I think it is important to attract more attention to Blairmont's activities than we've currently seen. One St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Riverfront Times article each just isn't enough. There needs to be constant coverage--the kind you'll find in painful overbundance in Built St. Louis's ongoing "Daily Dose of Blairmont" posts.
Here is a snippet of the article I posted. I correct a typo or two along the way (Oops! Must have been a bit too fired up! Hopefully they'll contact me to publish it and will let me do a couple edits).
The St. Louis Place, JeffVanderLou, Hyde Park, and Old North St. Louis neighborhoods lose historic structures by the day at this point. These neighborhoods' recovery is contingent upon retaining such inimitable architecture. Old North St. Louis, for one, is something of a preservation showcase. Severely abandoned and dilapidated, the neighborhood suffered the worst of suburbanization and deindustrialization. The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, however, has fueled a remarkable turnaround. Now, circa 1870s German vernacular rowhouses are being renovated. On one block, a commercial row is being converted back to a through street after an ill-conceived 1970s-era scheme that turned the street into a pedestrian mall.
Blairmont has bought into this tight-knit neighborhood with disastrous results. Mysteriously accelerated decay, removed boards, damaged rear corners, windows left open to the elements or removed altogether are the identifying features of a Blairmont property. Surely, McKee's demolition by neglect (and by BobCat) are threatening the future of a neighborhood with an admirable grassroots effort to revive itself.
The other neighborhoods involved are much worse off. St. Louis Place is home to a large swath of land that has already witnessed wholesale clearance. Likewise, JeffVanderLou contains many vacant buildings and those who remain in the occupied units are often extremely impoverished.
Nevertheless, it is vital that these neighborhoods' built environments be rescued from the clutches of a secretive and destructive developer. McKee's wealth and development experience should be working to benefit the neighborhoods involved, bringing in much needed investment, new residents, and jobs. Instead, historic buildings are being lost and, along with them, the heritage of once dense and vibrant urban neighborhoods. Whether a limestone faced three-story row house or a modest turn-of-the-century red brick shotgun, north St. Louis has a more than worthy architectural heritage. It should be spared such an ignoble demise, especially considering that the decline of the Rustbelt has taken its toll on these neighborhoods for nearly a half-century already.
I urge you to show your support for St. Louis's North Side and contact anyone you believe could care enough to make a difference.
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