It is officially categorized as a National Historic Site. Established by President Roosevelt by Executive Order in 1935, it is owned and operated by the National Park Service (NPS), which is part of the Department of Interior, and is part of the National Park System. It covers 91 Acres, including the Gateway Arch, the Old Courthouse, and the Old Cathedral, although the latter is operated by then St. Louis Archdiocese.

In August 2005 St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay asked the Foundation to study how the Central Riverfront could be transformed into a world-class attraction and linked with downtown. The Foundation spent the next two years and $2 million working with private consultants and public partners, including the NPS, the Army Corps of Engineers, and many others, on the problem. In August, 2007, the Foundation issued a report concluding that any permanent attractions on the levee or in the river itself are essentially unfeasible, because of the river's unruly nature. However, the report said, if portions of the Arch grounds were made available, the site could indeed be made into a world-class attraction and linked magnificently with downtown.

On May 8, the NPS announced that it will update its General Management Plan (GMP) which is the playbook for how the Arch grounds are operated, for the first time since the 1960s. As a part of its process for updating the GMP, the NPS is asking the public to weigh in on what changes should be made to the Arch grounds. This process represents a once-in-a-half-century-opportunity for St. Louisans to tell the Federal Government what they would like to see on one of the most important pieces of real estate in St. Louis, if not the country. It's important that the region make the most of this opportunity.

According to the National Park Service, slightly fewer than 3 million people a year visit the grounds, including those who attend Fair St. Louis and more recently Live on the Levee. Excluding those events, the number of visitors to the Arch is closer to about 1.8 million annually and with generally declining numbers in recent years (falling from 3,532,524 visitors in 2001 to 2,572,072 in 2006, a 27% decrease). Looking at the Arch grounds on any given day, however, it is rare to see more than a trickle of people around the monument itself, and even fewer elsewhere on the 91 acres.

Though this question may be better answered by the National Park Service, we can tell you that the National Park Service manages the grounds as a passive memorial. It severely limits activity of any kind, organized or individual.

Saarinen envisioned the Arch rising from an urban forest. However, he also envisioned restaurants on each end of the park to afford sweeping vistas of the memorial, as well as aboveground history and architecture museums; a frontier village; a campfire theater; a tea pavilion; and an historic arcade.. At one time there was also a plan to build trails with interpretive features relating to the Oregon and Santa Fe trails.

A December, 2007 survey conducted by the Danforth Foundation showed that people from the St. Louis region want to see cultural institutions, family-oriented activities, and dining and recreational facilities, among other things. We think all of that is very possible, but we think two elements are indispensable: 1) a destination attraction, most likely a cultural facility, and 2) a safe and attractive connection between downtown and the Arch grounds. With those two elements, the site would generate the excitement and offer the access needed to attract substantial numbers of St. Louisans on a repeat basis, and visitors from around the country and the world. Other attractions and facilities, such as restaurants and recreational facilities, would then become economically feasible.

While it would be premature to try to answer that question, we don't think it would take much of the 91 acres to make a significant change. We would note that we would never favor anything that would in any way compromises the magnificence and beauty of the Arch.

Our first principle concerning any development—any change whatsoever—is that it would have to be extremely sensitive to the natural and manmade environment there. This is one of the reasons that Dr. Peter Raven, the director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and an internationally prominent environmentalist, was asked to serve as one of the regional advisors to the Danforth Foundation and Mayor Francis Slay in this matter.

There have been many good ideas. In 2005 and again in 2007, we sponsored surveys, each of about 1,000 people throughout the metropolitan area. They showed considerable support for many changes, but family-oriented activities headed the list. Specific ideas that excited the most enthusiasm were benches and plazas with places to sit and watch the river; a pavilion for ethnic festivals, fairs, exhibitions and family events; an outdoor stage for concerts and theater; cultural institutions, such as museums; cafes and restaurants; and parks and playgrounds. These are merely ideas, of course, but the enthusiastic response shows that St. Louisans want an active riverfront and Arch grounds.

We want to stress this point. For any of these ideas to work, we believe two elements are indispensable. They are a major destination attraction, one that will attract repeated visits from St. Louisans and that will lure more visitors from out of town; and a safe and attractive connection between the Arch grounds and downtown. These two elements would together drive the success of this entire effort to transform the St. Louis riverfront and Arch grounds. Without them, any changes are likely to be marginal at best.

All three of these men have spent their adult lives trying to make St. Louis a better place to live, and all three have enjoyed extraordinary success. They were initially chosen by Mayor Slay, but have gone on to advise the Foundation as well.

Walter Metcalfe has demonstrated remarkable creativity, resourcefulness, and savvy in many complex civic projects over the last couple of decades, including the Edward Jones Dome and bringing the Rams to St. Louis.

Dr. Robert Archibald, president and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society since 1988, brings to this project a deep understanding of the history of St. Louis and the ways public spaces can be used to honor the past while also celebrating the present. He has helped turn the Missouri History Museum into one of the liveliest cultural institutions in the area. He was also formerly the president of the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and former Chair of the American Association of Museums-Museums and Community Initiative. He earned the St. Louis Award in 2004.

As director of the Missouri Botanical Garden since 1971, Dr. Peter Raven brings the greatest possible sensitivity and depth to questions of green space and the pressures on them. He has not only brought the Garden to world-class status, but has achieved international status himself as an environmentalist. Time Magazine named him a "Hero of the Planet" in 1999. He is former president and chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a winner of the National Medal of Science (2000), and was St. Louis Citizen of the Year in 1991.

We don't believe raising taxes or levying a new tax are options. Much of the funding would have to come from private sources. The Danforth Foundation has pledged to make a substantial commitment if the plan that emerges features a major cultural institution and a three-block wide pedestrian connector over the depressed lanes of I-70 and Memorial Drive.

However, building of the Connector could be appropriate for federal funds, because the interstate highway is on NPS property and under the jurisdiction of the Federal Highway Administration. We also believe that various tax-exempt bonds might be employed.

Absent a plan, it is impossible to say. The three-block deck was priced at $106.8 million, which included an $18 million endowment fund for maintenance.

Absolutely not. Neither we nor anyone else is proposing that the city gain control of or manage the Arch grounds. The local entity that would gain administrative jurisdiction of a portion of the Arch grounds would be a regional body representing regional interests. The Zoo-Museum District, which comprises St. Louis and St. Louis County, and the Great Rivers Greenway District, which comprises the city, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County, have been cited as potential models. Additionally, this type of transfer would happen only if the United States Congress were to decide to transfer that control of it from the National Park Service.

As things stand, local interests in the St. Louis area have absolutely no authority over the use of what is arguably St. Louis' most precious real estate. The land is entirely under the ownership and control of the Federal Government. This is a rare, if not unique, situation in the entire country.

The mayor has asked three of St. Louis' leading citizens—Walter Metcalfe, Dr. Robert Archibald, and Dr. Peter Raven—to make recommendations to him about the structure and makeup of the local entity. He has told them that the entity should serve as a steward or trustee on behalf of the general public—not any narrow interest, commercial or otherwise—and that the planning process should have public input. Recently, the three advisors recommended that an international competition, not unlike the one that led to the design of the Arch, be held to design the new cultural institution and other changes.