Todd Swanstrom, the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration at UMSL, discussed retaining and attracting talent to St. Louis last week on “Stay Tuned,” a program on KETC.

When it comes to attracting and retaining talent, University of Missouri–St. Louis public policy Professor Todd Swanstrom points to several sections of St. Louis that are building buzz. For example, St. Louis city has the Shaw-Botanical Heights area, Cherokee Street and South Grand Boulevard, and St. Louis County has Maplewood and Ferguson. These scenes, he said, are scattered all throughout greater St. Louis.

“They’re all kind of like islands now,” Swanstrom said last week on “Stay Tuned,” a program on KETC (Channel 9). “But if they ever can merge, then the place will really take off.”

“Stay Tuned” devoted its episode to St. Louis’ efforts to attract and retain talent. Swanstrom, a public policy expert, participated in the round-table discussions. He’s the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration at UMSL and holds joint appointments in the Department of Political Science, Public Policy Administration program and Public Policy Research Center.

Swanstrom said the region needs enhanced public transit and additional retail corridors, bike paths and pedestrian walkways to better link these buzzed-about areas and make them more inviting.

“Cities are about interactions – people interacting,” Swanstrom said on “Stay Tuned.” “Here, some of those connections aren’t there, but a lot of nodes are happening right now and I’m excited.”

Visit the KETC website to view the full “Stay Tuned” video.

Swanstrom also wrote about “legacy cities” in the U.S. industrial heartland, including St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee. The commentary appeared last week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.