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First, what is left to fix? Much of the infrastructure is pretty far gone.
Second, what industry would relocate to the city? In THIS century, manufacturing jobs require computer skills, mathematical aptitude and the like. From my years of experience in recruiting employees in East St. Louis, you would be hard pressed to find those attributes in high school "graduates" in that city.
First, what is left to fix? Much of the infrastructure is pretty far gone.
Second, what industry would relocate to the city? In THIS century, manufacturing jobs require computer skills, mathematical aptitude and the like. From my years of experience in recruiting employees in East St. Louis, you would be hard pressed to find those attributes in high school "graduates" in that city.
There's actually still plenty of infrastructure left in EStL. Though a vast portion was destroyed, there are still several highways and railroads, among other things. And plenty of open land available for development.
Also, the kind of industrial jobs that EStL needs isn't high tech, computer-organized, sophisticated and precise manufacturing jobs. They need raw, mechanical, assembly line, put-this-part-here factory jobs. The kind of jobs that used to be in EStL but left. The kind that allow for a transition from lower class to middle class, which is what EStL needs more than anything right now. And I can think of several reasons that companies with these kinds of jobs to offer would want to move to EStL:
-Location: The Metro East is located right in the heart of the country, just 5-6 hours drive from many major cities including Kansas City, Memphis, Little Rock, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville, to name a few.
-Infrastructure: EStL has access to several highways and railroads that run through the area. Interstates 55, 70, 64, and 255 all run through the town, along with multiple railroad lines. Several RR yards and terminals also surround the area.
-Land: There's a lot of land that's either wide open or could be easily cleared and redeveloped for industrial purposes. Barely anything would have to be torn down or removed to make way for new construction, and there won't be much opposition to new construction either, so there will be few hurdles.
-Cheap Labor: In a place like EStL, the people there will take any jobs they can get. So they won't be unionized and demand high pay here; if the companies in question pay decent wages, they'll easily find those willing to work.
As long as you believe low wage is better than no wage ESL will always be dirt poor. ESL is what it is because it still waiting for the miracles the politicians have promised for 50 years
Forget the blather. What do you actually have in ESL that is worth saving?
Do you have K-12 public schools, private K-12 schools, college, airport, churches, day care, grocer, meat or fish market, gas station, large public park, golf course, zoo, botanical garden, theater, shopping, video store, restaurants, public library? Fire, police, hospital or medical clinic? In what actual condition are the ESL streets? Do you have an early warning siren all residents can hear? Do you have doctors who work and live in ESL?
There's actually still plenty of infrastructure left in EStL. Though a vast portion was destroyed, there are still several highways and railroads, among other things. And plenty of open land available for development.
This is what will make E STL attractive to developers in the future. Due to its location alone it should have remained a developed suburb of St. Louis, but now the increased suburbanization has bypassed E STL and gone to Belleville and the satellite cities around it. Many of the highways and bridges that the residents of the Metro East take to get into St. Louis either run through, are located in, or are located immediately adjacent to E STL.
It should also be noted that E STL has several MetroLink stops as well.
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Also, the kind of industrial jobs that EStL needs isn't high tech, computer-organized, sophisticated and precise manufacturing jobs. They need raw, mechanical, assembly line, put-this-part-here factory jobs. The kind of jobs that used to be in EStL but left. The kind that allow for a transition from lower class to middle class, which is what EStL needs more than anything right now.
I see three issues/questions that are raised from this:
1. Basic manufacturing has gotten more high-tech since the industry started to leave E STL in the past. I'm not saying everyone is going to need an advanced degree in computer science or anything, but the industry has changed to an extent. jlawrence01 did have a point there.
2. What makes you so certain that the residents of E STL would jump at these jobs? Many of the people who used to work in the former industrial jobs in E STL have since died or moved to other parts of the metro. For many people who live there now, industry was never apart of their daily life. I'm sure many in E STL would like a stable job, especially if they don't have one now, but I'm not so certain that this would be the case for the whole town, and thus it couldn't be the primary factor that turns E STL around once and for all.
3. Whether the residents would want to work in said industry or not, how can E STL attract industry to itself instead of neighboring Sauget? Sauget's population is minuscule, but the whole reason the town exists and thrives is because they let industry basically do whatever they want. If the industry goes to Sauget, then E STL loses the taxes. E STL would need that money to improve itself.
4. Finally, assuming the Sauget issue is taken off of the table, how could industry be convinced to comeback to E STL in the first place? That's an issue that plagues much of the United States, let alone crime ridden E STL. Why locate there when there is a high risk that you or your employers would be the victim of burglary or a violent crime? You're correct that there is plenty of cheap land that can be developed, but does the cheapness of the land offset the risk of being located in such a dangerous city?
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And I can think of several reasons that companies with these kinds of jobs to offer would want to move to EStL:
-Location: The Metro East is located right in the heart of the country, just 5-6 hours drive from many major cities including Kansas City, Memphis, Little Rock, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville, to name a few.
-Infrastructure: EStL has access to several highways and railroads that run through the area. Interstates 55, 70, 64, and 255 all run through the town, along with multiple railroad lines. Several RR yards and terminals also surround the area.
-Land: There's a lot of land that's either wide open or could be easily cleared and redeveloped for industrial purposes. Barely anything would have to be torn down or removed to make way for new construction, and there won't be much opposition to new construction either, so there will be few hurdles.
I'm separating the part about cheap labor from this block quote because I want to make a different point with it, but all of these points are why I think that E STL can be turned around some day.
E STL has tried to turn itself multiple in the previous decades, and most of the attempts ended in complete failure or only spurred minor success. Either way, the city is still declining to this day. East St. Louis used to be the 4th largest city in Illinois, and now its only the 5th largest city in the Metro East.
Considering E STL is not apart of a larger city that still has well off areas, and thus some money to spend on projects that would attempt to turn the city around, I honestly think that E STL's best hope at this point as a city is to continue to hollow out. That doesn't help its current residents, but I think that E STL might be too far down the rabbit hole at this point. Its best bet might just be to become so severely depopulated that pioneering developers, whether they're residential, commercial, or even industrial, decide to move back into the city due to its prime location in Greater St. Louis.
E STL has the bridges, the interstates, and MetroLink access that make it a prime location. St. Louis' ongoing renewal, especially in downtown, will only further highlight the attractiveness of E STL's natural location which might bring in developers to the city in the future. It would probably take decades for any sort of turn around to truly happen, but it seems like that might be the only solution that might have even a slight chance of working, at least in my mind. I say this because what else can be done that hasn't been tried already in E STL? St. Clair County has put all of its eggs in the Belleville basket, and Illinois put E STL under a financial advisory board in the 80s in return for bailout money, but it's not like the building of the Casino Queen stopped E STL's decline.
I'm not trying to be overly negative, or to shoot down your ideas, but I honestly do wonder what can be done that hasn't been tried already.
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-Cheap Labor: In a place like EStL, the people there will take any jobs they can get. So they won't be unionized and demand high pay here; if the companies in question pay decent wages, they'll easily find those willing to work.
As linicx pointed out, this still leaves the residents of E STL in a bad position. Many won't have the qualifications needed for types of jobs being brought in, and those who do won't have proper voice at their jobs because, as you said, they're cheap labor.
It should also be noted that you can't actually get truly cheap labor in E STL compared to other states due to Illinois' minimum wage. A company could pay its workers less in depressed area Greater STL on the Missouri side of the river than E STL due to Missouri's lower minimum wage.
That issue aside, and assuming companies move back in, there's also the issue of those who do get the new jobs then having enough money to finally move out of E STL for good. Why stay in E STL if you finally have enough money to move into neighboring Belleville or Fairview Heights? Both Belleville and Fairview have proper city services in place, and let's also not forget that both cities are far safer than E STL.
I say this because, even if industry does lift many out of abject poverty like you hope it will, there would still be a huge gap before E STL the city would have made enough money off the industrial companies in order to provide the city services and infrastructure projects needed to keep the residents who are now becoming upwardly mobile in place.
Again, I'm not trying to just shoot down your argument in a mean way, but I legitimately have no idea what can honestly be done to fix E STL. The elected officials, whether they're on the state or local level, honestly don't know either, and whatever it finally is, it won't be an easy task.
East St. Louis' story is extremely tragic in that regard.
Belleville is a German town that was founded about 20year after ESL. It is the largest city in the county today. It was busy in the 60s when I lived there. ESL became a black stronghold for a number or reasons related to the two world wars and industrialization. Unlike Chicago neighborhoods gentrification did not come to East Saint Louis.
In 2010 the state earmarked eight million dollars to create a port city at ESL as a gateway to the Midwest. Two hundred acres of former industrial land was set aside for the project. What happened? Apex Oil is not using the ESL Port as the berth is 31% shorter than the averages of all docks.
In 2012 Pekin, IL set aside seven acres for a public port. It should be operational this year. The Port of Havana, IL is 1/10 the size of ESL has private and public public port and a pub;ic marina nearby. The Port of Peoria has a public and private marinas nearby. Both ports have been in operation for years.
Apparently ESL is still waiting? It would seem no amount of money will magically change ESL into a bedroom community or a port city.
I did not mention Reagan or Obama you did. Does it matter? No. It will take years and massive amounts of money to revive ESL. Neither DC or Springfield will invest in it without reason; there is none. .
Why is it no one wants to talk about the $8M and the ESL Gateway Port to the Midwest?
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Originally Posted by MUTGR
Then don't bring up DC politics when talking about East St. Louis.
You can't fix St.Louis. Why would you want to? Majority of its buildings have already been demolished and the city itself wasn't built for service economy like the cities on the east coast who survived through this shift. Manufacturing is not coming back unless you plan to lower your environmental standard to those of third world countries or lowering minimum wage to $1/hour.
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