Historical April 1997 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
I hope many of you have taken the time to look at the Peirce Report on the state of the St. Louis region in the Post-Dispatch.
They stress a factor I have found to be critical in assessing our area: Regional growth is quite small in economic terms and negative in terms of population.
There are those who write off St. Louis city.
They say don’t worry about its problems. Things are fine out here in Chesterfield (or another such community). What people in our area forget is that we succeed together or we fail together.
The rest of the world thinks of St. Louis—not 93 municipalities plus others outside the County.
Another telling comment in this Report Is the frequency with which St. Louis natives say: “This is St. Louis” or “We’ve never done that here.” I would say that the insularity is rather striking. I’ve heard those comments any number of times when I would mention a program another city was pursuing. Because it’s local doesn’t mean it’s the last answer to any problem.
We have to learn from other regions and copy programs that work.
If we never try anything different, we will never get beyond our current morass.
For one thing, we do need to address problems in regional terms. Political leaders, business leaders, community leaders all have to reach out. Somehow, we have to recapture the notion of the community good—not limited gain, not today’s profit. Skinker DeBaliviere, too, cannot just dwell on the improvements that have been made within its borders. Sure, crime is down, and housing has been rehabbed, and there are very good yearly events. But, this neighborhood, too, has to reach out to plan with adjacent areas.
We have started this process. Our neighborhood includes Parkview, most of which is in University City. Parkview residents sit on the SDCC Board and on its executive committee. That builds bridges across Skinker.
In addition, the Commercial Development Committee that has been finding ways to enhance Delmar as a commercial artery is working with the West End Community Conference to achieve this end. Aldermen Clay and McGuire worked together to enact the redevelopment ordinance for Delmar.
These are important steps and they need to continue.
If we can be successful in our special neighborhood, perhaps that success can be contagious.
It will be harder when it comes to the greater metropolitan region but it must be done.
If businesses create jobs anywhere in our area, it is a net plus.
If we cooperate to deal with other issues such as infrastructure, it is a net plus. Let’s make the statement “This is St. Louis” stand for a willingness to come together and to innovate for the betterment of everyone in our region. Let’s look beyond our borders for new ideas and strategies.
There are many things right with our area— livability not the least among them—so let’s fight to preserve and enhance and also to change for the better.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1997.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1997_04.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
