Slay didn’t demolish McRee Town or the Century Building.

Nor did he build Botanical Heights or the OPO Garage.

[UrbanReviewSTL --- You are probably right, it must have been Mayor Rainford and/or Mayor Geisman behind those projects]

Check out the Delmar/Kingshighway rendering on page 14 and the Schnucks planning map on page 28.

I’m sorry to see the silly riverfront plans were considered important enough to appear.

“That plan called for wholesale demolition of 35% of the City,”

Data from page 4 of the presentation: 33% loss of units.

It sounds like their strategy was successful.

Two observations: in the rendering of metrolink on page 14 – i’m curious why they put a bum complete with cart in the rendering.

also, the caption in the image of Forest Park says it is the largest functioning urban park in America. Is this true? and what
does that even mean?

The largest park thing is a St. Louis myth. Yes, it’s bigger than Central Park, but not by much, and NYC has two other parks that are larger. In my research a year or so ago I found a list at the Trust for Public Land, but it’s not available right now–I think this is a copy: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933260.html

Forest Park is down the list a bit–around #40, if you exclude state/regional parks within urban areas, #51 if you don’t.
While I can’t speak to every park on the list, the ones I’ve explored seem to be functioning. White Rock Lake Park (#36) in Dallas doesn’t have a skating rink, golf course, zoo, or museums within its boundaries, but it does have a lake big enough to sail a small boat on, and several nice playgrounds. We lived near Burns Park (#45) in North Little Rock when I was in high school, and it had several nice playgrounds, a kiddlie amusement park (now dismantled, I think), a golf course, a nice tennis center as well as free courts, playing fields, a campground, and access to the Arkansas River.

Of course, the argument could be made that both White Rock and Burns Park are technically suburban parks, although located within the city limits. Depends on definition, I suppose. Both are surrounded by housing on the outer edge of their respective cities.

According to the “Strategy” report, one objective was “to create a seamless network of parks,…” I’m not sure what is meant by seamless but here are my thoughts on Forest Park.
I love FP and quite grateful to FP Forever for their numerous accomplishments. Depending on the criteria, FP may be the largest but it may not. The one certainty is this: like other StL assets, the financial strains are growing faster than the tax base.
Also large chunks of FP are major road arteries which include a highway. As such, large parcels are divided and/or used for atypical purposes. Favored activities in this area of the park include auto racing, crashing and the creation of traffic, noise and pollution. Also true is the StL area lags its peers significantly in expenditures on parks per capita, acreage per capita and even percent of the city dedicated to parks. I’m just glad that over 100 years ago, some local leaders placed a higher priority on enjoying the outdoors than current leadership.

Interesting, somebody thinks StL is in the same league as NY and Chicago. Having lived in/visited these cities, they are not our peers. The annual budget for the parks in NY is $600 million, Chicago ($396) and StL is about $18 million. Of course those cities are much larger so let’s be fair and compare this data on a per capita basis: NY ($74), Chicago ($138), and StL is $52 per year. Of course the StL figure would be lower if tax paying county residents were included in the ratio.

In cities more like StL, total parkland as a percent of city land area places us in 8th with a percentage of 8.5 lagging behind such auto-centric cities as Cincinnati (13.9%) and Dallas (9.9%). Much more data is provided by the Center for Park Excellence and from the parks’ web sites.

This issue concerns much more than acreage as it is activities and the vitality which defines the attractiveness and urbanity of the parks,… but of course this is a matter of personal preference, not facts. Large sections of FP acreage are designed for non-park like activities and other sections are poorly managed and segregated. If StL wanted to regain world-class status, the New I64 plans would return the land to the park. This is a grand opportunity being wasted due to local attitudes. Obviously most locals prefer highways more than parks and that defines our priorities. The only seamlessness here is in the highways… neighborhoods and parks are disconnected.

As stated, I’m a real fan of FP, its amenities, and other outdoor venues in our area. However, let’s be real and accurate… attempts to use sophistry, bizarre claims and inaccurate portrayals of others’ comments is a waste of time and space. Facing the facts does not automatically make one anti-StL. Must leave now to be in Chicago and next time I’m in NY I’ll check to see if a highway has been built in Central Park. Things happen quickly there, but I doubt if New Yorkers would allow that to happen to such a valuable asset.

What makes great cities just that? Of course many things including the priority given to green space. A park-rich metropolisis helps us stay physically and mentally fit. Too bad locals here prefer obesity, diabetes and highways. Yes park assets need to be properly managed, fully funded and even Mayor Slay believes that “seamlessness”, whether with highways or parks, is an objective. Which one is “seamles” here?

To think that 8.5% is to be bragged about demonstrates the narrowness and lack of vision of locals. A great city like Paris has 450 parks, which is about 30% of its land, and aims for even more. Instead of handing out TIFs for more revenues, Parisian leadership campaigns on the pledge of more acreage for new parks. In Chicago, scientists found that each year trees removed over 440 tons of environmental pollutants. In StL will build more highways and parking lots so that we can give preference to those who create more, not less, pollution, noise, and accidents which creates the need for more emergency services. And then locals wonder why we continue to lose jobs, budgets are stressed, and our quality of life declines.

Just imagine the difference of real estate values in Paris or more closely Chicago, relative to StL, and perhaps even locals may pay attention to the obvious. Locals continue to elect myopic leaders who continue to give priority to self-destructive tendencies.