Historical Summer 2022 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Q: Where is the extra tax money going for the East Loop taxing district?
It is not evident in the depressing appearance of that area as you move east of Rosedale. A: Rachelle L’Ecuyer, executive director of the East Loop CID and an SDCC board member, provided our answer.
The East Loop Community Improvement District (CID) was formed in 2016.
I (Rachelle) was hired in August 2018 to develop the organization and implement the goals and mission of the CID.
The funds for the East Loop CID are designated by ordinance to provide for administration, economic development, and safety & maintenance.
The revenues for the CID are generated by a property assessment; there is not a sales tax imposed by the CID.
We manage security patrols in the area and are investing in a security camera program.
We also manage a maintenance crew that comes into the district three times a week to clean and remove trash.
The pandemic brought new challenges to the district and we developed grant programs to aid the businesses to help them through the stay-at-home order and get through the series of mandates that had been in place since March 2020.
The Pageant and Delmar Hall, which bring over 250,000 visitors to the district annually, were shut down for almost a year. Our goals were to help the businesses navigate this. That may not be a visible investment to a passerby.
However, only a couple of businesses closed and we are already seeing those spaces filled and there is a lot of interest in the available spaces. Ten new businesses in the CID opened in 2020 and 2021. Regarding, economic development, the East Loop CID has made most of the capital investments in the 5800 and 5900 blocks of Delmar.
We are planning a street lighting and enhancement project for the upcoming year.
Here are some of the projects we’ve undertaken: 1. Catenary Lights on the 5800 block of Delmar installed – fall 2020 2. New Parking Lot signage installed – summer 2021.
The East Loop CID also paved, striped, and landscaped the parking lot in 2018. 3. New trees planted in the 5800 and 5900 blocks of Delmar – fall of 2021 4. New trash/recycling containers installed throughout the district – December 2021 5. Planter project with St. Louis Artworks coming spring 2022 6. Two new crosswalks to be installed (Laurel & Delmar and DeGiverville & Delmar) – planned by June 2022 7. New crosswalk signage at The Pageant crossing – planned by June 2022 A presentation we gave at our March town hall meeting is available.
It provides a formal overview of the East Loop CID and our projects.
While we do have a focus on economic development, we are not developers, nor do we have jurisdiction over the properties in the district so we cannot enforce development.
We are working to encourage the owners of vacant buildings and vacant lots to develop them but that is all we can do related to those properties.
In the meantime, our hope is to implement a large scale capital project that will enhance the area and encourage more development.
This is a new column by Robert (Bob) Dowgwillo. Bob noticed people in the neighborhood that had a lot of the same questions about what was going on in the neighborhood that he did, so Bob decided to tackle one question each week and get some answers by those in the know.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Summer 2022.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2022_06.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
