DOWNTOWN DEBATE                                                                                                         by umar ben-ivan

Recent developments on Washington Avenue have overjoyed many. They see this as a way to breathe life into a dying city by providing an aesthetically pleasing environment that attracts young people and businesses. They envision a downtown St. Louis full of exotic eateries, coffee shops and night clubs that will attract people to live, work and invest in the city.
 

The Rev. Larry Rice doesn’t see it that way. The St. Louis community activist (homelessness, prison reform, anti-gambling, anti-death penalty, pro-life, etc.) has been highly critical of the redevelopment of Washington Avenue. He cites millions of dollars being spent on landscaping and fancy street re-pavement as an example of “the priorities of the city of St. Louis being focused on luring in the rich and neglecting the poor and homeless.”
 

“On a nightly basis homeless women and children are being turned away from shelters and being forced to sleep on the street because of cuts in the city and state budget,” Rev. Rice states.
 

“What we have is a group of elites moving downtown and pushing the rents up making it harder and harder for the poor to find a place to live and the city of St. Louis doing nothing. Furthermore, these new residents are calling the police on the homeless population and others just because they are uncomfortable with their looks,” Rev. Rice states.
 

Downtown Residents Association member and longtime downtown property and business owner, Tim Tucker respectfully disagrees.
 

“I was the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s housing program director and I understand the problem and agree that social services are underfunded on local, state and federal levels. However, the Washington Avenue money is coming from the federal government not the local budget…Larry Rice and that crowd really need to understand how federal, state and city budgets work.”
 

In response to the criticism of too much money being spent to make Washington Avenue look more attractive through new streetlights, bricks and trees, Tucker clarified his views.

“We had these beautiful historic buildings on Washington and people where moving in and creating really neat lofts, but if you drove by you would think that the place was dead. The money being spent to make the street look better is a message that people are living here, and you can come and live or shop here too.”
 

Tucker adds that the under-funding of social services will not end in the city of St. Louis until the city is able to attract more residents and that anything that will bring in more residents will help “all St. Louisans.”
 

In defense of downtown residents calling police, Tucker responded, “You may have someone calling police if a homeless man urinates in front of children in the park, but there is no real harassment being encouraged by residents.”
 

Rev. Rice and many in the African-American community have also been critical of the Washington Avenue redevelopment because they believe that it will bring gentrification to downtown St. Louis, as has happened in several other cites such as Chicago and San Francisco.
 

“We can read our history and find examples of people being displaced, such as the forced removal of Native Americans from their land…so this is nothing new,” Rev. Rice said.
 

Tucker rejects this saying, “It isn’t like there was anyone living in the area anyway; the new loft and condo residents are not replacing anyone since the area was almost vacant anyway.”
 

Jokingly Tucker states, “The only people I used to see on Washington at night were individuals every now and then who got lost - the place was dead.”
 

In regards to the construction of Washington Avenue he adds, “We have used Empowerment Zone funding for projects such as the convention hotel that require that workers come from within the Empowerment Zone – a high poverty area.
 

“The city of St. Louis continues to lose population, and while population is decreasing and the tax-base is getting smaller, the budget is growing. The city still needs as many police officers and street repair units, the city just has less money to fund essential services. Bringing in more people means more taxpayers to help fund the city budget,” states Tucker.
 

Local business owners and residents have mixed feelings on this issue.
 

“Bringing more young professional people into downtown St. Louis will be good for the city and it will increase the level of attractiveness and safety of downtown St. Louis,” stated downtown resident Fresca Rosario, 32.
 

However, there are some residents of the inexpensive Ford Building on Pine who are angry at the “sky-rocketing rents and the police harassment of anyone walking downtown at night.”
 

“It is obvious they are trying to push us out,” remarked a Ford Building resident named Tony. He went on to say, “The City of St. Louis is using the Street Demonstration ordinance to arrest people at night walking the streets with no cash and no identification. That’s it for me, I’m moving back to California where I am from.”
 

A number of businesses catering to the new and expected residents have opened up along Washington Avenue and many more are expected to open within the next several months.

They feel that the increasing population in downtown will create an opportunity for business downtown. Many of the small business owners coming downtown see themselves as pioneers who will lead the downtown resurgence. Other businesses disagree.
 

Amitin’s bookstore has been a landmark on Washington for decades along with a handful of other successful businesses that are well known throughout the St. Louis area such as Gus’s Shoes and Fashions (1200 Washington) and Levine Hat Company (1416 Washington). Despite its history, A. Amitin’s bookstore will be closing its doors at the end of June.
 

“The city of St. Louis is driving away small businesses committed to the city of St. Louis in order to attract large national chains…small businesses get no help from the office of Mayor Slay” remarked Lawrence Amitin, the second-generation owner of Amitin books.
 

He claims to have been pushed out in a campaign to transform Washington Avenue into an “elite district” and that developers are focusing on short-term trends that will attract businesses which will “be closed within six months of opening.”
 

The debate over Washington Avenue seems to generally be fought on one side by those who wish to bring life into the city by making it a more attractive place to live, work and play, such as the Downtown Residents Association, Downtown Partnership, and Metropolis. Opposite of these organizations are those who would rather focus on sustainable economic development and shoring up social services.
 

Clearly there is resentment between the “urbanist” development crowd and many grassroots community organizations. Many state that they see a group of highly educated and affluent white professionals wanting to create a yuppie-elitist environment, and focusing on issues that will accommodate that lifestyle, rather than working on substantive issues that will help the working poor and create jobs. On the reverse side you have many who feel that the traditional urban politics and community activists of St. Louis have netted very little in the way of tangible results in the past, and that the city has decayed under traditional development programs, and there is a need for change.
 

What one group sees as evidence of development the other sees as evidence of racism, classism and gentrification. These are accusations that hit hard since most of the development crowd tends to think off themselves as liberals.
 

Recent flare-ups between these groups have occurred over issues such as public transportation, where the debate whether to focus on buses for the poor or light-rail for the professional commuter rages on. A pattern seems to be developing that shows a large rift between St. Louis activists. One group is focusing on urban lifestyle issues, that in the opinion of those involved feel that a transformation of the city will in the long run benefit the poor, and the other focusing on empowerment for the poor and social services in the here and now.
 

On one side of the divide you have community activists such as Rev. Rice, the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, many organizations in the African-American community, Latino community and immigrant-rights community. The other side of the divide is made up largely of urbanist professional organizations who tend to be culturally liberal, artsy and educated.
 

Both of these groups tend to be Democratic voters and issues such as the Washington Avenue redevelopment could divide these voters and be an issue of contention during future Democratic primaries.
 

Regardless of where anyone stands on the issue of redevelopment and Washington Avenue, recent developments have accomplished one thing that hasn’t been done in a long time; gotten people to talk about something other than the sports stadiums, blight and perceived crime when they talk about downtown.

 

PLEASE BUY FROM OUR HOMELESS VENDORS ON THE STREETS