My Transit Presentation at the Southwest Garden Neighborhood Meeting

Last night I spoke at the Southwest Garden Neighborhood meeting on the subject of transit.  My presentation was billed on the agenda as “Everything you wanted to know about using public transit but were afraid to ask.”  Not sure I lived up to that but here is what I presented:

• Transit is not just light rail, buses are the main component of the system
• Folks who’ve never ridden transit seem willing to try rail, but not buses
• Route and stops are easy to understand on rail, harder with buses
• Buses will get you more places, and closer to your start & end locations
• Bus fare is $2, a transfer is 75¢ extra
• Passes can be purchased for 2 hours ($2.75) , one day ($7.50), weekly ($23.50) and monthly ($68.00)
• Seniors and the disabled can get a discount.  A special ID must be obtained from Metro.
• Passes are valid on buses in St. Clair & Madison Counties in Illinois.
• Wait for any passengers exiting the front door before boarding, exit the rear door when possible.  Note the rear steps are steeper so some may find the front steps more comfortable.

The meeting was held at the senior center located at 5602 Arsenal, so I mentioned places that can be reached on the #30 “Soulard” bus along with the time to get there:

• Shrewsbury MetroLink 14 minutes
• Arsenal & Morgan Ford 5 minutes
• Grand & Arsenal 11 minutes
• Soulard Farmers’ Market 32 minutes
• 14th & Spruce 40 minutes
• Crown Candy 52 min

The SWGNA office is located at 4950 Southwest Avenue so I mentioned options via the #14 “Botanical Garden” and #95 “Kingshighway” buses.

• The Grove (Manchester & Tower Grove) – 11 minutes via #14
• Kingshighway & Chippewa 8 minutes via #14
• CWE Metro station 14 min via #95, 18 minutes via #14
• Kingshighway & Lindell via #95- 20 minutes
• Lambert Airport via #95 & MetroLink – 47 minutes

To drive the route to the airport it would take 20 minutes, 25 in traffic and is 15.7 miles. If you drove to catch a flight you’d need to consider the time spent parking at a long term lot and catching a shuttle bus to the terminal. Factor in the cost of gas, wear on your car and parking costs then transit might be a good option. Note that a late return flight might get you back too late to catch the last train.  I once had to exit the last train at the CWE station and catch a taxi the rest of the way home.

And finally I listed some options from Hampton & Southwest via the #90 “Hampton” bus.

• Hampton & Chippewa 5 minutes
• Zoo/Museum 16 minutes

Of course everyone would need to map their specific origins and destinations.  I find Google Maps far easier to use than printed maps and timetables.  Metro’s website was recently updated to incorporate Google Maps.

For many getting to work via transit may not be a viable option, but we take so many other trips in our lives outside of getting top/from work.

Unfortunately due to the rain I had to drive my car rather than take the #30 bus.  Thanks to Southwest Garden’s executive director, Dana Grey, for inviting me to speak.

– Steve Patterson

Chouteau Crossing Will Have Minimum Required Pedestrian Access Route

Chouteau Crossing is a green renovation of an old industrial structure at 2301 Chouteau Ave:

“Chouteau Crossing features wind turbines, geothermal heating and cooling, and a graywater system that handles the irrigation. The parking lots are illuminated by power stored from the rooftop PV array. It will be completed at the end of 2009, and 33,000 square feet have been taken already for lab space. The project is being developed by Green Street Properties.” (Jetson Green)

As I saw the work progress at the site I was concerned if provisions had been made for pedestrian access from Chouteau as all too often they are not (example).  My concern is twofold, 1) accessibility for disabled pedestrians and 2) increasing the walkability of the city for all.

St. Louis zoning and building codes don’t require any connection to the adjacent public sidewalk which is a horrible oversight on the part of the Board of Aldermen.  Walkable communities are appealing to most everyone, including those who always drive.  The city is naturally the most walkable part of the region based on the 19th century street grid, transit service and population density.  Shouldn’t we require new & renovated buildings to connect to the public sidewalk?

So I looked up Chouteau Crossing’s website to try to determine if a pedestrian route was planned.  I thought I saw a possibility but the site plan was so tiny I couldn’t be sure. I made an email inquiry to developer Green Street Properties.  I got a quick response from VP Brian Pratt saying they weren’t sure but they would check with their architect, Trenor Architects. A few days later I had my answer  – yes — and a detailed drawing of the route.

I’m glad one pedestrian access route has been planned, but this development is on a large site bounded by three public streets, has four auto entrances (three on Chouteau) and multiple tenant entrances. I’d like to see the zoning or building code require a pedestrian route from each public street and equal to the number of auto drives provided.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Have you read ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ by Jane Jacobs?

Fifty years ago Jane Jacobs published The Death and Life of Great American Cities, a harsh criticism of the state of urban planning at the time.  Jacobs was 45 when Death and Life was first published. Tomorrow marks five years since her death at age 89.

A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy, Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jane Jacobs’s monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities. (description via Left Bank Books)

I can think of no other book on urban planning and cities that continues to be debated decades later or have their own Facebook page.

The mistake made by Jacobs’s detractors and acolytes alike is to regard her as a champion of stasis—to believe she was advocating the world’s cities be built as simulacra of the West Village circa 1960. Admirers and opponents have routinely taken her arguments for complexity and turned them into formulas. But the book I just read was an inspiration to move forward without losing sight that cities are powerful, dynamic, ever-changing entities made up of myriad gestures big and small. The real notion is to build in a way that honors and nurtures complexity. And that’s an idea impossible to outgrow. (Metropolis)

The poll this week asks if you have read this book and your thoughts on it.  The poll is in the upper right corner of the site.

– Steve Patterson

A Quick Look At Baden’s Commercial Area

Baden is a neighborhood in far North St. Louis, it was a separate municipality prior to 1876.

Last December I was in Baden and snapped a few pics as I drove through the area.  I seldom go to Baden but I can’t help but smile each time I do, the scale of the buildings is so nice.

I have no clue how well the area is doing these days. Will need to spend more time in the area to better understand it.

– Steve Patterson

Gettin’ Downtown With Ozzie Monday April 25th

Monday (4/25/2011) from 5pm-9pm is your chance to meet former St. Louis Cardinal Ozzie Smith and raise money to assist an organization providing needed meals & services for the homeless and at-risk persons, proceeds benefit The Bridge.

Both Ozzie’s and The Bridge are neighbors of mine, I can even see the latter from my balcony.

– Steve Patterson