By Cindy Teasdale
If you still don’t know what Metropolis is, you probably haven’t been to the city lately. It’s pretty tough to miss the chalked sidewalks on Eighth and Olive declaring their proud motto “The city is back. Back the city,” the Thursday night revelers partaking in the weekly institution known as “The Walk,” or the brave assemblage donning t-shirts and publicizing the latest project outside the “window” of KSDK’s six o’clock morning news. Metropolis and its 1,000 members are out in full force, throwing fundraisers and organizing high-visibility events, infecting the city like a St. Louis-happy virus. And the momentum keeps on building, with new initiatives and events sprouting up faster than you can say “St. Louis is a great town for young people” three times fast.
Metropolis was founded only two-and-a-half years ago as an organization dedicated to attracting and retaining young people to the city of St. Louis. A group of 45 young professionals, including natives and transplants, formed the organization, created by-laws and a steering committee to govern it, and began focusing on matters ranging from improving the city’s education system to providing a more lively social scene for young people. The first “projects” included a tree-planting initiative on Washington Avenue and a weekly downtown pub-crawl affectionately come to be known as “The Walk.”
“Many of us started getting tired of our friends leaving for other cities that provided a more exciting, urban lifestyle,” says Matt O’Leary, past president of Metropolis. “We felt that if we wanted to combat the problem, we needed to help St. Louis achieve the same charged environment, by improving everything from nightlife to downtown housing and public transportation.”
Another key to Metropolis’ success in keeping young people in St. Louis is the idea that the more involved people become in the organization and consequently in the life and breath of the city, the more likely they are to stay. “I’m great evidence of that,” says O’Leary, a St. Louis native. “If I hadn’t gotten involved in Metropolis, I probably would’ve relocated to Chicago. But now I’ve invested so much time and energy in this city that I can’t imagine leaving.”
The steering committee of Metropolis consists of five chairs of action-oriented project groups: leadership, living environment, perception, policy and social; and six essential administrative chairs: president, secretary, treasurer, fundraising, marketing and membership. All project groups meet once or twice a month and focus on specific initiatives.
Altogether, in its two-and-a-half year history, Metropolis has successfully completed more than 100 projects. Many Metropolis members are most proud of their alliance with the Bryan Hill School, a public elementary school in the College Hill neighborhood of North St. Louis. “One of Metropolis’ biggest concerns is education,” says Brian Marston, former president, “and the notion that young families tend to desert the city in search of a stronger educational system. We wanted to get involved on the ground level, and wanted to start with something manageable by focusing on one school.”
“Metropolis members felt strongly that they did not want to interfere, and also that they wanted to have a lasting presence and impact,” O’Leary says. Working with the school’s principle Sharon Braun, they started a “Metropolis Monday” program where members brought bagels and orange juice for the teachers once a month and discussed what was going on in the classrooms. Next, they started organizing fundraisers for school supplies. Their enthusiasm caught on, and soon parents joined the efforts.
Members now volunteer as tutors; Metropolis offers nutritional seminars to educate families about healthy eating, and four portable basketball hoops have been purchased through funds raised by “The Walk.” And perhaps the biggest triumph, Metropolis and the students and families raised $60,000 for a new playground for the school and surrounding community. But the major impact has been the growing involvement of parents: “When Metropolis first allied with Bryan Hill there were three parents on the PTA,” Marston says. “Now there are more than 50.”
Many projects are taking on an even more serious and far-reaching tone, and it seems that people are starting to take note of Metropolis’ stance. “Some of the powers that be in St. Louis are not only asking to talk to us, but are beginning to listen to what we have to say,” Marston says. “We are perceived as representing one of the large voting blocks in the city, and I think that many are just now realizing what potential we have.”
The most amazing thing about Metropolis is the blatant enthusiasm it has brought to the city of St. Louis. From guerrilla marketing techniques like “Operation Overpass,” where members caught commuters’ attention with banners over highway 40 proclaiming that “if you lived in the city you’d be home by now,” to the demonstration members organized against the demolition of the Southside National Bank, Metropolis has inspired a new and raw excitement about the future of St. Louis.
“St. Louis has fabulous architecture, a host of Fortune 500 companies, wonderful cultural institutions, a rich history of strong sports with a great fan base, under-celebrated outdoor resources, and world-class universities,” O’Leary says. “We have all of the ingredients of a successful and electrifying urban metropolis; we just need the people to make the investment, to believe in their city.”
Another of Metropolis’ popular slogans, from their bus and bus-shelter ad campaign, has caught on as a catch phrase at many development agencies here in St. Louis—”Some cities never sleep. This one needs to wake up.”
“All we want is a great vibrant urban environment where people can go grocery shopping at two in the morning, walk from their loft apartments to a movie theater down the street, and safely bike to work,” Marston says. “And I know it’s possible, and can be realized in the not-so-distant future.”
When asked what role Metropolis would have in 10 years, both former and current president had the same response: none. “In 10 years,” Marston says, “I hope Metropolis the organization will have faded away in the emergence of a pulsating true metropolis, where entrepreneurs and artists alike come to make their dreams a reality, where families come to raise their children, and where people of all walks of life take to the streets to celebrate the city.”
Cindy Teasdale is a St. Louis-based freelance writer and member of Metropolis.
