Spring 2006 issue of Horizons

Mayor Francis Slay believes that St. Louis can be a great city. “Great” means making St. Louis a city where people affirma- tively choose to live, work, play and do business. This goal is the foundation for all of the city's economic development initia- tives. The city has faced many challenges. Now, with hard work, teamwork, a “can do” attitude and strategies for address- ing the wide variety of city issues all at once, we are firmly on the road to becoming a great city. I am proud to be part of the mayor's team. Transformation isn't happening overnight. But every day, more people wake up to the treasures St. Louis City has to offer. Attitudes are changing - in the city and all around us. Changing attitudes are key to attracting new businesses and residents to city real estate - and they are key to keeping our existing busi- nesses in place and growing. Momentum is growing because we've reached out - to the region, to the business community, to our elected officials and to our citizens - and invited every- one to become a part of the teams that are getting things done. More and more people, from residents and developers to busi- ness owners and bankers, now believe that the city has a bright future and are acting on that belief. For the first time in five decades, our population is growing. Corporate executives, “boomers” and Generation “X-ers” and “Y-ers” are discovering there's a lot to like about city living – in historic homes, new homes and new lofts downtown. We are slowly but surely losing our historic inferiority complex as more and more people realize we've got a lot to be proud of here in St. Louis. And it's helped that outsiders recognize our progress. When we hosted the International Economic Development Corporation convention and the national Brownfield conference, 7,000 attendees were amazed at our progress and at what we have to offer. The New York Times and the Boston Globe described the City Museum as proof that St. Louis had been hiding an unsuspected streak of mirth and mystery. We received a Partners for Livable Communities award in recognition of what journalist Neal Peirce recently described as one of the most remarkable center city transformations in the nation. Over the next five years, we will focus on key goals directly related to economic development: adding 10,000 new jobs, cutting unemployment in half, and doubling high school grad- uation rates.

miles. Professional service firms and corporate headquarters are renewing their leases. Other businesses are actively look- ing for city locations - some have already found them, others are eager to make our city home. Manufacturers are expand- ing here because they appreciate our centrality, workforce access, and things to do. Retailers are locating and expanding within the city because they know we have a great untapped demand for their services. To add jobs, we must attract new businesses to the region. The Missouri Department of Economic Development's new statewide business attraction organization and Missouri's Quality Jobs program will be of great help in these efforts. We also will grow new businesses from within, capitalizing on our wealth of brainpower. CORTEX, CET and our technology incu- bator are important tools in these efforts. We will continue our push for retention and expansion of existing businesses. We will continue to work with minorities, women and “New Americans” to help their businesses grow and break down the barriers to growth. We want businesses to locate here because it's good business - and we want them to make money in our city. For now, it is sometimes necessary to use incentives like tax abatement, TIF and New Markets Tax Credits to get residents and busi- nesses to give the city a try. We need to retain these incentives to ensure that we can attract new investment to our distressed areas, but we are reducing incentives neighborhood by neigh- borhood as the market for city real estate grows. Cutting unemployment in half and doubling high school gradu- ation rates go hand in hand. School choices are improving as educators make tough decisions that make more education dollars directly available for children and their teachers. Our public schools now have a great new superintendent with ideas, experience, and the willingness and determination to put new solutions in place. Dr. Creg Williams is focused on making sure our children graduate with skills for jobs with a future. He also wants to ensure that our children know that a wide variety of career opportunities exist and that they can claim these opportunities if they graduate with the necessary skills. We look forward to working with RubinBrown and its clients as we move closer and closer to our goal of a great city of St. Louis.

Barbara Geisman is executive director of development for the City of St. Louis.

Right now, we're holding steady at roughly 220,000 jobs - more than 8 percent of Missouri's jobs - in our tiny 61 square

8 • spring 2006 issue