Benign Neglect: Part IV

The final installment of our series of reports on benign neglect in north St. Louis takes a look at the future. Where is the hope, and how much is there? What needs to change to make the community flourish?

North St. Louis sits at a crossroads.

The largest construction project in St. Louis history is taking shape in the form of the Next NGA West project; but, some would argue, it comes as a result of a half-century of benign neglect. After all, many of the 97 acres of space became available for development because people left, homes crumbled and were eventually cleared. And something else is gone here besides the houses.

“There are a lot of obstacles,” Colin Gordon, author of "Mapping Decline," points out. “Money being the biggest one, but also the deep suspicion of remaining residents because of what has happened to them over [their] and their parents’ lives."

And in the end, trust, or a lack of it, may be the biggest barrier to solutions.

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