INTRODUCTION

This is a five-year strategy for the City of St. Louis, prepared in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Consolidated Plan requirements. The strategy presents a set of recommendations for addressing today's challenges in the City of St. Louis, as well as those that can be expected to develop in the coming years.

The Five-Year Consolidated Plan Strategy presents the framework that will guide specific HUD-funded programs throughout the City. It differs from the Annual Statement that is prepared each Fall prior to HUD funds being received for the following year. It also differs from the annual Performance and Evaluation Report that summarizes progress made in the previous year.

In some ways, this is an inopportune time to prepare a report. The U.S. decennial census is a half year away and the actual release of new census data considerably longer. It is obviously not very useful to describe the city using 1990 data. But with the end of decade, the end of a century, and the start of a new millennium upon us, it can be a fitting time to take stock and look to the future.

ST. LOUIS AT THE DAWN OF A NEW MILLENNIUM

Anyone who has spent a little time in St. Louis knows that the last five years of the 20th century have been "a mixed bag." In many respects it has been both the best of times and the worst of times...

• The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in 30 years. Individuals who have previously dropped out of the labor force in despair of finding a job have now discovered an array of employment opportunities.
• Even with some intriguing transportation demonstration projects, the challenge of getting to work in suburban and exurban locations remains huge for impoverished city residents.
• Many citizens have awakened to the importance of a regional perspective, as exemplified by the Peirce Report, St. Louis 2004, corporate and foundation commitments to the "sustainable neighborhoods initiative," and the successful 1998 Empowerment Zone proposal.
• At the same time, there is every reason to believe that the population decline that has plagued St. Louis since the late 1940s continues. The net loss during the 1990s will at least rival, and probably exceed, that of the previous decade, despite a substantial influx of immigrants.
• Improvements to Forest Park, the new City Museum, and continuing investments in the Grand Center and St. Louis University area are examples of the exciting contributions to the cultural, arts, and aesthetic life of St. Louis.
• Despite this progress, the inventory of vacant buildings, abandoned property, and other measures of disinvestment have increased in significant parts of the city.
• Mentor St. Louis, Metropolis, Metropolitan Congregations United for St. Louis, and Sustainable St. Louis are all new groups that have given citizens throughout the region new ways to contribute to the community.
• Yet, large numbers of St. Louis citizens show limited confidence in the ability of their neighborhood and their city to prosper in the years ahead.

As the 20th century ends, there is no shortage of uncertainty about the future, both in St. Louis and across the country. What should be done about our older communities and our poorer citizens? How can we achieve greater efficiency in public housing? Indeed, what is the future of public housing? How will we solve the challenge of Section 8 obligations and what will we do as 15-year commitments run out? How can we maintain the successful transition of our neighbors from welfare to work when the economy eventually turns south? Are we prepared for the needs of an aging population that will present one of the first major challenges of the new millennium?

These and many more questions raised in this report may remain unanswered for the moment. Fortunately, there are signs that answers will be found. As a crucial first step, citizens now have access to more information than ever before about the community in which they live, and more ability to communicate with their elected officials. The Internet-based St. Louis Community Information Network is a new way to obtain and share information about the neighborhoods, nonprofits, the institutions, and the city offices that make St. Louis work.

And for many there is a new spirit of community building. Fostering this spirit, and finding ways to transform it into action will be central to St. Louis' success in the 21st century.

ORGANIZATION OF THIS STRATEGY

This report provides a broad overview of the state of the City, followed by increasingly specific goals, objectives, analyses, priorities, and recommendations for future programming. It is the work of many hands, including public officials, private citizens, consultants, subject matter experts, interns, and volunteers. All have worked diligently to identify and present a clear and fair picture of St. Louis in 1999 and its future prospects.

Chapter II is an overview of the City of St. Louis as it prepares to start the 21st Century. This overview attempts to synthesize a series of "essays" prepared by experts on housing, the economy, demography, public services, public facilities, transportation and infrastructure, and quality of life. The result is a broad overview of how far St. Louis has come as a city, and how far it, and in fact the whole St. Louis region, need to go in order to become a great community. The essays are contained in their entirety in Appendix B.

Chapter III is the heart of the document. The chapter begins with a presentation of an overall set of "guiding principles" that have existed for some time yet remain relevant. The concept of a "vital few" priorities is introduced, with those embraced by the mayor presented here. Other "vital few" priorities will be evident in the analysis of specific subject areas. Reference is also made to the Listing of Priority Needs Table as required by HUD. It indicates general priorities for diverse subject areas and estimates the costs necessary to address these topics.

The rest of the report is an examination of specific topics - each of which is reviewed in terms of:

• Current Services that are offered by the city, other government entities, nonprofit, and in some cases, for-profit organizations.
• Needs and Challenges that confront the community. These are examined in terms of progress that has been made over the past five years, conditions that have worsened, and issues and trends expected to shape the next five years.
• Recommendations for dealing with the challenges in the coming years. Each is presented in a declarative action statement, followed by one or two explanatory paragraphs.
• Resources that are required. This includes typical levels of funding, a desirable/practical budgetary level, and, where possible, the overall funds necessary to address the complete situation.

The report concludes with a series of appendices containing information relevant to the Strategy:

A. The Neighborhoods of St. Louis. This is an overview of the 79 neighborhoods that make up the City. Each area is examined in terms of current characteristics, its institutions and organizations, and its planning and development opportunities. Brief narratives are complemented with maps that identify the key assets that are important to that neighborhood. Selected areas where there are especially promising development opportunities are recommended as Neighborhood Revitalization Areas. Recommended neighborhood initiatives, and larger scale commercial, industrial, and institutional areas with development potential are also highlighted.

B. Overview Essays. Seven essays, written by local subject matter experts, provide a detailed look at St. Louis in 1999 in such areas as housing, the economy, demography, public services, public facilities, transportation and infrastructure, and quality of life. The papers are inevitably subjective and undoubtedly will evoke support and opposition, both of which are welcome additions to this planning process.

C. Institutions. More than ever before, partnerships among multiple community groups are recognized as fundamental to community development. In St. Louis these groups range widely in terms of experience, resources, sophistication, and mission. Many are described in this section.

D. Anti-Poverty Strategy. A large component of the city's services seek to address the pervasive poverty that exists and is, for many, intensifying in parts of the city. The problem is real and complex, and beyond the ability of the City of St. Louis to solve. This appendix explores aspects of the problem and various approaches that are underway to deal with it.

E. Citizen Engagement. The five-year plan builds on an intensive effort to understand the needs and aspirations of the citizens of St. Louis. A variety of approaches have been used, including roundtable meetings with special interest groups, public meetings, an interactive forum on the St. Louis Community Information Network, a telephone survey of more than 400 citizens, a survey of neighborhood housing corporations, and a major outreach and communications effort to engage organizations and neighborhood groups. The highlights of this process are summarized.

F. Summary of Citizen Survey. This is a synopsis of the opinions expressed by 405 randomly selected citizens of St. Louis during the month of September, 1999. The calls were made to people throughout the city, so that responses could be analyzed by neighborhood cluster. The population responding is somewhat older and more affluent than overall city population because of the nature of a telephone survey.

G. Miscellaneous. This is a collection of background information, including a glossary of terms, specific citizen comments received from organizations during the citizen review period, and a list of acknowledgments of those who have worked on this project.

HOW TO USE THIS REPORT

The Consolidated Plan is useful for a number of reasons. It is:

• A compendium of information about the City.
• A recent history of community successes and failures.
• A look at the challenges that can be expected in the years ahead.
• An articulation of the City's priorities and initiatives.

Above all, the Consolidated Plan is an attempt to describe what is needed to make St. Louis a better place to live, work, and visit. To the extent that it succeeds in this objective, it can serve as a useful snapshot of where the City of St. Louis is today, and a blueprint for what the City's priorities should be for the next five years.