ST. LOUIS – Mayor Tishaura Jones opened the three-day Reclaiming Vacant Properties 2024 Conference with a warning: the city will hold owners accountable if they don’t take care of their properties.
More than a thousand attendees gathered at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch on Wednesday for the start of the conference.
“We are here trying to eradicate vacancy, deteriorating, and abandoned properties across the country,” Thamarrah Jones, director of conferences and events for the Center for Community Progress, said.
During her opening remarks, Mayor Jones talked about St. Louis investments and how they’re working to turn neighborhoods around.
“It’s no secret St. Louis has lost a big portion of its population since the 1950s, with many of our Black and brown neighborhoods hit the hardest because of racist policies and intentional disinvestment,” she said. “As a result, parts of our city have long dealt with vacant and abandoned properties, dragging their neighborhoods and property values down with them. Turning that around is one of my top priorities.”
Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator the 1619 Project, discussed her work redefining how we understand the role of race in America.
“We should be very clear that this history is with us every day,” she said. “So much so that it’s not even history. As Faulkner said, ‘The past is not even past.’”
The attendees will spend the next few days in workshops, breakout sessions, and seeing parts of the city in decline and turnaround.
“I live in a Hope Six neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland,” attendee Janet Allen said. “That’s a mixed-income neighborhood. So, what we’re trying to do is keep the neighborhood vibrant and keep the home ownership in our community. Because in our community, we have some ownership, but we have blight around it.”
