Bring vibrancy to empty storefronts
Taking my evening walk around downtown and seeing empty storefronts, boarded up windows, and For Sale/Lease signs only makes the dullness of the concrete jungle ever more depressing. Spring bringing some green trees and the city planting a few flower pots helps break up the monotony, but Citygarden and the new Arch Grounds seem to be the only refuge. If there were more people and more businesses open, it might be less somber.
All this to say, what
simple and fast solution is there to bring some vibrancy to downtown by
letting artists paint boarded up buildings and condemned structures (like the parking garage at
Tucker and Locust) or to install temporary work in vacant storefronts?
We absolutely need the investment in permanent sculptures that can reshape the downtown landscape, like those from
RACSTL as well as featuring prominent artists in
temporary installations (seems this project was delayed with COVID), but I'm talking about
something simple, cheap, and not full of red tape or a complicated process.
I know it's easier said than done. If I had any artistic ability, I'd sneak out at night and paint them myself, but I don't (although bright yellow smiley faces painted on all the barricades added in the streets to stop drag races may be do-able). I'd even settle for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission sending all the vacant building owners vinyl window graphics with the Explore St. Louis images on them (similar to what was done for the
Railway Exchange Building…although those graphics are now looking tired). Any ideas? The Grove appears to have had success with murals, but those are more permanent.
