Saint Louis, We Hear You
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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UPCOMING CITY AFFAIR TOPICS
The polls have closed, the results have been tabulated, and the chads have been hung. Thank you to the all thirty seven of you who voted on topics you would like to see at upcoming city affairs. Please note the new poll topic: "What is the greatest challenge to urbanism in Saint Louis?".
As you can see, the big winner was a discussion on sustainable urbanism. We hear you, and we promise that will be on the agenda as soon as we can convene an appropriate panel. The topic of Young Entrepreneurs (or "Young Turks" as some on the steering committee have take to calling it will be kicking off the fall City Affair schedule, and we are planning on hosting discussions on immigration and the legacy of segregation then as well. In the meantime, we are announcing the following topics for the spring:
City Affair XV: Reconnecting City and River
When: Thu Apr 1, 2010 7:30pm to 9pm CDT
Morgan Street Brewery [More details soon!]
City Affair welcomes representatives from the City To River grassroots coalition to discuss the importance of reconnecting Saint Louis to the Missississippi, their vision for reconnection, and why this is a pivotal time for this idea.
Please note, this is not a BYOB event
City Affair XVI: On Hold for Pecha Kucha
When: Thu May 6, 2010 7:00pm to 9pm CDT
We are waiving our usual monthly meeting to help support St. Louis Pecha Kucha. St, Louis is now one of 291 cities around the world that host Pecha Kucha meetings. PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. Pecha Kucha #3 is currently being planned for 5/06/10 and we want to go, so City Affair will return in June!
City Affair XVII: TBD
When: Thu Jun 3, 2010 7:30pm to 9pm CDT
City Affair XVIII: Summer Party
When: Thu Jul 1, 2010 7:30pm to 10pm CDT
City Affair is not just about wonkish discussions of urbanism and policy. Help us celebrate our city and the birthday of our country in July.
As always, up-to-date information on upcoming City Affair Events can be found on our calendar feed
UPCOMING:
CITY AFFAIR XV: RECONNECTING CITY AND RIVER
APRIL 1, 2010
7:30-9:00 PM
MORGAN STREET BREWERY (not byob)
721 North 2nd Street
St Louis, MO 63102-2518
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Any discussion on sustainable urbanism (IMHO) needs to take into account some of the historical reasons for promoting suburban and exurban development, to avoid repeating history. I've see way too much romanticism about turn-of-the-century urban living. Those days did indeed see wonderful likes like walkable neighborhoods, dense public transit, and healthy appreciation of civics, but also darker aspects such as poor living conditions for lower classes, (sometimes violent) racism against minorities and immigrants, and more acute expressions of the city's political machine.
I'm surprised to see that there isn't an option in the poll for public education. As someone in her late 20s, this is the number one reason I see friends buying housing outside the city.
Actually, there was already a City Affair forum about SLPS. It was one of the first events we covered. You're right, we should definitely tackle that topic again now that more people know about CA.
Alissa and Eric-
Good point! I'll bring that up as we start to plan out topics for the fall.
Ben-
While we haven't worked out the panelists, my hope would be that it would focus on issues of resource efficiency and maximization, permaculture, and emergent economy rather than a misplaced romanticization of the industrial city.