North St. Louis residents give input on future development
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Norvella Chandler has belonged to Zion Temple Missionary Baptist church in the Jeff VanDerLou neighborhood for years.
She said the conditions of the area surrounding the church have made it difficult to operate.
“Our concerns are great and we have lots of them,” she told First Alert 4. “We’re worried about the infrastructure, if our members are able to get to church safely and not run into potholes, there’s a lot of dumping in the area and my members get out and move their dumping to a safe area so cars can get in and the people can walk.”
Those reasons are why she wanted to make her concerns known to the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) at their Project Connect feedback session Monday.
The organization invited residents of six different North St. Louis neighborhoods to give input on what they want developed.
The event comes after SLDC issued notice of intent to acquire over 140 dilapidated properties across north St. Louis.
“You think your streets aren’t safe and you want to see traffic calming, you can propose that, you want to see a grocery store, you can propose that”, said Deion Broxton with SLDC. “Is there an LRA or an LCRA property or a dilapidated property in your neighborhood and you want the city to do something about it and you want to see something redeveloped? You can tell us that.”
Chandler said she hopes her suggestions are taken seriously so one day she will be able to see the church’s neighborhood thrive.
“We would like for our streets to be repaired, lighting come in, housing for multi-family, single family so that we could bring the neighborhood back up we’re not about tearing it down,” she said. “We do plan to do the work that Christ has given us to do.”
SLDC said it will take suggestions from Project Connect to formulate a plan they hope to have complete this year.
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