STL Rising has started a companion blog to focus on the proposed "NorthSide" project in the City of St. Louis. NorthSide is a proposed $5.3 billion dollar redevelopment of the city's near north side, located in the 5th, 19th, 6th, and 3rd wards.
The project was officially presented to the general public last evening for the first time. Approximately 300 people attended a meeting where Paul McKee, Jr, and his consultant team described their plans for the roughly 500 acre area.
At this stage, the project is more a vision than a plan. This month, the developers plan to submit a formal proposal to St. Louis Development Corporation with more details, including a tax increment financing proposal.
I would highly encourage writers/residents concerned about NorthSide development, whether related to Blairmont or not, to press the cornucopia of Web 2.0 bling into service to help get the word out.
ReplyDelete1. Similar to STL Syndicate, which uses RSS to compile a handful of blogs ...
http://www.stlsyndicate.com/
... set up syndication for the like-themed blogs, e.g. Ecology of Absence, NorthSide Blog, STL Rising, Urban Review.
2. Set up a Twitter feed. My recommendation is @NorthSideStory
3. In addition to the facilitated workshops that McEagle plans to host, use Meetup.com or Facebook.com to organize your own workshops. Don't let McEagle's paid facilitators dictate the conversation.
4. Use Skype and/or Freeconference.com if you need to periodically chat verbally to stay in touch.
5. All these tools will allow your constituency to better identify itself, letting you do useful things like issue your own press releases to coincide with McEagle's.
Thus far, McEagle has been setting the pace and dictating the schedule. The past two meetings about Northside development were orchestrated entirely by McEagle.
You don't have to play with this orchestra, as McEagle ultimately has no higher authority over the future of NorthSide than any other property owner and resident. Don't forget the alderpeople involved are your alderpeople too.
Great sub blog: one thing the blogs do is move on, leaving a debris of ideas in cyberspace. The development of a white paper, a manifesto, or a statement of community and urban goals could do a great deal to make the blogs more effective. Essentially generating a hard copy summary of urban policy
ReplyDeleteIndividual ideas from blogs should be condensed into planning principles for debate by the community. This could easily be done with links.
I like what you have done and the suggestions of Ben West above who show true leadership positions for a new economy and a new politics.
The debate has been severely limited far too long, resulting in the troubles of America and St. Louis today.