By Antonio D. French
Filed Saturday, December 08, 2007 at 11:09 AM
According to a survey paid for by the Downtown St. Louis Partnership and reported today by the Post-Dispatch, "those living [downtown] are younger, richer and better educated than the average St. Louisan." Labels: Downtown, Homelessness, Media_Watch, Poverty
Just one problem: the mail survey doesn't include downtown's largest population: the poor and the homeless.
"Developers say the number of young adults moving to downtown validates their investments," reports the Post. Self-validation is a dangerous thing when it involves public money.
The Post's articles offers a few clues to why the survey's results differ from what anyone who's spent any time downtown has surely observed: there are more homeless people than yuppies downtown.
Though it will probably never show up on any Downtown Partnership survey, one of the largest populations downtown, without a doubt, is the homeless.
Any given day, a downtown visitor is more likely to see homeless men and women than they are groups of these mysterious 25-34 year-old hipsters the Post writes so much about.
Despite making up such a large population downtown, very little in comparison has been spent to address this homeless downtown population. In fact, many resources have been spent to sweep them away.
In 2004 more than a dozen homeless persons, many of them veterans, filed a federal lawsuit complaining that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has a policy of attempting to drive the homeless from downtown St. Louis and telling them downtown is "off limits" to them.
The suit, filed with the assistance of the ACLU, alleged that St. Louis police officers have routinely arrested the homeless without any suspicion they have committed crimes, have thrown fireworks at them to get them to move from a public park, have taken the homeless to remote areas and dumped them, have taken their food, medication, driver's licenses and insurance cards, have made them engage in forced labor prior to ever seeing a judge, and have generally attempted to remove the homeless from downtown, particularly before major events.
The word "homeless" does not appear one time in the Post's story about the face of downtown.
13 Comments:
One of the most interesting part of downtown is the path to the bike trail running along the Mississippi. You have to pass by several abandoned buildings, many of which are lively with squatters who are making their residences there. There is enough pigeon excrement and other toxic things in the buildings to turn a homeless population into an insane homeless population, but if the buildings are condemned, they're certainly easy to get into. As far as a tourist attraction that really shows us what St. Louis looks like, the bike path is quite ironically accurate. And if you want to help the homeless population, there are tons of programs where a little goes a long way. Buy a magazine. Donate to livefeed or volunteer at food pantries. It seems that plenty of people are "bothered" by homeless people downtown, but never do anything to advocate for change.
12/08/2007 12:11 PM
That damn Slay is going to be "officeless" once he is recalled! The homeless were there before the damn young urban hip! I believe that Slay wants the city devoid of the poor and homeless and would prefer that the city be "blackless" based on his actions!
12/08/2007 1:14 PM
Antonio, are you applying censorship to this blog now? You deleted all the good comments on "Tough Times." Is it because someone is trying to get paid for contracted services?
Just wondering. You will probably have less hits on your website now.
12/08/2007 1:43 PM
Most of the downtown homeless are chronically homeless. Studies have varied on the rate of mental health problems in the chronically homeless, with some reporting rates in excess of 70%. Downtown's homeless population isn't the result of a bad economy. It's a mental health issue. The solution, however, starts with housing. You can't expect to treat a homeless person for a mental health problem while the person is still on the street.
That being said, the fact that the city is attracting young, well-educated people is very good news.
12/08/2007 1:45 PM
Someone is going to have to say it, but - it is the responsibility of those of us with the most advantages to ensure justice for the disadvantaged. That includes the young and wealthy population downtown, and it includes young people like myself. I would like to absolutely second what has been suggested previously about rolling up our sleeves. Working at a soup kitchen is still one of my favorite memories growing up, and it's about time I relive those memories
12/08/2007 2:35 PM
Here's a question: What responsibilities do the downtown homeless have to the City and its residents? Are the downtown homeless living up to these responsibilities?
12/08/2007 3:14 PM
Interestingly, I did a survey at the Crowne Plaza and found that 84% of all St. Louisians are people who are staying in hotels.
12/08/2007 5:18 PM
Star Jones, maybe you should learn a little more about Mayor Slay's agenda before condemning him. He has always made the homeless population of the city a priority.
Please review this plan documenting the 10-year joint initiative between the city and the county to end chronic homelessness:
http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/mayor/Homeless10yearPlan.pdf
Of course the mayor wants the city to be devoid of the poor and homeless, but certainly not by removing them. Why would a city's mayor want to decrease its population? The best thing to do is to help those people in difficult situations to get out of them, and prosper. Preferably while staying in the city, so that the city also prospers.
"Blackless??" I think you're overreacting... to put it mildly.
It's a good thing to have an influx of educated, employed people moving into downtown. Why would anyone criticize that? What is your agenda for downtown?
12/08/2007 5:45 PM
Digitizdat, I don't recall reading about Francis Slay's condemnation of the police department's treatment of downtown's homeless.
I do, however, recall reading about Slay's condemning County cops dumping their homeless in downtown St. Louis (We're trying to get rid of our own, we don't need yours too!).
I don't think anyone is saying we don't want young, educated new residents. But the resources of a poor and middle-class city population shouldn't disproportionately be used to attract these people, who quite frankly have been shown to leave soon after getting married or having children.
Take the new Centene proposal for example:
Centene has promised 1,200 new jobs downtown in the next five years. In return, the city and state must fork over $78 million in tax incentives.
That's a $65,000 subsidy per job!
12/08/2007 7:15 PM
I would expect Slay to condemn anyone who displaces homeless people for any reason other than to help them. I'm also willing to keep an open mind about the ACLU suit, but what is its status? Has it been tried yet? I wouldn't expect Slay to condemn the police department unless they were actually found guilty of that injustice.
And yes, I agree with you that $65,000 per job sounds like a ridiculous subsidy, but if Darlene Green says it's worth it, I trust her. I personally think she's proven to be a capable and trustworthy comptroller.
12/08/2007 7:57 PM
Slay's plan for the homeless is crystal clear, LQQK HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE HOMELESS!
12/10/2007 4:17 PM
Antonio, I appreciate this forum but I'm just curious: WHY IS IT THAT NO ONE DARES TO RESPOND TO ANY POSTS REGARDING THE 9/21/07 LEGISLATION?
12/10/2007 4:29 PM
Your post is unnecessarily controversial. The city and private groups are doing much to help the homeless. Why does your piece not mention this?
Individuals from the age of 25-34 aren't necessarily hipsters. The more correct term is "young professionals." I think one would expect more hipsters in the loop and CWE than downtown.
It's clear you're prejudiced against downtown development and have a very narrow view of downtown life. Fortunately, you are still young and may gain necessary wisdom through more experience.
You use pathos to appeal to people's emotions yet your logos is faulty, hurting your ethos. Poor guy.
12/11/2007 11:08 AM
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