Parks Beautiful in Winter

Everyone loves our parks on perfect summer days but even in the winter they can be a place of beauty.

Which of our 100+ parks is your favorite in winter?

— Steve Patterson

Different Sidewalk Conditions on the Same Day

When you use a wheelchair to get to the store to buy groceries and pick up prescriptions snow-covered sidewalks are a major barrier. Thankfully we don’t get much snow and most downtown property owners do a good job clearing the sidewalks.

But problems remain, such as parking lot owners pushing snow onto sidewalks.

The sidewalk above is the same one I posted about recently. I even went to the offices of St. Louis Parking to complain but clearly they don’t care about pedestrians or the law.

This is why we must require a physical barrier like a fence or planter between parking lots and sidewalks. It’s required now but existing lots aren’t required to get updates nor does the city prevent the owners from illegally using the public sidewalk for snow storage.

The other big issue I encounter is curb ramps.

This situation is largely the result of a design flaw with how our curb ramps were designed  and installed. Rather than aligning with the standard pedestrian flow they’re at the apex of the corners, pointing toward the center of the intersections rather than the next sidewalk across the street.

I’ll just be very glad when we’re into Spring.

— Steve Patterson

Board of Elections Open Saturday March 2nd 9am-1pm

Are you one of those unable to get to your polling place on Tuesday? The St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners will be open Saturday March 2nd from 9am-1pm.

Presumably absentee voting rules apply:

1. Who is Eligible to Vote Absentee?

Any voter may vote an absentee ballot if he/she expects to be unable to go to his/her regular polling place on election day for any of the following reasons:

• Absence on Election Day
• Incapacity or confinement due to illness or disablity (sic)
• Religious Belief
• Employment as an election authority
• Incarceration provided all qualifications for voting are retained.

If voting on Tuesday will be a challenge I encourage you to vote Saturday.

— Steve Patterson

Bollards Needed to Protect Pedestrian Route Into Omni Majestic Hotel on Pine Street

I’m used to building entrances being oriented to auto driveways, such is the case at the Omni Majestic Hotel at 1019 Pine St.  This hotel does have a pedestrian sidewalk to get from the public sidewalk to the entrance.

The design flaw is that it’s too easily overtaken by vehicles and used as additional parking, as happened on the morning of February 12th when I attended a breakfast meeting in the restaurant off the lobby.

This SUV was here when I arrived and when I left an hour later.  Though the driveway and sidewalk are different colors, the fact they are level encourages drivers to park here.

A couple of tasteful bollards are needed to keep the walkway open, a link to this post will be sent to the Omni.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Either February 14th or 15th is OK For St. Louis’ Birthday

The poll last week on St. Louis’ birthday was a dud, not getting many responses:

Q: Do you think St. Louis was founded on February 14th or 15th on 1764?
1. Either is OK 30 [45.45%]
2. 15th 15 [22.73%]
3. 14th 10 [15.15%]
4. Unsure/no opinion 7 [10.61%]
5. Other: 4 [6.06%]

Here are the “other” responses submitted:

1. Don’t care
2. founded in 1904 and downhill ever since
3. who cares
4. Show us a copy of the manuscript so that we can make an intelligent guess!

I’ll try to get a copy of the original document so we can see if we think the date was the 14th or 15th.

— Steve Patterson