urbanSTL

I spent some time with Konrad in early March when he was here and spoke with him on the phone in early Feb. from the start he was clear his focus would be on the area that U of Toronto did for its recovery.  GSL replicated the same study and came up with 84% recovery in that area. He had data on more restaurants opening than closing since covid and spending data that showed downtown east of Tucker at about 88% of 2019 (inflation adjusted) and Dowtown west at 106% when comparing 2019 to 2023 but he choose not to use it

TheWayoftheArch_V2.0 wrote: ↑

Apr 10, 2024

WSJ leans conservative and your stats probably didn’t help the “lib cities are rotting” narrative he and his editors were looking for.

For some reason I thought WSJ was not conservative...weird.

The opinion section of the WSJ leans heavily conservative, but their reporting tends to be very neutral (and high quality).

kipfilet wrote: ↑

Apr 10, 2024

The opinion section of the WSJ leans heavily conservative, but their reporting tends to be very neutral (and high quality).

Yep, agree on that.   I would say WSJ and New York times are probably last two paper with good high quality reporting which are neutral and will buy & read.  Will buy either papers for a plane trip.  Of course, pick the one for which the opinion piece you desire and or you want to agree with.    
Getting back to the optics, the online headline version of the story with the selective photos, doesn't help St. Louis cause but don't have full access to the article.

The biggest (slightly hyperbolic) problem downtown is facing right now is an image issue. Jobs and visitors are trending in the right direction but nothing seems to be happening to improve the worsening decay of some buildings. Over a year later and the graffiti on Railway Exchange's roof is still visible. The Railway Exchange parking garage, despite being condemned, is still standing and is looking worse every day. Besides the new Chase, the parking garages across from One Metro are looking worse than ever. Just a paint job and removing graffiti would go a long to making downtown seem safer.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I’ll be on ksdk at 5 and 6 talking about this

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 10, 2024

I’ll be on ksdk at 5 and 6 talking about this

DB - What is stopping the City from erasing the graffiti as suggested by the above poster? Don't we have funds?

It was a pretty overwhelmingly negative article, but I don't think that much of it was inaccurate.  Yes, there are good parts of downtown and yes, I BADLY want it to thrive.  But if you look at the physical downtown boundaries, the middle of downtown is pretty much right where the condemned RX parking garage is.  And what's on either side of all of that - to the west - a parking garage, to the north - a vacant building, to the east, Met Square, and to the south a parking garage.  When the middle of downtown is surrounded by drab garages and abandoned buildings, it's not going to be a good look.  

stlurbanist wrote: ↑

Apr 10, 2024

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 10, 2024

I’ll be on ksdk at 5 and 6 talking about this

DB - What is stopping the City from erasing the graffiti as suggested by the above poster? Don't we have funds?

GSL is starting to do some of that. Recently had paint removed from the garage on locust and Tucker

While I firmly believe that one of STL's biggest problem is bad PR - this region can't get out of its own way when telling our story to ourselves and "external" folks - this damn story is a rather big earned media/PR loss for STL overall and downtown in specific.  The story led with the negative, doubled down on the negative, then halfass tried to end positive with DT West.

(In a related note, the WSJ comment section is perhaps more toxic than STLToday....imagine that...yikes)

I am curious to know what share of the 14 alders believe downtown is a priority and/or their responsibility. My expectation is that few outside of the two that represent it care to lift a finger. I’m not even sure the Mayor cares.

"Restoring the Core’ of the City of St. Louis, as identified in the STL 2030 Jobs Plan, is a top priority of the business community."

Then why isn't the business community moving downtown?

quincunx wrote: ↑

Apr 10, 2024

"Restoring the Core’ of the City of St. Louis, as identified in the STL 2030 Jobs Plan, is a top priority of the business community."

Then why isn't the business community moving downtown?

Bingo, there's the tell. GSL may be doing some good work that legit helps the region and even the City/Downtown specifically, but at bottom it serves the same core purpose as the rest of the NGO sector: Polish the sharpest edges off the knife of capitalist development and provide PR cover for the ruling class that benefits most from it. It also provides busy work and decent to exorbitant sinecures that keep potential counter-elites occupied by and invested in maintaining the status quo.

Downtown St. Louis Shell station, targeted over crime, will close

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/downtown-st-louis-shell-station-crime-close


Settlement reached that the station will close by Aug. 1 and a deed restriction will prevent the future use of the site as a gas station or convenience store

5 downtown restaurants in Post Dispatches top 100 (48 are city).

Havanas
Levels
Rated
Katie’s
Salt and smoke

Havana's is one of my favorite restaurants in all of St. Louis. Salt + Smoke is pretty enjoyable, too. 

I need to go to Levels, Rated, and Katie's. 

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2024

Havana's is one of my favorite restaurants in all of St. Louis. Salt + Smoke is pretty enjoyable, too. 

I need to go to Levels, Rated, and Katie's. 

Havana's is excellent.

In the background that WSJ piece is the best thing to happen to downtown in a long time. I can’t share much but the reaction from biz community has been the complete opposite of how you expect it to be

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2024

In the background that WSJ piece is the best thing to happen to downtown in a long time.   I can’t share much but the reaction from biz community has been the complete opposite of how you expect it to be

I hope their reaction quickly turns to action.  All the resources are here.  They've just been dormant.

robertn42 wrote:

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2024

In the background that WSJ piece is the best thing to happen to downtown in a long time.   I can’t share much but the reaction from biz community has been the complete opposite of how you expect it to be

I hope their reaction quickly turns to action.  All the resources are here.  They've just been dormant.

I’m looking at all those CEO’s on the GSL board with their offices out in the suburbs.

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2024

In the background that WSJ piece is the best thing to happen to downtown in a long time.   I can’t share much but the reaction from biz community has been the complete opposite of how you expect it to be

That's encouraging, can't wait for you to share it.