Much Of Downtown St. Louis Is Not Walkable
Civic leaders wonder why more people don’t walk in parts of downtown St. Louis. They must be blind. It doesn’t take much to figure it out.
Bland sidewalks, auto driveways everywhere, blank walls, and limited building entries.
We’ve got to rebuild much of what replaced the original city. The depressing row of buildings between Market and Walnut is a good place to start.
– Steve
Let’s just hope that McGowan/Walsh decides to tear down the old Mark Twain Bank Building as opposed to renovating it. That corner (7th and Market) would be a great spot for a new high rise.
What is so infuriating about this photo is that a city thoroughfare–not one in a suburb, but one in a city–is sending me the unmistakable message that in order to negotiate this environment I must either get a car or be a car.
St. Louis is not some poor relative that must accept whatever third-rate suburban retread design a developer plucks off the shelf and proposes to build.
It’s time, it’s been time and its overtime for some unambiguous, pedestrian-friendly design guidelines with incentives and penalties both.