ST. LOUIS PUBLIC FACILITIES
by Terry Beiter, Parsons Brinkerhoff

As a mature urban center, the City of St. Louis is a composite of residential neighborhoods, central and local commercial and business districts, light and heavy manufacturing areas, and cultural, institutional and recreational facilities - all of which are intended to provide the highest quality of life for those who live, work or visit the central city. While there are many different threads which create the overall fabric of St. Louis, the availability of superior and well-maintained public facilities is one that is critical to the its future well-being.

This essay reviews the past five years (1995 through 1999) and looks ahead to those circumstances that are likely to shape the next five years (2000 through 2005). Goals and objectives related to the next five- year period are also provided.

In order to examine the City’s needs and achievements relative to public facilities, this essay incorporates findings and recommendations that are contained in major studies and reports that have dealt with this topic and which focus on the late nineties. Included among these reports are:

• Pierce Report
• St. Louis Economic Development Strategic Plan
• The Blueprint for Youth Recreation
• City of St. Louis Downtown Development Action Plan
• 1999 - 2000 Capital Improvements Plan, City of St. Louis

The essay also addresses the following topic areas:

• Neighborhood Facilities
• Parks and Recreation Facilities
• Health Facilities
• Parking Facilities
• Solid Waste Disposal
• Air Pollution/Asbestos Removal
• Residential/Non-Residential Historic Preservation

For these and other related areas, the essay will identify major capital improvements that have been made over the past five years and those that are scheduled for the next five years. Other issues dealt with relate to maintenance and operational concerns associated with public facilities and the challenges and opportunities for the future.

Completed or Scheduled Public Improvements: 1995-2004
As one considers the City’s investments in the maintenance and construction of public improvements over the past five years, the five documents listed above provide a resource for both identifying municipal public facility needs and/or the level of investments that have been or will be made in the future to either preserve or develop those facilities. The relevant elements or findings of each of those reports, as they relate to public facility needs in St. Louis, are provided below.

The Pierce Report, A Call to Action: 1997
The Peirce Report, completed in June 1997, provided a rather alarming wake-up call for the entire twelve county St. Louis Region. The reports authors, Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson, acknowledge that the St. Louis has the opportunity and ability to achieve a bright future. But first, they say, the region must address numerous serious problems. Among them:

• A fragmented region,
• An aversion to change, and
• An urban core that is near death.

Each of these problems affects the City of St. Louis’ ability to provide adequate quality public facilities for city residents. The Peirce Report notes that:

"Since World War II, the St. Louis community has countenanced momentous inner-city desertion - abandonment that now damages the entire region’s reputation as a place to visit or in which to invest.

Only the wholesale desertion of Detroit is comparable to St. Louis City’s loss of 58 percent of its population since 1950. At the same time, the region has subsidized a thinly spread pattern of suburban growth. While the population of the entire 12-county region grew just 35 percent from 1950 to 1990, the amount of developable land increased 355 percent, according to figures compiled by the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council.

The same phenomenon is apparent in metropolitan regions across America. But with the possible exception of Los Angeles, the St. Louis region’s disparity is by far the most alarming.

The public works bill for the St. Louis region’s extreme helter-skelter development - roads, water lines, sewer systems, fire houses, schools - has been high. The rest of the region has paid dearly through taxes, utility fees, loss of industry and jobs, mounting traffic congestion and health-impairing air pollution. The bill continues to grow as development marches farther outward.

Staggering Road Costs

The fiscal cost alone may break the region’s back. Take just highway budgets on the Missouri side of the Mississippi. (We’re using the latest projections done by the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, based on 1992 figures.)

Between 1998 and 2015, the area will need $3.4 billion just to preserve its road and bridge networks - resurfacing, reconditioning and the like. Then there are new projects already committed for: $627 million. Total: $4 billion. But there’s a not-so-small problem: Expected highway revenues for those years will be $3.7 billion. Shortage: $302 million.

That may sound ‘bridgeable’ but consider this: Those figures don’t even include the additional $2.7 billion worth of projects on the wish lists of local governments. For example:

* The $120 million Route 21 project in Jefferson County.

* The major highway that would be needed to connect to the Page Avenue Bridge across the Missouri River between St. Louis and St. Charles counties.

Most of those projects will generate still more suburban, exurban growth. Add them to the existing highway obligations and there’s a $3 billion shortage for the 1998-2015 period.

Or if the new roads and bridges were paid for first, the region would have to defer a staggering 89 percent of the basic maintenance work required on its current highways. And that, says the East-West Gateway Council’s Less Sterman, ‘is a conservative estimate.’

The bottom line: Continued suburban sprawl and deep deficit spending are inextricably linked."

What does all this really mean for the City of St. Louis? It means that a region comprised of too many levels of government will continue to have narrow and parochial views about what is best for their community, first and the region, second. As long as sprawl continues unchecked, St. Louis City will continue to lose. Population will continue to drain from the City, leaving fewer people to pay the increasing costs for construction and/or maintenance of public facilities. In any event, if the City of St. Louis is to be at all competitive with surrounding counties and municipalities, it must continue to heavily invest in those types of public facilities that both individuals and businesses expect of their local government.

The Blueprint for Youth Recreation: 1977
The purpose of this study was to identify the recreational needs within the City of St. Louis. The study recognized, however, that the limited resources available for recreational purposes were totally insufficient to meet the growing need. As such, the plan calls for an aggressive and highly visible effort to address and improve recreational opportunities throughout the entire St. Louis region. The rational for this approach is that, given the availability of current resources, the regional views of potential funding agencies, and the size of the challenge ahead, only a regional solution which embraces both public and private resources stands a good chance of success.

The Blueprint for Youth Recreation makes five recommendations that, taken together, would lead to the establishment of a regional recreation system. The five recommendations are:

1. Create a public-private partnership to guide the development of a youth recreation system in the St. Louis region.
2. Ensure the new recreation system is resident driven.
3. Build a world class system.
4. Identify and secure adequate funding.
5. Gain public support.

The report notes that current combined public and private spending level on youth recreation in the City of St. Louis alone of approximately $11,000,000 per year, exclusive of major capital investments. It is estimated that a public-private partnership would need to increase its expenditures incrementally and eventually reach an optimal level in excess of $20,000,000 per year (in today’s dollars) in order to meet the goal of making quality services available to all youth in the City. The proposed system would be funded by a combination of state and federal funds, and user fees.

The St. Louis Economic Development Strategic Plan: 1999
The St. Louis Economic Development Strategic Plan has identified a number of programs that should be implemented in order to position the City of St. Louis to aggressively and effectively compete within the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, nationally and even internationally. The report recognizes that to sharpen its competitive edge the City must work closely with regional leaders to prioritize and coordinate efforts to retain existing business while simultaneously attracting new or expanding enterprises. To accomplish this, the report identifies a series of strategies that maximize its strengths and opportunities, particularly in those areas where the City has current market advantages. Those major strengths, as they relate to St. Louis’ public facilities, and their associated weaknesses and opportunities, are identified below.

[ Table B5-1, CITY OF ST. LOUIS DEVELOPMENT STRENGTHS ]

The major strengths, weaknesses and opportunities outlined above were used in the St. Louis Economic Development Strategic Plan to develop four over-riding goals of the City. Those goals are to:

• Retain existing businesses of St. Louis;
• Achieve growth commensurate with national trends by reversing the long-term employment trend;
• Achieve at least modest growth in all income ranges by reversing the long-term resident population trend; and
• Develop existing cultural and historical wealth of St. Louis’ quality of life.

The plan identifies four key strategies for achieving the City’s economic development goals and addressing its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Those strategies, as they relate to St. Louis’ public facilities, are summarized below:

1. Support existing businesses, cultivate a stronger pro-business environment, and assemble sites with which to accommodate businesses expanding and reorganizing within the region
   • Establish a site acquisition and preparation capability.
   • Assemble buildable large-scale sites to aid current employers’ expansion plans.
2. Revitalize the Downtown Area
   • Reinforce downtown as the major regional office center.
   • Address implementation of the Downtown Now! Plan.
   • Expand role as the Region’s major entertainment center.
   • Increase downtown residents to provide larger market for retail uses.
3. Offer Desirable Urban Residential Environments
   • Facilitate development of housing for middle income and affluent residents.
   • Provide quality affordable housing.
   • Create strong neighborhood commercial districts that build networks among districts.
   • Re-create an appealing quality of life which will attract residents to the City.
   • Restore and rehabilitate existing neighborhoods of the City.
   • Foster the preservation and development of cultural centers around neighborhoods.
4. Maintain and Enhance Transportation and Other Infrastructure
   • Expand air transportation system.
   • Undertake critical highway improvements
   • Enhance local and regional public transportation system.
   • Address infrastructure replacement plans.
   • Develop recreational infrastructure.

It is particularly noteworthy that each of the strategies listed above is either directly or indirectly dependent upon the City’s ability to deliver quality public facilities that will support specific economic development activities. In other words, the St. Louis Economic Development Strategic Plan clearly emphasizes the need for neighborhood and city-wide public facilities that will encourage business investment in the City of St. Louis.

St. Louis Downtown Development Action Plan, Executive Summary: 1999
Downtown Now!, a public/private partnership, was created in October 1997 to develop a five- to seven-year action plan for revitalizing downtown St. Louis. The partnership is comprised of the City of St. Louis, Downtown St. Louis Partnership, Regional Commerce and Growth Association (RCGA), and St. Louis 2004. The charge for the planning participants was to develop an achievable and implementable master plan for the revitalization of downtown that built on the work of an earlier plan and set an agenda for development activity that can be substantially complete or underway by 2004.

The mission of Downtown Now! was to create a revitalization plan that will capitalize on and strengthen the center city’s role as the premier office location in the region and will utilize retail, entertainment, housing, and cultural attractions to extend the time people spend Downtown, enhance liveability, and attract visitors.

The plan that has emerged from this intensive planning process is currently being aggressively pursued by all members of the Downtown Now! partnership. The estimated cost for implementation of the entire action program is $1,094,400,000 (in constant 1998 dollars). It is currently scheduled to be implemented during the six years between 1999 through 2004.

Of the overall cost, an estimated $715,200,000 (65%) would be invested in traditionally private market projects involving residential, commercial, and selected parking structures. The remaining $379,200,000 (35%) would be expended for street improvements, streetscape enhancements, various open space amenities (parks, plazas, malls) and institutional facilities (skating rink, museum, educational buildings). These costs are expected to be incurred each year according to the following scenario:

[ Table B5-2, Projected Annual Development Costs in Millions of 1998 Dollars ]

An overall financing gap for the private sector is estimated to be $237,200,000 during the six years of the Phase I development program. This gap is determined before any subsidy or incentives programs are considered. Assuming this gap is filled entirely from civic programs (e.g., tax incentives, historic building tax credits, reduced financing terms, donations of property, etc.), the up-front private sector costs would be reduced by that amount and civic costs would be increased by that amount. This would change initial investment to $478,000,000 (44% of total Phase I investments) and the civic investment would increase to $617,000,000 (56% of Phase I investments).

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT INVESTMENTS: 1996-1999

In order to respond to the City’s capital infrastructure and equipment needs, the City of St. Louis established capital planning policies and the Capital Fund in 1989. City ordinances require that the Budget Division, together with the Capital Committee, annually develop a five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Each year, a Capital Budget must be prepared based on the first year of the CIP. Both the CIP and Capital Budget must be submitted by the Budget Division to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and Board of Aldermen for approval. The CIP and Capital Budget are submitted in the same manner and time as the General operating budget for the City.

The Capital Committee is responsible for the assessment and review of capital needs and must develop and recommend the CIP and Capital Budget. As established by ordinance, the Capital Committee consists of elected and appointed officials. A committee of City residents, The Citizen’s Advisory Committee for Capital Expenditures, reviews and assesses capital needs, advises the Capital Committee on the development and recommendation of the CIP and Capital Budget, and reviews the City’s capital accomplishments.

The Capital Committee identifies and ranks projects using the following criteria:

• Capital improvements that will foster St. Louis; goal of preserving and improving municipal buildings and other assets;
• Capital improvements that will foster St. Louis’ goal of fiscal stability and soundness;
• Capital improvements that will foster St. Louis’ goal of preserving its infrastructure and heritage;
• Projects that reduce the cost of operations or energy consumption; and
• Projects that promote operational safety.

These criteria were expanded in 1994 to include the following:

• Required payment for existing debt service
• Local match amounts for bridge improvements
• Funding for State and Federal mandates, including underground storage tank removal, ADA compliance, asbestos and lead paint abatement
• Ongoing replacements necessary for City operation.

Since the creation of the Capital Fund in 1989, and using the criteria outlined above, the City has been following a program for restoring and improving its capital assets. The City’s efforts in this regard received a resounding endorsement by City voters when in 1993 they approved a sales tax increase dedicated to capital improvements. Included among the major accomplishments of the City’s CIP between FY89 and FY99 are:

Bridge and Street Reconstruction
Since FY95 the City has given high priority to projects where federal funds can be leveraged for bridge and street reconstruction projects. Since that time several bridges have been replaced, they are South Kingshighway, Arsenal Street and Alabama Avenue. Since 1996, the Capital Budget has provided over $20,000,000 for these projects.

Street Lighting Enhancement
A three-year program to increase the amount of wattage provided by City streetlights was completed in FY98 at a cost of $1,400,000. In certain portions of the City, the wattage was actually doubled. Locations benefiting from this were schools, churches and neighborhood parks. In addition, since FY96 the City budgeted $2,300,000 for lighting improvements in specific neighborhoods.

Building Demolition
Starting in FY96, the City earmarked capital improvement funds for demolition of abandoned and unsafe buildings. Since that time over $5,300,000 has been used to augment other funding sources for building demolition purposes. The result of this effort has been the clearance of approximately 3,000 buildings by the City and the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority. According to the CIP, there are over 1,800 vacant and condemned buildings in St. Louis and of these, nearly 650 should be demolished in FY00. In addition, voter approval of a bound issue in the amount of $11,000,000 for demolition purposes will allow the City to substantially reduce the backlog of abandoned and unsafe buildings.

Major City Parks
Infrastructure repairs in six major parks have been completed and several other repair projects continue. Since FY96, the Capital Budget has provided $11,800,000 for a variety of park infrastructure projects ranging from curb and sidewalk replacement to athletic field upgrades and picnic table replacement. The six major City parks benefiting from this infusion of funding for capital projects are Carondelet Park, Fairground Park, Forest Park, Tower Grove Park, O’Fallon Park, and Willmore Park.

Major Equipment
Seventeen million dollars has been provided through the Capital Budget since 1996 for replacement of computers, telecommunications, medical, and rolling stock equipment used by City departments.

Flood Protection
The 1993 flood clearly illustrated the need for improved flood protection along the Mississippi River and the River des Peres. As a result, the 1998 Capital Budget included funds to help control flooding along the River Des Peres in south St. Louis City. To date, $690,000 has been allocated for this purpose and more funds will be provided in future years.

Recreation Facilities
Capital improvement projects at the City’s recreation centers have focused on repairs and renovation for compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Since 1996, The Capital Budget has provided $2,500,000 for recreation center improvements.

Municipal Facilities
Funds available through the CIP have allowed the renovation and/or expansion of municipal buildings. Recent examples include a 224-unit addition to the Medium Security Institution, the final phase of a $40,000,000 renovation of the Civil Courts Building, construction of the $91,000,000 Justice Center project which is now in the beginning stages. Since 1996, the Capital Budget has provided over $49,000,000 for municipal facilities.

Federal Mandates
Federally mandated activities that require the infusion of funds from the Capital Budget include compliance with the ADA, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation related to underground storage tanks, asbestos and lead paint abatement. Since 1996 the Capital Budget has provided $2,200,000 to fund compliance with these mandates. As an illustration of the progress that has been made in at least one area, funding for treatment of underground storage tanks in the FY2000 budget should be sufficient to resolve all known problems.

Police Area Command Stations
With the passage of the _ cent sales tax in 1993, funding provided through the Capital Improvement Fund has been used for debt service on the three area command police stations that opened in FY90. The Police Department has also been able to fund capital improvement projects from the Capital Improvement Fund. Since 1996 the Capital Budget has provided over $5,700,000 for debt service and building improvements. In the future, funds available after debt servicing on the area command centers will be used to construct a new prisoner processing area in the new Justice Center.

Warning Siren System
The FY99 Capital Budget provided $2,500,000 for replacement of the existing warning system. Installation of the new sirens is scheduled for FY2000.

Figure B5-3, City of St. Louis Capital Improvement Projects: 1996-1999, identifies funding levels for capital projects. Projects are listed according to one of three categories: Road and Bridge Projects, Neighborhood Stabilization Projects, or Facility Improvements and Equipment Replacement. According to Figure 3, over $148,000,000 has been allocated for capital projects between 1996 and 1999. And of that total amount, $15,587,000 (10.5 %) for road and bridge improvements, $64,441,738 (43.4%) for neighborhood stabilization projects, and $68,321,050 (46.1%) for facility improvements and equipment replacement.

[ Table B5-3, City of St. Louis Capital Improvement Projects: 1996-1999 ]

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT INVESTMENTS: 2000-2004

The 1999-2000 Fiscal Year Capital Improvements Plan for the City of St. Louis provides a five-year glimpse into municipal investments that have been scheduled to expand or maintain the City’s public facilities and infrastructure. According to that document, over the next five years, the City will invest $400,000,000 in capital projects. Major improvement projects that will be funded during that time include:

Bridges
The local match will continue to be funds so the City can receive the maximum amount of Federal funds available for bridge replacement under the ISTEA program. Bridges scheduled for replacement over the next five years include the Jefferson Avenue Bridge north of Chouteau, Avenue and the Broadway Bridge at River des Peres.

Street Repair
A variety of street improvement projects are funded in the CIP. Portions of North and South Broadway and the medians at 7th and Broadway will be reconstructed or widened under the Federal ISTEA program. The CIP includes the City’s matching requirement of $1.1 million for several street improvement projects. In addition, many arterial and residential streets will be resurfaced over the next five years using all local funds. Due to the concerted effort to resurface all downtown streets in FY99, only limited funds can be devoted to arterial streets in FY2000. The arterial street resurfacing program is expected to be returned to its normal activity level in FY2001.

Building Demolition
The FY2000 Capital Plan included $1,100,000 for the Building Demolition Fund. In addition, $11,000,000 will be available through the Public Safety Bond Issue for building demolition purposes.

Parks
Capital improvements will continue in the six major parks - Forest Park, Tower Grove, Carondelet, Fairground, O’Fallon and Willmore. From FY2000 to FY2004, about $16,000,000 will be spent on improvements in these six parks. A portion of this $16,000,000 improvement schedule is being funded from proceeds of a bond issue financed with Capital Funds dedicated to Forest Park. In addition, many neighborhood parks will also benefit form capital improvement funding.

Recreation Facilities
Nearly $3,000,000 in capital improvements is planned for the City’s recreation centers over the next five years. Improvements are planned for the Buder, Cherokee, Dunn, Marquette, Gamble, Soulard, Tandy, Tucker & Park, West End, and Wohl facilities. Capital projects range from tuckpointing to increasing access to the centers for persons with disabilities as well as major pool renovations.

Municipal Facilities
Over the next five years, over $65,000,000 will be spent to finance the construction and renovation of City facilities. Major projects include the construction of a new Justice Center, continued renovation of the Civil Courts Building, and a new Multimodal Transportation Facility. Other planned improvements include plumbing repairs at City Hall, Refuse Division building improvements, and repairs to the Health Division building. In addition, about $10,000,000 will be spent on the replacement of rolling stock and equipment.

Federal Mandates
The City will continue to make capital improvements to comply with Federal mandates. In recent years, the City has completed the removal of many underground storage tanks, however, additional funding is required for testing and abatement of former tank locations. Improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and for asbestos and lead pain abatement are also being funded over the next five years. The City has budgeted in the five-year Capital Improvement Plan over $1,300,000 to comply with these mandates.

Police Department
About $7,000,000 in debt service on the three area command stations will be paid from the Capital Fund over the next five years. In addition, prisoner processing activities will be transferred from the Police Headquarters building to the Downtown Justice Center when that project is completed. A portion of the sales tax revenues dedicated to the Police Department will be used to assist in paying off the Justice Center debt.

Flood Protection
After the experience of the 1993 and 1995 floods, the City began planning for the possible recurrence. In FY98 and FY99 the Capital Budget provided funding for a study and first phase of construction for flood protection along River des Peres. Over the next five years, the funding will continue for the River Des Peres project and will fund a flood protection study for the Mississippi River. That study will be completed in conjunction with St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Capital Budget will provide $1,500,000 for these projects.

Figure 4, City of St. Louis Capital Improvement Projects: 2000-2004, shows the level of funding that can be anticipated for each year during that period. Again, projects are divided into three specific categories: Road and Bridge Projects, Neighborhood Stabilization Projects, and Facility Improvements and Equipment Replacement Projects. As illustrated by Figure 4, a total of $178,661,000 has been programmed for a variety of municipal capital improvement projects. And of that total, $23,656,000 (18%) has been earmarked for road and bridge projects, $74,676,000 (42%) for neighborhood stabilization projects, and $80,329,000 (45%) for facility improvements and equipment replacement.

When comparing Figures 3 and 4, two items appear to be noteworthy. First, the percent of capital funds allocated to each of the three categories appears to be rather consistent for each of the periods covered. The most significant change occurred in the road and bridge category that reflected a 2.7 percent increase over the next five years. The second observation is that the average annual funding will decrease by $1,353,000 during the upcoming five-year period.

A decrease in funding for capital improvements is an item that was predicted in the Pierce Report. As noted in that document, as the City’s population decreases and businesses continue to move further from the central city, revenue generation through taxes will continue to decline. To some extent, this becomes a self-destructive phenomenon - the less money available for maintenance of public facilities and infrastructure, the less desirable the City becomes, and more people move to economically stronger communities. Each of the five reports listed above recognizes the need for the maintenance and enhancement of public facilities as one of the leading and more desirable places to live and work in the United States.

[ Table B5-4, City of St. Louis Capital Improvement Projects: 2000-2004 ]

SPECIFIC TOPIC ANALYSIS

This section of the St. Louis Public Facilities essay summarizes a series of separate reports that are contained in this document and which relate to or influence decisions regarding public facilities. These summaries address neighborhood facilities, parks and recreation facilities, health facilities, parking facilities, solid waste disposal, air pollution/asbestos removal, and residential/non-residential historic preservation.

Neighborhood Facilities - Public Libraries
The St. Louis Public Library system consists of Central Library in downtown St. Louis, the Compton Film Library, and 14 neighborhood branches. Throughout the 1990s, usage of library services has grown. The library is run by a board appointed by the major and is funded primarily through a special property tax levy. It serves the City of St. Louis entirely and solely, although it has a reciprocal lending agreement with the St. Louis County Library, which serves those areas of St. Louis County that do not have independent municipal libraries.

City voters approved tax levy increases to support the libraries in 1988 and in 1994. The 1988 levy provided funding for essential repairs and maintenance of existing services. Prior to 1988, the tax levy had been a flat 20 cents since 1971. The St. Louis Public Library celebrated 100 yeas of service in 1993. Thanks to voters’ approval of another 18-cent tax levy increase in 1994, the extensive system of branches and magnificent Central Library have been substantially improved. The library intends to complete renovations of all of its branches within the next five years.

The St. Louis Public Library has made substantial investments in physical plant and technology during the 1990s and library usage has steadily increased.

Parks and Recreation

Major Parks
The City of St. Louis has six major parks - Forest Park, Tower Grove, Carondelet, O’Fallon, Willmore and Fairground. Over the past five years, the Forest Park Master Plan process has made substantial improvements to the infrastructure of the park. These improvements are scheduled to be complete by 2004. Tower Grove Park has also made significant improvements in the past five years, under the leadership of its Board of Commissioners and with support from capital improvements sales tax funds. The remaining four major parks have many challenges, which are gradually being addressed.

Neighborhood Parks
The many neighborhood parks scattered throughout the City are very important to overall quality of life. However, many suffer from decades of decay and disinvestment. The Parks Division does not have adequate resources available to meet all neighborhood park needs. Occasionally, local aldermen choose to spend their capital improvement allocations on neighborhood parks, but some do not. Where the surrounding community or an institution "adopts" a park, it is possible to find more resources for improving the park.

Recreation Centers
The needs of City recreation centers for the next five years are as varied as they are great. The recreation centers are all in need of capital upgrade and some are in more dire need than others. Capital needs include central air conditioning, painting, ADA work, indoor lighting, etc. Also needed are additional equipment such as soccer nets, weight training equipment, tiny tot furniture, tutoring desks, tables, chairs, sewing machines, etc. In 1999, for the first time, in four of the centers, children and youth up to age 13 will receive a free evening snack and a full hot nutrition dinner through a federally funded grant. This program is called the RENT program and is administered by the Department of Social Services.

Recreation Outposts and Outreach
The City of St. Louis offers programs at various St. Louis public schools and Outreach programs at selected religious institutions. Both programs have varying degrees of success. The Outpost program is sometimes difficult for school principals to administer. This is due to difficulty in providing access to facilities in the evening hours, overtime charges for custodial services, and a lack of security guards. As a result, some of the outposts have shut down after relatively brief periods of operation. These problems are not as pronounced in the Outreach program but the schools are preferred sites for these services because many are already open in the early evening as Community Education Centers. The Recreation Outpost program extends those hours into the later evening.

Health Facilities

Health Care Overview
The St. Louis region’s only quasi-public hospital, St. Louis Regional Medical Center, served the health care needs of the indigent, uninsured and underinsured residents since 1985. In 1996, however, it lost its major sources of funding and closed.

In 1997, a consortium of St. Louis’ health systems and medical schools joined with St. Louis Regional and the community to consider new ways to collaborate in meeting the health needs of the region. BJC Health Systems took over management of the ConnectCare health care plan for uninsured St. Louisans. The five-year agreement calls for the City to pay a maximum of $5,000,000 annually to help run ConnectCare. Overall, ConnectCare costs are expected to total about $38,000,000 annually, with the state government committing about $26,000,000 in state and federal aid. ConnectCare now serves about 80,000 area residents, about 40 percent of whom have no insurance.

Although the City of St. Louis has some of the finest health care institutions in the country, the availability of services is not uniform. When compared with other metropolitan areas, St. Louis ranks among the highest in medical care resources, including more than 35 hospitals, two teaching medical centers, an abundance of community health centers, approximately 5,000 physicians, and hundreds of health services and voluntary agencies and associations. However, care is not evenly distributed. Some areas, for example, Grace Hill and neighborhoods in the southeastern and west sections of the City have no physicians or fewer tan one physician for every 5,000 residents. In areas of high need, a minimum of one physician for every 3,000 residents is considered essential to meet basic health care needs.

General Health Care Needs - The Next Five Years
Health care efforts in future years must be directed toward prevention. Health education for all income levels is needed since prevention is less expensive than curing an existing problem. The 1994 United Way report states that schools, businesses, churches and other community organizations could be “valuable allies” for providing public health education and prevention initiatives.

A computerized system to track immunizations of children would also be beneficial. Such program shave quadrupled the percentage of vaccinated children in its service area by establishing a computerized system that alerts doctors if a child making a clinic visit has not yet received all the required shots.

Education programs are needed to reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths. One in every five deaths in Missouri is tobacco-related.

Some education and prevention efforts should also be directed toward decreasing drug abuse. The National Association of Community Action Agencies recommends increased funding for drug and alcohol abuse prevention, education and treatment services and programs.

Additional needs include:

• Adequate and early prenatal care, maternal education and nutritional services
• Strong social support networks for pregnant women
• Efforts that decrease births to teenaged girls
• Programs that educate women about the dangers of drug, alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy

Parking Facilities
The last five years have seen many accomplishments as the City has sought to provide parking to support redevelopment efforts throughout the City, but especially in the Central Business District. During this time, in part because of the Downtown Now! planning initiative, there has been increased recognition of the critical role that parking plays as the City strives to compete with free parking at suburban office and retail centers.

Current Services
The City of St. Louis Treasurer’s Office and Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) continue to have a major role in the provision of new parking facilities associated with selected redevelopment projects. As a result of an aggressive posture by these City departments, parking revenues have increased and, since the mid-nineties, the Treasurer’s Office has contributed approximately $800,000 annually to the City’s General Revenue Fund.

Recent parking projects undertaken by these agencies over the past five years include:

• The Kiel Garage - A $25,000,000 in revenue bond financed the 1,200-vehicle Kiel Center garage that supports Kiel Center.
• The City Hall Parking lot was redeveloped with a $1,200,000 revenue bond. This redesigned and redeveloped surface parking lot is an efficient, aesthetically pleasing facility. Its capacity was raised from about 270 to 400 spaces, a number that will increase by an additional 100 spaces when the City’s new Justice Center is finished.
• The Marquette Garage replaces the eleven story Marquette Annex with a 360-space garage that will support 140 up-scale residential apartments in the old Marquette Building. Built with a $8,500,000 revenue bond, this site was purchased by the Treasurer’s Office for $500,000. It will have ground floor and basement retail space.
• Schafly Library in the Central West End will combine a new library with a 460-space garage on the site of the old Argyle Apartments at Euclid Avenue and Lindell Boulevard. A $12,000,000 million dollar revenue bond is enabling the development of a Public Library as the major tenant, a bank and street level retail activity. A Tax Increment Financing district was established for this project to guarantee payment of the bond debt. The project provides for the replacement of the small and deteriorating Lashly branch library and the resolution of a long time parking problem at this location.
• As a result of efforts by LCRA, the St. Louis Center East Garage has been renovated and expanded by about one hundred spaces. It will be refinanced in a transaction that will allow demolition, in the spring of 2000, of the old Stix Garage. It is anticipated that a new parking facility will replace this deteriorating structure.
• A lot owned by LCRA is also part of current development plans. The lot, located at 8th Street and Washington Avenue, is the site of the new Convention Center Hotel Tower that is proposed to be built across from America’s Center.

After years of resisting parking in the downtown core, there is new appreciation convenient parking and it is often the difference between a development project that works and one that fails to leave the drawing board. Fortunately, the Treasurer’s Office is building a track record that will allow it to support many anticipated development projects in the future. Among the potential parking complexes under consideration for the future are:

• A new multilevel garage immediately south of the new Justice Center, with between500 and 700 spaces that could also support possible users in the Thomas Eagleton Court House and/or 1010 Market Building.
• A garage to support the proposed new convention center hotel on Washington Avenue.
• A new garage that would support renovation of the downtown core.
• A new garage that would support businesses along Market, including employees in the Wainwright state office building.
• A garage to support the reuse of major office buildings on Tucker Boulevard.

A different but persistent challenge facing the City Treasure’s office has to do with the rates that are charged at meters. Free parking on a short-term basis (say 2 hours) on weekends may be one way to help downtown retail activity compete with its suburban counterparts. However, any such policy must be structured so customers, not the employees, are able to take advantage of these spaces.

A somewhat different problem exists in those parts of the City where there is very little revenue generated by meters. In these situations the revenue generated seldom meets the cost associated with collection.

Each of these proposed development and the challenges outlined above will be addressed during the next five years.

Solid Waste Disposal
In the past five years, the Refuse Division has maintained its trash collection services while acting to reduce waste through aggressive recycling programs. Total costs for refuse collection and disposal for FY 1998-1999 was $14,069,952 or $41.47 per capita (339,316 population). In FY98 a new municipal sold waste and yard waste disposal contract began with Waste Management, Inc. resulting in a 28% reduction in cost for disposal of solid waste. The Refuse Division is aided in its role by the City Forestry Department, the St. Louis Jefferson Solid Waste Management District, and by Operation Brightside, a private non-profit organization.

The Refuse Division has an ongoing need to replace outdated equipment. Money allocated in the FY00 capital budget will assist in this effort but more needs to be done. In FY00, $235,000 is allocated to do repairs at the facilities and through a lease/purchase will provide funding for 21 side load refuse trucks and 8 dump trucks for bulk pickup.

Another area in need of improvement is the collection of hazardous waste. Hazardous waste includes things like household chemicals, insecticides and paint. Currently, the Metropolitan Sewer District collects these items once a year but there ought to be more frequent collection. A program made possible by a one-time grant in 1995 set aside specific days for City residents to drop off their outdated hazardous chemicals so they could be disposed of properly. Approximately 1,500 vehicles made a drop-off at the City sponsored event.

On March 9, 1999, Operation Brightside launched "Stop It, Don’t Drop It," a new anti-litter campaign. The cornerstone of the "Stop It, Don’t Drop It" campaign is its adopt-a-can initiative, whereby City residents and business owners can purchase heavy-duty trashcans directly from Operation Brightside. Operation Brightside will provide a new trash can bearing the campaign theme and Brightside logos and the City Refuse Division will empty all of the cans on a regular basis, free of charge. The "Stop It, Don’t Drop It" campaign’s focus on education and increasing awareness will be just as important as adding more trash cans in solving St. Louis’ litter control problem.

Air Pollution and Asbestos Removal

Air Quality Improvements
The City struggles to maintain air quality standards set by the EPA and at the same time, facilitate industrial and commercial growth and the restabilization of City neighborhoods. Air pollution in St. Louis diminished 37% between 1991 and 1996 according to the most recent EPA report. The dramatic decrease is attributed to the departure of several big polluters and to upgraded equipment and facilities. The regulated community is concerned, however, that despite these gains new regulations will be put in place that make the process of doing business and buying property in the City more cumbersome and expensive.

Currently, the St. Louis area is classified by the EPA as having "moderate" air pollution. Efforts established over the past five years along with future goals will bring the St. Louis area closer to the standards set by the EPA.

The Air Pollution Control Division (APC) serves as the environmental regulatory body in the City, enforcing all State and Federal air pollution regulations. Activities include asbestos and other regulation, permit issuing, compliance inspections, and air quality monitoring in the region. APC works with the Building Commission, the Land Reutilization Authority and others in the regulated community to enhance air quality in the St. Louis region.

Current Services: Asbestos Regulation and Demolition
APC enforces State and Federal asbestos regulations while the Land Reutilization Authority and others oversee demolition work.

APC handles all asbestos complains throughout the City and receives and reviews State Asbestos Notifications. In FY99, $88,262 was spent on asbestos regulation. The Federal government in some instances conducts asbestos reviews on residential or commercial properties. For the most part, it has passed responsibilities onto the State who in turn works with the APC. While APC’s responsibility is enforcement of the air pollution laws for stationary industrial sources, with secondary responsibility for monitoring of vapor recovery in service stations, they do asbestos inspections triggered by the Clean Air Act’s National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) requirements. City Air pollution is responsible for enforcing Federal NESHAP asbestos regulations in regard to renovation or demolition of all buildings.

Costs of Cleaning Up Asbestos-Containing Material
Increased regulations on hazardous material and the cost of mitigating those hazards decrease the desirability of owning property in the City. A building owner can never be legally free of the liability for hazardous waste associated with that property. If a contractor is hired to mitigate the problem and the state finds fault with the removal process, the owner as well as the contractor can be fined. Once the ACM is placed in a landfill, should the material be dug up at some later date for any reason, the owner is responsible for its removal again. When facing the costs associated with clean-up, owners of smaller buildings often opt to let the property go into tax foreclosure. The cost for the City to pursue these owners for clean-up funds could exceed the cost of clean-up. Moreover, in many cases, the owners to not have the funds necessary to clean a site. On larger buildings, the City has pursued action but asbestos is not covered under Superfund Liability by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), making enforcement difficult.

New Comprehensive Permits Required Under the Clean Air Act
The Air Pollution Control Division and the regulated community are currently adapting to a new EPA regulatory requirement, Title V of the Clean Air Act dealing with operating permits. As of May 1999, every large emitter must obtain a special detailed operating permit. The permits are labor intensive for industry and for APC staff, taking up to a year for the City alone to process. Two additional staff members were hired to keep up with the work. Seventy companies in the City are affected and have begun filing the necessary paperwork. The EPA requires that all large emitters acquire the new permit by the end of 2000. Once the permits are in place, APC will have to monitor them.

Potential for New Regulations
An issue is developing that may impact quite heavily on APC and on economic development in the City. A recent court decision could change the unit of measure for ozone that would reclassify St. Louis’ air quality status from moderate non-attainment to serious non-attainment. If this change occurs, staff at APC would have to be doubled to handle the new rule and many facilities currently not under regulation would have to be regulated.

Historic Preservation
St. Louis is rich in historic buildings and sites. During the golden age of American Architecture, St. Louis was a prosperous mercantile center, and that prosperity spurred the construction of a wide array of structures unique to that era of American history. These range from the magnificent commercial buildings in the downtown district to the homes and businesses of the city's residential neighborhoods. The significance of many of these individual buildings and neighborhood districts has already been recognized with listings on the National Register of Historic Places or designation as city landmarks or city historic districts. With many of these residential and commercial structures still intact, the Cultural Resources Office (CRO), a division of the St. Louis Planning and Urban Design Agency, estimates that over 60% of the city's built environment is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

St. Louis' large number of historic structures has been both an asset and a liability in its continued growth and redevelopment. Older buildings can be expensive to maintain and update, and in some neighborhoods deferred maintenance or outright abandonment have taken their toll on the housing stock. Further, many historic buildings and districts reflect the needs and lifestyles of a past era. Significant investment is required to maintain the historic features of these properties while making them better suited to present day needs. However, the restoration and careful maintenance of a number of historic buildings and residential districts in St. Louis demonstrates that such investments can produce spaces that are highly desirable because of their location and unique historic features unavailable in other parts of the region.

The staff of CRO conducts design reviews for proposed new construction or exterior alterations in the city's historic districts or adjacent to the city's landmark sites to ensure that these plans comply with the standards of the historic district. The staff also reviews any demolition requests within these areas. By agreement among the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the State Office on Historic Preservation, the CRO staff also examines sites where federally funded construction, renovation, or demolition will occur.

Landmarks Association of St. Louis, Inc. is a private not-for-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, enhance and promote St. Louis' architectural heritage and to encourage sound planning and good contemporary design. Landmarks carries out its mission through a number of events and activities. The organization conducts architectural and cultural surveys of neighborhoods and buildings in St. Louis. This research often leads to nominations of these sites or districts for inclusion on the National Register or designation as local historic districts or city landmarks. Landmarks also engages in a number of educational activities geared toward various segments of the community.

The potential for preservation and restoration of historic structures in St. Louis is better now than it has been at any time in the past decade. In the early 1980's, the city of St. Louis led the nation in historic rehab. The 1986 federal tax act reduced the tax incentives that had made many of those projects economically viable, and historic rehab activity in the city declined by 96%. The recently enacted Missouri State Historic Tax Credits, combined with the excellent state of the US economy, have again created a positive environment for historic rehab in St. Louis.

Several high profile projects using the tax credits include the Chase-Park Plaza in the Central West End, the Drury Inn being completed in the International Fur Exchange building downtown, and the Westin Hotel renovation of the Cupples Station warehouses.