urbanSTL

whitherSTL wrote: ↑

Nov 24, 2022

Or just strive to develop a society that values life a little bit more….

A pro-life would involve banning or severely restricting firearms as well as large vehicles. But that would annoy those (mostly but not only on the American right) who worship death machines.

How does police stop a situation where 2 groups of people get into an argument in an apartment and shot at each other in a lobby? It doesn’t, here is my secret to never being shot in STL despite walking almost 12,000 miles since start of 2020- I don’t buy or sell drugs, I don’t settle domestic disputes with guns and I don’t argue with people who settled disputes with guns. It’s worked well for me, although I have been hit by cars 3 times so far.

^That's pretty much the basics of it. Stay away from drug activity especially, and you are at low risk of getting shot (or overdosing since almost everything dealers are selling these days will kill you). There is of course the non-zero chance that you happen to be the lucky person that gets picked for the occasional car-jacking, or you are caught in the crossfire or find a stray bullet. We still have a gun and gun firing problem no doubt. But chances of that are pretty darn low in the scheme of things. I have lived in North St. Louis for a third of my life now, and the City of St. Louis my entire life, and since I stay out of drugs and gangs, I fear getting caught in a mass-shooting far more than anything on the street. There are far too many people engaged in violent activity here and in the rest of the US, but they are rarely doing it randomly.

None of this banter changes the fact this incident has a horrible impact on the perception of safety downtown. Maybe put Arcade on the nuisance property list and force them to step up their security and tenant screening process.

City admin has said multiple times that the central corridor has had plenty of investments and is not a priority. That’s the first problem. It’s fine that a lot of you love the city and that’s good but finding excuses to justify a non existent safety is hiding the problem. We all agree STL has a lot of potential problem is that we want to use funds to help communities in need instead of investing in programs that that would bring a ROI for new generations to take advantage. Until we don’t see education and programs as an investment we will continue to have shooting and drug dealings all over.


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downtown2007 wrote:None of this banter changes the fact this incident has a horrible impact on the perception of safety downtown. Maybe put Arcade on the nuisance property list and force them to step up their security and tenant screening process.

Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects in Downtown/Downtown West: Arcade Building (it’s been having problems for a long while; yes, it should be on the nuisance property list); Leather Trades Lofts; the Downtowner; Lofts @ 1000 (I think. May have burned off by now.); there’s a Cupples building (can’t remember the name); … thankfully the Railway Exchange building project stalled. They also had planned to use LIHTC.

Downtown needs more home ownership at all price points. There are PLENTY of low income rental options (see above). Somehow Downtown/Downtown West need to reduce what are likely drug crimes (Arcade) and late night BS (nuisance property actions; bike/ped plan/anti-drag-racing-plan via road diets/parklets/raised crosswalks etc.) and increase the influx of home owners. Bring back the Downtown Loft Tour. Market Downtown living.

But you cannot just ignore the crime. You have to work on all of it (crime + home sales).

There is no singular organization working on Downtown/Downtown West now that the old corrupt CID was renewed and also dropped economic development from its scope. Greater St. Louis Inc is not solely focused on Downtown. They are a regional initiative.

So … who is focused on Downtown and moving it forward???

As an aside regarding nuisance properties besides Arcade: Murder Shell; Lofts @ 1000; Beatrice (or the one next door) was just raided by DEA/ATF/FBI (like last week); Ely Walker (Lux Living); Level on Locust (Airbnb ghost hotel); St. Patrick’s Center (a beacon for the region’s homeless IN THE DOWNTOWN BUSINESS DISTRICT!!); numerous St. Louis Parking owned surface parking lots https://www.stlouisparking.com, including the giant one behind the old Reign; Reign-like bars (CBA Events was the most recent one); I’m sure I’m forgetting many … but to end the list, drum roll please … THE MARK TWAIN SEX OFFENDER HOTEL. GET A SEX OFFENDER APP. CHECK IT OUT.

Oh, and there are literally only 4 cops patrolling all of Downtown now on any given shift (not including privately paid secondary patrols which are absolutely worthless).

The aldermen do not care to focus police manpower in Downtown. They believe their non-Downtown wards are fiscally more important to the City.

Think any substantial amount of the federal stimulus money or Rams money will make it Downtown? Keyword: “substantial”


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Downtown1999 wrote:

downtown2007 wrote:None of this banter changes the fact this incident has a horrible impact on the perception of safety downtown. Maybe put Arcade on the nuisance property list and force them to step up their security and tenant screening process.

Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects in Downtown/Downtown West: Arcade Building (it’s been having problems for a long while; yes, it should be on the nuisance property list); Leather Trades Lofts; the Downtowner; Lofts @ 1000 (I think. May have burned off by now.); there’s a Cupples building (can’t remember the name); … thankfully the Railway Exchange building project stalled. They also had planned to use LIHTC.

Downtown needs more home ownership at all price points. There are PLENTY of low income rental options (see above). Somehow Downtown/Downtown West need to reduce what are likely drug crimes (Arcade) and late night BS (nuisance property actions; bike/ped plan/anti-drag-racing-plan via road diets/parklets/raised crosswalks etc.) and increase the influx of home owners. Bring back the Downtown Loft Tour. Market Downtown living.

But you cannot just ignore the crime. You have to work on all of it (crime + home sales).

There is no singular organization working on Downtown/Downtown West now that the old corrupt CID was renewed and also dropped economic development from its scope. Greater St. Louis Inc is not solely focused on Downtown. They are a regional initiative.

So … who is focused on Downtown and moving it forward???

As an aside regarding nuisance properties besides Arcade: Murder Shell; Lofts @ 1000; Beatrice (or the one next door) was just raided by DEA/ATF/FBI (like last week); Ely Walker (Lux Living); Level on Locust (Airbnb ghost hotel); St. Patrick’s Center (a beacon for the region’s homeless IN THE DOWNTOWN BUSINESS DISTRICT!!); numerous St. Louis Parking owned surface parking lots https://www.stlouisparking.com, including the giant one behind the old Reign; Reign-like bars (CBA Events was the most recent one); I’m sure I’m forgetting many … but to end the list, drum roll please … THE MARK TWAIN SEX OFFENDER HOTEL. GET A SEX OFFENDER APP. CHECK IT OUT.

Oh, and there are literally only 4 cops patrolling all of Downtown now on any given shift (not including privately paid secondary patrols which are absolutely worthless).

The aldermen do not care to focus police manpower in Downtown. They believe their non-Downtown wards are fiscally more important to the City.

Think any substantial amount of the federal stimulus money or Rams money will make it Downtown? Keyword: “substantial”


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Agree 100% Downtown can’t take another LIHTC. Myself and a few owners DTW are selling our properties. Central Corridor should be full of life 24/7 and full of professionals that work DT or WFH or even hybrid. No successful DT is Blue Collar or full of LIHTC. Game days are the only days that DT feel like a DT and even those days is not all DT. Some people can defend DT STL but I am a well traveled guy and DT STL has one of the worst if not the worst DT (Mid-size) in the USA. Even Detroit’s DT is doing way better than ours.


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^Detroit is doing ok, but I wouldn't say they're that much more vibrant. I have family and friends who have gone there and they say activity levels vary. It's much like our downtown. There are busy parts and quiet parts. Downtown Detroit, like Downtown St. Louis, has a long way to go to get the vibrancy it once had back. Both cities are making progress on this front, but work remains.

$100,000,000 of the $519,000,000 Rams settlement is going to downtown which includes;
$70m to RCA for the Dome
$30m for the convention center expansion

The $250m remaining that the City got should go 100% to north city to demo, stabilize houses and improve public infrastructure

dbInSouthCity wrote:$100,000,000 of the $519,000,000 Rams settlement is going to downtown
$70m to RCA for the Dome
$30m for the convention center expansion

The $250m remaining that the City got should go 100% to north city to demo, stabilize houses and improve public infrastructure

Do you have the link for the breakdowns?

Also does anyone knows if some of the money will be use for traffic calming and homelessness?


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JJ Taino wrote: ↑

Nov 29, 2022

dbInSouthCity wrote:$100,000,000 of the $519,000,000 Rams settlement is going to downtown
$70m to RCA for the Dome
$30m for the convention center expansion

The $250m remaining that the City got should go 100% to north city to demo, stabilize houses and improve public infrastructure

Do you have the link for the breakdowns?

Also does anyone knows if some of the money will be use for traffic calming and homelessness?


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The city needs to use that money to upgrade downtown street infrastructure. It is so ugly and dated compared to almost everywhere I've been.

I edited my post to clarify- the $100m is the $30m for the convention center expansion and $70m for RCA, there is no additional monies coming to downtown.

I believe $40 million is going to be spent on traffic calming and road improvements. 

^ no. That’s from ARP money pot.

Only allocations from the $519m rams settlement are as follows

$250m to STL city (no decision on how to spend it)
$70m to rca for Dome upkeep/improvements
$30m for convention Center expansion
$169 to STL county

Yeah I think underrated improvements to Downtown would be investing that money in stabilizing North City and dramatically improving public transportation. If most of the land north of Downtown is uninhabited that's a big negative impact (not Columbus Square but STL Place, JVL, Pruitt Igoe, etc). And with parking Downtown costing $$ (even despite how much they overbuilt parking garages) and many DT residents being carless I think that would help make it much more attractive. 

chriss752 wrote:WeWork closed at the Metropolitan Building. That sign they put on top was atrocious. 

https://greaterstlinc.com/news/downtown ... n-st-louis

GSL moving into former WeWork space.

GSL’s current offices are located on the 13th floor of One Metropolitan Square. But, Hall noted: “As we scale up our team to help St. Louis win this next decade, we want to ensure our headquarters reflects that mission. We will develop a space that both honors St. Louis’ history and looks to St. Louis’ future … a space that fosters regional collaboration and reflects the strength, creativity, and diversity of the entire 15-county bi-state St. Louis metro.”

GSL will lease the entire 22nd floor of One Metropolitan Square, most recently occupied by co-working company WeWork. John Warren with Cushman Wakefield represented GSL and David Biales with Jones Lang LaSalle represented the owners of One Metropolitan Square.

“This space represents what the future of St. Louis’ business community should be about. It is open, welcoming, dynamic, and fosters collaboration. While some changes will need to be made to the space to suit our needs, this is a great step for Greater St. Louis, Inc. and, more importantly, St. Louis’ business community,” said Ola Ayeni, President and Founder of Claim Academy, former Arch Grant recipient, and member of GSL’s Board of Directors. “This new headquarters also demonstrates the critical importance of Downtown to the metro.”


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They're taking an entire floor? I had no idea they were such a large organization.  

^ they generate $20,000,000 in revenue, pay their ceo $450,000 and top 5 executives all make $200,000-300,000 and it runs a $200,000,000 real estate investment fund

Dang.   And here I thought it was basically Jason Hall and a laptop. 

About that real estate investment fund: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/ha ... c-38975130 

Oh, sweet, a link to one of Hartmann's bad takes. 

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Dec 01, 2022

Oh, sweet, a link to one of Hartmann's bad takes. 

Go on...

Hartmann refers to what Greater St. Louis, Inc. is doing as "same old, same old," but I'd like to know what GSL accomplished when it was five different organizations; I'd like to know where exactly St. Louis' wealthiest were concentrating their efforts for the last fifty years; I'd like to know where the profits were (GSL just turned a profit); and I'd like to ask, who else is going to step up for St. Louis and help restore the core and region? 

A major St. Louis organization, freshly re-organized, with wishes to revamp the city with 30,000 new jobs and other aspirations, is not "same old, same old." The organization is mounting wins for the city, the county, and for the other thirteen counties in the metro, and it's not like I see an intentional bias. Greater St. Louis, Inc. has helped secure several wins for Warren County that amount to a few thousand jobs. 

I don't care about transparency; I care about results. I want to see St. Louis rise, and I don't think we're going to see that happen when people pull out their pitchforks and flaming torches anytime anything good happens in this town.