Enjoy Cool Music at Grace Hill's Whitaker Concert Series

Thanks to the initiative of our good friends at Grace Hill, you can enjoy some cool entertainment on a warm summer evening, just a few blocks west of Crown Candy Kitchen. The Whitaker Urban Evening Series of concerts in St. Louis Place Park is in its second year, with concerts happening every Thursday - including tonight and next Thursday.

KMOX featured a wonderful piece on the Whitaker Urban Evening Series on their Voice of St. Louis segment this morning. Click on the following link to hear the report by Debbie Monterrey, in which she offers her rave reviews of the concert series, as well as the entire Old North St. Louis area: Debbie checks out the Whitaker Urban Series sponsored by Grace Hill and discovers great improvements in Old North St. Louis.

Tonight’s concert features Arvell & Co., with Phoebe Clagett, so head on over to the park and enjoy an evening with some neighbors from ONSL and adjacent communities.

The following are scenes from the June 26 concert.

Appreciation BBQ at Crown Square

On July 3rd, EM Harris Construction Company, the general contractor for the Crown Square redevelopment, held a BBQ in appreciation of all of the subcontractors, laborers, police officers, and community partners involved in the construction and development of the former 14th Street Mall. The event was held in the former Parks Building on 14th and St. Louis Avenue. You can see from the photos that construction is almost complete.

Thank you, EM Harris, for making this project such a success!

Interns, interns, everywhere!

We are very pleased to have three summer interns to assist with research and neighborhood projects. From left to right, Elizabeth Brucksch is in the Masters of Architecture program at Washington University; Paul Bilger is in the pre-Architecture program at the University of Missouri; and Christian Ronzio is an undergraduate at Yale University who is exploring engineering and sustainable design.

It is the efforts of volunteers like this who make our organization strong. If you would like to offer your enthusiasm, skills, and talents, please contact Sean Thomas at sean@onsl.org.

ONSL has a new business neighbor!

Hostelling International - Gateway Council has moved its office to Old North St. Louis. Mark Cockson, HI-GC's Executive Director, is shown proudly pointing to the address of his new office space at 2810 N 14th Street.

Hostelling International's mission is to promote cultural understanding through low-cost travel, outdoor activities, and youth education. Hostelling International - Gateway Council hosts numerous recreational bike rides including the famous Moonlight Ramble which is coming up August 16-17. For more information on HI-GC or to register for the Moonlight Ramble, go to http://www.moonlightramble.com/

HI-GC and the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group are currently in discussions to develop the Mullanphy Emigrant Home into a world-class youth hostel. http://www.savemullanphy.org/

Stay tuned for details!

Metropolis STL Tours Old North

On June 14th, a sunny and beautiful Saturday morning, 17 members of Metropolis STL toured the developments currently underway in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. Led by ONSLRG Executive Director, Sean Thomas, the group took a hard-hat tour of Crown Square, the $35 million redevelopment of the former 14th Street Mall, as well as the new construction and renovations on North Market Place, and a few private renovations.

If you or your group would like a tour of the ONSL neighborhood, Crown Square, or other specific developments, contact Karen Heet, the ONSLRG Real Estate Development Coordinator, at karen@onsl.org.

More Notice for ONSL's Rebirth

ONSL has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. As noted in our previous post of June 16, Kaid Benfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council has shared his positive reviews of ONSL’s rebirth on his blog (Of the community, by the Community, and for the community). That commentary attracted the notice of Eddie Roth, an editorial writer for the Post-Dispatch, who reported about us on his blog (Plaudits for Northside Neighborhood,which begins with the assertion that “the Old North St. Louis neighborhood is really gaining traction as a community on the rise”) and has also been posted to the blog for the Greening the Heartland Conference (Old North: national press).
The Greening the Heartland Conference starts today and continues through Tuesday at America’s Center in Downtown St. Louis. The fifth annual conference on green building and sustainability is sponsored by the St. Louis Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. On June 13, the GTH blog put its spotlight on ONSLRG’s past-president and current vice president, John Burse. John will be presenting a workshop at the conference along with ONSLRG executive director Sean Thomas and RHCDA’s deputy director David Dodson. Click HERE to see the text of the interview with John and his thoughts about the revitalization of Old North.

John’s answers to the interview questions provide a good preview of what will be discussed at the workshop on Tuesday: “The work that has gone on in Old North is at a tremendous variety of scales done by a small and committed group of individuals. The driving force in Old North is grass roots based energy which is palpable and I can’t say enough about the level of determination. The principles which have fueled the work are at the heart of what it means to be socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable community.”

For more details about the workshop on Old North’s transformation or other events at the conference, visit the Greening the Heartland Conference website. Online registration for the conference is closed; however, the website notes that “there is still plenty of room at the conference.” If you want to attend, they advise you to “just come and register on-site" (at America’s Center).

"Old North...is the very antithesis of sprawl"

Kaid Benfield, director of the Smart Growth Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, praises the revitalization underway in Old North St. Louis on his NRDC blog: Of the community, by the community, and for the community: the rebirth of Old North Saint Louis.

Benfield's blog entry touches on a bit of the neighborhood's history, highlights the Crown Square development, includes pictures of the people and places of Old North that tell the community's story, and draws some comparisons with other well-known revitalization success stories, such as the Dudley Street neighborhood in Boston.

We are honored to have received such glowing reviews from someone who has such deep understanding of what it takes to develop urban neighborhoods with sustainability, social equity, and walkability in mind. Be sure to visit Kaid Benfield’s blog for the complete story.