of what I learned as a locally elected official and previously at Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
There are a few things I’ve learned specifically about Skinker-DeBaliviere that I’d like to share in my final column. 1. Neighbors volunteering their time make the difference in Skinker-DeBaliviere.
When I look at the difference between our neighborhood and others, it’s the fact that neighbors give countless hours putting on events like the Wintermarkt, Porchfest and Rags to Riches and that they have dedicated themselves to advocating for the neighborhood to fight redlining, support smart development, and protect housing options in the neighborhood. Whether it’s planting daffodil bulbs, engaging with a problematic business, or editing this newspaper you can thank your neighbors who volunteer their time to make sure residents are safe and the neighborhood is a beautiful, vibrant place to be.
I know how busy people are and how easy it is to think that someone else will handle a problem or that the city will take care of things so I am grateful for all of the work of individual volunteers, block leaders, and the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council (SDCC).
The SDCC committees provide opportunities for people to get more familiar with issues of safety, development, and historic preservation and have been a big help to me these last several years.
If you love Skinker-DeBaliviere, I hope you will find a way to get involved. 2. Density is not a bad word. It’s something we need to embrace if we want to live in a thriving, urban neighborhood.
The quality of life in the neighborhood goes up when the streets are safe, the businesses are successful, and we have access to good housing, schools, and jobs.
These things are made possible by the presence of more people.
All of the volunteers I mentioned above are that much more important when a lot of people share a space because without good neighbors, things like garbage and noise can become a problem. Those aren’t reasons to avoid density, but they are issues that need to be addressed to preserve everyone’s experience. One thing we’ve all learned this past year is that things are changing and they’re not likely to go back to how they were.
While many of our houses reflect lifestyles from 100 years ago, our lives today are serviced by online shopping and delivery services for much smaller families and the definition of family has grown and changed, thankfully.
The strategies that kept the neighborhood alive 40 years ago need to be updated for the world we live in today.
I hope that we can learn from the efforts of the past that have made Skinker-DeBaliviere what it is today and, equally important, that we make room for new and changing ideas about what is going to keep it great for the next 20 years. 3.
Finally, and most importantly, we need more voices in the conversation.
In addition to being a strong neighborhood organization, the SDCC is a certified Community Development Corporation, which gives it certain status and access to grant opportunities.
In my experience, some blocks are more engaged with the SDCC than others.
I have met many people, however, who are organized and active on their blocks but not with the Council.
These neighbors are also working hard, looking out for one another, investing in their homes, and making the neighborhood a safer, better place to live.
The diversity of Skinker-DeBalivere is one of its strengths, but a diverse community can still be divided and plagued by systemic racism. Given the tremendous opportunity and access the SDCC offers, I look forward to dismantling divides and working towards more proportional decision-making on behalf of the entire neighborhood.
While I am no longer serving as alderwoman, I will continue to enjoy living in Skinker-DeBaliviere as your neighbor.
It has been a great honor to serve my community in this role and I’m grateful for everyone who supported me along the way!
I hope that you will continue to call on me whenever I can be helpful.
I look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood!
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2022.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2022_02.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
