Having moved recently to Southern IL and having read many years worth of Detroityes threads, I saw the similarities between the cities in the two articles below. What surprised me is that St. Louis has restored more, built more but still lost about 500,000 people and it's wrestling with many of the same issues in spite of the billions spent on development.
It seems that speeding money on incubators like Next Energy in Detroit or small business development builds a city organically, adds value, leads to real estate development and big ticket projects don't' lured business downtown.
I believe "The Edifice Complex"article mentions that more money needs to be spent on building or luring high tech companies, banking, insurance etc. to St Louis. If all the metropolitian areas are trying to promote the same industries, I'm not sure that path will be successful either. These industries will just end benefiting from the tax incentives and work the program.
It looks like nuturing small businesses and cutting edge technologies that are unique is the best way to promote growth within a city. These people are probably more connected to the city and less like to pack up and leave. Enjoy
Jobs, wealth haven't followed building here http://www.stltoday.com/business/article_ceb6ed00-8bb0-5719-8c99-978b10b97669.html
The Edifice Complex: Why big real estate projects won't save St. Louis http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/david-nicklaus/article_8ce8ea28-d95e-5c83-abd7-4ab19ce1ffdd.html
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