Dig For Fire

St. Louis has a rich history.  I can feel it, I'm trying to be in tune with it.  The strings are loose, but the tension is starting to tighten up and converge with notes.  Eventually chords.  I'm connecting with it, it's becoming a song.  I'm trying to be part of it.  Rich history.  Rich like good chocolate that she brings home from expensive places, rich like Midwestern glaciated soil deposits.  Black from native minerals and decomposed organic materials.  Black from coal smoke and soot.  Black from factories.  Black from making steel and tires and brake pads and belts that spun wheels for every reason under the industrialized sun.  Dirty, black and rich.  Not always clean, not always proud, but history nonetheless. It's all around you.

You don't have to dig too far to discover the back story or previous use of the land you live on, or the neighborhood you call home.  You just need to polish the surface to see what they used to do.  How they lived.  And if you scratch a little...dig a little, things become unearthed.  Sometimes a history that's not well recorded becomes a mystery.  An intriguing find.  Sometimes it takes the naivety of a kid to find stuff in places we don't normally look.

The park in front of my house looks innocent enough.  A bike trail, trees some native, some not.  But oh, to be a kid.  To find a hand spade hanging on the peg board and become curious.  You dig with that, dad?  How far could I dig with that.  I want that spade.  I will dig with that today.  I will dig and find stuff.  I will dig as long as they'll let me.  I'll dig 'til it gets dark.

And when the weather breaks and the sun warms, so does the curiosity.  The soil in March is moist and arable.  These are digging days.

I will make an unconfirmed statement that the park in front of my house was once a landfill or was mined for coal and clay and filled with dirty spent soil from the turn of the 19th century.  I don't know.

But, I have evidence.  The kids keep bringing this proof to me, like a tom cat with a fresh kill.  They bring it to me and wonder.  They collect it, they admire it.  They think about it.

Depression glass?  Snuff can?  Tonic jar?  Pestle?  Tea cup?  All this stuff makes it's way past the threshold.

Here's today find:

We discover our history in many ways.  Sometimes it takes the innocence and desire of a kid to just dig a little to bring the past up to the surface.  Ask and inquire.  Don't hesitate to do some digging in this city, you'll find some mysterious stuff and start new conversations.

New Gifted Program for St. Louis Public Schools

I have 2 children attending Kennard Classical Junior Academy in the North Hampton neighborhood.  Our 3 year old just got a slot to start pre-K next year.  Woo Hoo!  Kennard is a gifted program where children are tested at age 3 for comprehension, functional logic, motor skills, etc.  They teach a grade up in curriculum; meaning the 1st graders learn the typical 2nd grade curriculum.  Kennard is the only gifted elementary school in Missouri.

 We love it here; our kids LOVE it here.  The families are great.  The kids are great.  The parents are caring.  The community is strong.  It is diverse in economic background.  There are kids from all over the city that go here.  It is as racially diverse as St. Louis can be, meaning there are only black and white people here, Asians and Hispanics/Latinos make up a tiny percentage of STL. 

 Our oldest is in second grade, and so far every teacher he's had and my daughter (Kindergarten) have had are top notch.

 One problem is that Kennard has gained such a great reputation within the city and county, that the waiting list exceeds capacity.  This is a good thing.  There were only 15 schools that received the Gold Star Award for excellence in Missouri education:

Similarly, a group of schools (including the eight schools submitted to the U.S. Department of Education) are identified by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. All of the identified schools are sent letters inviting them to apply to become Gold Star Schools. Those that wish to apply are asked to complete an application similar to the one used in the original Gold Star and Blue Ribbon Schools Programs. To be a Gold Star School, a school will not only have to meet the high performance standards established by the U.S. Department of Education (see the eligibility criteria), it will also have to provide evidence on its application that it meets criteria shown by research to promote school effectiveness and best practice.

The Gold Star Schools are honored at the Gold Star Schools Reception held in the Spring. Information about the schools is prepared by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and disseminated via its web site.

The high standards for recognition in the No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Program and the Gold Star Schools Program should make the programs successful in recognizing excellent schools and in calling attention to schools that could serve as models for schools wanting to improve.

Children that graduate from Kennard go on to McKinley in the McKinley Heights Neighborhood.  And from there, they can go to Metro High School which Newsweek has ranked as Missouri's top public high school.

My least favorite suburbanite argument for leaving the city comes from those former city residents who leave for the lame/boring suburbs because "the schools are too bad".  Talk to these people, the overwhelming majority never investigated, nor tried the SLPS.  They just "heard" about it.  It's like new resident to the area who "hear" from their lame ass suburban realtor that the city should not be on their list of places to buy a home.  All these losers are part of the problem and not the solution.  Sorry if this sounds to harsh, but if you knew how many times I've heard this, and followed up with a few probing questions to these folks, it usually boils down to fear of the unknown, racism, and/or social or economical intolerance. I've said it before: if caring, devoted parents flood the halls with their children, the standards will rise. 

Well, Kennard/McKinley/Metro are certainly success stories in the city.  But, it's highly competitive for a limited amount of slots.  So I was happy to read this St. Louis Post Dispatch article that Mallinkrodt school at Hampton and Pernod will be extending a gifted and talented program.  And the former Kennard principal, Mary Denny, is the Mallinkrodt principle (she's great, too).

This is excellent news for those who want to stay in the city but couldn't get a slot at Kennard.  There is one less excuse to go running for the county's school system. 

St. Louis is on the rise.

Bittersweet Bakery

***Guest post by Shannon Groth***

I wanted to do a guest post on a recent trip with a friend to

The Bittersweet Bakery

in Benton Park. You've probably noticed the Polar Wave Ice and Fuel building that was rehabbed in the last few years along Gravois near Victor, right next to Hodak's.  That's where the bakery is housed.

As the resident sweet tooth, I thought I might be able to describe the delectable goodies that can be had in this wonderful bakery.

Let me start by saying I am a sucker for packaging. Put it in a cute package, I will by it. Make it fancy with a little bow, I might buy two. Bittersweet has packaging down to an art. Crumbly cookies on lacy china plates. Mini cakes are displayed on a cake stand dripping with crystals. A long butcher block counter holds everything you could imagine, and then some. Because not only does Bittersweet have fantastic sweets, they also offer a wide variety of savory pastries as well.

 Hot breakfast entrees, stuffed pastries, cakes and cookies, lunch specials, its all here. The pastries are to die for, the coffee is served in A REAL CUP. The bar along the tall front windows is cozy and inviting. A perfect place to sit, do some munching, and watch the traffic fly by on Gravois, and wonder why those poor saps are not inside this wonderful bakery with you. Support the little guy, you won't regret your choice, I promise. You can taste the quality in everything they make. Even if you just duck in for something "to go" do so.

Walnut Park East part II

My wife and I drove the streets of Walnut Park East with our camera taking pictures of what we saw on that cold winter day.  I did a blog post on January 10, 2010.  The photos and description and overall vibe was true to our experience on a maybe 1 hour drive through this neighborhood.  But, I fully realize you can't judge a neighborhood on a 1 hour tour?  But, I felt I was honest in describing what I saw; and somewhat even handed in that I didn't take pictures of the numerous dumping sites and tire fire remnants, etc.

Not 4 days later, Antionette Cousins, the executive director for the Riverview West Florissant Dev. Corp (RWFDC) left a comment on my post.  It struck me immediately, because I feared I offended her or others that may call WPE home.  On one hand I'm always a glass half full guy, a rooter of the underdog, I find beauty is wrecked things and abandoned buildings in former urban residential and industrial areas.  Things that were made to be beautiful and last but have aged or fallen apart are some of my favorite vistas in St. Louis.  Yet, I wasn't feelin' it here and I'll stand behind that.  However, I felt personally responsible to meet with Ms. Cousins to explain my prerogative; to somewhat come clean on my take and learn something about the positive things that weren't apparent to me that day I drove around WPE.  In fact, here's how I ended my post:

Please correct me if you are familiar with the neighborhood and have opinions to the contrary. Or, if you have examples of positivity to share regarding WPE, please do. I'm sure there are church based organizations and such working hard to help those that choose to call WPE home, it's just these efforts were not immediately apparent to me on my tour today.

And here's Ms. Cousins comment from Jan. 14th:

I am sorry you feel that way about my community. As the Executive Director for Riverview West Florissant Development Corporation, I invite you to contact me so we can schedule a tour of the Walnut Park East neighborhood. It seems these postings are old as these homes have been torn down and new development has been constructed. I look forward to meeting with you.

314 382 9000

oh! by the way, crime has decreased by 80% since we began community engagement and new development of 32 new homes.

After giving it some thought, I was very happy that she commented and I called her the next day and we set up a time to meet in person.  I do stand by the fact that the photos I took were indeed from WPE and the homes were not torn down as of Jan 10, 2010.

After meeting Ms. Cousins, and having a candid conversation about my post and motives of writing about each of St. Louis' neighborhoods, and learning some more about the work her organization is doing, I walked away feeling pretty good about the future of the WPE neighborhood and that we came to an understanding.

I'm no journalist, but I took some notes of our discussion and asked for her permission to take her picture and post some of our discussion.   Firstly, let me say Ms. Cousins totally impressed the urbanist, or at least the city lover in me.  She seems pretty cool and is the kind of person that is a blessing to be working the city and we need more of her kind in spades.

She absolutely loves her job and that comes across clearly and honestly in her face and her enthusiastic demeanor:

Ms. Cousins is a St. Louis girl born and raised in the city and went to high school in Affton (I had to ask).  She went on to get multiple degrees in Missouri and Chicago in social work and human resources and  development.  We briefly talked about Chicago and New York (Brooklyn) and what makes these cities great.   She gets it when it comes to neighborhood continuity.  By that I mean finding architects and builders that can merge new construction with the existing homes/structures in the hood.

Yes, this neighborhood has seen some tough times, but the aldermen/women (Bosley, Flowers, Carter) and the RWFDC are working diligently to reach out to people to find out what to do to turn things around.  Drugs and crime have been a problem in the areas RWFDC represents (Baden, College Hill, Near North Riverfront, North Riverfront, O'Fallon, Walnut Park East and West and North Pointe).

We talked about the massive losses in population from 1990 to 2000.  We discussed that fact that I'm citing info that's 10 years old, and I'm fully aware of that.  But, I feel it's the only data that can reliably used to compare apples to apples amongst the city neighborhoods.  She is confident that the numbers are going to go up in the 2010 counting.  Her team and org. are working hard to educate people in the 27th ward re: census counting and how important it is to comply with the census counts. 

UPDATE January, 2013:  2010 Census data indicated a loss of ~23% in WPE.

We talked about the aging residents in her area.  60% of the people are senior citizens.  RWFDC is working with seniors to get them help with computer skills and in general keeping up with the times.  They are working with troubled kids who do work mowing grass and repairing homes for seniors  and picking up trash in the neighborhood.  They are working with Gateway Greening to get community veggie gardens going (3 in total).

Much of the RWFDC's funding comes from Community Block Grant dollars from the aldermanic funds that are awarded.

Ms. Cousins intentions are in line with my ideals for what WPE needs:   careful rehabilitation of significant/historic structures, and sensitive new construct to fill in the gaps.  We talked about our love of brownstones and matching/urban street set backs and matching new homes with the pre-existing homes.  We joked about our fears of people turning the city into the suburbs :)  She educated me in that each alderman is allowed to demo 13 homes annually.  Her org. works with the aldermen to evaluate these homes.  She's an advocate of conservation and rehabs.  Demos are done under dire circumstances.

Over 200 drug houses have been identified and shut down in her tenure.  The new homes constructed are being rented out for 3 years, during which time the renters get educated on escrow accounts, home ownership and predatory lending practices.  They get the option to purchase the home.  There is a waiting list for these homes.  They are taking into account modern advancements in energy efficiency by building these homes with rain barrels for capturing water to use for outdoor uses and installation of tank-less hot water heaters.

I hope I recapped our conversation accurately.  It was a pleasure learning that the future of our city is up to us....our generation....to rise above the loss and degradation that our parent's and grandparent's generations allowed to occur.  We are in a good place for the future as a city.  We have good people working to improve this improve this town.  I'm glad we can talk about it and become friends and unite on the thing we all want:  healthy, thriving neighborhoods where people can feel safe, happy and proud of their homes and city.

Cheers to the RWFDC!   Thank you for your time and reaching out to me in my quest to understand what the 79 neighborhoods of my favorite city have to show and offer.

St. Louis City Talk On Facebook

I just started a page on facebook for all my brief rants and adventures in trying new bars/restaurants/businesses in the city of St. Louis. 

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=287566229960&ref=nf