Moving a little to the southwest, I took a look at the houses on Northland Avenue between Euclid and Marcus avenues. I definitely see the irony of how just a couple of miles north on Euclid Avenue, after looking at its path in the Central West End a couple of weeks ago, can make such a dramatic difference.
It raises a question that I have often: what am I trying to prove by posting pictures of such a devastated street in North St. Louis? I mean, there were stretches of this block that are just in really bad shape.
Particularly in the next two photos, this might be one of the most devastated stretches in the entire city. What happened? I know the story of redlining, disinvestment, the 1980s crack epidemic, etc., but what the heck?
We’ve got to start asking more hard questions of how, with so much investment happening in St. Louis right now that one whole half of the city is not getting any investment at all.
There are numerous houses on this block that are well maintained. It’s not that people in this neighborhood don’t care–they clearly do, but without other people helping, there is not going to be any real change.
If you don’t have 30 or so friends committed to rehabbing an entire block, it’s a hard sell to get anyone with money to want to live in such a wrecked and deserted place with virtually no amenities, schools drowning in poverty problems, and a pretty foreign culture. Even if you do have 30 committed friends, you’re not going to plop down in the middle of the ville, you’ll be adjacent to the loop or cwe so you can be in walking distance of city stuff.
I think you hit on an important point-without the infusion of cash from a major investor, this area will never see a rebound. It will require tens of millions of dollars.