This park between the Central Library and Washington Loft District is most used by homeless. "Hobo Park" as it is sometimes called has a playground and is near child care centers, yet being close to Larry Rice's center to the west likely doesn't help.



As anyone familiar with Jane Jacobs knows, parks reflect their surroundings and need diverse activity and users to be publicly patrolled commons.



Given the abundance of green space nearby on the other side of the Central Library, is this park really needed? Maybe the City Treasurer's office could build a garage here for the Loft District, or better yet issue an RFP for a new mixed-use development.



The playground equipment should be relocated or replaced with a spot very close to busy sidewalks, not about stray benches in another dead green space. Otherwise, this loitering hobo park will just re-emerge somewhere else in downtown's vacant green spaces.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone "enjoying" the park - eating lunch, reading the paper, catching some rays, etc. Nearly every time I walk by the park, there are several people sleeping on benches, people drinking alcohol from paper bag-covered cans. The park could be a nice ammenity for the neighborhood - maybe a dog park/dog run could be built there.



Here's a letter that was posted on MayorSlay.com:



Editor:



A recent story may have given readers a false impression of the City?s efforts to end chronic homelessness.



Let me say this as simply as I can. The City welcomes groups from the suburbs who want to feed homeless people. We have not nor will we do anything to discourage that. As Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford says, we strongly believe there is a more humane way to do it.



Right now, churches from throughout the region go to Lucas Park to feed homeless people. Some days the volunteers are there, some days they are not. Homeless people waiting for food are subject to the weather. In the summer, it is very hot. In the winter, it is very cold. Some days it rains. Other days it snows. Frankly, there is no guarantee the food is safe.



We convened a meeting of the churches that are feeding homeless people, homeless providers and homeless advocates for the sole purpose of finding a better way. In fact, we did.



On September 1st a new drop-in center for the homeless will open at Centenary United Methodist Church on Plaza Square. It is a place at which homeless people will be able to get a meal every evening. Volunteers from church groups will use Centenary?s kitchen to prepare the meals. The drop in center will have restrooms and showers-- the first time anything like that has been available to homeless people here.



Eventually, we will expand the services available at the church to include employment services, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse counseling, and assistance finding permanent housing.



This new center is the work of a unique public/private partnership. The Mayor?s office, the Downtown Partnership, our Human Services Department, churches and social service agencies have been working together to create this center. It shows what we can do when we collaborate and cooperate.



It is consistent with our 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. It gives people a hand up rather than a hand out. It improves a bad situation.



William Siedhoff

Director

Department of Human Services

It reminds me of Bryant Park in New York. Like Bryant Park, Lucas Park is behind the library, not in front. Bryant Park has some interesting buildings around it. Lucas Park has The Shell Building and others. Bryant Park was full of hobos and drug dealers. The Bryant Park neighborhood is a lot busier, but Lucas Park is much smaller. They cleaned up Bryant Park, got rid of the hobos, etc. They redesigned it to to make it more user friendly. It is beautiful and very popular. Someone that is an expert on park design could say what should be done to Lucas Park. I don't know. But, the playground equipment looks odd and having a homeless shelter next door makes it tough. One thing they need to do is replace the park benches with ones that are not good for sleeping. It may be too small for a good dog run. But, I bet there is room for a dog run on the other side of the Library and it is a good idea. Dog runs draw people day and night. Bryant Park became wireless in 2002 - cool idea for Lucas. Imagine a coffee shop facing Lucas and people sitting around on their laptops in the park. Things can be done! Feeding homeless people in what is now a residential park is unfair. No residential neighborhood can bear that burden - and moving them to Plaza Square won't help. At one time, Rice was in a neighborhood that wasn't residential, now he is. I wish the city could work with him to put a facility in a more appropriate location.

I really like this park. It's a small, intimate space, and with the buildings crowding around it, it makes a pretty cool urban oasis. With its proximity to the library, I think it would be a perfect place to read. In terms of its physical surroundings and layout, it's pretty damned near perfect.



However, you're right about the homeless problem. I won't get into the somewhat dubious identity between homelessness and criminality, but I will say that seeing fifteen plus homeless people hanging out in a small area is a bit disquieting.



I don't have any solutions to this problem, excepting maybe redirecting the homeless elsewhere, but that doesn't get to the filet of the problem. It's just a band-aid. Further, it seems a bit unfair to say that only people of a certain socio-economic status can enjoy the PUBLIC parks. Anyway, I just hope they can clean up this park. She's a jewel.

steve wrote:I really like this park. It's a small, intimate space, and with the buildings crowding around it, it makes a pretty cool urban oasis. With its proximity to the library, I think it would be a perfect place to read. In terms of its physical surroundings and layout, it's pretty damned near perfect.



However, you're right about the homeless problem. I won't get into the somewhat dubious identity between homelessness and criminality, but I will say that seeing fifteen plus homeless people hanging out in a small area is a bit disquieting.



I don't have any solutions to this problem, excepting maybe redirecting the homeless elsewhere, but that doesn't get to the filet of the problem. It's just a band-aid. Further, it seems a bit unfair to say that only people of a certain socio-economic status can enjoy the PUBLIC parks. Anyway, I just hope they can clean up this park. She's a jewel.

How bout the downtown residents just start using the park? We start sharing it with the homeless, and if drugs or panhandling are witnessed, call the police and have that person dealt with. If there starts to be altercation after altercation, there will be pressure to speed up the process of cleaning up the park. I say grab some friends, take a frisbee over there, take your dogs, take a checker board and some checkers or whatever. But go in groups and start to utilize the park as it should be. Am I too naive in this way of thinking?

Meeting the occasional street person is part of city living. But, it is an unfair burden for one residential neighborhood to bear the brunt of an entire metro region's homeless problem. We are trying to rebuild a city. A city that is weak and dying is of no help to the homeless. They won't have more opportunity in a dying city with a decaying downtown. It is not cruel to redirect them, as long as they are still receiving the same services. Yes, the real problems need to be addressed. But, this website is about building the city, not feeding the poor, so I won't get into that side of things. St. Louis needs to build its middle-class base and create a living, prosperous downtown in order to thrive as a region. It isn't shameful to provide an environment that encourages prosperity.

Expat,



I really enjoyed your comments on this. That park is very close to my office, and I would love to go over there and have lunch, and I have done so on a few occassions. Its actually really neat to see the line of kids come out of the Downtown Children's Center and disperse through their playground. I've never been approached or bothered there, with the exception of someone asking for spare change. But, I get that right on Washington Avenue all the time, so I don't even notice it anymore. But, I have noticed an increase in people, especially females, walking their dogs over there. That says something to me, and I think it shows that as more and more people start to move down here and work down here, it will improve. I actually am dying to get over there and pull up a seat on a sunny lunch-time break and sketch the library. I think thats a great building, and I really like where the park sits, especially in relation to the Shell Building.



I hope to see more people using the park, as a park, and not as sleeping arrangements. I think over time, it will improve. But, you are right, the only way it will change, is if people take the initiative and provide a positive presence over there.



Thanks for sharing.



Adam

Apickett, I agree. I love the relationship of the park, the library, the Shell Building and Christ Church. Getting a group of artist together to do some sketching and plein air painting would be a great activity. I would like to buy one of the paintings that would come out of it.

I believe Slay is trying to balance the needs of the homeless with the need of downtowns residents and businesses by coming up with the suggestion to move homeless services further west into a centralized location. I have been involved with the setting up of the facility at Centenary and am really excited about this solution. There are several positives to this, most importantly they remove these people from an area of downtown that has become the center of its rebirth. Secondly by bringing all of the groups together who had previously been serving food on the street, the city will be able to better control the quality of the meals and prevent overlapping of service that has led to a waste of resources. We will also be using a currently underutilized facility to keep costs down. In the future, everyone going through one building will allow more services to be offered to this needy group of citizens. Once again Slay has come up with a dynamic solution to a difficult problem by combining the public and private sectors to meet a great need. Just another example of his administration thinking outside the box.

And that should have a positive effect on the park. How many homeless people hang out in Lucas Park because they know that sooner or later, someone will stop by to give them some food? Having free meals distributed from a central location could possibly help reduce loitering and littering. It's not uncommon to see styrofoam boxes containing the remnants of those free meals scattered about the park.

I have just gone back and reread the post regarding Centenary and I googled the church. It is beautiful and the seat of the Methodists Eastern Missouri Diocese and it looks like they are doing other good works. I take it this means they will be able to get a better handle on things. It really does sound like a good idea. When I first read it (quickly I admit), I just assumed they were moving the problem over to Plaza Square which isn't fair to the residents of that area. But, I assume Centenary will steer things in the right direction, better than the informal disorganized gatherings in Lucas. For instance, less trash in the park, etc. And they will have a chance to reach this vulnerable population and get them the real help they need. Good Job! Lucas Park has a chance. Still, folks in the Lucas Park area should band together to improve the park just like they do in Lafayette.

One of my good friends lives in the Knickerbocker Lofts, which borders the park. So I see a lot of this park, and I have to admit that it's gotten steadily better in the two years that he's had his loft. I think the concentration of Larry Rice and the Christ Church right there sort of creates a nice meeting place for the homeless.



I remember when I was in Jr High, my church youth group went down to Christ Church once a month to cook for the homeless. It was really an enjoyable day to spend there with people who really needed the help. Plus, that Church is BEAUTIFUL!

I work right around the corner from Lucas Park, and I love it. It really is a wonderful little jewel in its setting. I really like the idea of more people simply going over there and USING the park. I'll try to do that more often myself.

Evidently, Lucas Park must always be a park due to its deed restrictions. Taken from the City Parks website:

Lucas Garden was the site of a brick house built by Judge Lucas in 1820 facing the present St. Charles Street or King's Road, as it was called. There is still a flowing spring in the Public Library basement that was the water supply for the Judge's home.



"Desirous of contributing to the ornament and health of the City of St. Louis and at the same time to establish a permanent monument to the memory of his ancestor (father) the late Honorable John B. C. Lucas, in the shape of a public square bearing his name," reads the deed signed by James H. and Marie E. Lucas on March 24, 1857, giving the block of land immediately north of the St. Louis Public Library to St. Louisians. The deed states further that, "This conveyance is however made with the express condition, to wit: that said public square shall forever be maintained as a public promenade for the inhabitants of the City of St. Louis."



On the same day in 1857 that he signed the deed on Lucas Garden, James H. Lucas sold the block where the Public Library now stands to the city for the sum of $95,000.

With greater residential activity nearby, hopefully then the park will be reclaimed as a vibrant oasis within the loft district, instead of the hobo hangout it has long been.

It was just announced in DC that Dupont Circle will become wireless. (the park, not the neighborhood) They chose Dupont Circle because it sits in an area where CBD & residential blend. Plus there is plenty of seating. The government isn't paying for this. A private company is doing it and plans to recoup with advertising and exposure. They said the project cost would be around $10,000. I would like to see something like this in Lucas Park or some other downtown park. With increased housing in DT STL, CBD & Residential mix is becoming a reality. This would bring people into the parks. Any companies in St. Louis looking for exposure?

That would be good for Lucas Park. Isn't Kiener Plaza wireless?