Comments on: 56 Houses Left, a Blog about a Neighborhood Destruction

By: Miles

Miles — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:23:48 +0000

I know Carrollton and Carrollton Oaks well - my aunts, uncles and cousins lived there since the 60s when the houses were new. I spent many a week visiting. Kissed my first girl there. Thousands of kids grew up there, and unless you don’t have a heart, it is poignant seeing not only your childhood home, but schools, churches and the entire landscape removed. I applaud 56 Houses Left for documenting what little is left of what was a historically significant community.

By: Justin Lynes

Justin Lynes — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:14:37 +0000

The white suburban neighborhood in which i grew up is now all Vietnamese and urban. You can never go home.

By: Louisa

Louisa — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:51:12 +0000

This shit has been going on forever in St. Louis. It seems like a couple of decades. I understand the former residents sadness and am still quite pissed at the eminent domain issues that were raised but move on, people. This whole subject is just tired, tired, tired.

By: Loverat

Loverat — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:06:21 +0000

If that’s the biggest/worst/most awful thing you have to worry about in your life then you aren’t too bad off really are you I mean tell it to the millions around the world who don’t have or never had a place to call home. Cry me a river honestly.

By: Lea

Lea — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:53:31 +0000

I think it’s sad, I don’t understand why you are being so harsh. Yes, things change, that is inevitable, but that doesn’t make some of those changes any less meaningful (for good or bad).
And eminent domain is bull. They have torn down thousands of houses to build big box stores and then cried out asking why all the people in the city were leaving! It is no longer used for the purpose it was intended. I have to agree with Denise64 on this one.
You can’t just call her a whiner and be done with it. And lux, way to completely assume they are only tearing down “low income shanties” because they aren’t. That sounds a little self-important to me.

By: Denise64

Denise64 — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:37:36 +0000

I commend Desy for telling the story of her home and Carrollton. I am a St. Louisan and I am quite familiar with this fight. This fight between the airport and a town called Bridgeton went on for over 10 years. It was quite a nasty fight. There were other plans that didn’t affect as many homes, but the airport insisted on that plan. It pretty much destroyed the suburb of Bridgeton in the process (2,000 homes, schools, churchs, and businesses). Its really more about government’s abuses of eminent domain rather than someone’s whining as some of you have suggested. When something like this costs 1.1 BILLION and for it only to be used 5-10% of the time, its disgusting.

By: munky

munky — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:16:12 +0000

You have to see this movie, ‘The Castle’ ((http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/)) about an Australian family who LIKE living near the airport…

Merkins will probably need to look up the Mabo Declaration to fully understand a central plot point, but that’s one the roles of cultural exchange, viz to educate.

And as for this case, s’funny how people’s homes can be obliterated by the System Lords, yet when something threatens their ‘homes/weekend castles/overpriced underused status symbols’ (like a windfarm off the Hamptons) then all heck breaks loose…

By: lux

lux — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:56:29 +0000

Sounds like Desy is a little too self important imo.

Its gone and thats progress. Hurray! The plight of a single person or small group of people is insignificant, when thinking of the greater good. Maybe learn not to have a house next to an airport?

Maybe the airport will put it to use eventually. I’m sure whatever they use it for, will be better than a bunch of (likely) low income shanty houses.

By: brett

brett — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:50:50 +0000

Obviously, she’s right — once something is built, it should never be changed in any way to allow for something new. Because everyone has the right to insist that everything they’ve ever seen be exactly as it always was — in case they forget what it looked like.

Please. You grew up there - so you have memories, right? What does it matter if it still looks like that? This isn’t some UN world heritage site - it was a crappy suburban subdivision in Missouri. Get over yourself.

By: bean

bean — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:04:33 +0000

All destroyed for nothing? This lady’s whining makes it sound like living next to an airport was a great way to grow up, that she’d want her kids to experience. And she never mentions how much money the developers threw at them just for that house.

By: Scotchdrnkr

Scotchdrnkr — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:30:00 +0000

I understand that these were their homes growing up and its always sad to see your home being torn down. But these homes were very close to Lambert Airport. The noise had to be deafening. They were not only bought out for the expansion they were bought out due to noise levels.
And the new runway will be used. We may not get as much traffic as we used to, due to the fact that we lost our air line hubs, but what airport does these days.
Personally I wouldn’t want to live or work that close to a major airport.

By: Coyote

Coyote — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:28:38 +0000

This is quite sad, but unfortunatly that’s the way bureaucracy works. Once a system or plan is in place its damn near impossible to stop. Because to stop it would take initiative and someone saying they were wrong. By continuing to waste funds, time, and peoples homes they can ignore the fact much longer and when it does fall through they just write it off and nobody takes any blame.

By: MoonCake

MoonCake — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:30:55 +0000

wow.. harsh, chad man.

i would probably be pissed too. but yea, i agree to a point that that’s just how it goes.. there’s only so much that we can prevent because the ‘big boys’ are the ones with the money and in this country, money does all the talking.

very sad to see your childhood be taken away by a bulldozer, though.

By: Chad Cloman

Chad Cloman — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:18:30 +0000

Oh please. The poignancy is making me gag. She should just accept what’s happening and get over it.