How to improve St. Louis?

[SCB123]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

The "hate" thread seems rather harsh, so let's have some constructive criticism. What are some problems in St. Louis city? How would you fix them (if you had the power to)?

EDIT: Title is supposed to be "How to improve St. Louis". Sorry, typo on my part.

Leadership, that can inspire and empower the people of STL, both city and county to get involved. There is great division in STL, and a general lack of appreciation for diversity. By diversity I mean race, but also where others come from and their life experiences. Anyone can build, and fix up a water front, but if the people don't have their heart in it, or the attitude is the same, nothing will change.

[hhillstl]

I believe St. Louis will improve as people continue moving to the city.

A couple of recent articles in the New Republic and the Atlantic highlight the fact that something significant is happening all across the country - in cities all over the US, there is a sort of reverse migration occurring as the same people (and/or their children) who once desired to own larger swaths of land and move away from busy city life are now desiring to be closer to the urban centers. This is not happening as rapidly in St. Louis as in some other cities for a variety of reasons mentioned here by other posters more knowledgeable than myself (I am a new resident), but it is clearly happening in St. Louis, and the latest census and demographic numbers seem to suggest that it will continue. St. Louis City has an incredible housing stock and seems to be in a good position to capitalize on this new urban energy, and for me it is an exciting time to have bought a home here. We'll see what happens.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by Todd.LA

Portland, Oregon had this same problem in the 1970's, with dead downtown and a freeway that cut off the city from the river. They tore out the freeway and turned it into a park along the bank of the river, and it worked out nicely. See: Harbor Drive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not sure if the situations are exactly analogous, but it worked out well for Portland.

That looks good, something that in their situation worked great. However, in the case of StL of course, these bridges/highways are very much used, whereas in Portland, Harbor Drive became obsolete as a long-haul thoroughfare. Yet, would be good indeed to determine reasonable cost method to open up that area, make more friendly to recreational/relaxation/etc. usage.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by loki03xlh

You have some great ideas, and all of them would help make this city great. The one thing that you forgot/missed was to fix the school system. Once that gets fixed, I believe that other things will get better just as a byproduct. The population will increase (many people would like to live in the city, but can't afford private school tuition). Crime will go down when more youth are in school being students instead of being hooligans on the street.

Also, I really wish the #6 on your list would happen, but I don't ever see it that way unless the city ever becomes the envy of the county.

Thanks , that list was created after only two beers! Yes, that is a very good point, an excellent critical one - one that I did indeed overlook at the time. Be interesting to compare the findings/recommendations from this report, for just one example, to what has actually happened over past 25 year
An Overview of School Improvement Programs.

But, again, important item you bring up...

[stepka]

Well folks keep talking about sending more money into the schools, but from my perspective, it's not money that's lacking, but regard for the students. I've seen some of the principals and superintendents who are in charge of the schools in the city and they mainly seem to be out for their own glorification at the expense of the kids. For instance, i subbed recently at one of those schools, and they didn't even have room numbers on the doors of the classrooms, despite the fact that it was the first day of school. Only a handful of teachers were out in the hall directing confused students to their classes, but one of them was me--I found a map somewhere. Also, the lockers weren't cleaned out from the year before--until they get some people in there who like and respect kids, the schools won't improve.

Another thing that would improve St. Louis is to get the info out about bus schedules and make it clear--I went to take the city bus one day and ended up walking 5 miles--I needed it though lol and had a great walk, but almost got rained on--it would have been nice to have the option to catch the bus. I might add that I spent the better part of an hour on the internet the night before studying up on my route--that's crazy.

One thing i saw a lot of on my RTW trip was market stalls--there were market days everywhere--only America seems to be stingy with that, and fresh produce was sold right off the street in many places. Also, markets tend to draw buskers (street entertainers) and that makes it a lot more fun to go to the parts of the city that have markets. I think the US has too many food laws--mainly to protect the interests of the corporations I think. And we still get sick.

[RickMG]

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

mod note: title fixed...

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Now, as to improve St Louis, some quick late Sat night thoughts:
1. cover the I-55/I-70 trench - allow more open feel between downtown and riverfront...
2. get good/better/honest city police organization...
3. improve north side - someone had some good ideas in another thread, need to find that...
4. make the riverfront enjoyable, work w/ the river, not against her...
5. get the MetroLink stronger - expand to critical areas, ensure safety of riders & platforms...
6. combine the city and county - enough of the stupidity...
7. city, county, and region work together: diversify & grow job opportunities...
8. celebrate the good, the positive, the past and the potential future, have pride, but be humble...
9. help the neighborhoods & ethnic areas - have more festivals, draw attention to how rich culture is...
10. preserve the old buildings, the history of the bricks and the people who built, lived, created here...

Excellent suggrestions. Personolly, I think that all parking at Lacledes Landing should be free after 5:00 p.m. in order to bring people in without costing the $5 right off the bat. Aggreed, light up Metro areas and increase city police inspection at all Metro stops. No loitering around stations. The elevators at Grand are contstantly crowded with some pretty tough kiids who hopfully are making you safer.