Pevely Farms

Pevely Farms, now gone and replaced by a subdivision and golf course, still manages to hold on to some traces of its past, such as this dilapidated barn, and this pasture.

Golf in North St. Louis

How does a round of golf amongst the hallowed grounds of Pruitt-Igoe sound to you?

Yes, as recently as 2000, the city has floated the idea of removing large portions of the street grid in North St. Louis to build a suburban style, "urban oasis" that I suppose would cause people to abandon their McMansions in Chesterfield and resettle in the heart of North St. Louis. As a centerpiece of the redevelopment, the golf course would annihilate dozens of (admittedly depressed) blocks of the 19th C. street grid.

While not every aspect of the plan is moronic, it is frightening that some civic leaders are still trying to compete with St. Louis County in the "suburban wars." The city of St. Louis is being reborn because it offers something you can't get in the suburbs--the urban experience. Trying to reproduce the suburban experiencee in the city will always fail, because places like O'Fallon, St. Charles and Chesterfield do sprawl so much better than the city ever could.

And that's not a bad thing the city does sprawl poorly; it only serves to encourage the city to take a new-urbanist approach to revitalization.