What’s In Store For My Next 22 Years In St. Louis?

Will the next 22 years be just as interesting as the first 22?

It was 22 years ago today that I first saw the City of St. Louis, it was truly love at first sight. The city had seen better days long before I was born, but the potential sparked my imagination about what this place could become. Problems were everywhere.

Much was in the very recent past or even still to come:

• The former St. Louis Centre downtown mall was just five years old.
• Union Station had only been reopened as a “festival marketplace” for 5 years.
• The Gateway Arch parking garage was only 4 years old. Current plans call for it to be razed.
• The Gateway One office building, now known as Peabody Plaza, was also just 4 years old.
• The 14th Street Pedestrian Mall opened 13 years earlier in 1977, but had already failed. It would take the next two decades to remove the failed experiment.
• The Kiel Opera House was still open, although it closed months later.
• Hockey was played in the Arena on Oakland.
• Getting to/from the airport required a vehicle because we didn’t have light rail.
• Boatman’s & Mercantile were the biggest banks in town, both local with histories dating back to the 19th century.
• St. Louis was down about not having an NFL football franchise, the Cardinals had moved to Arizona 3 years earlier.
• Vince Schoemehl was elected to his third term as St. Louis mayor the year before (1989).
• The 1990 Census, taken months before I arrived, would show a population of  396,685.  By 2010 I’d witnessed a population decline of 77,391.  Not a small number in 20 years time, but the decade between 1970 and 1980 saw more than twice as many people leave: 169,435.
• Famous-Barr was the big local department store chain, part of Federated May Department Stores bought by Federated (Macy’s) in 2006. The Famous-Barr at Chippewa & Kingshighway had wonderful urban massing & form. It was razed to build a Home Quarters big box store. The HQ chain closed in 1999 before the store would be built.  Central Hardware was the local home improvement chain, it closed in 1997.

Yes I’m feeling nostalgic, I usually do on anniversaries.  But the real lesson here is people, and the places where they live, aren’t static. Change is a constant.  This isn’t inherently good or bad — it just is.

What changes will I be able to write about 22 years from now?

•  Continued population losses? Increases?
• St. Louis elected first female mayor?
• Several expansions of the local modern streetcar system connected the city (north, central, south) and the older inner-ring suburbs.
• Board of Aldermen reduced in size?
• St. Louis razed the old I-70 (elevated & depressed sections) downtown?
• City rejoined St. Louis County as one of many municipalities? City, County and municipalities merged into a unified regional government?
• Daily physical newspaper no longer printed?
• Earthquake hit St. Louis?
• Bill Haas elected to an office higher than the school board?
• St. Louis adopted a city-wide urban form-based zoning code?
• Tired & outdated Loughborhough Commons replaced with a dense mixed-use development?

I’m as excited about the future of St. Louis as I was 22 years ago. I’m less naive I was then but I’m forever an optimist, albeit a critical one.

— Steve Patterson

On-Street Parking On Washington Ave

Regular readers know I’m a fan of on-street parking. It forms a nice barrier between moving traffic and pedestrians. It also helps up road width. Linear parking is so much better than surface or structured sparking.  A few years back there were efforts by officials to keep the full curb-to-curb width of Washington Ave for moving vehicles. After some battles, parking is permitted on both sides between 10th-11th and the south side from 11th-Tucker (12th). In true St. Louis fashion, this is being addressed block by block rather than a well-planned coordinated effort.

The other evening I was pleased to see cars parked on Washington Ave. east of 7th. There are no signs prohibiting parking so it seemed to just happen organically. There’s also no parking meters.

If retail is going to open and survive on-street parking is a must-have.

— Steve Patterson

Most Mobility Scooters Too Long For Public Transit

We’ve all seen television commercials advertising how a mobility scooter can make life easier for adults with mobility issues:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rug8hy-sdlE

But ever notice they don’t show users on public transit? There’s a reason why, the length of these scooters means they aren’t ADA-compliant and thus have a hard time flitting in transit vehicles (both buses and trains).

Pride is a manufacturer of scooters and power chairs, many of their 3-wheel scooters are 40+ inches long and 4-wheel scooters are 47+ inches long. By contrast, my Jazzy 600 Powerchair, also by Pride, is just 36.5″ long. Why does this matter?

Several times this year I’ve seen others with long scooters trying to travel on the bus. These scooters barely fit on the lift and maneuvering them inside the bus is nearly impossible. Twice now I’ve had to move to give them the extra space to turn around. One wanted seats up on both sides to give him enough room to make a circle, he was visibly upset when the bus driver told him that wasn’t possible since one chair was already on board, my chair.

Similarly, on light rail they can’t get into the fold-up seat area without blocking the aisle. Turning around is also impossible when trains are crowded.

People are buying these devices not designed for use on public transit or in ADA-compliant bathroom stalls and getting upset when it proves difficult. If you, a friend, or a relative need a device to help with mobility consider the overall length if it’ll be used on public transit.

— Steve Patterson

Readers Wrong On Closest Primary Race

I know from experience that political polls generate fewer responses than other topics I cover, still this was a timely poll and I was curious.

\Here are the final poll results:

Q: Which race in the August 7th primary will be the closest:

1. MO US Rep Dist 1 (Dems: Britton, Clay, Carnahan) 26 [36.62%]
2. STL Treasurer (Dems: Wessels, Wahby, Jones, Boyd) 21 [29.58%]
3. MO US Senate (GOP: Akin, Beck, Steelman, Brunner, Memoly, Lodes, Poole, Maldonado) 13 [18.31%]
4. Unsure/no opinion 6 [8.45%]
5. MO State Senate Dist 5 (Dems: Wright-Jones, Nasheed, Mott-Oxford) 3 [4.23%]
6. MO Lt. Gov (GOP: Kulmann, Lager, Kinder, Carter) 2 [2.82%]

Readers clearly thought Russ Carnahan stood a chance against Lacy Clay. Voters yesterday proved otherwise.  With 97% of the precincts reporting Clay won with a 27 point spread — not even remotely close. So which race was the closest?

Lieutenant Governor (R): The Republican nomination for Lt. Governor turned out to be the closest of those on my list. Incumbent Peter Kinder defeated Brad Lager by just 2 points (44% to 42%). Only two readers correctly selected that option in the poll.

St. Louis Sheriff (D): Also by a 2 point spread was the democratic race for St. Louis Sheriff. Incumbent James Murphy defeated challenger Vernon Betts by 2 points (46% t0 44%). A third candidate, David Mosley, received 10%.  This race wasn’t in the poll but an option for a race not listed was, no readers voted for that answer.

US Senate (R): US Rep Todd Akin was 6 points ahead of John Brunner with 96% of the precints reporting. Sarah Steelman was just behind Brunner with 29%. Readers correctly thought this would be the third closest race.

St. Louis Treasurer (D): State Rep Tishaura Jones defeated #2 Ald. Alfred Wessels with an 8.6 point spread (34.92% to 26.31%). Ald. Jeffrey Boyd finished less than a point behind Wessels with 25.50% and Brian Wahby finished a distant 4th place with 13.27% of the vote. Readers thought this race would be the 2nd closest.

Missouri’s 5th Senate District: State Rep Jamilah Nasheed defeated incumbent Robin Wright-Jones by 11 points (41%  to 30%). State Rep Jeanette Mott-Oxford came in third with 29%.

My personal choices were among the winners and losers. In most of these races no candidate got at least 50% + 1 vote.  Instant-runoff voting would’ve been a nice option and it might have changed a few outcomes.

Note: This post was finished at 11:30pm Tuesday August 7, 2012. Final results may vary from those shown above.

— Steve Patterson

Transit Ideas Worth Copying From DART

Yesterday I posted about the visibility of the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) headquarters and store, today I want to share some other items I liked about their transit service on my short visit last month.

Posted Schedules for bus & train

Knowing when a bus or train will arrive is important information to know. Having this information available at the point where you’d catch the bus or train would be incredible. For many riders of DART they have such information, those of us that use Metro in St. Louis can only fantasize having.

Additional Cars Added to Light Rail

DART increased capacity of their light rail vehicles in a very creative way:

DART is updating its fleet of 115 light rail vehicles (LRV) by inserting a new, low-floor insert between the existing sections of the vehicle adding seating capacity and improving access through level boarding. The newly modified vehicles began service on June 23, 2008 with car #151.

Known as Super Light Rail Vehicles (SLRV) because of the greater length and added passenger capacity, the SLRV will seat approximately 100 passengers compared with 75 on the current vehicles. Standing passengers on the vehicle can nearly double the capacity. (DART)

They’ve had to modify stations, something we [may] not be able to do.

Bike Rack on Light Rail

Besides the easy boarding for wheelchairs I like the space to hang bikes in the newer low-floor cars. The seating in these is arranged facing inward rather than to the front or back, this gives more floor area and more standing room.

Final Thoughts:

It’s good to look to see what’s being done in other cities to see what might be good to use at home. I rode several light rail lines and two bus routes in my 30 hours in Dallas, I’d like to return with more time.

The bus vehicles were different than ours but no major surprises. The wheelchair lifts didn’t seem as robust as our lifts but I didn’t get dropped.

— Steve Patterson