An Opportunity to Share a Vision

Hi,

Last night (Thursday night) I was honored to present part of the first annual State of the City address sponsored by the Historical Society of University City.  The Historical Society sponsored the event in honor of the birthday of E.G. Lewis, the founder of University City.  I spoke after City Manager Lehman Walker who talked about the organization of the city government and the current budget situation.  I then talked about some of my concerns and my vision.  I have copied my speech below.

When I have a final copy of Mr. Walker’s talk I will post his, and mine, elsewhere on the website at www.ucitymo.com.

If you have any question, thoughts or comments about this talk – or anything else – please be in touch.  My door is always open. mayor@ucitymo.org or 314-505-8606.

I’m heading out of town now for a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Missouri Humanities Council.  We help fund humanities programs around the state.  There is a real U City connection with this group  - two members of the Board live here, along with our Executive Director.

And another U City resident, Karen Lucas, has helped us in a collaborative program we will present next Friday, March 11th. On that date, at UM-St. Louis, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Jim Leach, will be speaking on:

Finding Our Way Together: A conversation regarding civility, honesty, leadership and the common good. 

Check out the details of this free event at our website at:

 http://www.mohumanities.org/calendar/event/?event=547

We are also partnering with Washington University to sponsor this special event.

Have a great weekend.

Is spring here?

Mayor Shelley Welsch

______________________

STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

Mayor Shelley Welsch

Thursday, March 3, 2011

7:00 p.m. • Council Chamber

I would like to thank the Historical Society of University City for the invitation to speak here this evening.  I am honored to present a State of the City address, to try to convey what I see now in University City, and how I hope we can grow as a community.  This is a good way to honor the birth of E.G. Lewis, the founder of this great city.

Who We Are

We have been losing population.  At its peak, more than 50,000 people lived within our borders.  The latest census information which was released last week shows that the population for University City declined by 5.5% since the last census. The 2000 Census indicated a population of 37,428 for University City. The 2010 Census data shows a population of 35,371.

And these latest figures show a major change in the demographic make-up of the community.  Slightly over 50% of University City residents are white; while 41% are black or African-American.  University City now has an Asian population that stands at 4.3%.  And 2.7% of our residents label themselves as two or more races.

This is who we are, right now.

Working together

In this talk I would like to speak to each and every one of the 35, 371 residents counted in the census of 2010.  I cannot succeed as a leader, and our City cannot thrive as a community, without the “buy-in” of those 35,000.   It’s up to all of us to work together to create and implement a vision for our community, a vision that takes into account the different ideas and multitude of aspirations of people throughout this still-very-diverse community.  And our goal has to be to build a foundation for growth for another 105 years.

Foundations don’t just happen. They must be built.

I would like to share some of my thoughts on building blocks for our community – my vision – and ask for your support to bring the whole community together to create a community vision.

First: A Vision for our community – to build community 

History makes demands on us as a community.  It is not enough to brag about our history – to somehow take credit, now, for the work of those who came before us.  It’s incumbent on us, I believe, to make every attempt to match the high points of our civic past with high points of our own time.  Our goal, as citizens of this great city, should be that residents 100 years from now speak about our times and actions with the same respect and pride as we speak of those days of E.G. Lewis and our earliest residents.

This is our challenge.

If you study the census numbers I mentioned above, you will realize that University City remains one of the most diverse cities in this region.  But do we live up to the potential that diversity affords us.  Are we a true community?

I think not.

Over the past couple of years, two groups have been part of the U City landscape – U City United and U City Unity.  Both have as a goal to bring people together to talk about race, to get people working together for the common good.  Neither is thriving today – although they and the passion of their founders still exist.  So, what can we do to move this community towards the goals of these two citizen groups?

Last year I heard about the Commission on Human Relations, a city commission that was set up back in the early sixties.  We could not determine why it stopped work in the early nineties because the impetus behind its founding still holds.  I appreciate the eloquence of the charge to that group that was issued in an ordinance back in December of 1963.  It read as follows: “The commission shall act in an advisory capacity to the Council and its functions and duties shall be to foster mutual self-respect and to further amicable relations among the various segments of the population which together comprise the City of University City; to help preserve and further the good name of University City for tolerance and fair play and promote even better relations among its people; to help make it possible for each citizen, regardless of race, religion, creed, color, ancestry or national origin, to develop his talents and abilities without limitation; and to aid in permitting the community to benefit from the fullest realization of its human resources.”

After updating some of the language of the old one, the City Council has approved a new ordinance that re-establishes this Commission.  The Commission members will decide how to move forward.  I personally hope they decide to do on a local scale what the State of Indiana did on a state-wide scale – sponsor a program to encourage a community-wide discussion on the issue of diversity – in race and across the board.

This is a first step.

It is my hope that over the next five to six months that we can bring together ministers, priests and rabbis from the many churches and synagogues here in University City – to get their ideas on how they and we might bring the people of our community together – perhaps for community service projects to benefit those who need the help most in U City.  Let’s take advantage of the groups that already exist in University City – bringing them together so that, together, they might accomplish more than they can on their own.

This would a second step.

A group of volunteers is organizing a community carnival.  Fair U City 2011 will be held in Heman Park on May 29th and 30th.  Within a few days, every business, non-profit, church, synagogue and neighborhood association should receive an invitation to take part in this community event.  They hope to attract people and groups from throughout the community to be a part of a fun couple of days – to have fun with people from their community whom they might not otherwise meet.

This will be a third step.

And I hope that next year at this time we will be planning to attend a community concert – perhaps called U City Notes – that will bring together musicians and singers from throughout U City to share their talents on a concert stage.  From schools, churches, homes I hope they will – so we can use the language of music to bring our people together.

This would be a fourth step.

And I know that many, many more steps will have to be taken to make University City a true community, a city of 35,000 that feels like a small town.

Second: A vision of volunteerism

A community is not a true community without the active involvement of the “regular” residents.  No city will be “great” if all the work is done only by a paid staff.  What can we do to encourage people to commit to public service?

University City has a long tradition of volunteerism that has served us well.  Hundreds of University City residents give of their time and energy to improve and enhance our City, in independent non-profit organizations and on the City’s twenty boards and commissions.

But we need to do more.

As I look ahead to the next ten, fifteen and twenty years of University City, I am trying to see our future leaders. Who will be standing here doing a State of the City address in 2025?  I think it might be someone who served on one of those boards and commissions.  It’s up to us to do a better job of recruiting people to work on these city boards, to convince them that it’s worth giving up some of their personal time to work for the city in which they live. And once they are volunteering, we need to nurture them – make sure they are invited to follow the work of the Council, staff and other boards and commissions.  Make sure we answer any questions they have so they feel confident about their understanding of how our city works, and, perhaps will decide to take a step into electoral politics.

This is not a case of “have the commissions and they will come.”  The Council must commit to a more focused effort to get the word out about our boards and commissions, spreading the word through all the U City listserves, through local websites, through the churches and synagogues, through School District communications, and every other way we communicate.    Our community is not helped, in the long run, by having the same residents on these commissions and boards year in and year out.  We must do better.

During the past ten months I have established a number of task forces in an effort to get interested residents involved on issues that the City is not focusing on, but which need attention.

The Mayoral task forces are:

The Mayor’s Task Force on Seniors & Youth

The Mayor’s Task Force on University City’s Bike & Walkability

The Mayor’s Task Force on Year-Round Aquatics

The Seniors/Youth Task force will determine what programs and services are already available for our seniors and youth; what programs and services those groups want; and will make recommendations to the City Council on how to provide them.

The Bike/Walk Task Force will develop a pedestrian/bike master plan – to ensure that residents can safely travel throughout University City in a sustainable fashion.

The Aquatics Task Force will discuss how best to provide year-round swimming opportunities for University City residents – for their health and recreation.

Finally, I am working with a number of local volunteers to advance the establishment of a Chamber of Commerce for University City.

The interest in helping is there.  People want to be involved.  We just need to ask.  And we have to do better at that. 

Third: A vision of sustainability

I hope that University City will one day be the most sustainable community in the region.

The City’s Green Practices Committee has developed a plan for sustainability for University City.  Their recommendations range from street lights to fuel efficiency in the City’s cars to installing more rain gardens in the city to working on improving natural habitats on city-owned land and to focusing on watershed and storm water management in our community – the all-too-regular flooding of the River des Peres is a testament to what needs doing in that.

The work of this committee is a good beginning. But it’s not the end.

The Bike/Walk master plan, once it is designed and implemented, will encourage residents to get out of their cars when doing business and having fun in U City.

We need to do better in recycling.

We need to update our building code to make it more “green”.

We need to encourage higher-density development.

We need to focus attention, and action, on re-tenanting the more than 1,800 vacant houses in University City.

We need ensure our City buildings are as sustainable as we can afford to make them.

And much more.

University City is packed with people who preach sustainability and want to practice it here.  We can make University City THE most sustainable city in the region.

Fourth: A vision of collaboration

I have always believed there are benefits to municipal collaboration.  There may be ways we can save money by working together.  But even more than that, working together may allow us to solve problems and meet challenges that we cannot meet on our own. The City of University City has started to reach out across our borders.

The City of University City and Olivette, in 2009, established the Olivette and University City I-170/Olive Boulevard Joint Redevelopment Task Force to “explore opportunities and joint redevelopment initiatives in the Olive Boulevard corridor on the east and west side of the intersection with I-170.   Together, we believe, we can take full advantage of the opportunities for growth in this area of the city.”

If we can make this collaboration effective, both cities will realize an economic benefit from this highly-traveled intersection, a benefit they might not have been able to realize on their own.

We hope to work with the East West Gateway Council of Governments and its partners on a Regional Sustainability Grant – attracting planning dollars for economic development along the Olive Boulevard corridor from Olivette to Wellston, working with both those communities to take full advantage of this state highway which carries more than 20,000 cars a day.

And finally, we must do a better job in collaborating with our School District.  There are many ways we can do that – and we are already working together on the task forces mentioned above – but again, we must do more.  I hope we can talk about how the full community might utilize school buildings after school hours.  And I hope to work with the District in creating a community resource center that would be open for all residents – not just those with kids in the schools – where we might have job training programs, a community volunteer bank, tutoring and mentoring opportunities, and perhaps the food and clothes banks for our neighbors in need.

So…a vision to build community; to increase volunteerism; to encourage sustainability; and to foster collaboration. This is part of my vision for University City, a vision that I think many people share.  But still, it’s my stated vision.  How do we create and implement a community vision?  That is a challenge I hope to meet within the next year.

This city was founded 105 years ago.  I think now is time now to bring people together from all over U City, in a months- long community visioning process.  Let’s make a concerted effort to bring people from all over University City together to talk about their visions for our shared future; their perception of what we have now and what still need; their thoughts on how to get from here to where the group thinks we should be in five, ten or fifteen years; and to come up with a strategic plan for building  community – separate from any strategic plan Council and staff develop related to the operations of our City.

What is our goal as a community?  What do we want to be?

How do we reach that goal?

How do we do that together?

As I close my remarks tonight, I ask that you think about your goal and vision for University City.  Be brutally honest about what we say we are and what you think we are.  And please let me know if you would like to be involved in making a community-wide visioning process a reality no later than April of 2012.

E.G. Lewis had a vision for our community.  He never knew how fully that vision was realized in the City’s first 105 years.  But, I think if he were here today, and he studied us now, he would say we are a great community that has the potential to be greater still.

I look forward to working with you, and the rest of our more than 35,000 residents, to make that happen.

Thank you.