Saturday I passed by the old Mark Twain hotel. It has some of the best terra cotta work of any building in town, and crews have been cleaning and repairing it lately. It looks terrific! But it's just a flophouse. It is (or was) owned by Amos Harris who renovated (?) it several years ago. Anyone heard any rumors about this building?
My understanding is that it's at least one step above a flop house. Sure, they cater to the temporarily-down-on-their-luck folks, but they try to keep it respectable.
judge for yourself whether it's a flophouse and/or respectable. check the st. louis sex offender registry:
http://stlcin.missouri.org/circuitattorney/
mark twain's zip code is 63101; it's address is 205 n. 9th street.
pretty incredible.
http://stlcin.missouri.org/circuitattorney/
mark twain's zip code is 63101; it's address is 205 n. 9th street.
pretty incredible.
- 6,775
nc23 wrote:judge for yourself whether it's a flophouse and/or respectable. check the st. louis sex offender registry:
http://stlcin.missouri.org/circuitattorney/
mark twain's zip code is 63101; it's address is 205 n. 9th street.
pretty incredible.
Well isn't that special? Yikes!
Wow. That is unreal. Searching other zip codes (63102, 63103, etc) yields even more registered offenders at this address...
- 10K
SCARY.
The Mark Twain really needs to stop advertising in Sex Offender Monthly magazine.
The Mark Twain really needs to stop advertising in Sex Offender Monthly magazine.
- 1,282
Sex offenders find downtown refuge
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/03/2008
Former sex offenders, increasingly unwelcome in their communities, cannot just disappear. Scores are taking refuge at the very center of the region, in a place that knows their past and is still willing to help them find a future.
It's the Mark Twain Hotel, 205 North Ninth Street, between Olive and Pine streets, an address that shows 60 registered sex offenders. Only three St. Louis-area ZIP codes have more names on the state sex offender registry than this single, eight-story building.
Its true roster of sexual criminals changes faster than the registry is updated. Twenty-four of the 60 people named have moved on — some back to prison, according to hotel staff. Others may have come in. There is a constant flow of parolees to and from the St. Louis Community Release Center, the massive halfway house north of downtown.
The 101-year-old former luxury hotel is in the center of downtown, a block from a MetroLink station and the Old Post Office, near lofts and hotels, stadiums, parks and plazas. Advertisement
The offenders who live here did bad things and then did their time. One raped his daughter. Another seduced a teenager he met on a chat line. Several sexually abused young relatives.
"You read the reports, and they are scary and sad," said Ishwinder Arora, the hotel's general manager. "But that is their past."
He said he feels that helping low-income working people — even those with criminal records — is the hotel's mission, especially since many work downtown already. "They need a place, and what's a better place than downtown?"
Of 11 sex offenders interviewed by a reporter last week, some said they live in the 236-room hotel because they have to live somewhere, and many other areas are off-limits.
Some said they liked the convenience of having service and day labor jobs nearby, and easy transportation.
Others said they'd be afraid to move somewhere that people might take notice of them.
"I have some money that I could use to buy myself a place to live," said a 62-year-old Twain resident, who asked not to be identified. He said he exposed himself to children in his family on two occasions in the 1990s. "The question is, will the system let me move there? Once I move there, will my name be exposed to where I'm subjected to vigilantism?"
States and cities have made it tougher for sex offenders to exist in populated areas. In Missouri, a sex offender can't live within 1,000 feet of a school or day care — or go within 500 feet of them. Those are moderate restrictions compared to some areas of the country. In Florida and Iowa, such offenders have been all but expelled.
When sex offenders reoffend, people get nervous, and officials ratchet up the rules. After a sex offender named Benjamin Rzadca was charged with exposing himself in Florissant's James Eagan Center, the City Council bypassed its normal legislative process last week, immediately barring offenders from parks and recreation centers.
"I can't allow them to be around children in this community," Florissant Mayor Robert Lowery said.
But there aren't many children studying or playing downtown. In fact, a recent study found that dogs far outnumber children there.
So instead of being considered a nuisance here, the sex offenders in the Mark Twain get scant notice beyond warnings on Internet forums. Occasionally, someone will come into the lobby to ask a front-desk clerk: Do you know this hotel has a lot of sex offenders? And the answer is: Yes, we do.
A St. Louis police substation is next door. Officers are occasionally summoned to the hotel to break up fights, or investigate minor thefts, but no one at either the hotel or the police department can remember a problem involving sexual reoffending
Read More
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/03/2008
Former sex offenders, increasingly unwelcome in their communities, cannot just disappear. Scores are taking refuge at the very center of the region, in a place that knows their past and is still willing to help them find a future.
It's the Mark Twain Hotel, 205 North Ninth Street, between Olive and Pine streets, an address that shows 60 registered sex offenders. Only three St. Louis-area ZIP codes have more names on the state sex offender registry than this single, eight-story building.
Its true roster of sexual criminals changes faster than the registry is updated. Twenty-four of the 60 people named have moved on — some back to prison, according to hotel staff. Others may have come in. There is a constant flow of parolees to and from the St. Louis Community Release Center, the massive halfway house north of downtown.
The 101-year-old former luxury hotel is in the center of downtown, a block from a MetroLink station and the Old Post Office, near lofts and hotels, stadiums, parks and plazas. Advertisement
The offenders who live here did bad things and then did their time. One raped his daughter. Another seduced a teenager he met on a chat line. Several sexually abused young relatives.
"You read the reports, and they are scary and sad," said Ishwinder Arora, the hotel's general manager. "But that is their past."
He said he feels that helping low-income working people — even those with criminal records — is the hotel's mission, especially since many work downtown already. "They need a place, and what's a better place than downtown?"
Of 11 sex offenders interviewed by a reporter last week, some said they live in the 236-room hotel because they have to live somewhere, and many other areas are off-limits.
Some said they liked the convenience of having service and day labor jobs nearby, and easy transportation.
Others said they'd be afraid to move somewhere that people might take notice of them.
"I have some money that I could use to buy myself a place to live," said a 62-year-old Twain resident, who asked not to be identified. He said he exposed himself to children in his family on two occasions in the 1990s. "The question is, will the system let me move there? Once I move there, will my name be exposed to where I'm subjected to vigilantism?"
States and cities have made it tougher for sex offenders to exist in populated areas. In Missouri, a sex offender can't live within 1,000 feet of a school or day care — or go within 500 feet of them. Those are moderate restrictions compared to some areas of the country. In Florida and Iowa, such offenders have been all but expelled.
When sex offenders reoffend, people get nervous, and officials ratchet up the rules. After a sex offender named Benjamin Rzadca was charged with exposing himself in Florissant's James Eagan Center, the City Council bypassed its normal legislative process last week, immediately barring offenders from parks and recreation centers.
"I can't allow them to be around children in this community," Florissant Mayor Robert Lowery said.
But there aren't many children studying or playing downtown. In fact, a recent study found that dogs far outnumber children there.
So instead of being considered a nuisance here, the sex offenders in the Mark Twain get scant notice beyond warnings on Internet forums. Occasionally, someone will come into the lobby to ask a front-desk clerk: Do you know this hotel has a lot of sex offenders? And the answer is: Yes, we do.
A St. Louis police substation is next door. Officers are occasionally summoned to the hotel to break up fights, or investigate minor thefts, but no one at either the hotel or the police department can remember a problem involving sexual reoffending
Read More
- 923
And that's why downtown will have a very hard time bringing in young families. People check that website, especially if they've got small kids. Personally, I believe ignorance is bliss, but a lot of others don't. What's worse for the community - having a building filled with sex offenders, or the NLEC?
- 1,364
I guess they have to live somewhere. Still, it's not good for bringing people, especially families, into downtown.
- 264
I thought with the work they did there last year these would surely be turned into more expensive apartments. I guess the owners have something against making money.
Ex-offenders have to live somewhere but it seems screwed up that public policy concentrates them at a single address or even area. A scattered-site policy could make sense.
- 6,775
shinpickle wrote:I thought with the work they did there last year these would surely be turned into more expensive apartments. I guess the owners have something against making money.
I suspect they are making plenty of money.
- 10K
The good news is that the residents of the Mark Twain don't appear to be causing any problems. In a way, maybe it's better to have them concentrated in a single location.
The bad news is that all most County folk read is "Downtown. Sex offenders."
The bad news is that all most County folk read is "Downtown. Sex offenders."
True, but in this case they are right. Thanks to the Mark Twain, Downtown has a point source for sex offenders. Its like having a sewer pipe outfall right next to your water intake.
- 264
Seems to me there are far more entry-level jobs in other areas, what sense does it make putting the jobless downtown. rent is only cheap because of the subsidies, and there are few entry-level jobs nearby that are safe & offer 40-hour weeks.
the real solution would be eliminating the registry & removing the "have committed a felony" checkbox from applications. these old perverts are already not getting a fair shake, and stranding them downtown with 100s just like them, does not help them 1 bit.
the real solution would be eliminating the registry & removing the "have committed a felony" checkbox from applications. these old perverts are already not getting a fair shake, and stranding them downtown with 100s just like them, does not help them 1 bit.
There is a joke there somewhere...But there aren't many children studying or playing downtown. In fact, a recent study found that dogs far outnumber children there.
In any case, given St. Louis' long history of questionable urban planning and development decisions, I guess I'm just surprised there isn't a daycare center on the ground floor of the Mark Twain.
- 6,775
I like this. It makes downtown seem edgier.
- 120
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:I like this. It makes downtown seem edgier.
I hope you are kidding. Our downtown is about as "edgy" as it gets.
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:I like this. It makes downtown seem Pervier.
Fixed that for you.
If it gets any edgier, we could sell tickets!drunkrusski wrote:The Central Scrutinizer wrote:I like this. It makes downtown seem edgier.
I hope you are kidding. Our downtown is about as "edgy" as it gets.
Interesting points. Maybe it's just the market working: jobs, public transit, affordable housing, central location, etc... Scattering people that need supportive services isn't smart either.
This really doesn't bother me that much. The article said they haven't had ONE problem with any of these resident's victimizing any others downtown. Sure, ideally, I'd love to see it full of grad/post grad students, but it doesn't seem to be a cause of concern. That cannot be said of Larry Rice's shelter though, that thing needs to go! SLAY? what's the deal? I thought they were working on this. 
- 5,433
DeBaliviere wrote:The good news is that the residents of the Mark Twain don't appear to be causing any problems. In a way, maybe it's better to have them concentrated in a single location.
The bad news is that all most County folk read is "Downtown. Sex offenders."
Yes- I think the perception of the place is actually more of a drag on downtown than the sex offenders themselves.
I'm not crazy about the fact that there are so many living in one building and in such a concentrated area. However, it does nothing to change my perception of downtown as a safe place to work, to visit, or to live.