Indianapolis has the best city flag in America.
The flag of St. Louis uses the idea of a French coin at the confluence of two rivers to suggest a meeting of ideas, people, and commerce. The Missouri-Mississippi confluence is north of St. Louis though, so the flag has more of a regional appeal. It has no anchor in the city.
The flag of Indianapolis however, reinforces the idea of the 'Crossroads of America' while conveying an absolute sense of place. It doesn't connect people to a vague sense of the Indianapolis metro area. It connects them to downtown. The flag is downtown Indianapolis.
Monument Circle is the center of Indianapolis.
St. Louisans have a much grander monument downtown (the arch) that reinforces the 'Gateway City' moniker, but that's not the point of comparison here. As the 2010 Census showed, downtown St. Louis and the central corridor are doing ok, but other areas of the city are slipping away. What was once the fourth largest city in the United States has slipped back to its 1880 population. We are gaining in the center and losing the edges. We have other monuments that need to be rallied around.
St. Louis has three historic standpipe water towers along Grand Avenue and all three are accessible by the best bus route in town. They're beautiful, iconic observation towers that are closed to the public and falling apart. Compton Hill Tower, in South City, had a $19 million-dollar restoration, but is still only open to the public one Saturday a month for lack of money and volunteers. The other two have collapsed stairways, rusted insides, and decaying outsides.
These other two are in the College Hill neighborhood, or Bissell Point.
They're both right next to each other and should be major city landmarks. Instead, they, like the College Hill neighborhood are a bit forgotten about.
This beautiful white column in 1957 with its street car wires and open shops now looks like this today,
Some buildings are gone, others are boarded up, and new ones were never built. The Grand Water Tower that was once white now looks like this,
Walking up 20th Street from O'Fallon Park, it shines like a beacon of neglect, abandonment, and poverty. What should be a city or national landmark bringing the neighborhood together is instead a representative example of the north side's disinvestment.
It should be restored. Columns are meant to bear weight, and this one ought to hold up a whole neighborhood.
The idea of the Broken Windows theory is one of perception. Places that look abandoned are abandoned. Places that looked cherished and loved, are.
Stealing an idea from Indianapolis, the street grid could be made into a powerful neighborhood image.
These other two are in the College Hill neighborhood, or Bissell Point.
They're both right next to each other and should be major city landmarks. Instead, they, like the College Hill neighborhood are a bit forgotten about.
This beautiful white column in 1957 with its street car wires and open shops now looks like this today,
Some buildings are gone, others are boarded up, and new ones were never built. The Grand Water Tower that was once white now looks like this,
Walking up 20th Street from O'Fallon Park, it shines like a beacon of neglect, abandonment, and poverty. What should be a city or national landmark bringing the neighborhood together is instead a representative example of the north side's disinvestment.
It should be restored. Columns are meant to bear weight, and this one ought to hold up a whole neighborhood.
The idea of the Broken Windows theory is one of perception. Places that look abandoned are abandoned. Places that looked cherished and loved, are.
Stealing an idea from Indianapolis, the street grid could be made into a powerful neighborhood image.
