The TIMES of.... SKINKERDEBALIVIERE Vol. 30 No. 1 April-May 1999 FREE The oldest neighborhood newspaper in St. Louis Independent and all volunteer-run since 1970 Rebuilding Communities Bill Goes to Senate Joe Edwards Hopes to Spread by JoAnn Vatcha An important legislative initiative, the "Rebuilding Communities" bill, House bill 246, is currently under consideration by the State Senate, which will vote His Magic East of Skin ker during the session ending May 15. This law is designed to build on the state historic credit that became law in January of 1998, which is already having Joe Edwards, neighborhood resident and highly successful entrepreneur in tangible effects on rehab in many historic neighborhoods, including Skinker- the University City Loop, hopes to help redevelop the 6100 block of Delmar. DeBaliviere. Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill and the Tivoli, along with partner Pat The new law also builds on the 1998 "Rebuilding Communities Law", which Hagin, wants to develop a concert hall/night club at 6161 Delmar. This is on gives incentives to certain types of businesses to locate in distressed communi- the north side of the street where the Wabash Triangle Cafe once stood. The ties (defined to include the entire City of St. Louis). Businesses which start up or venue will be called the Pageant. The name is taken from a movie theatre that locate in the City obtain 3 years of state tax credits, more than offsetting the city used to stand a short distance east on Delmar from the proposed site. earnings tax for the company and its employees. These businesses can offer Edwards and Hagin, who is a talent buyer for Blueberry Hill and other clubs, investors substantial tax credits and other benefits. The law has been called the want to feature all types of music at their new concert hall from blues to folk, best in the United States for revitalizing distressed communities. from reggae to rock. They plan to Attorney Jerry Schlichter, who initiated these pieces of legislation and who have a variable capacity of from 750 has played an active role in obtaining passage of the earlier legislation, has to 1,500 people. furnished the following information about how the legislation will work. Ac- Their building will contain two re- FREE CONCERT cording to Schlichter, it is very important for anyone interest to write or call tail shops at store level and two floors Governor Carnahan (573-751-3222), speaker of the House Steve Gaw (573- of offices. Plans for their development AT FOUR CORNERS, 751-2135) and Senate President Ed Quick (573-751-4524) with your support include new lighting and they are ex- of the upcoming vote in the Senate session ending May 15. Our 4th District plorinn ways of augmenting parking APRIL 17 State Senator Lacy Clay can be reached locally at 367-2596. in the area. Their development is very The West End Arts Council is spon- The Rebuilding Communities bill now pending would create strong incen- close to the Delmar MetroLink park- soring a special evening of song and tives for development of owner-occupied, market rate houses in distressed com- ing facility. togetherness at Four Corners munities, which includes, like the former bill, the entire city of St. Louis, includ- Edwards and Hagin presented their (Kingsbury and DesPeres) on Saturday ing Skinker-DeBaliviere. It would do the following: plans to the Commercial Development evening, April 17, from 6-10 p.m. 1. Provide a tax credit of 35% of the cost of rehab to a developer or home- Committee and the Skinker The opening act is The Little Foxes, owner who substantially rehabilitates (spends over half the cost) a home for DeBaliviere Community Council in featuring Mimi and Tina Renard along owner occupancy — if the home is March. Both bodies were eager to with Don Muckerman. The Renards over 50 years old and located in a dis- work to make this development pos- grew up in the neighborhood on 62xx tressed community (anywhere in the NEIGHBORHOOD sible. Commercial Chair JoAnn McPherson. Certainly many friends city); CONFERENCE SET FOR Vatcha noted that those working on and acquaintances will be interested 2. Provide a tax credit of 15% of Delmar redevelopment had long in seeing the Renard daughters per- the construction cost to a developer SATURDAY, APRIL 17 hoped for some spark to set the pro- form. or homeowner who builds a new mar- The fourth annual St. Louis Neigh- cess in motion. Many saw this as such The headline act is from Chicago. ket rate owner-occupied home in a dis- borhood Conference, organized and a spark. Edwards remarked that his Switchback is described as having tressed community (anywhere in the sponsored by SLACO (St. Louis As- concert facility could stimulate greater "Celtic Rockabilly with Red-Hot Gui- city); sociation of Community Organiza- interest in development on Delmar rid tar." At their various gigs, their music 3. Provide a tax credit of 25% of tions) and St. Louis Community Col- draw new retail and retaurants. It is decidedly contemporary. The group the cost of modest renovation (above lege at Forest Park will be held Satur- would put more people back on the founders are Marty McCormack and $5,000) to the owner of a home over day, April 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 street, fostering increased safety. Brian FitzGerald. McCormack and 50 years old in a distressed commu- p.m. at the College. The morning nity or a broader range of communi- keynote address will given by Ray Continued on page 3 Continued on page 3 ties (which in this area would include Suarez, host of NPR's. Talk of the many of the older inner ring of sub- Nation and author of The Old Neigh- urbs) up to a maximum of $20,000 in borhood. tax credit for a single home. The conference is designed to bring The METROLINK Extension The bill has a cap of $10 million together a wide variety of individuals IS COMING for the whole state. Project funding who share a common interest in im- to Skinker DeBaliviere will be on a first-come first-served ba- proving the living conditions in the SIdnkerDeBaliviere Community Council sis requiring the approval of the state neighborhoods of St. Louis. If you and its Transportation Committee Department of Economic Develop- are committed to maintaining and ment (which also approves the state improving the quality of life in Skinker Parkview Agents and historic tax credit.) DeBaliviere, you should plan to attend. The Catlin Tract Trustees The tax credits can be sold so a Topics covered in a variety of "how invite neighborhood residents to join us homeowner or developer can go back to" workshops and programs include for a presentation of three final design alternatives for the Continued on page 2 Organizational Effectiveness, Youth MetroLink route along Forest Part Parkway: Continued on page 3 Monday, April 26th 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Grace Methodist Church Fellowship Hall MetroLink Meeting (Use the door at the circle drive on Waterman) INSIDE In addition to representatives of East West Gateway Coordinat- Skinker DeBaliviere residents have Neighborhood Chronicles possibly their last chance to hear the ing Council, the Community Engagement Team Consultants, begins with this issue 5-8 plans for the MetroLink expansion to and Parsons Transportation Group, the engineering consultants Bethel School 9 Clayton and to voice their feelings for the project, the following elected officials have committed to be in attendance: Cat's Pause 10 about these plans. The consultants to East-West Gateway Coordinating In Your Ear 12 Council have 3 possible scenarios. Mayor Clarence Harmon Notes from the Gardens 5 One includes having a train run at Voting member, East-West Gateway - Board of Directors SDCC Fundraising Events 4 grade level from DeBaliviere past our Francis Slay, President - Board of Alderman SDCC Minutes 11 neighborhood on Forest Park Park- Voting member, East-West Gateway - Board of Directors Vicissitudes 3 way and across Skinker. Another sce- nario mentioned submerging Skinker Lyda Krewson, 28th Ward Alderman Views of the City 10 at the Parkway. In either case, these Learn - Be informed - Ask Questions plans raise questions about neighbors' Voice your preferences access to Skinker, traffic congestion, Express your concerns and noise. You can make a difference! Continued on page 3 For further information contact the In our 30th Year of Publication Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council at 862-5122 Page 2 The Times of Skinker DeBaliviere April-May 1999 Editor's Notebook Calendar by Lana Stein Spring has long been my favorite season of the year, allergies not- Neighborhood Even withstanding. This spring is a special one because it marks a reawakening at the Times. Thanks to JoAnn Vatcha, we have a milleniurn project— and Meetings namely the tracing of our own neighborhood history. I am very greatful to JoAnn for this fine idea and also to Marj Weir who has worked so hard on the production. As the weeks go by, we will seek the assistance of a 4/5 Transportation number of people to help make our own history take root. If anyone has Committee, 6008 photos of the neighborhood from a previous era, please let me know. Kingsbury, 7:30 p.m. This year was an unusual one because I flew to Florida for spring break. 4/7 Skinker DeBaliviere Commu- I was able to stay by the Gulf of Mexico and I loved the beach and a lot of nity Housing Corporation, good seafood. I did notice however that the Tampa area is even more 6008 Kingsbury, 12:00 noon dependent on cars than we are.