City Affair Saint Louis

Several months ago City Affair took on the topic of some of the future Great Streets of St. Louis. On Thursday, August 5th return with us to Cherokee to hear from several people making Cherokee a Great Street today.

Our panelists for the evening will include:

Randy Vines of STL-Style.  STL-Style had been operating as an internet-based company for about 9 years before Randy and Jeff Vines made the leap into a storefront, opening Style House at 3155 Cherokee Street. They chose this area for a number of reasons, not the least among them its relative affordability and growing concentration of creative DIY startups.

Kristin Gassel of The St. Louis Curio Shoppe. The Shoppe will carry music, books, crafts, clothing, specialty food products, jewelry, souvenirs, collectibles and assorted other sundries and curiosities all made in the St. Louis area. The Curio Shoppe plans to have a positive impact on our city by supporting local businesses of all sizes and ensuring that a maximum amount of consumer dollars goes directly back to our community.

Juan Montana of Cherokee Photobooth. Opened on Easter weekend this year, Cherokee Photobooth is a unique storefront operation that embraces everything that makes Cherokee Street special-- diverse, creative, fun, gritty, and colorful.  Just drop into this unassuming storefront for a fun, quirky photo session custom-suited to your personality.

Matthew Mourning, who writes the blog Dotage will be the moderator for the evening.  Matthew returned to St. Louis after completing grad school in New Orleans and has recently become a resident of Cherokee Street.

Following the brief panel discussion we will open the floor to audience questions.

EVENT INFORMATION

Thursday, August 5th 7:30-9:00 PM  2301 Cherokee Street, one block east of Jefferson, the future storefront of The St. Louis Curio Shoppe, which will open Auguat 28^th 

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ARE BLOGS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF FURTHERING CHANGE IN THE COMMUNITY? DO THEY ENCOURAGE PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT TO SEEK POLITICAL ACTION OR DO THEY SERVE AS A REPLACEMENT FOR MEANINGFUL INVOLVEMENT?

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

The ongoing conversation of urbanism and historic preservation of St. Louis architecture and its city form is largely fueled by buzzing blogs and their readership. With so much work to be done toward the revitalization of our city, we ask how web-based advocacy of the betterment our built environment plays a meaningful role in that revitalization with the following panel:

ALEX IHNEN - blogger, URBANSTL.COM
MATTHEW MOURNING - blogger, STLDOTAGE
STEVE PATTERSON - blogger, URABANREVIEWSTL

Following forty five minutes of panel discussion we will open the floor to audience questions.

Please note this is not a BYOB event like many City Affairs. Urban Eats has a great selection of drinks, and they'll be extending happy hour prices for the evening. We encourage everyone to check out their food menu and support a local business.

To have your order ready when you get there, we encourage you to place an order ahead of time.

CITY AFFAIR XVI: BLOG CITY

Thursday, June 3rd 2010
7:00-9:00 PM
Urban Eats Café
3301 Meramec Street
St. Louis, Mo. 63118


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ONE OF THE LARGEST CRITIQUES OF THE CITY OF SAINT LOUIS HAS BEEN THE DEGREE TO WHICH IT HAS DEVELOPED A STERILE AND DEAD DOWNTOWN AREA AND TURNED ITS BACK ON THE RIVERFRONT

While this condition is the legacy of failed midcentury planning and policy, we will continue to struggle if we take the result for granted. Cities around the country are capitalizing on their neglected riverfront areas to catalyze development, attract residents, and bolster tourist economies. In Saint Louis, the channel that slices through downtown disrupts recreational opportunities and depresses the values of adjacent properties. Many strategies have been proposed, but a radical rethinking of downtown may be required.

WHAT IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS TO RECONNECT THE CITY STREET GRID TO THE RIVERFRONT, THE ARCH GROUNDS, AND LACLEDE'S LANDING? DO NEW DEVELOPMENTS FINALLY MAKE IT FEASIBLE TO REMOVE THE FORMER INTERSTATE 70 THROUGH DOWNTOWN?

City to River, the volunteer grass roots group that is promoting the removal of the former I-70 through Downtown and replacement with a pedestrian friendly urban boulevard will be giving a brief presentation about the concept and its transformative potential. City to River believes that removing the highway is the only real way to restore the lost connections between Downtown, the Arch, districts north and south and the river itself.

City to River will answer questions about the concept and provide an opportunity to get involved with this transformative effort. There are many ways that supporters can assist City to River including contacting and meeting with stakeholders, marketing and promotion, contacting politicians, technical assistance and more.

Come find out how you can be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity to reopen the front door of St. Louis by resolving a planning mistake from the “urban renewal” era.

The following panel will represent City to River:

RICK BONASCH - Director of Technical Assistance at RHCDA / Coordinator of City to River

ANDREW FAULKNER - Architect, Urban Designer / City to River

PAUL HOHMANN - Architect / City to River

KARA HOLLAND - Designer / City to River


After a brief concept presentation, there will be discussion moderated by Randy Vines.

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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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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