When you hear the word “segregation,” many think of the South. It brings back memories of lunch counter sit-ins, the march to Montgomery, Selma and other civil rights battles of the 1960s.
A better example can be found right here in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Racial disparities is one of the most pressing social and economic concerns facing St. Louis and the region. African Americans and members of other communities of color are not always included in Missouri and Illinois success stories.
Gentrification can only occur in neighborhoods where there is low ownership by those that live and do business in the neighborhood. Paul McKee Jr. realized this opportunity and took advantage of a grim situation on the near North Side.
The flight to the suburbs, private and charter schools, teacher shortages, and outplacement of jobs to other countries, economic downturns and declining tax bases have contributed to our current situation. But how and why did this happen? Why and how did we make it so easy for real estate speculators?
In North St. Louis, many blame it on what is commonly known as The Team Four Plan. Team Four, Inc. was hired by the City’s Planning Commission in 1973 to contribute to a city-wide comprehensive planning study, an update to the City’s 1947 Comprehensive Plan. This plan recommended “A New Concept for a New Town in the City.”
This proposal included an “Area of New Development”: to the north, Delmar Boulevard; to the south, Lafayette and I-44; to the east, the North-South Distributor; and to the west, Vandeventer and 39th Street.
The concept was geared toward creating a quality environment that incorporates the luxury of suburban living with the convenience and vitality of city living. The plan was backed by the Urban Growth and New Community Development Act of 1970, which supplements existing city, state and federal mechanisms to encourage major new private investments.
“It would be located in the midtown area just west of the Central Business District including Lafayette Square, Laclede Town and the proposed area of new development,” public records state. “The ‘New Town’ would cover a total of 1250 acres; with units estimated at 18,500, this development would house 40,000 to 50,000 people of various socio-economic backgrounds.” Do you recognize the results of this plan? Was such a plan implemented?
Who was excluded? What neighborhoods and communities did not benefit from these illustrious plans? What hospitals and schools were targeted to close?
Willian Albinson, a principal of Team Four, told the American, “The forces causing deterioration in American cities are as complex as they are frustrating. Perpetuating the idea of a conspiracy to empty out North St. Louis distracts us from fighting those forces, from healing the social and economic pain of people victimized by them, and from preventing the loss of more residents and buildings.”
But a 1975 copy of the American reports, “John G. Roach, an original proponent of the so-called ‘Team Four Plan,’ has resigned as alderman from the 28th Ward to become the first director of the Community Development Agency.”
Roach, along with then Alderman Richard A. Gephardt of the 14th Ward, proposed board bills, numbered 19 and 20, that provided for the preservation of 74,000 buildings in South St. Louis and the demolition of 70,100 in North St. Louis.
Will Paul McKee Jr. emerge as a benefactor of the Team Four plan? Will anyone?
Please listen to my radio talk show, along with my co-host state Rep. Rev. James T. Morris, where we will be discussing these and other issues that are important to you. We can be heard Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. on WGNU-AM 920 AM, following The Doug Eason Show, and my television show on KNLC-24 Saturday nights at 10 p.m. and Friday mornings at 9 a.m.
I can be reached by e-mail at: berhay@swbell.net.