Mayor's Sustainability Summitt speech

Well, now that the prairie is installed and winter is on us we are in waiting mode until spring when the temperatures rise and the plants emerge. Can't wait to see what comes up and how it looks. The prairie plants we planted should grow quickly and flower in 2014. Some of the seeds we planted will come up and a few of those may bloom as well. Other seeds will sprout over the next 2-5 years. Some of the plants we put in will eventually die or be out-competed by more vigorous species. The prairie is going to be an evolving landscape as new species emerge and others disappear.

The final action we took was to attend the Mayor's Sustainability Summit on November 9th and present our project to the mayor and to the city. The following is the text of my presentation. Once again, thanks so much to everyone who came out and lent a hand. This experience has been fantastic!

Speech at Mayor’s Sustainability Showcase
Good Morning! In the next five minutes I will give you some background on the Thurman Gateway Prairie Restoration Project, tell you why we chose the site, explain what we did and what we learned, and end with a brief view to the future.

Hwy 44 creates a physical barrier between the Shaw and Botanical Heights neighborhoods. Walking or biking between the neighborhoods is difficult and involves jockeying with cars on Grand Avenue, Tower Grove or Spring Avenue. Thurman Avenue is the other connecting street but it has been closed to automobiles for thirty years. This would be an ideal route for pedestrians and bicyclists but, until this summer, the street entrances were a tangled mass of trees, brush, vines and debris. The area looked dangerous and was avoided by many neighbors. The appearance of this area created a social barrier between the neighborhoods.

Last year a group of neighbors began a discussion about beautifying the area. Plans to repave the street, install new lighting and paint a bike lane on the pavement were discussed and approved. The underpass will be transformed into a pedestrian and bike friendly pocket park but no attention was given to the natural habitat potential of the site’s four sloping grassy sections of highway right-of-way.

This is not surprising. We often think of cities as human and domestic places, areas given to industrial activities, lost to nature. We think of countryside as the proper place for nature, wildlife, and wilderness. One result of this viewpoint is that we live with mile after mile of urban highway right-of-way cordoned off, planted with non-native grasses, and mowed intensively as if it were an enormous lawn. Native birds, butterflies and pollinators have no home in this landscape and neither do we!

Those of us who garden know this old viewpoint is nonsense! We know that cities are managed landscapes but nature is here! As cities grow larger and larger, where else will nature survive? We have to make room for wilderness all around us, not just in our nature reserve and parks, but also in our front yards, back yards, empty lots, parking lots, and highway right-of-ways.

So, knowing our neighborhood history, we already knew that Shaw was once a prairie called the Prairie des Noyers. Local conditions favor the prairie ecosystem and this is the kind of native landscape that makes sense in Shaw. We decided to landscape the new pocket park at the Thurman underpass with a beautiful prairie restoration project.

Thanks to 208 neighbors and friends who volunteered at least 624 hours of their time we cleared the site of debris, removed non-native vegetation, planted ¼ acre of prairie and mulched the entire area.

Thanks to funding from the Mayor’s Office and Brightside St. Louis we purchased and planted 1,150 live prairie grasses and flowering perennials. Just to make sure, we also broadcasted nine pounds of prairie and cover crop seeds. Our restoration project returns 78 species of native prairie plants to Shaw. These plants will in turn attract and feed native bees, butterflies and song birds.

We were assisted by the City Streets Department, the City Forestry Department, the Water Department, and the Missouri Department of Transportation. Volunteers came from the Shaw and Botanical Heights neighborhoods, The Word at Shaw, Faith in Action, the Lutheran Elders of the St. Louis district, Epworth Children and Family Services and from St. Louis University.

Along the way we decided to make the project relevant to every participating group. We developed a short introductory presentation that I delivered at every work day. This presentation included the passing of visual aids (pass these around now) demonstrating the flowers, the birds, the bees and butterflies that would be brought back through our volunteers’ hard work. The volunteers told us this approach got them excited to be a part of the project and made the work worthwhile. They could see the future outcome of their work and felt like they were a part of something important!

We also discovered that many neighbors do not understand the importance of prairie. Many have never seen a prairie. Others think prairies are ugly and weedy. In response, we decided to create a new non-profit organization, Sustainable in St. Louis (SiSL), to take the project to the next level: from a landscaping project to an educational project.

Through SiSL we have begun to gather a network of ecology professionals and skilled volunteers from across the Midwest to help us maintain and expand the prairie.

We have partnered with the North American Butterfly Association and the Audubon Society to track the return of pollinators and song birds to the site. We are developing educational opportunities for the neighborhood and the city including signs that identify native species, web pages to present the primary habitat data we collect and additional web pages to make available practical information about how you can create native habitat in your own space. Finally, we are partnering with local schools to develop curriculum and internship opportunities that will bring university, high school and elementary school students into the prairie.

Now! This is not where we started! We began with a landscaping project but we are on the way to something larger and richer. Thank you to the Mayor’s Office and Brightside St. Louis for funding the project. I hope each of you has the opportunity to walk or bike through the Thurman gateway in the years ahead to see it evolve.

This is a collaborative project and it will remain so. I invite each of you to not only visit us but to contact us with your suggestions and ideas for making the project bigger, better and more useful to everyone. Thank you!

Neighbors Naturescaping Grant Awarded to Thurman Gateway Park Project

This past week we learned that our application for Operation Brightside's Neighbors Naturescaping Grant was successful. This non-cash grant adds $1500 worth of tools and plants to our project.

The list of plants available to grant winners is heavy on flowering prairie forbs rather than grasses so I sketched a planting diagram that places these plants along the edges of the park where they will be most visible to pedestrians and bicyclists. The plants are also grouped by bloom season so that each portion of the border will have the maximum number of blooms during the spring, summer and fall.

I'm finding that lots of people think of prairie as a big collection of weeds, a neglected landscape, wilderness even. According to this point of view, a carefully tended ornamental flower garden is orderly, cultured and more desirable in an urban setting. Prairie has a bit of an image problem, not because it is weedy and messy, but because its beauty is subtle and complex. It can be difficult for a casual observer to see the order, especially when they don't know the individual plants and animals.

Every prairie is different but each is a year-round circus, filled with an intricate and interdependent web of life. Every month of the growing season has its own explosion of flowers. New types of birds and bees and butterflies make their appearance throughout the year. In spring and summer the colors are bold and the animal life obvious. During the winter brilliant flowers give way to the reds and browns of grasses and seed pods. Color is replaced with structure. The prairie's various forms and shapes emerge. New life, in the form of seeds and pollinator eggs, waits silently in the soil for spring. Once you know this you cannot think of prairie as a weed patch.

By increasing the density of flowering species in the edges of the park I'm hoping to grab the attention of park visitors. If visitors stop to admire the flowers perhaps they will read the sign and scan the QR code. At the website they will learn about the carefully managed nature of the prairie and its interdependent plant and animal relationships that go unnoticed to the casual passerby. They will find information about which plants they can grow at home to attract butterflies and song birds to their own gardens. They will learn why doing so matters.

This project is about more than installing a few plants. A growing number of St. Louis residents practice sustainable gardening in one way or another. Many grow plants that feed and house our native birds, bees and butterflies. Unfortunately, these efforts support only a tiny fraction of the fantastic life diversity that once existed here. If environmental sustainability is to really take hold in the community we need highly visible projects that people can see, learn from, and replicate in their own spaces. We are a part of nature and we should play a more beneficial role in our own local environments. That is what this project is about.

Planting sketch from Operation Brightside's Neighbors Naturescaping Grant application.

Volunteers from The Word at Shaw

On Sunday morning we had a van load of volunteers from The Word at Shaw come down and work at the Thurman Gateway Park in the rain!



We accomplished a great deal. All the debris littering the street and the turf areas -- bottles, cans, papers, broken glass, etc. --- was collected and bagged. The weeds in the pavement cracks were scraped up or pulled out.



Sprouts and limbs were removed from around the concrete barriers and the Thurman Street surface was swept. Perhaps the most difficult task accomplished was scooping up all the soil that has accumulated in the gutters. Several people worked on that and now rain water can flow freely into the drains, as designed.



At the end of October the Mayor's Office will review our project. Although the street will not be repaved until later in November, today's work helps us get a handle on the general appearance of the area.

This project is bringing a new level of sustainability to the Shaw Neighborhood by resurrecting a small area of the once extensive Prairie de Noyers. Thanks to everyone from TWAS for their help today. Thanks also for inviting us to the afternoon potluck at the church. What a blast!

The Thurman Gateway Project - recipient of the Mayor's Sustainable Neighborhoods Small Grant Competition grant



Jeanette McDermott, co-creator of Sustainable in St. Louis,
with a big thumbs-up for sustainability!

The Thurman Gateway Park Project is proceeding rapidly and this page is designed to inform neighbors of our progress. Check back often for updates. 11/9/13 update  9/21/13 update   9/8/13 update

The Thurman Gateway Park Project is a prairie restoration being installed along Thurman Avenue between DeTonty and Lafayette Streets, at the highway 44 underpass. You can see my original vision for the prairie restoration articulated here.

Kudos to the St. Louis City employees. We couldn't do
this without your help.

The Thurman Gateway Park Project was made possible by a grant to the Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association from the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, St. Louis, through the Sustainable Neighborhoods Grant Competition. See the details of our grant proposal here. Additional funding is being sought from a variety of sources, including Operations Brightside's Neighbors Naturescaping grant and our alder persons.

Progress update: Site preparation is underway. The grass has been treated and unsightly weeds, weed trees and dead shrubs have been removed by the City of St. Louis Forestry Department. The large green concrete barriers have not been removed. They will eventually be replaced with more decorative barriers but Thurman Avenue will NOT be opened to automobile traffic between DeTonty and Lafayette.

Next steps: We need volunteers for three activity dates:
October 10th - general clean-up of the Gateway area
October 19th - planting the prairie with live plants
October 26th - finish planting the prairie with live plants and a "Seed and Stomp"

Project leaders for the Thurman Gateway Park Project are:
Monte Abbott - SNIA Beautification Chair
Jeanette McDermott - SNIA 1st Vice President

The Thurman Gateway Park Project Volunteer Committee is comprised of:
Monte Abbott
Lauren Arend
Chuk Byington
Emmett Coleman
Christina Dames
Sheri Goldsmith
Elaine Kidwell
Jeanette McDermott
Brian Rain

The following organizations are assisting with the Thurman Gateway Park Project as well as the larger Thurman Underpass Project:
Mayor's Office of Sustainability
City of St. Louis Urban Forestry Department
City of St. Louis Street Department
Missouri Department of Transportation
Sustainable in St. Louis
Missouri Botanical Garden
Missouri Extension Service
Nine Network of Public Media
Botanical Heights Neighborhood Association
Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association
SNIA Beautification Committee
Urban Improvement Corporation
dtls Studio
The Nature Institute
Wild Ones
Missouri Master Gardeners
Missouri Master Naturalists
Missouri Prairie Foundation
Faith in Action
SLU's Make a Difference Day volunteers

The Thurman Gateway Park Project is a part of a larger project that began as the Thurman Underpass Design Competition begun in 2012. See the winning design for the underpass project here.

Currently the neighborhood organizations for Shaw and Botanical Heights are working together with Alderman Steve Conway and Alderwoman Marlene Davis, the Garden District Commission, MODOT and the City of St. Louis Streets and Forestry Departments to complete the Thurman Underpass project. The finished project will create a new pocket park that connects the two neighborhoods and is accessible only to pedestrians and bicyclists.

Tour de Plants

This morning Morgan and I put our bikes in the truck and drove to the incomparable Bell Garden to participate in Gateway Greening's Tour de Plants. This activity has nothing to do with the Shaw neighborhood but it did give me a few ideas that I plan to bring back home.

After a few instructions and safety tips we and about 35 other intrepid bicyclists saddled up and headed north for a 16 mile ride through North City. Along the way we visited six community gardens and rode on the St. Vincent Greenway. The weather was magnificent - cool and sunny with an occasional fresh breeze.

Our first stop was at the Bridge of Hope Church and Community Garden. They have transformed an unused parking lot by removing the pavement and installing raised beds. The wooden fence around the garden is decorated with painted scenes. I meant to ask who did the paintings but neglected to do so in my excitement over the raised beds/ terrace/ retaining wall. I love this idea! Instead of just a retaining wall, they built three terraces with planting beds in each terrace. In the center of it all, they left an open space and plan to build a stage there for performances, concerts, plays, etc. Isn't that just the bees knees?

This garden has been expanded into a large vacant lot across the street as well. I didn't get any pictures of it, but they have two beehives at the back of that area with several supers on each one. They must be making some amount of honey.

Speaking of beehives, as we continued north along Whitier Street we passed by this apiary on a otherwise empty lot. The buildings in the background and many others near this intersection are vacant and decaying, but even in their neglected state they are beautiful. Our ride through the neighborhood was quiet and peaceful and we passed by hundreds of elegant, atmospheric, unique homes sitting vacant, in disrepair. What phenomenal potential there is in North St. Louis!

I asked a couple of people on the ride whether we were passing through Paul McKee's Northside Redevelopment area but no one knew. I have looked at a few web sites this afternoon and it seems that all of the places we visited are to the west of that area. Although there are many well maintained homes in this part of the city, they are outnumbered by vacant properties. Unlike Cherokee Street, Carondelet, and other south city neighborhoods, there appears to be very little in the way of rehabbing going on here. It's too bad really. Many structures can still be saved but this will not be true for too many more years. The level of disrepair is such that I fear this part of the city will be forever unsalvageable in a few years.

Once we were out on Natural Bridge Road we were tempted to stop at Goody Goody for an ice cream but we resisted the urge and opted for a fresh peach from the back pack instead.

Later we arrived at the Barack Obama Elementary School. Their small garden was installed with the assistance of Gateway Greening and used for educational programs year around. There wasn't a lot to see here but Morgan says he has worked with the principal, Angela Kinlaw, and she impressed him with her ideas and actions. He says when he met her for the first time she greeted him with a big hug!

The Wayside Community Garden is located near UMSL. Besides this beautiful sign, the garden features a small prairie restoration area, a complex system of rain water collection and distribution, a beautiful wooden information kiosk, one hundred raised beds and a historic house.

 

I didn't get any pictures of the house but apparently it is owned by the Normandy School District and the house and land are leased to the garden club. The school district gutted the house a few years ago and sold all of its historic features - wooden trim, fireplaces, stair balusters, etc. Nevertheless, the Wayside group is planning to restore the house and use it for gardening and sustainability related classes and activities. IMO, the school district officials should be tarred and feathered for that, but good on you Wayside gardeners for your vision!

After leaving Wayside we hit the St. Vincent Greenway. What an experience! It was a short portion of the ride but we seemed to have left St. Louis completely and found our way to a forest somewhere far away from the city. The trail wound up and over hills and through a beautiful meadow filled with blooming prairie flower including daisies, coneflowers, bee balm, blanket flower and others. Then we were back in woods and the spires of what appeared to be a castle towered over the tree tops and we came out of the woods at the edge of the Normandy old folks home. Oh well, not a castle after all.

The next leg of the trip took us back down St. Charles Rock Road toward downtown St. Louis. The traffic was not too heavy and the drivers were very polite. In fact, I didn't notice a single rude or impatient driver all day. That gives me a lot of hope for the future of biking in St. Louis. I should also add that the Gateway Greening staff did an excellent job with this ride. There were a number of group leaders who looked out for everyone. A couple of times I stopped to check out some sight or take a photo and a leader asked me if I was OK each time. The leaders waited at turns for stragglers, directed traffic when needed, offered water to riders and maintained a high level of watchfulness throughout the ride. There was even a bike and trailer with repair supplies in case of flat tires or mechanical mishaps. Kudos Gateway Greening!

The next portion of the trip was perhaps the most surprising for me. As we passed Skinker at Wells Avenue I had no idea of the intense gardening spirit we were about to encounter ahead. The surrounding housing stock is some of the worst we had seen but amidst this ugliness are three beautiful gardens, each with an amazing story. Milton told us about the garden he had begun in a narrow strip of grass along the side of a vacant building. After deciding he wanted more room he contacted the alderman and eventually the building was demolished and he expanded his flower garden across the entire lot. This garden is primarily perennials and flowering shrubs. It is very neatly organized and Milton pays close attention to the colors and textures of foliage rather than just flower color. The plantings here were among the most complex and layered beds we saw today. My picture does not give you any idea of what it looks like. Milton's garden is the 22nd Ward Community Garden.

The Ladies of Wells Avenue have a beautiful vegetable garden just two doors down. I have a feeling that Milton's hand is at work here as well. He has a strong personality and I expect that his vision is the impetus for much of what we saw. This garden is on the grounds of another vacant and greatly deteriorated house. I gestured to the house and asked Milton if getting rid of the house was next on his list. He responded with a smile and an emphatic "Yes". This garden featured numerous vegetable beds (not raised) edged with flowers and a long triple row of pincushion beds like those installed at the Missouri Botanical Garden. These beds were thematically united with a huge cup plant at the center of each one. The look is very different from those at MOBOT.

The third garden here is the Friends of Hamilton Village Community Garden at Wells and Hamilton. An ancient lady (who's name I couldn't hear) came out to greet us on her walker. She sat in the sun and explained that the enormous lot we were in was once the location of an apartment building. When it was demolished she wanted to buy the land from the city but she could not afford the $2000 sticker price. Instead she figured out how to lease the land from LRA for $1 per year and, even though they wanted her to lease it for five years, she went ahead. Ms. Ward maintains the numerous beds and the beautiful perennial borders with the assistance of several church groups in Chesterfield. There is a large mulberry tree in her "spiritual garden", an area of perennials and shade plants at the rear of the lot. Many of us crept under the limbs and snacked on the berries but our host said she never eats them. This woman was a real inspiration. She was both poised and emotional while telling her story and clearly she loves the place a great deal.

The final leg of our ride took us around Fountain Park and back to Bell Garden. On the other side of the park a large spray fixture was attached to a fire hydrant and it was turned on. The spray was coming out of a big pipe shaped like an upside down 'U'. It was large enough to ride my bike through easily so I did, twice. Sorry, no pictures. I was too busy getting wet to take pictures.

We ended our trip, hot and exhausted, back at Bell Garden. We watched the chickens for a while, had brats and root beer from 2 Girls 4 Wheels, caught our breath and headed home at about 1:30. What a wonderful day!

So what new ideas did I bring home? I really like the pincushion beds with a tall plant in the middle. The Botanical Garden does them with low flowering annuals and succulents. I might play around with this idea in the fall.

I also love the idea of putting terraced beds in a place where you need a retaining wall. This might work well for an urban orchard on a sloping lot. What urban orchard, you ask? Stay tuned!

Morgan found just the thing for his mom. She has been wanting a raised bed that is tall enough for her to sit on the side instead of bending down to garden. We saw the ideal beds at a couple of the gardens. I took a few pictures then asked James if they had been made by Gateway Greening volunteers. It turns out they were, so James said he would give me copies of the plans. I have no idea why Morgan is standing at attention; don't even ask! There are probably some other things I picked up but sitting here in this chair with my feet up, I'm about to fall asleep so I'll remember them later I'm sure.

Making jam and muffins

Serviceberries are amazing! The trees in town are carrying a bumper crop this year and the berries are large and sweet. I have made three early morning trips to gather these and will probably get a couple more trips in before they disappear.

What's a serviceberry you ask? Its in the apple family and its Latin name is Amelanchier. It looks a bit like a tiny tiny crab apple but it is very soft and not tart like a crab apple would be. It tastes -- like a serviceberry. I'm in a hurry right now so I don't have time to think of what a serviceberry tastes like. You either already know or you need to find out on your own.

While I was out foraging I came across the coolest little patio entrance I have ever seen in St. Louis. As you can see, the door features a rectangular bare wood theme, has recessed lights over the door and is topped with repurposed window panels. The little garden to the right is just formal enough to make the whole thing look special. But I digress.

Here is what I brought home:

and....

This was quite a lot of serviceberries. I ate a ton while picking (as one does), made a couple batches of muffins, five pints of preserves and froze eight quart bags of them. I think I'll make jelly next.

And lest I forget, here are the jars of mulberry syrup. The half-full jar had olives in it and I decided to repurpose it after finishing the olives. I washed it carefully and let it air out for a couple weeks so I thought it would be OK. Sadly, that bit of mulberry syrup is inedible. Mulberry and pickled olives do not make a good combination. Lesson learned -  if you can't replace the lid with a new one, don't reuse the jar for canning. 

Early Summer Foraging

I know, I know, summer isn't really here yet but it sure feels like it at times. Friday was a magnificent day. I did a little work out doors and then the rain threatened so I went back inside to write. I was restless though and decided to check out the neighborhood mulberry trees instead. I grabbed my backpack and bike and set out for adventure. After an hour or so the sun came out. By dark I had collected a pack full of berries, documented the locations of dozens of trees, and written this post in my mind.



Each purple square marks thelocation of a mulberry tree.
There are many others in the nearby alleys and vacant lots!
Click map to enlarge.


Background: I have noticed that mulberries are ubiquitous here in St. Louis. They come up through the cracks in the street, out of mortar joints in walls, sprout in gutters, fence lines, flower beds, just about any place you can imagine. They are very difficult to uproot after they are more than a few months old. As a result, there are probably millions of mulberry trees in St. Louisans' fence lines and borders. Said trees have been snipped off year after year until they develop a large root/ stump and a fairly small canopy.

Growing out of a concrete wall!

I have been battling one of these for several years in the fence line in front of my house. I inherited this monster. It was left to grow through the chain link fence for years so the trunk is now a permanent part of the fence. Every few months I remove the newly sprouted limbs, hoping that the tree will just decide to die already. It never does! Why go to so much trouble? I have planted other things in this area and the gnarled stump-trunk with its spindly branches looks too weedy. Perhaps my desire for order is to fault for my protracted and futile battle with this tree.


I'm discussing the little shrubby thing in the middle of the picture, not the real tree in the background!

I had not previously considered eating mulberries until I read something about urban foraging a couple of years ago. I tasted a few and liked them but it was a little too late in the season to harvest more than a few. Last year I didn't get any. The berries ripened during finals week and were gone by the time I had turned in my students' grades. This year the timing was perfect for me so I decided to try them out.

My neighbor has a huge mulberry tree in his back yard and it is always loaded with large luscious berries. Said neighbor, though, is a bit difficult and rather than risk unpleasantness, I have been keeping my eyes out for other trees on my walks and bike rides. Sticking to the 'keep it local' ethos, I decided to follow the Highway 44 fence line and see how many mulberries I could find.

What I found was astounding. Mulberries may be the most common tree species growing on this fence line. As far as I can tell they are nearly all red mulberries (Morus rubra - the native variety). There is a wide range of variation in fruit size, flavor, and ripeness stage. Large fruits are less common than small fruits, but most are fairly sweet. I guess that tells us which characteristic the birds are going for when they eat the fruits (and then later disperse the seeds).

I have since learned that mulberries are a member of the Rosales order of flowering plants. This means they share a level of kinship with roses, blackberries, apples, hawthorns, and (OMG!) marijuana. To my taste, the flavor is mildly sweet, with hints of blackberry and blueberry. Some of the sweetest fruits were also the smallest.

How can I have lived here for 13 years and not known about this little slice of life? Needless to say, by dark, my consciousness regarding mulberries was transformed. I have not previously considered the place of mulberry in the aboriginal landscape of St. Louis. I know this tree does not survive fires well so it was probably less common on the prairies than it is today. This species may have been confined to forested locations and along waterways. I do not recall having seen very many reports of mulberry seeds from local archaeological excavations.

My total haul for the day was about a gallon of berries. I rinsed them twice, made a buttery crust from scratch and baked a pie. It tasted much like the fresh berries - blueberry/ blackberry flavor. This morning after my breakfast of steel cut oats and maple syrup I had another slice of pie. Amazing! Definitely let this pie cool before eating. Wow!

I still have a big bowl full of berries so I'm going to muddle and cook them down into a syrup that I will seal into small jars for pouring over cake, ice cream, yoghurt, who knows what all? Maybe later this weekend I'll gather some more for jam. The berries appear to be ripening in stages this year; some trees have no ripe fruits at all yet. The season may be a long one!

I've decided that my battle with the old man in the fence line is now at a temporary truce. I will let him grow and fruit. If the fruits are big and tasty he stays. If not, the battle will continue. Regardless, I have a new respect for these trees. I used to think they were an invasive species from Asia. Although there are introduced white mulberries, we seem to have plenty of our own variety here in St. Louis. I am adding this one to foraging schedule. Next up on the schedule: service berries!

Thurman Underpass - Thurman Gateway Project

Presented by Monte Abbott
Chair, Beautification Committee
Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association

Thurman Underpass
The underpass at Thurman Avenue and Highway 44 may be the most important place in Shaw right now. Most of the beautiful housing stock has been rehabbed. Crime has decreased dramatically in recent years.

The commercial streets of our neighborhood are experiencing an exciting renaissance with restaurants, pubs and salons moving in to once-vacant properties. Our residents have created at least six community gardens. We have reached a magical moment where property taxes are decreasing but home sales and values are holding steady. In short, we have begun to recapture some of the vitality and diversity that characterized the early years of our neighborhood.

The underpass at Thurman and 44 is a different story. This is a murky, sketchy place; its appearance suggests violence, danger and division. For those of us who know our past, the underpass is a constant reminder of the dark side of our history – our environmental blunders as well as our social struggles with neighbors during the past century. In order to preserve and further the positive changes we have experienced in recent years we must transform this location with knowledge of the past, foresight and sensitivity.

The Problem: A Physical and Social Barrier

The underpass is a physical reminder of the severing of our neighborhoods by the Hwy 44 construction during the 1960’s. This act of creation was also an act of violence, destroying homes and streets. The highway separated friends, families, social networks and entire sections of the Shaw Neighborhood. Highway construction erased twelve blocks of our neighborhood, and in the process, forever severed three of the five streets connecting our residents from north to south.

During the decades since highway construction, our divided and isolated daughter communities have declined, then stabilized, and after much hard work have finally begun to return to vibrancy. Meanwhile, the isolation forced upon us by the highway has persisted. During the 1980’s, in a larger attempt to combat crime in Shaw, the Thurman underpass was barricaded, leaving 39th Street as the only way Shaw residents could cross Highway 44 without leaving our neighborhood.

Today these physical barriers remain in place. As life in Shaw has improved, the appearance of the Thurman Underpass has deteriorated until the general appearance of the area creates a second barrier - a social barrier that reinforces the physical boundaries created by the highway. Broken pavements, weedy abutments, litter and graffiti at the Thurman underpass foster perceptions of danger and insecurity. Neighbors on both sides of the highway experience this double barrier effect. Enormous concrete planters placed at both entrances to the underpass reinforce that we are not to move beyond our neighborhoods and that outsiders should not enter.

The Solution: A Social Gateway
It is time to change that social barrier into a social gateway, the Thurman Gateway, drawing people from both neighborhoods together into a welcoming and vital public space. We propose replacing the barriers at the DeTonty entrance with decorative and permanent park seating to signal that this is now a public space.

All of the pavement between DeTonty and the underpass will be replaced with a beautiful native prairie that begins at DeTonty and extends up the highway slope on each side of the underpass, creating half an acre of critical natural habitat for birds, butterflies and pollinators. Mass plantings of prairie grasses and flowering perennials will soften the hard lines of the bridge’s concrete architecture.

A foot path and a separate bike path will wind sinuously into and through the underpass, between beautiful drifts of native flowering plants, welcoming neighbors from both sides into the Thurman Gateway and creating a sense of discovery that encourages visitors to continue on into the other neighborhood. Attractive lighting will illuminate the Thurman Gateway underpass at night to provide a more secure environment for pedestrians and cyclists. Public art, especially paintings and mosaics created by local children, will adorn the space beneath the underpass. This interior area will welcome families, transforming the Thurman Gateway into a warm and positive location.

Revamping this eyesore into a welcoming and attractive Thurman Gateway will provide a number of important benefits for neighbors on both sides of the highway. The most immediate benefit will be the physical and social reconnection of the Shaw Neighborhood with Botanical Heights and Tiffany. The Thurman Gateway will become a new focal point for all three, drawing neighbors together at the Gateway. Walking tours and bike lanes currently being developed in South City may converge on this natural connection point rather than avoiding the area as they would now. The Thurman Gateway will become a place people care about.

Restaurants and other businesses in both Shaw and Tiffany will benefit from an increase in commerce from the adjoining populations. As the blighted appearance of the barrier is transformed, the desirability of real estate in the surrounding blocks will increase. While Highway 44 is here to stay, we have the opportunity to reconnect our people to the benefit of us all.

Prairie Habitat
There is a second part to the back story of the Thurman underpass. This ugly eyesore, this physical and social barrier, this testament to unintended consequences is located in a geographically critical location -- a former watershed. The history of St. Louis is in part a history of rivers and streams and a history of our manipulation and abuse of those streams. We have diverted, built over, paved under and rerouted all of the streams that once flowed through the city of St. Louis. In the process, we have destroyed almost all the natural habitat, removed local plant and animal communities and seriously altered our run-off systems and water reservoirs.


From Compton & Dry 1876, neighborhood boundaries and stream added by author.

Thurman Avenue is the area of lowest elevation in the Shaw Neighborhood. Before any of our houses were built this land was a large prairie, named the Prairie des Noyers by the Eighteenth Century French settlers. The principle stream draining this prairie flowed beneath today’s Thurman Avenue, from Tower Grove Park in the south towards Mill Creek to the north. If you stand under the Thurman underpass and look south towards Sasha’s you will see the land rise up to the right and to the left, echoing the banks of this lost stream.

Prairie streams are critical habitat locations where plant and animal diversities are at their highest. Our predecessors destroyed that habitat when they built our neighborhood. Prairie habitat around St. Louis continues to disappear ahead of commercial and residential development and prairie communities become more and more precious. Today it is estimated that less than 1/10th of 1% of Missouri’s prairies remain intact (http://www.moprairie.org/educational-resources/ ).

We cannot bring the stream back but we can replace some of that disappeared habitat. Our design for the Thurman Gateway recreates an half acre of prairie habitat. This new green space will provide food and shelter for local pollinators, butterflies and bird species. We need these pollinators for our flower and vegetable gardens and our fruit trees. Many of us find great joy in watching for the wildlife that accompanies a healthy native plant community. In addition, urban children should have the opportunity to touch, observe and learn about the plants and animals that are native to our place. The Garden Gateway will provide us all with these opportunities for an improved quality of life.

Project Objectives
The Thurman Gateway Project seeks to transform the last blighted public area of Shaw. Overgrown weeds, broken sidewalks, pavement and unsightly concrete barriers will be removed. In their place, a beautiful pocket prairie will be planted up to the drip line of the overpass. A bicycle path and a pedestrian trail will enter the Thurman Gateway at Thurman and DeTonty Streets and will meander through the prairie, pass beneath the underpass and connect to the Botanical Heights neighborhood at Lafayette and Thurman. The Thurman Gateway will include park benches, lighting, and will feature public artworks by local children. This project accomplishes several important social, economic and environmental objectives.

Social: The Thurman Gateway represents our first attempts to physically reconnect the surviving portions of the former Shaw Neighborhood since construction of Highway 44. The transformation of this area will stimulate connections between currently isolated communities and, through interaction and beautification, will improve the quality of life for us all. A cleaner and more beautiful physical environment will give a better impression of our neighborhood. This project will demonstrate to visitors an increased investment in the community and will inspire in residents a greater pride of place.

Economic: The Thurman Gateway enhances the ongoing improvements in each neighborhood simultaneously by creating a nexus for exchange and transit between residential populations and the commercial developments along Shaw Boulevard, Thurman Avenue and Tower Grove Avenue. The potential for inclusion of the Thurman Gateway in walking tours and bike routes offers further opportunities for commercial growth. Housing and property adjacent to the Thurman Gateway will become more desirable. This is highly significant as the 4000 and 4100 blocks of DeTonty are among the most visible and the least well maintained in the neighborhood.

Environmental: From an ecological point of view, this project will accomplish additional important
objectives. The installation of prairie grasses and perennials will recreate about a half-acre of prairie habitat, making this one of the few prairie habitats in urban St. Louis. The local pollinators, butterflies and bird species that rely on prairie habitat for their food and reproduction will benefit greatly and our local food-wildlife web will be strengthened.

Prairie plants are naturally adapted to our local environment. They require a great deal less water and maintenance than other ornamental species commonly planted. As our climate continues to warm prairie plantings represent a sustainable choice – these plants have been here through previous cycles of warming and cooling and they can thrive in spite of change. The less intensive management and maintenance required for prairie plantings also represents lower financial costs to us.

Eight storm water drains are located within the boundary of the project area, a testament to the high volumes of rain runoff generated by extensive impervious surfaces. Removal of existing paved surfaces will allow for a substantial increase in rain infiltration, helping to recharge our aquifer. Additional environmental benefits include a reduction in the city’s heat island effect and a decrease in highway-generated pollutants such as carbon dioxide and contaminated soils.

Summary
In the past we have responded to changing condition by walling off our neighborhoods. The Thurman underpass is one of the last remaining reminders of this period, blocked off, neglected, a no-go-zone. If we are to continue the development and advancement of our neighborhoods, we must find ways to reconnect across the Highway 44 barrier that we have inherited. We must also find solutions to the social barriers that we have maintained and reinforced for so long. Currently conversations are taking place among city officials to permanently close off the Thurman underpass with fences and eventually with infilling.

We believe that our plan to create the Thurman Gateway is a better option. It will promote connections between our neighborhoods for families, visitors, businesses, and tourists. Our plan accomplishes these changes while protecting and enhancing our natural environment. The Thurman Gateway brings neighbors together, increases the prosperity of residents and businesses, provides opportunities for education, repairs some of the ecological damage of the past and improves the quality of all our lives in numerous ways. We don’t need more barriers. Now is the time for more Gateways.