I met Martin Casas a few years ago when his company Frontyard Features brought the movie Tuskegee Airman to the Ville. He has been a good colleague, and an honest broker in all my dealings with him. While I agree with the premise outlined in his recent commentary on the need for rebuilding in North St. Louis, the idea that North City has been grossly under-invested and that “if only more money was directed toward North City things would be better” feeds a growing and pervasive sense of community entitlement. More profoundly, it serves to distance residents of North St. Louis from their own since of responsibility and empowerment.
As well meaning as Casas’ intentions are, his suggestions, standing alone without an equal requirement of good stewardship, represent a recipe for the continuation of a malaise. What ails North St. Louis and other poor areas is rooted not simply in a lack of money, but in a population whose belief that they can be change agents has steadily eroded. Too often, these communities become breeding ground for opportunistic politicians, ministers, business owners and absentee landlords who use depressed and distressed neighborhoods as a base to line their own pockets, enhance their political fortunes or both. As a result, any benefits the communities from these individuals derive are often tangential at best.
Why are neighborhoods like The Grove and Hyde Park emerging and others aren’t? What those neighborhoods provide is a clear contrast in leadership, vision, effectiveness and empowerment that many neighborhoods in North St. Louis lack. The revitalization of those communities don’t happen in a vacuum; rather, they happen within the context of competence. Pouring money into communities lacking the tools to be good stewards and lacking the vision to see beyond old fears is essentially casting economic pearls before leadership swine.
In the aftermath of Paul McKee Jr.’s Northside redevelopment plan, slumbering residents led by politicians and leaders with perhaps a dubious agenda suddenly woke up outraged rather than conciliatory. The reactionary sounds of those aimed at defeating that plan smack of a community or their leaders with a desire to obstruct progress rather than find common ground or offer an viable alternative. It appears that many would prefer rubble than resolution. North St. Louis’ unseemly addiction to reaction rather than being proactive minimizes opportunities and has long-term negative consequences.
North St. Louis can’t have it both ways. Either we sit idle and allow short-sided and ill-served leaders to create the illusion of progress as its infrastructure continues to collapse, or we can become game-changers and take control of our communities, starting by rooting out political charlatans. When government money comes into the community, undoubtedly there will be winners and losers. As those winners and losers are chosen, the community needs to have input, as we can ill afford to have friends and families of politicians manage the development of North St. Louis.
I recently became aware of an interesting concept that has been tried in both Chicago and New York called Participatory Budgeting where community residents actually played key roles in how funds were directed. This progressive project, which empowers residents, is worthy of a examination to see how it can be implemented in St. Louis.
This is not to say there are not industrious, hard working, responsible people in North St. Louis. There are leaders like Antonio French and Tishaura Jones who represent a new trend in leaders who are dialed into the needs of their constituents. But too many of the old guard who are part of the problem continue to have undue influence on policy despite their connection to failed policies. So yes, North St. Louis needs lots of help, but until this community extracts itself from self-serving politicians and leaders more interested in photo ops than the betterment of the community, directing resources to its leaders will be a blueprint for more decay.
Johnson is a filmmaker, writer, and community engager.
