In 1904, St. Louis was the host of the World’s Fair and the Olympics, making our city the central focus of the entire globe. Unfortunately, this period of success was not sustained, and what was the fourth-largest city in the country dropped out of the top 20 over the next century. The Gateway Arch, which is the iconic symbol of our region and ingenuity, now stands alone, isolated from downtown and the city and serving as a reminder of what St. Louis used to be. Proposition P will allow us to bring St. Louis into the future by reno- vating the Arch Grounds, adding more public space, opening a new museum, increasing accessibility for all people and refurbishing many of our city, county and municipal parks.

By standing together and voting for Proposition P, we can help realize the visions of greatness that Pierre Laclede had when he decided to create the city of St. Louis. These renovations described above would bring some much-needed vigor to the downtown area. When compar- ing the Arch grounds to Millennium Park and other national monuments, it is quite obvious that its grounds fall miserably short. This ballot initiative proposes to increase the sales tax by three-sixteenths of a cent (less than two cents on a $10 purchase) and will drastically improve the down- town area. You can check out

www.cityarchriver.com to see the extent of all the improvements, including the new river walk area that would open up a myriad of new businesses. The proposal itself would create 530 construction jobs in each of the next three years and over 4,000 permanent jobs when it’s completed. In addition, the improved downtown vitality would most certainly create a healthy environment for new and existing businesses.

On top of making the downtown area extremely accessible for all peo- ple and improving its aesthetics and infrastructure is the improvement of city and county parks. Currently, in many places, the children of St. Louis are playing on playground equipment that is in disrepair. This is simply unacceptable, and we have a moral imperative to protect the children and give them safe places to play by voting Proposition P through on April 2.

It’s important for the younger people at our school to realize that these improvements will be completed in October 2015, so you will get to reap the immense benefits of this ballot initiative. All Wash. U. students living on campus will vote at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Forsyth, and transportation will be provided to and from the Clocktower on the South 40 on Election Day between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Students living in the Kingsbury area will be able to vote at Trinity Church on Kingsland.