Headline: LIKE IT OR NOT, DOWNTOWN DEFINES OUR REGION
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed:  Fri., Dec. 13, 1996
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 21C, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

DOWNTOWN was a different place when I joined the staff of this newspaper 16 years ago.
  
The streets were bustling. Hungry diners waited in lines to get tables at the Sommer House restaurant across the street. The Sverdrup Corp. down the street was a flurry of activity. The old St. Louis Globe-Democrat building was busy, with reporters and photographers rushing in and out. Today, Sommer House has long gone, and restaurants are few near the Post-Dispatch. Sverdrup has moved many of its employees out of downtown, and the Globe-Democrat is a memory.

Much has happened to downtown in just 16 years. Much of it hasn't been good.
  
But what has happened - or not happened - hasn't taken place overnight. Downtown's problems can be traced perhaps as far back as 1876 when this city's fathers - you can't blame any mothers for this one - decided that St. Louis was too "special" to be tied in with their country cousins and chose to secede from St. Louis County. The rest, as they say, is history.

On Sunday, this paper ran a package of stories about the slide of downtown. Although some parts of downtown still flourish, such as along Broadway or the always busy Market Street, much of downtown is headed downhill, the stories noted. Office buildings are emptying out, street-level shops are declining, fewer people are heading downtown to shop. Even the St. Louis chapter of the American Institute of Architects, an organization one might expect to remain in the heart of downtown and its architectural treasures, is packing up and moving out.

Some readers, including Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., took the stories as a criticism of the mayor's administration. The mayor came out swinging, insisting that all was well with downtown.
  
While anyone who's worked downtown for any length of time would probably question the mayor's point of view on that one, it doesn't make good sense to hold Bosley accountable for the decline of downtown. Bosley took office in 1993. By that time, downtown was well on its way down.
  
While one might argue that he could do more to help revive downtown, to hold him responsible for what has taken place over several decades makes about as much sense as blaming Bill Clinton for the War of 1812.

Some of the area's top corporations probably share some of the blame. Rather than commit to remaining downtown, some have moved their operations deep into the suburbs. Some smaller businesses could probably be faulted as well for taking off the minute the going got a little tough. Fault could be placed with St. Louisans who refuse to go downtown to shop.
  
It's always easy to point blame. It's tougher to tackle the problems.

Downtown is hurting and needs the support of the area's civic, political and corporate leaders. The word "area" is important here because downtown's decline is not just a city problem, it's a regional problem.
  
Like it or not, St. Louis is judged by many in the outside world by its downtown. Out-of-towners don't come to St. Louis and say, "What a great city. Downtown Clayton is nice." They don't say "I really enjoyed St. Louis. Downtown Belleville was the defining moment for me."
  
No, they judge us on our downtown. When businesses decide whether to move here, they want to know what downtown is like. When out-of-town reporters report on this place, you can be sure that downtown shapes their impression of our area.
  
An area's downtown defines for many what that area is all about. I always get a tingle when I drive through downtown Chicago. The skyscrapers are impressive, the hustle and bustle is electric. I don't think of Skokie or Oak Park or Schaumburg when I think of Chicago. Downtown Chicago - Water Tower Place, the Miracle Mile, the Sears Tower - come to mind when I think of that city.

While some of us may prefer to ignore or forget about our downtown, to do so is self-defeating. Like it or not, downtown says who we are.
   Are we a dowdy, tired, run-down people who have given up on improving ourselves?
   Or are we a can-do, energetic, imaginative people who are willing to jump obstacles to make things work?
The future's in our hands.


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