In less than a month the prying eyes of a nation will be trained squarely on the humble city in which most of us reside. If you haven’t felt the build up to the 2009 MLB All-Star Game- you will.
From the mini-Arch sculptures already in various parts of the city and Forest Park to phalanx of media scouts already staking claims for on-locale reports, St. Louis will most certainly get more exposure from three days in July than from any other event held downtown since this humble scribe has been alive. Including the Final Four.
Good. Good for St. Louis. We hear plenty of depressing things about this city- unemployment rates, corporate HQ’s cutting ties, airlines reducing services… amongst many other things. And even though it’s good to travel other places now and again, this is still my home. Contrary to what I write sometimes, I do take pride in this place- all its flaws included.
Back when Ball Park Village was announced I was pretty fired up. The sketches of the planned development located where old Busch Stadium stood were sick. Office space, high-rise condos overlooking the new stadium, shopping centers- it was a great idea. 3 years ago, Bill DeWitt, the owner of the Cardinals, was also pretty golden. He had brought a new stadium and World Series to the city in the matter of a couple of years. And even though I thought he built the new Busch Stadium on the cheap… whatever corners he was going to cut would be better than a big hole full of drainage and raw sewage, right?
Cut to June 2009. Hundreds of people gathered this week to listen to various speakers talk at the Partnership for Downtown’s luncheon. Amongst the men to take the dais, was Bill De
Witt and Dave Checketts- owner of the St. Louis Blues. In many ways it was a mundane affair. Old white guys talking to other old white guys about tax credits, planned improvements to infrastructure, etc al. But in the more cerebral context- it was a figurative passing of the torch from one owner, most decidedly coming to grips with his failures as a visionary to another owner most defiantly on the up-swing in any measurable metric.
You see, Dave Checketts was able to fast track the development of the old Kiel Opera House through all the necessary steps, with minimal city participation, in a matter of weeks- ensuring a hard opening date and a re-birth of a STL landmark. Couple this with the recent success of his hockey team making the playoffs for the first time in years and the reported interest he has in saving the Rams from eminent re-location and it was pretty clear who the golden boy was at this particular gathering of the STL hoi polloi.
Mr. DeWitt on the other hand trotted out his tired talking points on the Ball Park Village. Economy, pressing ahead, blah, blah, blah. Actions speak louder than words. And only two meaningful things have happened at the Village’s site in the past several months. 1) The largest supposed tenant DeWitt had secured, Polsinelli Shughart Law Firm, signed a multi-year contract to lease elsewhere (Deloitte Building) and 2) they put up a softball field. Yes. A fucking softball field.
Say what you will about the scope of the projects. In comparison, yes, the Ball Park Village idea is much grander than the gutting of the Kiel Auditorium. But at the heart of the matter is a different philosophy. Checketts- who will not take no for an answer and does what he needs to do to get the job done. And DeWitt’s- whose blathering and backtracking 
have him looking more and more like the dim-witted buffoon his detractors claim to be his real persona.
Originally around this time Ball Park Village was to be putting the finishing touches on Phase 1 of development as a cornerstone of the coverage that is sure to come soon for our city. Currently, the finishing touches are being put on a softball field and a parking lot. A very far cry from what was promised. And while it’s true that some of the mitigating factors that led to this embarrassing situation aren’t Mr. DeWitt’s fault… at the end of the day, building a softball field and parking lot doesn’t seem to look a whole like the marks of a man dead set on getting this project off the ground any time soon. If at all.
So then, I guess it’s fair to ask. Will DeWitt ever get Ball Park Village? Will St. Louis? Does Mr. Checketts have any interest in getting involved?