Boosters' effort looks to lessen St. Louis regional divide

A wrecking crew tears down the deteriorating Murphy Building, June 2, in East St. Louis, Illinois after city officials declared the 106-year-old site a safety hazard. A new image-boosting campaign in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs barely mentions East St. Louis, a struggling city beset by violence, poverty and despair.
A wrecking crew tears down the deteriorating Murphy Building, June 2, in East St. Louis, Illinois after city officials declared the 106-year-old site a safety hazard. A new image-boosting campaign in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs barely mentions East St. Louis, a struggling city beset by violence, poverty and despair.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - For many Missouri residents, crossing the Mississippi River into neighboring Illinois marks a mental hurdle as much as a physical divide.

The oil refineries, toxic waste incinerators, strip clubs and decrepit buildings that line the highways eastbound out of St. Louis don't inspire weekend getaways. But civic leaders in southwestern Illinois are out to change that perception, focusing an image-boosting effort on the area's small-town values, affordable housing and family-friendly activities. The campaign's name - "Get to Know M.E." - refers to the Metro East, which the Illinois suburbs are referred to in St. Louis.

Metro East boosters acknowledge the cluster of communities ranging from historic towns such as Alton and Edwardsville to economic engines such as Scott Air Force Base, a top regional employer, have long suffered from an inferiority complex, in no small part due to East St. Louis' reputation for poverty and violence.

"The river is wider coming over to Illinois than it is going to Missouri," said Carol Bartle of Belleville, a retired business owner spearheading the image reboot that began in March. The campaign features testimonials from 27 local luminaries, including utility company and hospital executives, college presidents, restaurant owners and bankers.

None are from East St. Louis, a city of nearly 27,000 with a population that's 98 percent black, and all but one is white. The campaign's lack of racial diversity sabotages its attempts to promote regional inclusion, according to Matt Hawkins, an East St. Louis community activist.

"It doesn't surprise me," he said. "It's par for the course."

Bartle noted the community leaders portrayed in the ad campaign weren't recruited but instead offered their services, and denied any intent to exclude some parts of the Metro East.

"We have not chosen to avoid the folks in East St. Louis," she said. "There's just not much business there."

Much of the disconnect between big brother St. Louis and its Illinois siblings is due to the decline of heavy industry, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville political science professor Andrew Theising said. Alorton's name is an amalgam of Aluminum Ore Town, its creator. Sauget was once known as Monsanto. And Granite City is home to a struggling U.S. Steel mill that recently announced plans to temporarily lay off 2,000 workers before deciding to limit the job cuts to 80 positions.

"Every major city has a workbench, or a back alley, where it keeps its smokestacks and its sin," he said. "Unfortunately, in today's economy, large cities don't need those workbenches. They struggle today trying to find purpose."

With many of its former economic engines idled, the region is now focused on luring cleaner industries. Madison County is home to several clusters of sprawling warehouses where chocolate maker Hershey and other companies operate major distribution centers.

Southwestern Illinois' civic and political leaders are also lobbying heavily to host the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's new regional headquarters. Currently, the 3,000 high-paying jobs are located in south St. Louis.

The agency is considering two sites in St. Louis County, a blighted section of north St. Louis eyed for redevelopment and a tract near Scott Air Force Base, which is home to nearly 8,000 active duty or reserve military members and more than 5,000 civilian employees.

The base's workforce trails only those of Washington University, defense contractor Boeing and BJC HealthCare - all in St. Louis - and the Illinois bid for the spy agency has been bolstered by an offer of free land from St. Clair County.

"It would definitely be a coup," Bartle said.