Bevo Mill - Paper on history, present, and future of Bevo Mill. PDF

Preview

Summary

Paper on history, present, and future of Bevo Mill. ...

Description

1 Bevo Mill “The first day when the attack started- that was Thursday, sometime in the morning around 2:00 or 3:00 A.M- I was in the hospital because my brother’s wife had just delivered a baby. My kids were at home. I left the hospital when the whole thing started and didn’t stop.” A quote from Muska Oric-Jakubovic, a Bosnian refugee, who moved to Saint Louis in the year 1992. (McCarthy). In 1992, the Bosnian Genocide led to the ruins of former Yugoslavia. The genocide left many dead and over two million people were displaced. Specifically in the city Srebrenica, 7,500 men and boys were missing and presumed dead on July 11, 1995. (McCarthy). The State department declared Saint Louis as a primary destination for families coming to the United States. Saint Louis was picked as a resettlement area in part because of the city’s economic potential for immigrants. (Reel). Saint Louis became second in the nation in concentration of refugees because of a fertile job market, affordable housing, as well as the competence of the three local resettlement agencies. (Dine). Thirty thousand and more Bosnians fled from Bosnia in the midst of the brutal ethnic war between Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims and Croats which lasted from 1992-1995. (Reel). In 1999, 15,000 Bosnian resided in Saint Louis meaning on average ten individuals have arrived everyday. (Dine). More than thirty thousand Bosnians settled in Saint Louis in the year 2000 and almost half of them lived in the Bevo Mill area. (Hollinshed). “Little Bosnia” was forming in the Bevo Mill area of South Saint Louis. About forty five Bosnian-owned or operated businesses were in the area. The Bevo Mill neighborhood is located at the divergence of Gravois Avenue and Morganford Road. The neighborhood sets an interesting wave of inhabitants with multiple commercial and dining districts along Delor, Gravois, and Morganford. Bevo Mill is a staple of diversity for the Saint Louis Area. Bevo Mill is a historical and diverse culture located in South City of Saint Louis.

2 Between World War II and the Great Depression, the neighborhood grew substantially and became a productive time for the area. A trend of German immigration began in the St. Louis area and continued to increase in the city. (Photoflood Stl). The neighborhoods north and south of Downtown St. Louis were immensely packed with newly arrived families. The original phase of immigrated Germans populated around Gravois. (Photoflood Stl). Gravois was known as an important trade route between Saint Louis City and Missouri hinterland. (Photoflood Stl). Bevo Mill began to subdivide after 1900. (Photoflood Stl). Between World War II and the Great Depression, the neighborhood grew substantially and became a productive time for the area. Bevo Mill was constructed in 1915 as a wind mill based on the Dutch models. August A. Busch, Sr. financed the project. The famous windmill became an entertaining space and a private dining hall which later opened as a public restaurant. Bevo Mill, a working-class neighborhood that got its name partly from a 60-foot windmills that houses a restaurant by the same name. Bosnian immigrants steadily reclaimed the Bevo Mill neighborhood by moving into homes few would touch, opening businesses in abandoned storefronts, and generally stemming an erosion that had overtaken the area. (Kim).The president of the Gravois Business Association, Jennifer Bess, gives a big thank you to the Bosnian immigrants for revitalizing Bevo Mill. Bess states, “They clearly demonstrate their desire to invest in and improve the neighborhood by purchasing and rehabbing properties in a tasteful and attractive manner. The people of the Bevo area are fortunate that the Bosnian immigrants have become integral and contributing members of our communities.” (Kim). Bosnian refugees opened restaurants, cafes, bakeries, clubs, grocery stores, and more in Bevo Mill. In 1997, Zulic Sead opened the first old-fashioned Bosnian-owned restaurant called Bosna Gold. (Reel). Bosna Gold served as a symbol for a growing community of the Bosnians in

3 Saint Louis. In 1998, Bevo Mill had three other restaurants: Sarajevo, Sweet P’s, and Miris Dunja along with groceries and other assorted merchandise. (Reel). In the year 2000, the Bevo neighborhood business area in central south Saint Louis was blighted with empty stores. The Bevo Mill population was heading in the wrong direction and was rapidly declining. Then the Bosnians arrived taking over the area with blossoming businesses. Reverend Tom Wyrsch states, “We want to encourage the Bosnian people to remain in the city. They’re a very positive force.” (Kim). Throughout the years, the culture and traditions of Bosnia began to flourish through Bevo Mill. In 2001, the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce formed. Their goals includes: help new arrivals from the Balkan countries settle in, provide business development counseling in legal, financial, planning, and marketing and advertising, establish a business education mentoring program and an educational scholarship fund for Balkan students in the St. Louis area, conduct educational lectures, seminars, discussion groups, forums, panels, and other presentations for the general public on current events, history, and cultures of the Balkan countries, and to promote understanding through cultural events. (Merkel). Bevo Mill truly became an area where it allowed the Bosnian community feel at home away from their war-torn home. Bevo Mill changed dramatically beginning the year 1992. Though this change was viewed positively and as a revitalization for Bevo Mill, crimes, conflicts, and criticism arose. The immigration of Bonians grew tensions between the Bevo Mill, American community as well as had many occurances of crimes including Bosnians. In 1992, Selma Ducanovic, an 11-year old, was abducted from her family’s apartment near Bevo Mill and fatally shot by an American man who committed a series of sexual attacks on newly arrived Bosnian refugee women and girls. (McCarthy). This arose many concerns of

4 safety of children to Bosnians in the area. Many newly-arrived Bosnians stated this type of crime did not occur in their homeland. Parents would allow their kids to roam freely outdoors without having to worry about kidnapping or murderings. (McCarthy). Another crime including robbery occurred, but this time it was between the Bosnians themselves. In 2005, Zoran Brkovic noticed something strange in his basement of the south-city brick bungalow. Brkovic checked everything in the house and did not find anything missing. Zoran called his wife, Senada, to inform her on the incident. Senada rushed home only to have her tire pop on the way. Once her husband came to the rescue, the three young Bosnian males broke into the house again to steal a shoebox filled with $12,000. Once Senada came home, she knew exactly what had happened. She attempted to play detective herself and remembered the two young men who were at her house eyeing the shoebox. Senada said, “My son, just talk to me like it’s your mom. I won’t hurt you.” to one of the boys. Later on, the three young men decided to come clean to the police. The three 17-year olds were arrested. Lieutenant Michael Caruso states, “If you have a Bosnian crime, your suspects in the majority of cases are going to be Bosnian suspects. It seems like they only pick on one another.” (Hinman). Crime rates steadily increased including the Bosnians soon after the population rapidly rose by the year 2005. Not only did crime draw attention to the Bosnians, but the Americans in the Bevo Mill community criticized the influx of Bosnian immigrants. Many residents had negative comments on the ethnic evolution the Bosnians created in Bevo Mill. A business owner in Bevo Mill stated the Bosnian businesses “are not helping my business”. (Kim). Other residents made comments on the service of the businesses such as” “We don’t get the service that the Bosnians do” and “They treat us differently, I don’t understand what they’re saying anyway”. (Kim).

5 Bevo Mill became home to many Bosnians. The area was once on the verge of falling apart until the immigration of the Bosnians. Today, there is much love and praise for the community. The purpose of the paper is to establish a history, present, and future in Bevo Mill as well as the significance of the Bosnian community located in the neighborhood. Bevo Mill as our neighborhood not only exemplifies a neighborhood with multitudes of different cultures and views, but we will be able to explore why the neighborhood is slowly collapsing with raising crime. Since the beginning of Bevo Mill the look has changed many times. From a decrease population to an influx of Bosnian immigrants, to flourishing storefronts, back to a diminishing community. Since the early 2000’s and the flourishing community, Bevo Mill has started to lose some of its day to day liveliness as well as its population. Bevo Mill may not be as populated by new businesses and people as it was in the 2000s, but as Bosnian immigrants Irfan and Nick Sinanovic say “The St. Louis Bosnian Community is not getting started any more. Now we’re established” (Webb 20). Bevo Mill has been known for the past decade as the central location for the Bosnian community in St. Louis. Throughout the past decade, Bevo Mill has seen rises and falls in crime, population, and business. Although the community faces challenges every day, Bevo Mill has been and continues to be a stable for the St. Louis Bosnian Community. Today, Bevo Mill functions as a friendly neighborhood, a place for small businesses, and a place for continued growth. The streets of Bevo Mill are lined with restaurants, offices, and businesses bearing Bosnian names (Webb 20). As previously mentioned, many residents of Bevo Mill have recently lived through traumatic hardships yet they have made a home and thrived in ways that is different from many immigrant groups. Many people, including the Sinanovic brothers, have worked hard to establish a business while remaining connected to their Bosnian

6 heritage. Vega Transports, a trucking company, was started by the two brothers while they were receiving a college education at UMSL university. The name, Vega Transports, is derived from the name of their father’s business that was destroyed in the war. Their father, along with 100,000+ other Bosnian and Croatian citizens, was killed in the war (Webb 20, Bosnian Genocide). The naming of their company is the brother’s way of paying tribute to their father who stayed behind when the Sinanovic’s and their mother fled to America. Now, Vega Transports “has 50 trucks that send goods all over the country and is working on doubling its fleet while making it greener” (Webb 21). Stories like this are not uncommon in the Bevo Mill community. The Bosnian community saved Bevo Mill in the eyes of many. Businesses have been a large factor in the process of bringing Bevo Mill out from underneath itself and turning it into a vibrant community the is both commercial and residential. Another important function of Bevo Mill is their neighborhood operations. In the 2010 census, there were 12, 600 residents living in Bevo Mill (Saint Louis MO Gov). I an interview, the Aldermen of District 13 and 14, Bevo Mills two districts, this neighborhood is a largely residential neighborhood that has become a place of business because of the residents. Many of the residents live above their businesses. The connection between residential and commercial is very personal in this neighborhood. Along with this connection also come the touch of home the Bosnian community brings to St. Louis. Not only do the residents bring the feeling of home to their neighborhood through restaurants and family owned businesses, but the physicality of the neighborhood is a reminder of home. In 2013 ground was broken to build “a monument to their motherland [were] themselves hailed by the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina” (Hampel 2013). The monument replicates a Sarajevo piece, serving as a memorial to victims who were killed in the civil war, just over a decade before. Bevo Mill continues to celebrate Bosnian

7 culture each year as well as remembering solemnly the many lives lost. This is a place where people, brought together because of tragedy, have made a home and life for themselves as well as revitalized a decaying part of St. Louis. While there has been much improvement to the community since the 1990s, Bevo Mill still faces many challenges. One of the most pressing challenges is the rise in crime in recent years. Crime has decreased by only 6% in the past six months, against efforts by residents and police to stop the petty and violent crimes happening in the neighborhood (Post-Dispatch). In 2014, a Bosnian woman was dragged out of her car and beaten to death. One of the mean who attacked her “allegedly said he and the others should kill her because she is Bosnian,” making this case a hate crime (Thorsen 2014). Following this attack, residents of Bevo Mill and the police came together to create a police substation. The residents, obviously on edge, wanted to make sure police kept up a strong, long term presence in the neighborhood (Thorsen 2014). The substation was opened in May of 2015. Despite the violence, residents were keeping a positive mind, not letting the criminals in the area destroy the places they loved.

In more recent news, some residents of Bevo Mill and South Saint Louis received a selfproclaiming ‘racist tabloid’ in early September of 2017 (Zotos 2017). The paper was entitled “The First Freedom.” According to the reporter on the case, “The front page had a Confederate flag and an article by Jason Kessler, the man who organized the Alt-Right rally in Charlottesville. Inside of the paper are racial slurs, hateful rhetoric and articles denying the Holocaust” (Zotos 2017). Not only was the Bosnian community scared and uncomfortable, but other groups of immigrants became weary of the neighborhood. Shock and disgust ran through the community, “It’s just a shame that there’s still really people that think like that,” said Edna Hayden, a resident of Bevo Mill for seven years who came home from bible study to the paper on her door (Zotos

8 2017). The only non-discriminatory act of the whole event was the delivered of the papers did not seem to care who got them. They delivered to residents of all colors and nationalities (Zotos 2017). Events like these have become more popular in Bevo Mill in the past few years. Crime is not uncommon in Bevo Mill. The rates of crime are above those of Saint Louis county, but it is the residents of Bevo Mill who are pushing for change in their neighborhood.

The “Better Bevo Now” is a monthly meeting that is open to all. Some of their goals include “Support the improvement of Bevo Neighborhood. Build interest of residents in the welfare of Bevo Neighborhood. Create awareness of issues that affect all residents of Bevo neighborhood. Encourage participation of residents and businesses in neighborhood events and initiatives (Better Bevo Now). The importance of this monthly meeting is that it is centered around the residents. The Aldermen and representatives of Bevo Mill want to continue community improvement while involving more young people and current residents of the neighborhood. Centered around maintaining and improving the “safety, welfare, and pleasantness of [the] neighborhood,” citizen participation in key (Better Bevo Now). This is one active way of fighting the challenges that Bevo Mill faces. Some of the ways they do this is by promoting an environment of open dialogue, keeping their meetings regular, and planning events around the community. Some of these events include free self-defense classes, farmers markets, and an annual Bevo Bazaar. The idea of fellowship and community involvement is at the core of Better Bevo Now.

The Better Bevo Now Association is just a starting point for improving the Bevo Mill neighborhood. As mentioned above, their primary goals are geared towards increasing community involvement and improvement of the surrounding area. Sydney was able to capture

9 one of many yard signs that advertise their monthly meetings and this is part of the plan to encourage more involvement from the community in political and economic influences. (Compton, Photo #3) A policy change that this organization supported was the increased taxation of local business along Gravois. Jacob Barker reported in a newspaper article that this tax was willingly created by business owners through the creation of the Community Improvement District, and its purpose is to bring more revenue back to Bevo Mill (Barker). Better Bevo Now Association also works towards filling empty storefronts and bringing in new attractions to encourage more settlement to the area. This organization also works closely their representatives in city government.

Bevo Mill, despite its scattered history and current challenges, is headed towards a transformative future. Current city leaders and representatives are determined to revitalize this area in one as easily recognizable and friendly to the masses as Central West End or Tower Grove. The government officials that represent Bevo Mill and its residents view this area as a mix between a residential neighborhood and commercial district. Bevo Mill started out as a residential area with the influx of Bosnian residents, and over time, Gravois Street has become a central road for businesses. Many businesses there were started by the Bosnian immigrants and have helped contribute to making Bevo Mill a mixture of residential neighborhoods and commercial districts. Bevo Mill is an affordable neighborhood that also provides close access to local businesses. Since this neighborhood is more affordable, ward representatives hope to bring in young adults with quirkier attractions. The goal is to make Bevo Mill an easily accessible and popular neighborhood, especially for young adults in order to liven it up. The two wards are comprised of wealthy doctors and lawyers as well as families that are unemployed and on welfare. In addition to these resource differences, the community is divided

10 by culture and history. Half of the community immigrated there from Bosnia while the other portion has simply moved into the area through gentrification processes. This mixed community is not only a result of gentrification but also of city and federal legislation that has had drastic and continual effects on the area. As for government representation, Bevo Mill is represented by two Aldermen and two Neighborhood Improvement Specialists. The Aldermen are tasked with making legislative decisions that will be beneficial to all residents as well as all city neighborhoods. This can be very difficult due to the differences of class, status, wealth, and history. Carol Howard and Beth Murphy are the Aldermen who represent the wards in which Bevo Mill resides. In their joint interview, they shared details about their close ties to the Bevo Mill community. They both grew up in their wards and worked in the school systems for the majority of their careers. Howard even became principal during her career. Murphy stated in her interview that she had been politically active while she taught and wanted to continue her political involvement after her retirement (Howard, Murphy). Howard found out about the opening for alderman of Ward 14 after her predecessor stepped down. Howard had not been as politically active as Murphy but felt compelled to represent her home through the local government system. They have both been able to use their political offices to contribute political, economic, and social change to the Bevo Mill community. Since they had been involved in this community since childhood, they have had close ties with its residents and city representatives. While Howard and Murphy have no further political aspirations, they both hope to maintain their offices as alderwomen for their respective wards. They expressed sentiments of gratitude and happiness for having been able to serve the Bevo Mill neighborhood and community. While they

11 are the primary representatives for Bevo Mill, they also have Neighborhood Impr...