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Moving can be tough on everyone, especially your kids. But it doesn't have to be all tears and tantrums. Get them involved in the process by letting them pack their boxes and run errands. Take breaks when you need to and decorate the new house as a family. And don't forget to explore your new neighborhood together! Moving can be a bonding experience if you approach it with the right attitude. If you are moving with a large family, you must read our latest blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eNYvwpbz#familybonding#movingtips#newbeginnings

Konrad Putzier at The Wall Street Journal delivers a thoughtful piece chronicling how St. Louis' CBD is now trapped in an urban doom loop. Once there, the decline spreads in a non-forgiving way.As offices sit empty, shops and restaurants close, and abandoned buildings become voids that suck the life out of the streets around them. Locals often find boarded-up buildings depressing and empty sidewalks scary. So evenfewer people commute downtown.Now, it stands as a warning to others: This is thefuture for America’s downtownsif they can’t reinvent themselves and halt the downward spiral.The AT&T Tower just sold for $4 Million, quite a drop from its price in 2006 of $205 Million. Many similar stories.I remember venturing into a downtown St. Louis hotel in 2013 with my wife and daughter who was considering a scholarship offer from St. Louis University (SLU). On our second night, we arrived at the hotel after dark. Recognizing we had a drive to Chicago scheduled for the morning, I asked the valet where I could get some gas downtown. He pulled me aside and said "you don't want to be on the streets of downtown after dark for any reason." I went to my room.Fortunately, there is good news happening not far from the legacy CBD. To the office district’s immediate west, the Downtown West neighborhood boasts loft apartments, a new soccer stadium, and a train station-turned-amusem*nt park. These developments have revived a once-abandoned industrial area, proving that people want to be in downtown St. Louis if it’s pleasant. To the south, a cluster of bars and restaurants around the Cardinals’ ballpark is often crowded, especially on game days. Visits to the Gateway Arch east of downtown are up. These neighborhoods show how big developments and apartment conversions can attract residents, which in turn attract bars and restaurants.The Central Living District (CLD) is thriving.

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Public space for private profit?Unsurprisingly, Toronto's parking spots generate more money when turned into patios. That is, income for local businesses.The post includes: "By charging a fair market value for parking and putting it on a level playing field with alternatives, we can reimagine parking spaces in a multitude of ways, including public parks, community gardens, or restaurant and retail space."Yes for charging parking the right price (being mindful that it doesn't discriminate against with limited resources and choice), but considering public space in terms of market value can be a slippery slope - see growing literature on low carbon #gentrification. For instance, Lee and colleagues found that in Seoul, residents living near central transit interchanges found access to public services and green space difficult, because those were outpriced by businesses [1].No matter which way you turn it: progressive #citiesforpeople require progressive policies against realty speculation.[1] Lee, J., Arts, J., Vanclay, F., 2021. Stakeholder views about Land Use and Transport Integration in a rapidly-growing megacity: Social outcomes and integrated planning issues in Seoul. Sustainable Cities and Society 67, 102759. https://lnkd.in/everfSMj

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The Railway Exchange Building was the heart of downtown St. Louis for a century. Every day, locals crowded into the sprawling, ornate 21-story office building to go to work, shop at the department store that filled its lower floors or dine on the famous French onion soup at its restaurant.Today, the building sits empty, with many of its windows boarded up. A fire broke out last year, which authorities suspect was the work of copper thieves. Police and firefighters send in occasional raids to search for missing people or to roust squatters. A search dog died during one of the raids last year when it fell through an open window.“It’s a very dangerous place,” said Dennis Jenkerson, the St. Louis Fire Department chief.It anchors a neighborhood with deserted sidewalks sprinkled with broken glass and tiny pieces of copper pipes left behind by scavengers. Signs suggest visitors should “park in well-lit areas.” Nearby, the city’s largest office building—the 44-storyAT&TTower, now empty—recently sold for around $3.5 million.Cities such as San Francisco and Chicago are trying to save theirdowntown office districtsfrom spiralinginto a doom loop. St. Louis is already trapped in one. As offices sit empty, shops and restaurants close and abandoned buildings become voids that suck the life out of the streets around them. Locals often find boarded-up buildings depressing and empty sidewalks scary. So evenfewer people commute downtown.This self-reinforcing cycle accelerated in recent years as the pandemic emptied offices. St. Louis’s central business district had the steepest drop in foot traffic of 66 major North American cities between the start of the pandemic and last summer, according to the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.St. Louis stands as a warning to others: This is thefuture for America’s downtownsif they can’t reinvent themselves and halt the downward spiral.Last year, the city demolished a bridge connecting the Railway Exchange Building to a parking garage across the street because people kept using it to break into the building. It’s the cities far from the coasts that are suffering most. Six of the 10 U.S. office districts with the steepest drop in foot traffic between 2019 and mid-2023 are in the Midwest, according to the University of Toronto.As in other Midwestern cities, the St. Louis office district has suffered a slow demise for decades. Population loss, competition from newer offices in the suburbs and failed urban planning left behind a glut of dreary, empty buildings and wide, dangerous roads. The business district has few apartments. There are some tourists, but not enough to make up for missing office workers.“It’s a classic chicken and egg kind of deal,” said Glenn MacDonald, a professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis’s Olin Business School. “People don’t go there because there’s nothing to do. There’s nothing to do because people don’t go there.”

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The market case for less parking be strong.

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