Whether you think we are in the early stage of a renaissance or the final stage of a Doom Loop, you have to agree that downtown 50度灰视频 needs help.
The latest blow is the announcement that the state is moving almost 600 of its workers from downtown to Chesterfield. In so doing, it is selling the Wainwright Building, which was revamped in 1974 under Gov. Kit Bond in an effort to help downtown. Imagine that 鈥 a Republican governor wanting to help 50度灰视频.
Downtown was thriving when I moved here in 1980. The sidewalks were crowded. There were all sorts of businesses, large and small. I remember wanting to buy some jewelry for my wife. Somebody at the newspaper suggested a small jewelry shop on an upper floor in one of the office buildings on Olive Street. It was a one-man shop. The proprietor was an old man. He spoke with a heavy accent I could not place.
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People and shops like that were part of the scene, as were the big department stores.
In those days, the idea of moving from the vibrant city to sleepy Chesterfield would have seemed like a punishment.
Nowadays, there is such a thing as remote work. You don鈥檛 even go to Chesterfield. You work from home. Studies show that many young people actually like it. Some even prefer it. Even ones with young children.
I am not blaming them. They don鈥檛 know any better. By the time they came of age, drinking and driving were taboo.
Alcohol fueled the vibrancy of downtown. People drank after work. A couple of drinks. Take the edge off the day. Laugh it up with your friends. I recall the saying: 鈥淒o you feel underappreciated at work? There鈥檚 a club for that. It鈥檚 called Everybody and it meets at the bar.鈥
There were a number of bars downtown, but most people chose one. Like most of my colleagues on the paper, my allegiance was to the Missouri Bar & Grille, but I would sometimes stop by the Pit of the Seventh Olive to talk to members of the legal profession. The Mine Shaft was popular, too. So was Freddy O鈥檚 and Dooley鈥檚.
There were lots of places. Few of them were fancy. But they were crowded after work. Friday after work was so big that many of us invited spouses.
Two things work against the revival of those happy times. First, the moralists have won. They stamped out smoking. At the same time, they attacked drinking and driving.
Good for them, of course.
Looking back, the first sign of the moralist victory, and downtown鈥檚 subsequent decline, was subtle. Small pockets of smokers suddenly appeared around doorways. They weren鈥檛 allowed to smoke in their offices. They were literally outcasts. They joked about it among themselves, but the jokes fell flat.
The prohibition against smoking hurt the bars. Some of their best and most faithful customers were smokers.
In fact, some of the owners were smokers. Raise a glass and smoke 鈥榚m if you got 鈥榚m for the late John McMahon, who owned Kelly鈥檚 Korner, which moved from one downtown location to another, chased by urban renewal projects, but was never located on a corner or owned by anybody named Kelly.
鈥淭he sign was in the window when I bought it,鈥 McMahon told me in 2005 when he was shutting it down.
He had bought the place in 1970. He felt, rightfully, that he was a casualty of the Morality War.
鈥淭he do-gooders are coming after you with both guns blazing,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 drink. You shouldn鈥檛 smoke.鈥
He was attached to a portable oxygen machine that was set up on the bar in front of him.
鈥淚 know smoking鈥檚 no good, but it鈥檚 a choice, right?鈥 he said.
One of my favorite stories 鈥 and oft-told, my wife would remind me 鈥 happened at Kelly鈥檚 Korner shortly before Christmas years ago. Mickey McTague, a sheriff鈥檚 deputy and a pal of mine, stopped at the bar for a couple of drinks before delivering the legal papers he had been assigned. He put them on the bar in front of him.
鈥淟et鈥檚 see those things,鈥 said McMahon. McTague pushed the pile toward McMahon, who looked at the first one.
Why, this is an eviction notice,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost Christmas and you鈥檙e going to deliver this to some poor family?鈥
鈥淣ot me,鈥 said McTague.
McMahon looked at the rest of the pile. Sad songs all. Garnishments, eviction notices, catastrophes of one sort or another. McMahon disdainfully recited one after another.
Finally, McTague took the stack, walked out on to Market Street and threw the papers into the air.
That couldn鈥檛 happen today. Wouldn鈥檛. Shouldn鈥檛. And what good did it do to delay the delivery of bad news? None, I鈥檓 sure, but I can tell you that grown men were crying with joy as McTague stood on the street with his arms extended while snowflakes and papers drifted down around him.
In addition to the victory of the Moralists, a second development has adversely affected downtown. Fairness, equity, whatever you want to call it.
The police department is now, and has been for a while, focusing on helping the neighborhoods that need help the most. It pours its resources into high-crime neighborhoods.
That鈥檚 a righteous thing and is directly related to the concept of 鈥渓ocal control鈥 of the police department.
In the bad old days that I miss so much, the police department was run by police commissioners who were appointed by the governor. They were business people, usually white and almost always male. Had they had a motto, it would have been, 鈥淜eep the Lid On.鈥 They were not overly concerned with high-crime neighborhoods. They wanted their own neighborhood safe, and they wanted downtown safe.
Downtown is no longer such a priority, and why should it be? Few voters live there.
So those are the two problems facing downtown. Can you make it vibrant without encouraging drinking, which means drinking and driving? Can you make it safe without prioritizing it over other neighborhoods?
On the other hand, we might already be in the early stage of a renaissance.
Jason Hall, CEO of Greater 50度灰视频, Inc., talked about how he and other organizations are partnering with the mayor's office to create a plan on make downtown a 'magnet' again. Video by Allie Schallert, aschalllert@post-dispatch.com