The Future Great City podcast

In this episode we speak with Scott Ogilvie, 24th Ward alderman in the City of St. Louis. Twice elected from the neighborhoods south of Forest Park, Scott has become known for asking difficult policy questions of the city and his colleagues, while pushing for political reform and good governance.

Ogilvie has won support and earned critics by being one of the few alderman with an outspoken vision for the city as a whole. We speak to Scott about the upcoming every-five-years challenge at the ballot box to the city's 1% earnings tax, the failed effort to keep the NFL Rams in St. Louis, and much more. You can find Scott on Twitter @ward24stl and check out his website at ward24stl.com.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

In this episode we speak with Jeff Rainford, an independent public policy consultant who is best known for his 14 years as chief of staff to four-term City of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

Described by friends and foes alike as fierce and effective, he was instrumental in returning control of the city's police department to the city for the first time since the Civil War. He was also the city's point person on the ultimately unsuccessful effort to keep the NFL Rams in St. Louis, and worked hard on keeping the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency in the city. St. Louis will find April 1 if that effort is successful.

Rainford is a native St. Louisan, growing up in Webster Groves. He worked as reporter for KMOX radio and KMOV-TV before joining the mayor's staff.

*audio was set incorrectly for this recording – thanks for listening to a little echo

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

In this episode we speak with Ralph Pfremmer Executive Director of Trailnet. The organization's mission is to "lead in fostering healthy, active and vibrant communities where walking, bicycling and the use of public transit are a way of life" through programs, transportation planning, and policy initiatives. Most recently, Trailnet weighed in on plans to repave and add bike lanes to Gravois Avenue. Under former Executive Director Ann Mack led Trailnet's effort to oppose the South County Connector, a MoDOT road widening project also opposed by the communities through which it would pass.

Prior to joining the staff at Trailnet in October 2014, Ralph was the CEO and founder of Pfoodman Holdings, a multi-unit food service management company serving education, business/retail, and senior living sectors. He used active living and sustainability as a platform for business development, promoting his company's culture by establishing a unique presence in communities.

The Trailnet challenge, and now Ralph's, is to work with partner organizations – Great Rivers Greenway, East-West Gateway, Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, MoDOT, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and others. Ralph joined the cycling community after a health scare in 1998 that motivated him to incorporate exercise into his daily routine and begin a healthier way of life.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

In this episode we speak with Ben Hilliker, the founder and CEO of Hilliker Corp., a commercial real estate firm in St. Louis. Ben graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and was President of an engineering firm with offices in five cities, prior to entering the commercial real estate field. In 1973, Ben sold the engineering firm and went to work in commercial real estate. In 1985 he established Hilliker Corporation, which has grown to 18 full-time agents today.

Hilliker Corp. is known for its focus on challenging, and largely urban, properties. In the podcast Ben talks about the changing math of historic St. Louis warehouses where residential conversions led to a massive jump in prices and the preservation of dozens of threatened buildings. Other dynamics in the St. Louis commercial real estate are touch on as well, including the impact of the 1993 flood and the then depressed market.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

In this episode we speak with Sarah Kendzior, a freelance writer living in St. Louis. She has written about exploitation, particularly in higher education, the diminishing opportunities of America's youth, and inequality and gentrification. Sarah has also covered internet privacy, political repression, and how the media shape public perception.

A collection of essays, The View From Flyover Country, was published in 2015. Her writing has appeared at POLITICO, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among many other outlets, and Sarah has appeared onNPR, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, CBC News, BBC World Service, Citizen Radio, FOX, HuffPost Live.

In addition to her work as a journalist, Sarah is a researcher and consultant. She earned a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in Saint Louis and an MA in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University. With a particular expertise in contemporary Uzbekistan, Sarah was named by Foreign Policy in 2013 as one of "the 100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events". You can read more at sarahkendzior.com.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

In this episode we speak with Sean Spencer, Executive Director of the newly reconstituted and expanded Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation. The organization is a consolidation of Grand Oak Hill Community Corporation, Southwest Garden Housing Corporation and Shaw Neighborhood Housing Corporation. The TGNCDC serves an area of nearly 30,000 residents in the City of St. Louis.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

In this episode we speak with architectural historian Michael Allen about the state of historic preservation and the built environment in St. Louis. His work can be found at his new site, Building Culture.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.

It's nextSTL.com in a podcast! In this preview episode we speak with nextSTL contributor Greg Johnson and preview the podcast, sharing thoughts on St. Louis, the website, and what upcoming episodes of the podcast will offer. Get ready for the Future Great City podcast from St. Louis and nextSTL.com!

This may only be a 9-minute preview, but we cover a lot of ground. From chlamydia to literacy, we run through some of the recurring issues and topics in this city and look ahead to what the Future Great City podcast will bring to the local discourse.

nextSTL began as the St. Louis Urban Workshop in 2009. Since then, the site has continued to incorporate more voices across more platforms to tell the story, past, present, & future, of St. Louis. Now it's time to launch the Future Great City podcast.