KSDK St. Louis, 5 On Your Side, Featured Pocketparks West End Pop-Up Activation.
ST. LOUIS - A St. Louis organization is turning eyesore empty lots into the nucleus of neighborhoods. Pocketparks was started earlier this year after Samantha Lee Smugala got fed up with seeing so many unused empty lots in the city's neighborhoods. So far, the nonprofit organization has used a portion of a $30,000 grant from ReCAST St. Louis to begin working on four projects. "The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of vacancies and give a beautiful active recreational area to the community," Smugala said. Pocketparks brings neighbors to the empty lots with food, fun and games. While there, they weigh in on what they would like to see in place of the empty lot and other ways to improve the neighborhood. Read full story here.