Mother Nature Raises Bar On Mullanphy Effort

Strong storms this past weekend have dealt a major setback to the efforts to preserve the historic Mullanphy Emigrant Home in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood.

What began last year as an emergency project to save one of the city's most historic buildings, became a fate uncertain now with the structural integrity of the Mullanphy severely weakened.

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance, an ad hoc coaliton of city organizations, formed this year to work together across neighborhood boundaries to preserve the building. The effort was gaining momentum just as this latest setback occurred.

The immediate future of the building is unknown. There will certainly be an updated assessment of its structural condition. After the initial damage in 2006, the building was nearly demolished for public safety purposes. Facing a huge challenge, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group intervened, taking on the responsibility of the building and its preservation.

The effort to preserve the Mullanphy has significance beyond one building. The larger challenge we face is how to elevate the cause of historic preservation beyond ad hoc initiatives to one with sustainable funding and a physical development strategy.

Maybe there is greater potential for the Historic Mullanphy Alliance than we first believed?

(photograph courtesy of Michael Allen, Ecology of Absence)

STL 2017

With so many efforts underway to improve the St. Louis area, there is a wide range of possibilities for supporting our region's growth. How do you think we should prioritize our efforts?

Tutoring kids in school?
Neighborhood cleanups?
Historic preservation?
Home repair or rehab?
Demolition of certain beyond-hope structures?
Park and greenspace improvement?
Outdoor/farmer's market support?
Economic development?
Senior services?
Stream cleanup?
Tourism promotion?
Neighborhood involvement?

In the past ten years, we've made great progress...

Major improvements downtown...
Historic rehab across the city...
New downtown stadium...
City population stabilized and increasing...
Substantial redevelopment on the city's northside...

For the next ten years, what should we set out to accomplish?

New Mississippi Bridge?
Restructure public education?
Revitalize Dr. Martin Luther King commercial corridor?
Redraw certain neighborhood boundaries?
Increase our bio-tech status?
Gateway Mall?

We have momentum. How should we leverage it?

Old North St. Louis House Tour - May 12

This is a tour for all St. Louis. The positive changes happening in Old North are proof positive that community development does work. Check it out so you can be part of the change.

Missouri Takes Lead in SLPS Debate

When Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ("DESE") removed accreditation from the St. Louis Public Schools, I think most people were under the impression that the state's board of education would now take charge of the city's public schools.

However, subsequent to DESE's move, the debate has quickly shifted to the state legislature in Jefferson City, where elected officials from all across Missouri are now debating the future of the city's public schools. Did anyone see this coming?

The debate has evolved from a local issue into a statewide discussion about the future of urban education in the City of St. Louis.

Metrolink Convert?

Yesterday I rode the new Shrewsbury Metrolink extension for the first time. What a beautiful ride! Great views, fun, and convenient! Very modern.

I rode it to the end of the line, and then walked the rest of the way home. The walk took about 30 minutes.

Let's see....if I start riding Metrolink to work, I could...

Save $$$ on gasoline...
Save $$$ on car repairs...
Eliminate the $120 per month payroll deduction for parking...
Get regular daily exercise...
Have a safe and relaxing ride to and from downtown...

2-Way Streets Rising

Traffic safety and how we can make our neighborhood streets more inviting are favorite neighborhood topics. One of the simplest and lowest cost ways to slow down cars is to have 2-way way streets. Making a narrow city street 2-way really works!

It may seem counter-intuitive to have 2-way traffic on a one lane street, but you should see the difference in the speed of cars. Drivers are forced to slow down for oncoming traffic, and they a lot more in general to pay attention to, so they naturally lower their speed.

Yesterday, we found one of the narrowest 2-way streets anywhere in St. Louis. It's Bonita, in the first block west of Macklind, one block north of Loughborough. This block of Bonita leads you to one of the coolest alleys in the city, a semi-circular one serving the homes on Woodbine Court.

The next time someone tells you your street is too narrow to be 2-way, take them over to Bonita and show them how calm the traffic is.

Prefer speeding traffic down your block? Make it one-way.

For more info on the neighborhood-friendly aspects of 2-way streets, check out: streetsblog.org

Mississippi Bluffs Update

According to a reliable source in the Carondelet area, Michael Curran's Mississippi Bluffs project is about to commence construction.

Will this be the first high-end riverfront housing development in the City of St. Louis in over fifty years?

Bevo Rising

There's a lot of rehab going on in Little Bosna. Old storefronts are being reopened. There's an attractive new coffee shop opened just southwest of the old Gravois Bootery. Closer to the viaduct there's lots of mixed use rehabs. Even Bevo Mill is getting in the act, with frequent radio advertising on KTRS announcing "...Bevo Mill Game Time is..."

A couple of years ago, the city changed the lane configuration along Gravois through the area to create a 2-way center turn lane. However, after receiving complaints from concerned citizens, it was changed back. I must be in the minority, but I prefer the center turn lane alternative. It always feels safer making left turns when you aren't afraid someone is going to rear end you at 45 mph.

QuikTrip just closed its store across from the Bevo Days festival lot in favor of a much expanded offer a few blocks in at Chippewa and Gravois. Gas prices at the new store were 20 cents a gallon cheaper than what I paid yesterday at the Hampton and I-44 Shell.

With QuikTrip now doing some strategic store relocations, it will be interesting to see what happens to their closed locations. They are trying to sell them. The one at Gravois and Heege has been for sale for sometime, and they've lowered the price at least once.

For competition reasons, they probably would not allow a gas station to reopen at the sites. Maybe they're looking for quick oil change or auto repair uses?

Stairway Together

Yesterday's mail came with a letter from Matt's high school containing the electronic transfer forms required to pay tuition. The cost will be more than double what we've been paying through eighth grade. The school has an excellent tradition, so we are looking forward to an exciting new phase in our lives. On the same day the mail arrived marking a milestone in Matt's education, he made another in his efforts as a young musical artist.

For guitarists, it's a rite of passage to learn Zeppelin's classic, "Stairway To Heaven". I can't remember how old I was when I first played it, but it was a very long time ago. For the past couple of months, Matt's been working on learning the song himself.

He's had formal music training since first grade, including three years' piano lessons, and playing trombone for his school's jazz and concert bands. This year, he made first trombone for an all-metro honor jazz band at UMSL.

However, guitar has always been his creative diversion. There hasn't been any structured training, just occasionally ne passing along pointers while he's playing. His guitar playing's all self-directed, and he's a pure ear player.

It's interesting the parallels between sports and music. Both are creative physical pursuits, and the earlier one starts the easier they are. Last night, Matt calls me downstairs to play accompaniment bass while he practices improvising leads.

He's getting pretty good, and's already far better than I was at his age. He and a couple of his friends have started a rock band, and they're getting pretty good. Darn good. Instead of just pounding on drums and electric guitars, they're working out instrumental and vocal harmonies. For eighth graders, they're good.

In the middle of last night's practice session, he asks me to show him some more of the passages in Stairway to Heaven. We're sitting in chairs, facing each other, as I walk him through the changes. He can't read a note of music for guitar and knows maybe three or four chords if you call them out to him. But he was hungry to learn the remaining parts of this song.

We went over them a couple of times, and he was real close. I asked him if he had the song loaded on his Ipod, which he did. The Ipod is connected to a sound system, so upon scrolling to the song, it's like inviting Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to play alongside in our basement.

We're playing along with the Ipod, and Matt is doing well keeping up. The length and repetitive nature of the song gives us multiple opportunities to work on the parts he's working out. He's making rapid progress through each verse. The hard rock ending is standard power chord fare, so we were jamming in stride to the finish.

Connecting families across generations through music is a reward none of us thought of during all those years of lessons and practicing. Mom and Dad, thanks to you guys for providing a music tradition to us, and Matt, thanks to you for carrying it on.

Taking Out the Trash

Fortunately, we don't witness scenes like the one in the picture above in St. Louis. But we have enough of our own decay to keep redevelopers busy. When things hit rock bottom, whether in terms of abandoned buildings or vacant land, we need tools to repair the damage.

Assemblying sites for redevelopment in blighted areas is a key first step in the redevelopment process. Sometimes, eminent domain is the only option. The next time you hear someone critical of the use of eminent domain, think of vacant land or buildings in the middle of an abandoned neighborhood.

Losing the Haircut Lottery

There's a race underway on the top of my head. It's between my gray hair and receding hair line, and at this stage, it's pretty much a draw.

I'm not much into haircuts, and have never established loyalty to a particular barber shop or salon. When it's time for a cut, I go for convenience.

Saturday we're at the ScholarShop in Webster. After about twenty minutes, I've got what I'm looking for and Kerri's still shopping. Hey, I can get a haircut! So, I take off in the car to scope out Big Bend for a salon. There's Music Folk, then KFNS, and a few doors further, sure enough, there's a hair cut shop.

It seems like hair salons are all pretty much the same. When you walk in, you're hit with a wall of air heavy from the smell of hair products, and on the coffee tables, there are stacks of style magazines filled with pictures of gorgeous models.

I look for the places with a couple stylists sitting around. As I enter this shop, it fits the bill: in the back, two ladies are reading the paper.

One stands up, gives me a big smile, and offers her hand in introduction. She asks if I'd like a shampoo, and I say "yes" and follow her to the shampoo sink. For me, the next twenty minutes will be torture. It always starts with the same question: "How do you like it?"

I don't know anything about cutting hair, and can't describe how I "like it". So I say, "Uh, take about an inch off, and make it even with the top of the ears". Okay, I know it's not much of an answer, but that's my stock reply. Next off come the glasses and for the next ten or fifteen minutes, I'm legally blind and at the mercy of the stylist.

She starts cutting. Now comes the small talk. "Do you work?" she asks. We small talk about job stuff. "Oh, that sounds interesting!" she says. Next she tells me about the 18-year old home she and her newlywed husband purchased in December in Valley Park. They wanted something "newer" and Webster Groves was too expensive.

I'm thinking about asking her how it's working out for the Valley Park City Council and their anti-illegal immigration ordinance when she starts telling me about her friends who bought an older home in St. Ann, Missouri. She said how her friends had done a lot to fix it up. I said I thought St. Ann was nice. She said how one time she and her husband got lost trying to find St. Ann, and how some people don't like "to venture". Then she said how her friends wanted to move to Valley Park, too.

I'm trying to figure out what she means by "venture" as she starts finishing up the haircut. She asks me how I like it. Everything is blurry, so she hands me my glasses. It looks a little uneven. I reach up and start mussing with it. "Oh, you like it messy!" she asks.

It has that Woody Woodpecker flip thing working in the front. "Well, I....uh...it looks a little uneven...Could you take a little bit more off the top?"

Back off with the glasses and she starts cutting some more. Her motions are more feverish this time. Now a feeling of dread starts to weigh in my gut. She stops cutting and hands me my glasses. She gives me a mirror and says, "Look at the back! The back is so important, and we never stop to look at it!". She whirls me around and I'm looking back through the mirror.

Now there's a noticeable left to right slant. "It looks good!" I say. I need to leave. "I like it!" She takes the smock thing off of me and I get up and reach for my wallet. We walk to the cashier's station and she tells me it will be $21 for today. She fills out a little temporary business card and reintroduces herself.

I leave out the front of the store, taking in a big breath of fresh air, glad to have the haircut done. Looking in the vanity mirror in the car, I can see that the bald head has built a solid lead over the gray hair.

Loughborough Commons Update

Based on the number of cars in the parking lot, activity at the new Loughborough Commons shopping center in South City is getting busier by the day.

From the "Carondeletter", newsletter for the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation (CCBF), here is a report about the new shopping center:

"In September Schnuck's opened their new and larger market at the Loughborough Commons Shopping Center (I55 and Loughborough). The store provides for any needs and is beautifully designed.

In mid-October Lowe's opened their very large store at the same shopping center. Lowe's manager, Jacob Lutes says "We're excited about this being the first store inside the city limits." The store has 154 employees-60 percent are full-time. In addition to the 116,000 square feet of retail sales, there is a garden center of 31,000 sqare feet.

The ribbon cutting was held on October 21st with the following present: Mayor Francis Slay, Alderman Matt Villa, Alderman Fred Heitert 12th Ward, Alderman Fred Wessels 13 Ward, Sr. Marie Charles Buford, Executive Director of CCBF-represented by Ted Naegel. CCBF received a gift of $1,000 on opening day.

Desco, the developer for the shopping center, reports another 43,000 square feet of retail space is planned to include 7-12 retailers."

Thanks to CCBF for this information. For more information about CCBF, please call (314)752-6339 or visit them online at ccbf-inc.org.

Mullally Field Fundraiser

St. Mary Magdalen parish on the city's southside is holding a trivia night to raise funds to improve the soccer field next to the parish center. The date is March 24, the price is $120 for a table of eight, and includes beer, soda, and popcorn.

Funds are being raised to install lighting for the soccer fields. Lights are vital to increasing the use of the facility. Increased use means more revenue to support the long term viability of the facility.

For more information, please contact Mike Schwartz, parishioner at St. Mary Magdalen church, 314-481-6542. Thanks.

Magnolia Square Church Key

The new name for the Manchester strip in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood is "The Grove". The Grove is a hot night spot in St. Louis. I met Calvin last night during our first night time visit to The Grove.

The Church Key in The Grove doesn't allow smoking in the main bar. In the back they have put up a little one-room building with a fire pit where smokers gather. Calvin's job is to stoke the fire. The Church Key is owned by the same family that owns Bellon Wrecking.

The little building with the fire pit is made out of pallets of salvaged brick, stacked three high. The bricks are fastened to the pallets with steel straps. The fire pit is in the center of the room, and the roof is reinforced by huge steel I-beams and covered by salvaged steel plating. Adding to the casual atmosphere, there are a couple of strands of large-sized, Christmas lights hung from the ceiling. There's a small boom box in the corner playing music, but you couldn't hear it until very late at night when the conversation and the crackling fire had quieted down. The little room is cozy and inviting. From the outside, it looks like a primitive brick mound.

Calvin and I talked about demolition. Calvin works for the Bellons. Bellon lost out on the bid to Spirtas for the Gasometer demolition over on Chouteau. Spirtas and Bellon are competitors in the demolition business. Calvin said that Bellon and Spirtas are the two biggest demo contractors in St. Louis behind Alberici. Calvin laughed when he told me how Bellon won a bid to a demolition right next door to the Spirtas office.

The Grove is rapidly improving and it has a feel different from any of the other hip destinations around St. Louis. It's an old highway. Last nite, we had to park a few blocks away from the Church Key to find a parking space on Manchester. The other nearby bars and restaurants were packed. One member of our party said the new "R-Bar" is the latest hot spot. The Chouteau viaduct just reopened, making it easier to get to The Grove from the east. Calvin said this part of Manchester Road is the old Route 66.


Bellon demolished the old Chouteau viaduct. The viaduct travels over lots of rail lines. Calvin said the railroad has its own rules. They wouldn't let Bellon work during daylight hours, so the demolition had to all be done in the middle of the night. The new viaduct is beautiful and reconnects St. Louis east and west.

I spent most of my time back in the little brick room with the smokers around the fire. Even though the weather has warmed up, it was still cool enough outside to enjoy a warm fire. Calvin and I took turns stoking it. Occasionally, I'd walk back inside the main bar. The Church Key is a beautiful historic rehab on the north side of Manchester.

Out back, next to the little building with the fire pit, there's a concrete patio with some stone benches. One of the benches is next to the back fence. I climbed up on it to look over the fence and into the neighborhood. About ten yards past the fence, on a formely vacant lot, there's a brand new, beautiful playground for children and families.


The north side of Forest Park Southeast is now on the National Register of Historic Places and the Church Key is one of many historic rehabs completed or underway in the neighborhood. When the Bellons renovated the Church Key, they used some of the contents from the old St. Aloysius Church near Cunetto's on the Hill to finish the rehab. Bellon demolished St. Aloysius last year to make way for the new, upscale Magnolia Square housing development.

The demolition of St. Aloysius reminded me of the demolition of the old Arena. I had many fond memories, all sports related, of St. Al's. The gym at St. Al's had a Lamella roof, just like the Arena, only smaller. The coolest thing about a Lamella roof is the wide, unsupported span of wood-framing it creates. It makes for great sight lines. If you were ever in the Arena, you know what I mean. At St. Al's it was the same thing, only smaller. We used to watch CYC basketball games in the St. Al's gym. It was my favorite gym on the CYC circuit and one of the oldest.

Now the church, the school, and the gym are gone and the site is being developed into a subdivison of upscale homes. The parishioners have been assigned to St. Ambrose on the Hill. Neighbors of the old St. Al's were happy to see the new homes come in. The houses at Magnolia Square have nice designs, with alley-facing garages, front porches, and many quality features. Selling in the middle-upper three hundred thousand dollar range, Magnolia Square has raised the bar substantially for home prices in the area.

Back at the Church Key, some of the custmers, neighbors of mine, were talking about the reuse of old St. Aloysius church parts. Pews had been converted to booths, a stained glass window is back-lit into a nice wall feature, and the old kneelers are now foot rests for the bar. Using old church parts in bars and restaurants is nothing new in St. Louis.

The most famous example was the old Talayna's pizza place across from Washington University. Talayna's was filled with sculpture and stained glass from many old city churches. Talayna's closed and the old building was torn down. The religious artworks all found new homes. An attractive new building has taken its place.

We talked some more about the pews and the kneelers inside the Church Key, and how cool the whole place is. One person said how maybe someday the pews in our church would end up in a restaurant. Or maybe something like Ninth Street Abbey? It could happen.

A couple years ago, St. Aloysius was a vacant, surplus church and Manchester Road in Forest Park Southeast was mostly filled with vacant old brick buildings, left behind when Highway 40 bypassed Manchester Road. There was no such thing as "The Grove".

Today, the old St. Aloysius church site has been transformed into an upscale housing development, and there is new life in "The Grove", some of it transported from St. Aloysius Church.

Springtime In the Garden

With nice days stringing together, the ground is warming up and bulbs are starting to flower.

The dead, grey days of winter are fading and giving way to a colorful spring and summer. Welcome the change!

Botanical Heights

On the eastern half of the old McRee Town neighborhood, a new housing development is remaking this once blighted area. For years, drivers on Interstate 44 traveled passed blocks of mostly abandoned, derelict buildings in the heart of the city. News stories of violent crime were frequent. In the larger McRee Town area, this eastern half was by far the most deteriorated.

Today, new homes nearly fill out the site. At the grand opening, there were lines of homebuyers awaiting the opportunity to make deposits on their new homes. The location is conveniently situated, near the SLU Hospital complex, the neighborhoods of South Grand, the Hill, and downtown.

The vacancy factor in the former residential housing stock was significant. There are those in the community who decry the full-scale demoliton of buildings, and displacement of the few remaining, very low income, residents. There are others who see the project as a much needed, huge success, one which draws new homeowners to the city, and reestablishes the housing market.

There is no doubt the view from Highway 44 is vastly improved, especially compared to what it was five years ago.

The BJC Lease - It's All There!

For anyone looking for a great primer on St. Louis, look no further than the pending BJC lease. It's got it all...

...the sale or leasing of city property
...advancing the city's bid to become a leader in bio-tech
...expanding the city's base of both construction and permanent jobs
...memories of ward redistricting
...citizen petitions
...expansion of the city's health care industry
...creation of neighborhood parks
...expansion of health care services on the city's northside
...revenue creation for the city of St. Louis
...distribution of park funding to wards and neighborhoods
...the role of the Aldermanic Black Caucus
...the role of the Board of Aldermen
...the role of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment

If you thought the issue was simply a choice between hospital expansion or saving parkland, you need to go back to school!

How it happens...

http://stlouis.godengo.com/blog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=66&blogId=1

Does anyone know who the writer of the At Home Blog post linked above is? It's a great example of how the St. Louis area converts newcomers into charmed supporters.

The writer moved to the midwest in 1999, and was travelling on interstates and on and offramps, until he/she ventured into one of our most historic areas, when the conversion began.

Mullanphy Community Drive, Part 2

A few years back, a book came out entitled "Bowling Alone". It was about the decline in our sense of community and the fall off in the number of community-based organizations. Fortunately, that's not much of a problem here in St. Louis.

Now in our high-tech age, we have the added power to create online communities. It's easier and cheaper than ever to network with others. Our challenge is to take this easy access and leverage it into action. We need to turn the easy access we enjoy and convert it into positive results.

Everyone visiting STL Rising is aware of the effort to help save the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. So far, proponents have raised about $15,000 of the roughly $150,000 needed to stabilize the storm damaged building. We need to take our efforts to the next level. We need to turn our friends and contacts into partners in the effort. Let’s use the internet as one tool to build a coalition of organizations supporting the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group in its effort to rebuild this landmark St. Louis building.

We need internet readers to approach their neighbors, friends, and membership organizations about joining the coalition to save the Mullanphy. Let’s create a grass roots movement around this cause. Starting online, then reaching out person to person, we can bridge St. Louis boundaries of neighborhood identity, wards, the north/south division, etc, to support a big-time, specific, historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization goal of one of our neighbors, Old North St. Louis.

This is also an opportunity for bloggers to use their influence to engage the community around this specific, community building goal.

Let’s hear from the folks. We need to build the network. And we need a name for the (Save-The-Mullanphy) Coalition. I pledge to organize all of the STL Rising responses and work to join these people and their organizations with the effort being led by the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.

Please contact me at rbonasch@sbcglobal.net or through the comment section to find out more about getting involved in this grass roots community building project.

Mullanphy Community Drive

A group of city supporters met yesterday at the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group office to continue the effort to restore the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. It's going to take a lot more than music lessons to raise the kind of dollars necessary to rebuild the storm damaged south wall of the building.

The estimated cost to rebuild the wall is over $100,000. To date, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has raised approximately $15,000. We're making good progress, but we still have a long way to go.

There's the immediate priority to stabilize the building from further damage. And then there's the long range work to develop the property for its permanent reuse. We're working to raise awareness of the Mullanphy building, its significance to St. Louis, its important role in the revitalization of the Old North neighborhood, and its potential as a rallying point to connect St. Louisans who share a love for our city and want to be active in our city's rebirth.

We need to expand the base of this effort by forming a coalition of partners around this project. We need to come up with a name for the group. Suggestions welcome. The coalition will connect people and organizations across neighborhood and ward boundaries, north and south city, and beyond the city limits.

We are reaching out to individuals and organizations to join this effort. We need a name for our group. We meet again next week. Any recommendations for possible coalition names to take back to the committee?

STL Rising: Citizens, Bloggers, Developers Get in the Mix

St. Louis is waking up. This week's edition of the St. Louis Business Journal features the growing level of interest in the City coming from developers, citizens, bloggers, and neighborhood groups.

It's nice being at the center of attention again. Times have definitely changed! Have you heard? The City is the place to be!

"Greendale"

Where is "Greendale" Missouri? It's a municipality in the St. Louis area located along Natural Bridge Road in St. Louis County. Ever heard of it? Not me. What about these:

Berdell Hills
Black Walnut
Burke City
Village of Champ
Crescent
City of Fern Glen
Goldman
City of Greendale
Grubville
Hematite
Horine
Machens
City of Montgomery City
Morse Mill
Murphy
City of Old Monroe
Olympian Village
Otto
City of Robertson
Robertsville
Rock Community
Village of Schuermann Heights
City of Shady Valley
City of Sherman
City of Springdale
Village of Sycamore Hills
Ware

Anyone ever heard of these places? Every one of them is a unit of local government listed in the St. Louis phone directory with a 636 or 314 area code. Yup, we like our politics local!

Dawn Griffin Real Estate and St. Louis Blog

City-friendly real estate agents play a key role in the revitalization of St. Louis. Check out the blog of Dawn Griffin for her insightful comments on St. Louis real estate, neighborhoods, and planning and development issues. Dawn's blog also features lots of excellent photographs.

http://blog.dawngriffin.com/

If you know of any other city-friendly, blogging real estate agents, please let us hear about them in the comments section. Thanks!

STL Rising: City To Regain Control of SLPD?

PubDef has it. Robin Wright Jones and Maida Coleman co-sponsors of bill to return local control of the St. Louis Police Department to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

Change would bring local control to police department for the first time since state enacted martial law in St. Louis during the Civil War era.

New Ville Area Community Organization Link

http://www.vanhastl.org/default.htm

Permalinked on the right, here is a connection to reach the Ville Area Neighborhood Housing Association ("VANHA").

If you have an interest in supporting the revitalization of the historic Ville neighborhood, a call to VANHA would be a good starting point.

$80 Million Commercial Project Proposed at Southside Crossroads

Project to include a grocery store and pharmacy. Located at I-44 and I-55 interchange, 12th and Lafayette.

Currently, the site is mostly vacant with some existing and newer homes which may be cleared for the project. Does anyone have authoritative information about the sentiment of local neighborhood groups and elected officials on the proposal?

The shopping center developers, "Gilded Age", have a long history in the area, and are also the developers of the City Hospital project located directly across the street from the proposed shopping center.

New Take On the Earnings Tax?

At STL Rising, we try to focus on the positive things going on in St. Louis. One topic that has been a long time challenge for the city is the 1% earnings tax. It's a simple enough thing-live or work in the city, and pay 1% of your gross pay to the City of St. Louis.

The City needs the money. The earnings tax provides a major part of the City's general revenue. Lots of people will say that as much as we wish we didn't have it, there's no way we make it without it. Well, I've been giving this some thought, and you know something, maybe there is.

Sure, there's no way we could say, drop the earnings tax this year and replace it with a property tax. Some argue for a "land tax" (a tax on vacant land), and maybe that'd help some. But it's questionable whether that'd replace all the revenue from the earnings tax. Here's another idea...

The city is growing. We are working to attract jobs, and we are building housing. The city is working to increase its tax base. As tax abatements run their course, real estate taxes can increase. And as employment grows, we get more people paying earnings taxes.

Okay, so I'm not an expert on this, but I think the city budget is something like $350,000,000 per year. What if we set a ten or fifteen year goal to remove the earnings tax? And lower it a little each year for the next ten or fifiteen years?

Say in 2008 we went from 1% to .9%. It would be just a little, but it would be a step. Then see how the budget goes. Apply the decrease to all workers-not just new employees. Then say in 2010 lower it again, say to .8%

Meanwhile, we keep working to draw more residents and jobs to the city. More residents and more jobs mean more economic activity, and more revenue flowing to the city. So say in 2012, we lower the earnings tax again, say to .6%, and so on.

Who knows? Maybe by 2020, the earnings tax is worked down to zero, the city's population reaches 450,000, and our workforce is 50% larger than it is today.

And we could start working towards a shared civic goal with a tiny 1/10 of 1% reduction in the rate of our current earnings tax. Any takers?

State Lawmakers Propose Massive Tax Credit Program to Aid City Redevelopment

State legislators are proposing major incentives for redevelopment in St. Louis. Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is looking to stimulate a new $100,000,000 redevelopment effort.

The incentives are aimed to assist developers in returning long vacant tracts of land and deteriorated buildings in our urban core to productive use.

One of the sponsors is Senator John Griesheimer. The new law would assist projects at least 75 acres in size, and provide developers with tax credits equal to half the cost of land and all interest costs.

The proposal is part of a state-wide program to produce good paying jobs in Missouri. For more information, check out Senate Bill 282 and House Bill 327.

That Didn't Take Long!

BJC officials are already quoted in the Post Dispatch saying that city officials are sending a message they need to look outside the city limits to expand:

"They've sent a message that we need to start planning for our expansion outside of the city of St. Louis," said Barnes-Jewish spokeswoman June Fowler.

Full article here:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/060FE3A29191306E8625727C001BE613?OpenDocument

Comments?

Entertainment Rising in Downtown STL

CNN.COM has the story:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/02/05/entertaining.st.louis.ap/index.html

The Wittles

About ten years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Malcom Wittles took the lead in carrying out a number of historic residential rehabs around Fountain Park. Their projects went smoothly, and the developers were well received.

It's been years since I heard anything from the Wittles. They were getting older ten years ago, so they might be out of the business by now. Nonetheless, they worked hard to improve that one gem corner of the city.

If you ever visit Fountain Park, look for some of the historic residential rehabs. And remember the Wittles.

Mullanphy Wall Rising

Seen it over at What's New In Old North!

http://newoldnorth.blogspot.com/

For the would be rockers and folksters, STL Rising has one open guitar lesson slot, proceeds to benefit Mullanphy and ONSLRG till the wall is up and the bills are paid.

City Defends Use of TIF for Ballpark Village

The City of St. Louis was on KMOX yesterday in the person of Jeff Rainford, Chief of Staff in the Mayor's Office, defending the use of TIF for the proposed Ballpark Village project. Based on current site conditions, KMOX was questioning the use of TIF. KMOX was asking whether the Cardinals organization itself had caused the blight by creating the unsightly hole in the ground following the demolition of the old Busch Stadium.

Mr. Rainford explained that current site conditions are temporary until the start of Ballpark Village construction. He then raised important issues relative to the definition of blight. Rainford suggested state law on TIF be revised to target incentives to distressed communities. He went on to identify a number of facts supporting the definition of St. Louis as a distressed community (including household income levels, percent in poverty, and history of job and population losses).

What's your take?

Thanking A Favorite Aunt

It was Christmas, 1971, which means I would have been 12 years old, when we made our first trip to Missouri. We travelled from Los Angeles to Kansas City by train and I'll never forget waking with a start at about 5 AM, somewhere on the Kansas prairie. The train was going about 110, when I woke the rest of the family, convinced we had missed our stop. In a couple hours, we'd arrive at Kansas City's Union Station.

It would be my first trip to Missouri. We were there to visit our favorite Aunt, Aunt Ruthie. She would show us around Kansas City, but she also made plans to drive us across the state to see St. Louis. In 1971, St. Louis was just beginning it's long planned renaissance; the Arch and Busch Stadium were only a few years old.

Aunt Ruthie took us to the bank of the Mississippi and the Arch. We walked on the cobblestones and visited the Goldenrod Showboat. We went up in the Arch.

The visit made a lasting impression on me, and St. Louis remained fond in my memory. Little did I know then that in a little over ten years, it would become our adopted hometown. Thanks, Aunt Ruthie, for making that introduction over thirty years ago.

Town Talk of the Week

Retail Disaster

IN REGARDS TO the proposed shopping center to be built right in the middle of our nice quiet residential area. How will the small two-lane Weber Road and Union Road handle all the extra traffic? Anyone with half a brain can see this will be a disaster. These roads cannot be widened without taking many more nice homes. Even now, there are no sidewalks. This is residential area and should be kept this way. Only homes should be built on this site as is being done in the residential neighborhood off of Robert.

Carondelet Betterment Upgrades Website, Offers Virtual House Tour

The Carondelet neighborhood has experienced much growth in the last ten years.

Now, the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation has a great new website to promote the area. Check it out at:

http://www.ccbf-inc.org

One of the features of the site is a virtual house tour of Carondelet, available here:

http://www.ccbf-inc.org/2005_House_Tour/2005_House_Tour.html

Mardis Gras Group To Fund Soulard Area Improvements

Thanks to a grant awarded by the Mardis Gras Foundation, the Soulard neighborhood will receive nearly $50,000 to install over one quarter mile of 4 foot tall, new, historically sensitive wrought iron fencing at Soulard Market and Pontiac Parks.

Cherry Pickers Rising!

Check it out: while traversing the city from Union to St. Louis Avenue, I spied two, count 'em two, hi-lift bucket tractors stationed next to the south wall of the Mullanphy Building!

How'd they do that?

Good With It

Yesterday, I was riding the elevator, when a long-time acquaintance stepped on at about the twelfth floor. I mentioned to him how I'd enjoyed reading his occasional comments over at Urban Review and we chatted about how the city seems to be getting comfortable with its middling urban status.

He mentioned how no longer are we the city which aimed to be the top city in the United States, or even home to the US capitol as some had hoped. How we're not the place all those dreamers imagined at the time of the St. Louis World's Fair.

Instead we're a modest, mid-sized city with great potential, interesting neighborhoods, solid opportunity, and really nice people.

We're not a Chicago, San Francisco, or New York. Maybe that' s one of our advantages?

South City Folk Music Tradition Continues

Based in an historic Carondelet church, posted at CityFolk blog...

http://stlcityfolk.blogspot.com/2007/01/kinghighway-united-methodist-family.html

Neighbors Assisting Neighbors

Since the year 2000, a group of volunteers has helped neighbors and whole communities to improve the quality of life in the St. Louis area, one household and one neighborhood at a time.

The group is called, "Neighbors Assisting Neighbors". Check out their new blog for more information about their programs and services.

Teach Music For Mullanphy?

Response has been great for the "Music Lessons For Mullanphy" effort, so great in fact that I am now having to turn away requests for more guitar students. We need more volunteer music teachers!

If you'd like to donate your time giving music lessons, in exchange for your students making tax deductible contributions to help save the Mullanphy Emigrant Home in Old North, please contact me for more information. Thanks.

New Blog - "City Folk"

I've started a new blog dedicated to St. Louis city neighbors and folk music. Check it out at:

http://stlcityfolk.blogspot.com

Check it out for information about a great place for listening to authentic Mariachi music in South City.

Town Talk Of The Week

This week's selection is a timely comment concerning recent power outages plaguing the St. Louis area as a result of severe ice storms...

WHAT SOLUTION?

THIS IS IN response to "Underground Solution" and to you Mr. Editor for calling it a solution. Where do you suggest all of St. Louis and surrounding counties live while AmerenUE tears down St. Louis to put thousands of miles of underground cable in and who would pay for St. Louis to be rebuilt? Shame on you dear editor for raising the hope of this person to the elevation that they might consider your suggestion anything but ludicrous.

The comment was followed by an editor's note...

The headline "Underground Solution" (a reference to the original Town Talk comment) was not intended to be read as an editorial comment endorsing the caller's opinion.

A Link You Should Click

Friend to the city and her neighborhoods, Brian Marston, has created a new website devoted to the improvement of the Hyde Park neighborhood, http://www.friedensforever.org/

Brian was instrumental is assisting the Friedens Neighborhood Foundation in bringing the highly successful Youthbuild program to Hyde Park.

Update: This post has been edited to correct some errors kindly pointed out to me in an email. First, the organization mentioned in the original post, "Friedens Haus", is no more. (Never mind that I failed to apply all those years of German classes and called it Friedens House. Grandma would be sorely disappointed...)

The proper names for the organizations serving the area are Friedens United Church of Christ and the Friedens Neighborhood Foundation.

Downtown STL Gets National Stage

At. St. Louis' Union Station, there is a famous stained glass window above the entrance to the Grand Ballroom. The window shows three beautiful ladies, one representing San Francisco, one St. Louis, and the other New York.

Yesterday, Major League Baseball awarded the 2009 All-Star Game to St. Louis. The next three stops for the mid-summer baseball classic will be San Francisco in 2007, Yankee Stadium in 2008, and St. Louis in 2009.

The same Union Station stained glass window is visible in the fight scene from "Escape from New York, filmed in the then-abandoned Union Station. Movie makers picked St. Louis as the location to film a post-apocalyptic New York.

If any of the Escape from New York film makers come to town for the '09 All-Star game, they'll see how far we've come since the days St. Louis was picked for scenes of decay!

Sight'em: LA Rockers Shop Old Orchard

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are on tour, and last night they performed at the Scott Trade Center in downtown St. Louis.

Meanwhile, yesterday I was visiting Music Folk in Webster Groves, working out a trade for a new mandolin, when the salesman waiting on me gets called aside for a phone call. Someone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was on the line looking to buy a hard to find folk instrument for their show.

Somehow, the Chili Peppers heard about Music Folk in Webster Groves. It's no wonder; Music Folk carries one of the largest selections of folk music instruments anywhere in the country.

Update: It turns out the Chili Peppers weren't looking for a folk instrument at all. Rather, they were searching for a "D-5 Clavinet" synthesizer. We don't know if they found a D5 in time for their St. Louis performance, but it's nice knowing they went to one of our local St. Louis music stores to try and find one!

Music Lessons For Mullanphy

Are you or someone you know interested in learning how to play the guitar? If so, here's an opportunity for you to learn a new skill while helping out an important STL community development project at the same time.

I currently have limited openings for new guitar students. From now until the time the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has raised the necessary funds to rebuild the south wall of the historic Mullanphy building in Old North St. Louis, I am pledging to donate all proceeds from music lessons to the Mullanphy wall rebuilding effort.

For more information, please contact me at rbonasch@sbcglobal.net .

Thanks.

"Lazer Tag"

Lately, grafitti "artists" have been taking their work to "new heights". Turning the brick facades of some of our city's buildings into their personal "canvasses", some enterprising "taggers" have figured out a way to spray paint on the sides of buildings up to twenty feet high. Giant letters spelling out the word "LAZER" can be seen on the sides of some buildings around town.

Even more distressing, the new stone retaining wall on the south side of the River Des Peres which leads to beautiful new pedestrian and cyclist bridge that crosses River Des Peres at Morganford, has had four or five of the wall sections defaced with graffiti. Removing grafitti from a natural stone wall has got to be a very expensive and difficult process.

Please, if you see anyone in the process of spray painting graffitti, dial 911.

St. Louis Original: The Des Lee Collaborative

Last night, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri St. Louis campus, the Des Lee Collaborative held a concert of its middle school and high school honor jazz bands.

The young performers, ranging from the 7th though 12th grades and coming from city public and parochial schools as well as sububan St. Louis school districts, were amazing musicians.

The Des Lee Collaborative is a one of a kind, arts program based at UMSL and funded in perpetuity through an endowment created by Mr. and Mrs. Desmond Lee.

The Collaborative brings together educators, students, and arts resources around the St. Louis region in a program involving thousands of indiviudals on an annual basis. St. Louis area students gain access to music education, art exhibits, and professional music and theater performances year round. The program is the envy of arts communities around the country.

KMOX: Suburban Parents Should Demand State Takeover of SLPS

Today KMOX radio in St. Louis aired an editorial calling on suburban St. Louis parents to push for a state takeover of the St. Louis Public Schools.

The editorial started out describing a content suburban St. Louis family getting their kids off to school, thinking they have no input on decisions involving the St. Louis Public Schools.

Then, making the case that the entire St. Louis region has an interest in the performance of the City's public schools, the station urged parents of suburban St. Louis to call for a state takeover of the St. Louis Public Schools.

4208 Lawn Avenue Watch

For over a year, the building at 4208 Lawn Avenue has been in the process of slowly caving in. The entire roof has dropped about six feet into the second floor. The aerial above shows the building prior to its roof collapse.

A check of Citizen Service Bureau complaints shows a long history of nuisance violations against the property. On October 24, 2005, the building was condemned for demolition.

Buildings in worse condition than this have been rehabbed, but not without the help of sophisticated financing structures including state and federal historic tax credits. 4208 Lawn Avenue is not currently within a historic district. Absent historic tax credits, rehab will be very difficult.

Given the building has been slated for demolition for over a year, neighbors are likely most interested in an immediate resolution to the situation. The building is across the alley from another vacant eyesore, the Avalon Theater, and clearly visible from eastbound Chippewa Avenue.

For the benefit of the neighborhood, a satisifactory resolution is needed on 4208 Lawn Avenue. Follow the link on the right for updates on the status and resolution of this problem property.

St. Louis Regional Brownfields Marketplace

Next week, you have the opportunity to learn about exciting development opportunities around the St. Louis area, where resource providers, investors, developers and landowners will be meeting to promote the redevelopment of "brownfield" sites.

The "St. Louis Regional Browfields Marketplace" will be held on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis, from 7:30 AM till noon on Tuesday, January 9. The event is free and open to the public.

"Brownfields" are those sites possessing some physical characteristic making their reuse more challenging. Brownfields are frequently found in older areas and might include the presence of asbestos, underground fuel storage tanks, lead paint, or some other condition making them more expensive to develop.

To help offset the higher cost of redevelopment, special programs are in place to assist in making these sites more financially feasible for reuse. Information about brownfield sites and the programs available to assist in returning them to productive use will all be found at this informational event.

For more information or to register, please click here.

Turn On The Stove!

Happy New Year! With the arrival of 2007, it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the Cardinals winning the World Series. Here we go again, with baseball season right around the corner!

Now is the time youth leagues send out manager and team signup information. Meetings start in January.

Many teams start indoor practices in January, with tryouts for more competitive teams continuing through March. Look for the first tournaments to start around the end of March.

Know a budding young ballplayer? Here are some suggestions to get him or her off to a good start. January is a great time to teach a little one how to play catch. Head to the basement with a spongy ball and have some fun!

When the grass turns green, you and your little ballplayer will be ready to hit the field!

St. Louis Lights Drive

It's the holidays, and our street looks okay. Almost every house has Christmas lights and we get our share of holiday light's visitors, but our block doesn't have a theme; we all do what we want. Some blocks get serious about Christmas lights; the neighbors must plan all year for their light displays. Some are pretty amazing.

Inside our house, the prior owners left behind some nice things and some not so nice things. One of the least favorites was the flush-mounted, "nipple light" in the dining room ceiling. It's been on our list of items to replace.

Kerri wanted a decorative chandelier, so we've been looking for months, years maybe. Mass produced chandeliers come in literally thousands of designs. And they make such a huge design statement in your home that choosing one is not an easy decision. And now, it's the day before Christmas, and like a good man does, I'm still deciding what to get Kerri.

Matt and I went out, shopping. The stores were mellow on this day before Christmas compared to the craziness on the day after Thanksgiving. Our first stop was the new Lowe's on Loughborough. We arrived the back way, through the neighborhood, off of River Des Peres, or Germania, or whatever it's called through there...

The new Lowe's is very nice. If you enter the back way, through the neighborhood, the access is easy. You avoid traffic, and you park right near the entrance. The store is sparking clean, well-stocked, with friendly, helpful employees. We walked to the lighting department, and saw a few possibilities, but we wanted to check some more. So we drove to the Home Depot on Kingshighway. They had a huge selection.

We found a couple of good possibilities, so we started checking the prices. Everything we liked involved ordering and delivery withing 5 days! That wouldn't work. So back to the car and on to the Lowe's in Kirkwood. Theirs was a much lower selection than the new City Lowe's. So back to South City we went.

We returned to the chandelier we originally liked. (There's a picture of it from Lowe's on-line store at the top of this post.) We bought it. Kerri was thrilled when she unwrapped the box on Christmas morning. But we still didn't know if it was the right choice. We wouldn't know for certain until we could see it hung in the room, and lived with it for a while.

It was installed in time for dinner last nite. To break in the new atmosphere, we made a German meal from an old family recipe out of the leftovers from Christmas dinner.

Sitting at the table, and still deciding whether we liked the new light fixture or not, something dawned on me: the design manages to capture certain aspects of St. Louis! In lighting design terms, they call it "transitional", not modern or traditional. The fixture has a wrought iron-looking infrastructure, with a glass center. Twin oval glass cores are surrounded by a light metal frame with metal branches radiating from the center.

Our neighbor's first reaction was. "Is it antique?"

"No, Lowe's" I responded.

Around us, other blocks go all out for Christmas; ours shines on Halloween. Now, with the lights dimmed on the new chandelier, we get a look that is evokes a St. Louis haunted house. We doubt our house is haunted, but St. Louis is known for having lots of them. During Halloween, our block is definitely haunted, so if we ever have a Halloween party, we'll be ready.

We sat and finished dinner, and agreed, the light would do just fine.

This is Not A Strat!

Repeat...

This is not a Strat...

This is not a Strat...

But it's going on the St. Louis cool list...

K-line Guitars, as shown in the picture above, are handmade in a custom shop in St. Louis County by company owner, Chris Kroelein. They are available at G-Gravity on S. Broadway in the City.

Steeplejacks Rising

If you want to see a rare sight, check out the west steeple at St. Agatha's Church in Soulard, just south of Anheuser-Busch, on the east side of Highway 55. Steeplejacks have been working on the steeple for the past few days.

At left is a picture of a steeplejack plying her trade. The actual steeple under repair is the rear one shown in the upper picture...

Our former next door neighbor's father is a retired steeplejack. He would often come over to her house and do small house repairs. Talk about your overqualified handyman!

StL VIP Access

Ted Wight has created a blog that takes you inside some of the most beautiful homes and gardens around the St. Louis area.

Webs Rising

Apparently, it's not just STL that's rising...

buffalorising.com (cool stuff in Buffalo, NY)

lambdarising.com (gay bookstore in DC)

donkeyrising.com (for the democratic party)

atlantisrising.com (for a submarine city)

curtainrising.com (for a theater group)

musicrising.org (for musicians)

democracyrising.us (a strategy to end the war in Iraq)

psa-rising.com (to combat prostate cancer)

darkmoonrising.com (poems, short stories)

momsrising.org (moms organizing)

bookerrising.blogspot.com (for moderate and conservative black leadership and progress)

flamesrising.com (documenting your fears)

ugandarising.com (for Uganda)

wallstreetrising.com (dedicated to revitalizing lower Manhattan in the wake of 9-11)

globalrising.com (for the rest of us)
immortalsrising.net (online computer game)

risingwomen.com (magazine supporting the rise of women)

downtownrising.com (multi-billion dollar downtown St. Lake City revitalization program)

People Are Talking

The Mullanphy Wall Raising effort has people talking all over town. On Wednesday, Mayor Slay's blog gave the effort another boost.

Years ago, the job to save the Eugene Field house got done thanks to school kids across St. Louis donating their pennies, nickels and dimes to save a historic St. Louis building.

Today, it will take a similar community drive if we are to save a threatened St. Louis landmark from disappearing forever.

Do you share a pride in our city and its history? Do you believe in the power of community? Do you believe one person can make a difference? If you do, now is the time to take action based on your beliefs.

We don't have the luxury of time to extend deadlines or wait on others to come up with the first dollar. Every amount helps.

Let's see what we can do if we all pull together.

Mullanphy Wall Raising

Normally we wait until spring to hold a yard sale, but this year, since we are raising money to help the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group save the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, let's start the sale a few months early.

We have a solid oak, center leaf, pedestal table and chairs (very similar to the one in the picture above, just stained a few shades darker), taking up scarce space in our basement.

So, in order to free up some walking around room, and help out the ONSLRG, we are offering to sell the set to the highest bidder (minimum bid $50) and donate all proceeds to the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group. Local delivery is available. If interested, please email me at rbonasch@sbcglobal.net. Deadline to submit bids is next Friday, December 22 at 5:00 PM.

Town Talk Triple Play

You never know what to expect when you read the Journal's Town Talk feature, and this week's selections certainly do not disappoint.

St. Louis is known as the "Neighborhood City", and our first selection provides insight into the strong sense of community and neighborhood pride exhibited by so many St. Louis area residents:

"Ready the boiling oil"

I'M CALLING CONCERNING all the crime in the City of St. Louis. Is there any way to keep all those horrible, sick people out of South County? I know years ago they built that River Des Peres moat to keep all the bad city people out of South County, but the city people built bridges and they are able to get in the County. Is there any way that we can call President Bush and have him build a fence like they are doing in Mexico? We keep them out using the moat and then we've got the river on the eastern side that keeps the Illinois people out. There's got to be some we way can protect South County.

One of the more entertaining aspects of Town Talk is the way the themes of some calls carry over from week to week, giving voice to a form of community dialogue. Our next selection is in response to our inaugural Town Talk of the Week, "Senior Glut"

"Respect your elders, or else"

I'M CALLING ABOUT the guy that disagrees with the senior citizens voting and holding up the line shopping. I'll tell that punk one thing. I'm 79 years old. I drive a Corvette. I'm dating younger women. In fact, I might even be dating his wife and I take Viagra four times a week and nobody gives me any crap. If I ever see him out in public, I'm going to punch him right in the head.

St. Louis is known as a spiritual, town, steeped in religious traditions. St. Louis also has a significant elderly population. The caller for our third selection does a nice job combining current events, a belief in a higher power, and the concerns of senior citizens.

"End of days?"

DID WE ALWAYS have this many power outages, or is the day of our lord approaching? I am 94 years old and don't remember all these electrical problems. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, I am very selfish; I want to see again. My pastor says I will when I get to heaven.

There was a time when I wondered about the usefulness of the Journal's Town Talk service. Now I think I am starting to understand its true value. To help deal with the pressures of every day life, some people just need an outlet to get things off their chests, and the Journal provides it with Town Talk!

San Francisco Visits St. Louis

If you've never been to Northern California, the weather in STL today is just like a winter day in San Francisco: temperature about 50 degrees, light rain and a light breeze. Nothing too exciting. Just all-day gray and cool. That's about it.

STL Rising: Call To Build

Have you ever heard of those classified ads that go something like this, "I need just 1,000,000 people to send me $1 apiece"? The thinking is that if we all got together to accomplish a common goal, the strength in numbers can be fantastic.

We have a situation in St. Louis that needs people to come together in support of a common cause-the preservation of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood.

Here's a picture of the building in its heyday:



And here's a picture of the building today:



The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has taken on the task of saving this historic St. Louis building for today and future generations. They need the support of the community to make this happen. Cost estimates to rebuild the storm damaged wall exceed $100,000. It's the crucial first step in rehabbing this landmark.

We need 100,000 people to donate just $1 apiece to get this done. If you can afford more, please dig deep. Now is the the time to pull together. Contact the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group to offer your support. Any amount will help, but time is of the essence. Please consider making a donation before the end of the year.

Where Does This Sound Like?

Cool Cleveland

Cool STL List

Since we're in the middle of cold snap, why not go with it...and have some fun thinking of all the cool things about St. Louis. St. Louis makes it on a lot of lists, but I bet if the list makers ranked places by how many cool spots they have, STL would rate pretty high. We all have different ideas about what's cool, so add your ideas to the list. When it's done, we'll permanent link it as a resource directory for anyone looking for the cool side of the STL.

St. Louis Cool List

Four seasons
Decorated neighborhoods
A-B Brewery
Grant's Farm
The Arch
Cahokia Mounds
Delmar Loop
Soulard Market
Crown Candy
STL Cardinals
Kid Hockey
The Grove
S. Grand
Historic Cemeteries
The Mississippi River
Grafton
Elsah
Alton
Our Lady of the Snows
Forest Park
Tower Grove Park
Carondelet Park
Fountain Park
Glencoe Steam Trains
Ted Drewes
Old Cathedral
New Cathedral
Doctor to Patient Ratio
Hospital Bed to Patient Ration
Free Art Museum
Free History Museum
Free Zoo
Muni Theater
Hibernian's Dogtown Parade
Krewe Barkus Parade
City Museum
Free Concerts at the Arch
Eads Bridge
Jefferson Barracks
Civil War History
Old Court House
Revolutionary War History
SLU High
SLU
Wash U
Sisters of St. Jospeph Reliquary
Lemp Brewery
Steel Guitar Hall of Fame
Gravity Strings
Killer Vintage
Eddie's Guitars
Confluence of the Missouri/Mississippi
Great Rivers Greenway
Heine Meine Field
Missouri Botanical Garden
Laumeier Sculpture Park
St. Charles Historic Main Street
Steinberg Ice Rink
Old Town Florissant, Webster, Ferguson, Kirkwood, Clayton, Ladue, Bel Nor, Normandy
Brick Streets
Alleys
CWE Street Lights
Brick neighborhoods
Forested neighborhoods
Yard Sales
Neighborhood Bars
Emerging Macklind Avenue
Scholar Shop
Our Little Haven
KDHX

Would you add anything?

City Snow

When snow hits a city, it's beautiful. The picture above is of Annapolis, Maryland.

In St. Louis, snow does wonderful things with our historic buildings too. And it's magic when coating Christmas decorations.

Snow even makes our LRA buildings look good!

Cool New Anonymous Blog

Seeing St. Louis

Town Talk of the Week

Town Talk keeps Journal readers coming back by offering the widest possible range of opinions and local personas anywhere in St. Louis media. Week to week, Town Talk readers keep tabs on the unfiltered and unedited thoughts of their St. Louis neighbors.

Sometimes the themes carry over from week to week. Last week there was a comment from a city resident stating how you had to be a "real man or a real woman to live in the City of St. Louis". In reply, this week, there was a call from a County resident stating that some people are unable to defend themselves in the City of St. Louis, the top-rated most dangerous city in the country, and therefore must stay in the County for their personal safety. It's hard to tell whether people are serious or not with their comments, but either way, they do entertain!

As a Town Talk reader, it's fun to try and figure out who the anonymous caller might be, or from which demographic group the caller might fit. Our selection this week is inspired by recent news reports highlighting research proving women are two times more verbal than men. The research has discovered that the part of the human brain dedicated to communication is twice as large in women than men, and as men age, this part of their brains shrinks even further. Based on the few words in this comment, I'm thinking the caller was male.

Big cars are best

I WAS WATCHING the news tonite and they had on about cars. A bunch of experts or somebody in the United States said the best cars to buy and showed them. All foreign or foreign-owned Suzuki's and different ones. That's a shame. You ain't going to catch me buying a Suzuki. Or any of them small cars. I'm a big car man. I'm a Mercury or Ford man. Now that's a shame but somebody here in the United States says buy foreign when the car companies are having such a hard time.

Best Weather Euphemism-Ever!

Listening to the morning news, the weather lady just stated that when the winter weather hits tomorrow, there will be "increasing accumulations along the highway 44 and 70 corridors."

Highway 44 and 70 corridors? That means St. Louis is right in the bullseye of this storm! We're gonna get hammered!!

I don't understand it...but I like it!

You never know what you might hear on St. Louis' own community radio station, KDHX. The last show I heard was a rock and roll and soul presentation of Native American tribal music.

I've never heard anything like it. The native words made no sense to me but still the sounds, the stories told in english, and the passion in the singer's voices had a hard hitting edge. Indian messages, rock and roll guitars, solo tom tom drums. It was truly original. Uniquely American.

It made me stop and think about Native American connections to St. Louis. It made me think too about the many voices in this town. It made me appreciate how here in St. Louis there's no one regional accent.

I have a friend who does great impressions of St. Louis voices from different parts of town, like the Patch and Southwest city. There definitely are some unique differences.

At the same time, with our mix of northern, southern, and western influences, a person with no detectable accent isn't automatically pinpointed as a non-native.

It's an easy place to fit in. For a sense of our diversity, check out KDHX.

New STL Rising Feature: Town Talk of the Week

Thanksgiving is all about tradition, so it is appropriate that this week we will be starting a new tradition at STL Rising: Town Talk of the Week.

Nothing quite sums up life in St. Louis like the Suburban Journal's weekly "Town Talk" feature. Town Talk is a collection of anonymous reader comments phoned in to an answering machine and then chosen by Journal editors for publication in the paper's editorial section.

Whether comments about alleys, street cleaning, dumpsters, the mayor, neighbors, or various cultural traditions, Town Talk provides St. Louisans a unique opportunity to offer their true thoughts about life in our neighborhoods and city.

So, once a week, STL Rising will feature a Town Talk comment that especially reflects the unique nature of life in our city, as made by one of our neighbors.

For our first selection, we have chosen a comment entitled,

Senior glut

"I DON'T MEAN to be disrespectful to our seniors in the area, but when it came to voting day, as someone who has to be at work at 8, I get to the polls early. There is absolutely no reason in the world that they need to be in line when they have all day to vote and they tie it up for those of us who need to get on to work. So I would just like to ask them to be more conscientious to the working people. And it goes for those shopping on the weekend as well. Do your errands during the week when the rest of us are at work so that we've got the weekend to do our thing. The voting is really an important thing so leave that time for those of us that work."

"Noodles" Coming To Hampton Village

In the ongoing quest to balance amenities available in the City of St. Louis with suburban neighbors, the City of St. Louis is landing the popular "Noodles" themed restaurant in Hampton Village. Noodles will be moving into the space of the B. Dalton's bookstore.

Pull quote from the Suburban Journal article:

Serafin (Noodles owner) said they wanted to locate in St. Louis Hills after visiting the neighborhood.

"When we got to St. Louis Hills we tried to do anything to find a location in that center. We don't have neighborhoods like that in Denver," he said.

STL Rising: Results

"Do It, Did It, Done It" or "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda..."

In St. Louis, we have more and more of the "Do It, Did It, Done It" types, and it shows.

STL - Civic Engagement

One of the best things about St. Louis is how accessible our public realm is. If you want to become active in public life, St. Louis is a place that offers everyone multiple points of entry.

Whether in neighborhood organizations, elected office, or nonprofit groups, there are countless opportunities for citizens interested in making St. Louis a better place to get involved.

Bay Area's A's, Niners Going Suburban

Bucking recent trends, two of the Bay Area's professional sports franchises are moving out of their urban settings to suburban locations.

The Oakland Athletics, unhappy with their current stadium facility, are moving to the South Bay suburb of Fremont.

The San Francisco Forty Niners have announced plans to leave Candlestick Park in San Francisco for a site across from the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara.

For years, despite many championship seasons in Oakland, the A's have struggled to maintain fan support. Locals would often say, "there's just too much else to do in the Bay Area." This year, things had gotten so bad, they closed the entire upper deck and covered it with tarps.

The Forty Niners have been negotiating with San Francisco officials for a major mixed use facility including a new stadium. However, negotiations failed. Now with the Forty Niners announced departure from "The City", San Francisco's bid for an upcoming summer Olympics has been called "dead".

Frustrated San Francisco officials have threatened to sue the Forty Niners in an effort to prevent the team from continuing to use the name "San Francisco" Forty Niners. It is doubtful, however, that the NFL would support the city's case.

Meanwhile, South Bay residents are pleased with the two announced moves; it will make attending games much more convenient for them. On the other hand, for most residents of the sprawling ten-million strong Bay Area, moves south will mean much longer drives to games and increased traffic on the Bay Area's already congested roadways.

For comparison, consider St. Louis, whether as destination or hometown, a place providing families, young creatives and high tech professionals a convenient and affordable lifestyle with center city major league attractions, affordable housing, a strong job market, and tight knit neighborhoods.

Coming Attractions: Macklind Avenue Deli

From the Press Release:

Macklind Avenue Deli to open Thanksgiving weekend

Macklind Avenue Deli will be celebrating its grand opening with an open house on Saturday, November 25 from noon – 6 p.m. The event will include several samples of the outstanding food that Macklind Avenue Deli will have to offer, as well as a wine and beer tasting.

In April, Dick and Carol Krekeler, owners of the Macklind Avenue Deli, decided to move their efforts in a new direction. They closed Krekeler's Market after over 20 years of business to focus on bringing customers a unique dining option in south St. Louis city.

"We won't be carrying a full grocery line like we did in the past, but our prepared foods will be expanded, offering something for almost any taste," Dick Krekeler said. "We have worked hard to provide a comfortable atmosphere for dining in and our carry-out customers will find it easy to get dinner on the run." There will, however, be several similarities between the offerings of Macklind Avenue Deli and its predecessor, Krekeler's Market.

"If you shopped at Krekeler's Market and loved the Karl's Special Poorboy [sandwich], you'll still be able to find it at the Macklind Avenue Deli," Carol Krekeler said. "We will also carry several of the cakes that our customers have missed over the past several months. Our chili and lasagna and several other dinner options that were popular at Krekeler's Market will still be available as carry-out items."

Macklind Avenue Deli will offer its customers a large variety of freshly prepared deli sandwiches, both hot and cold, as well as several entrees and sides prepared in house.

"We will have a core sandwich and entrée menu, and will also offer several daily specials, hot soups, coffee, tea, fountain and gourmet sodas," said Dick Krekeler.

Macklind Avenue Deli will also offer a large selection of beer and wine. The beer selection will include everything from Anheuser-Busch and Miller products to microbrews such as Schlafly and Shiner to imports like Unibroue and Heineken. The wine selection will include premium domestic wines and imports from Italy, Australia and other countries.

"Along with having a large selection of six- and 12-packs of beer and bottles of wine, we will also offer single bottles of beer and glasses of wine that our customers can enjoy with their meal," Dick Krekeler said. "We will also sell mix-and-match 6-packs of beer for those customers who like to experiment with new and different beers."

The Macklind Avenue Deli will open for business on Monday, November 27 at 10 a.m. and is located at 4721 Macklind Avenue in south St. Louis city. The deli’s hours will be 10 am – 8pm Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information call the Macklind Avenue Deli at 314-481-2435.

Seeking STL : Some Nice Riverfront Property Along River Des Peres

Recently, we were analyzing some of our retirement options and thinking, hmmm, a nice riverfront property along River Des Peres wouldn't be too bad!

St. Louis Times

Mention St. Louis to some people, and images of "Corkball", "Bottle Caps", and "Brain Sandwiches" come to mind.

Nowdays, for most, these STL traditions are a distant memory. It's hard to find a brain sandwich any more. Corner taverns no longer have corkball leagues. And bottlecap games, well they were probably the first to go.

They must have been fun times. Imagine being outside in the back of a neighborhood bar, poles and metal screening enclosing the area, with wild 3 or 4 person games of corkball going deep into the night.

Summer nights in an alley, young boys and girls hurling high speed bottlecaps at pint-sized batters, the hitter swinging a broomstick-bat, trying to make contact with the sailing, curving discs.

Or old-timers sitting on bar stools, feasting on greasy, breaded, brain sandwiches.

Indoor or Outdoor?

STL City voters just approved a 1/8 cent sales tax increase to fund community center improvements in the city. Plans are in the works for brand new, state of the art community centers, one north and one south.

The south city site is planned for the eastern end of Carondelet Park. In north city, there is talk about locating a new center in O'Fallon Park.

New swimming pools are planned. Would you rather see them built indoors, outdoors, or perhaps both?

If we only get one choice, I say build it outside! Summers in St. Louis are better by the pool!

Like an Emerald City

People talk about the subtle nature of St. Louis. It's a place with both great and elusive qualities. A good or bad St. Louis experience depends on where you engage it, and it varies with time.

As a conventioneer, my late father-in-law visited in the 1960s. He had lasting memories of St. Louis as a hell-on-earth, and discouraged us from ever moving here. Then there are others who get mild impressions, mostly from passing by on highways (from the air, especially during summer, we are a beautiful, "emerald city").

You might enter in and see a place of beauty, with riches to be uncovered, often strange, even haunted places, great history, and discoveries to be found.

Or you might come and still miss it all. You have to be open to it.

STL Tough Love?

Is the old saying true?

"You're toughest on the ones you love."

STL Blogger's Excellent Baseball Post

From Skip To The Lou Blog

Decision 2006: CNN On Location at Hampton Village

The day before the election, Claire McCaskill was on the campaign trail greeting shoppers at the Hampton Village Schnucks. Outside the store was a CNN film crew interviewing St. Louisans about Jim Talent, Claire McCaskill, the war in Iraq, and stem cell research.