City plans to clean up debris along Polar Express rail route
By Nathan Vickers
Click here for updates on this story
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — City officials say a number of parties may be responsible for the mess along train tracks near the north riverfront.
First Alert 4 reported on the problem Monday, following a video from former reporter Chris Nagus showing piles of debris scattered between the train tracks and a vacant building. Nagus had taken the video while riding the Polar Express holiday attraction with his family.
He pointed out that many aboard the train were visiting from out of town and that many may perceive St. Louis in a poor light because of it.
Cara Spencer, the alderwoman for the 8th District, emphasized that she thought the Polar Express ride was one of the area’s premiere holiday attractions. But she, too, was disappointed in the mess.
“It’s a bad look for the city,” she said.
FirstAlert4 traced the property to Eubanks Storage, an LLC tied to Seamus McGowan and Travis Brown, two prominent business names in St. Louis. Neither returned calls or messages asking about the property.
A spokesperson for the city said that the property had several graffiti complaints in the past few months but no code violations since October 2022.
On Tuesday, workers were concreting over openings in the building. Spencer said the owners had been working for several months to secure it.
“I’m pleased to see the amount of security going in as we speak,” she said.
However, according to a city spokesperson, the property owners are not the only ones who may have contributed to the mess.
The city said that part of the area in question would fall within the railroad’s responsibility. Other vacant properties Nagus had mentioned belonged to Ashley Power and to the city’s Land Reutilization Authority.
Regardless, the spokesperson said the city would send crews to clean up the mess soon.
Spencer said she hoped to meet with the vacancy collaborative soon to develop new initiatives for dealing with abandoned properties and that she would also like to see money from the Rams stadium settlement spent in the area.
“We can’t have a successful region without a successful downtown. We have to get serious about investing in this part of our community,” she said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
