Do We Need A Great Downtown
Much ado has been made of the crime and mayhem in downtown St. Louis. Billions of dollars have been invested in various projects in the area with little to show for it. I rarely go downtown except to a Cardinals or Blues game and am not alone.
A common bromide is that we need a great downtown to have a great city. That may have been true in the days when most office workers worked downtown, and shopping at department stores was common and indeed a treat.
Today most people do not work downtown and often work at home. The cultural institutions in St. Louis are not located downtown, so why try to develop it. More resources need to be put into neighborhoods with growth incurring more organically. Written by Paul Dribin
The St Louis Contrarian 