Restaurant & Patio May Be Coming To Tucker & Washington Ave

Earlier this month I posted an image of the micro-park, located at Washington Ave & Tucker Blvd, to Twitter & Facebook.  My caption was “Construction fencing up around pocket park Tucker & Washington Ave, plants & retaining walls removed.”

To fresh your memory, let’s go back a few months. My subject was the Arch from the 2009 All-Star game looking very shabby, thankfully it’s now gone.

Some thought the building owner wanted to extend their private parking lot toward Washington Ave. A building resident said the owner wants to build a patio for a future restaurant tenant.

You’ll recall five years ago the ground floor was occupied by a nightclub:

• Public Hearing Today On Citation Against Lure Nightclub
• Judge Rules Against Lure Nightclub

No restaurant has been named, but this could be very good for the area.  This land is privately owned, though some may say an easement was created over the years.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Keep National Holiday, Split on Name

An event celebrating Christopher Columbus was held in The Hill neighborhood on Sunday. On Monday it was pretty much business as usual, although Missouri state offices were closed and mail wasn’t delivered. People went to work, kids went to school. In St. Louis County government  “only the Circuit Clerk’s Office, Court En Banc and Probate Court” were closed, see holiday calendar.

Generally, the closer you are to a large Italian-American population, the more likely people will be out celebrating. Italians will be proudly marching in San Francisco, for instance. But Berkeley is giving its employees the day off, and has called this holiday Indigenous Peoples’ Day for 20 years. They’re holding a powwow. Hawaii calls the day “Discoverers’ Day” for its Polynesian community, but state offices there are open.  

Don’t think this Columbus Day defiance is some crunchy liberal thing, either. South Dakota calls October 14 “Native Americans Day” and state offices will be closed. Oklahoma state offices will be open, but the day is celebrated by each tribe. Most of the northeast corner of the state will celebrate Monday as Cherokee Day. But there are eight other tribes nearby, and each will attach their name to the celebration. (The Street)

But he discovered America, right? Wrong!

His four trips from Spain across the Atlantic — in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502 — did, however, change human history forever, ushering in what is known as the Columbian Exchange — the historic exchange of plants, animals, disease, culture, technology and people between the Old and New Worlds. The Old World, for example, got chocolate (and many other things) and the New World got wheat, along with bubonic plague, chicken pox, cholera, malaria, measles, typhoid, etc., which decimated the populations of indigenous peoples Columbus found living on the islands he “discovered.”

As for Columbus himself, he mapped the coasts of Central and South America but never set foot on North America, and died thinking he had discovered Asia. He ruled the Caribbean islands as viceroy and governor so brutally that, according to US-History.com: “Even his most ardent admirers acknowledge that Columbus was self-centered, ruthless, avaricious, and a racist.” (Washington Post)

Never set foot in North America? Yet it is a national holiday?

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday, largely as a result of intense lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic fraternal benefits organization. Originally observed every October 12, it was fixed to the second Monday in October in 1971. (History.com)

Here’s some good advice for parents…and everyone else.

 If your child comes home in the leadup to Columbus Day, like mine did, full of praise for the explorer’s bravery and vision, that’s a fine place to start, even if he didn’t really “discover” the Americas or figure out that the Earth was round. He was, indeed, brave.

But then explain that brave people can do bad things, and worse things can happen without any planning. That’s one of the lessons of history. (CNN: What to tell your kid about Christopher Columbus)

The Oatmeal does a good job explaining Columbus’ legacy.

In the Sunday Poll most agreed the 2nd Monday in October should remain a federal holiday, but readers were split on the question of the name. With one “other” answer suggesting a name change that means those who say keep the name tied with those who want to change it.

Q: Columbus Day should be…

1. Kept as is…a federal holiday honoring Christopher Columbus 16 [37.21%]
2. Kept as a federal holiday, but the name changed to Indigenous Persons Day 15 [34.88%]
3. Dropped as a federal holiday 9 [20.93%]
4. Other: 2 [4.65%]
   1. Make it a general holiday and let everyone take the day off
   2. Kept as holiday, but name changed
5. Unsure/No Opinion 1 [2.33%]

I personally think we should change the name to Indigenous Person’s Day, or something along those lines. The indigenous people of the Americas suffered greatly from various new arrivals — Columbus and those who followed him. It’s past time for us to accept our own tragic history.

As for everyone getting a day off — that doesn’t apply to service workers. Are we willing to close all stores, gas stations, hotels, hospitals, transit agencies, etc. for a day?

— Steve Patterson

Bus Rapid Transit Research Trip, Funding Assistance Still Needed

Later this week I’ll arrive in Cleveland — my first time in that city — I think. My 2006 bus trip to Toronto may have routed through Cleveland. I do know I’ve never explored the city.  My purpose for visiting it to ride their Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines — the HealthLine and 55-A-B-C: Cleveland State Line. We’ll spend just over 48 hours in Cleveland, our hotel is located on the HealthLine.

Cleveland has many similarities to St. Louis — such as losing more than half its peak 1950 population.  Pollution was a problem, in 1969 the Cuyahoga River caught on fire! Earlier this year, Cleveland police agreed to train officers to minimize racial bias and the use of excessive force.

A few months ago I started a GoFundMe page to raise money for this 2-day research trip to Cleveland. So far I’ve raised $200 of the $375 needed — a little more than half.

The rest of our vacation will be spent in Chicago.  There I’ll check out construction on Chicago’s first BRT line — the Loop Link:

Traffic-clogging construction has been underway for almost six months on Loop Link, the Emanuel administration’s experiment intended to speed CTA buses through downtown, yet the bus rapid transit service will be launched late this year with fewer features than originally promised, officials told the Tribune.

Even before the changes that threaten to reduce the benefits of the whole endeavor to ease congestion in the central Loop, the $32 million project was labeled “BRT Lite” by some transportation experts because its design lacked several elements that are key to helping buses replicate the service reliability of rail rapid transit. Those experts said making a strong first impression was vital to winning public backing for introducing bus rapid transit citywide. (Chicago Tribune – CTA bus rapid transit service to debut with fewer bells and whistles)

Cleveland’s HealthLine was given a 76/100 score by the Institute for Transportation & Policy Development — a Silver rating — the highest score of all BRT lines in the U.S. Other countries have higher ranked BRT systems:

Of the systems scored, 15 are classified as gold, 28 as silver, 41 as bronze, and 6 as “basic” BRT, indicating a minimum of BRT features, but not quite qualifying as best practice. Eight did not qualify as BRT. Furthermore, ITDP has identified 200 additional corridors that preliminarily meet the BRT basics.

The BRT Standard is an evaluation tool for world-class bus rapid transit based on international best practices. It is also the centerpiece of a global effort by leaders in bus rapid transit design to establish a common definition of BRT and ensure that BRT systems more uniformly deliver world-class passenger experiences, significant economic benefits, and positive environmental impacts. (ITDP)

Scores of other BRT lines in the U.S.

Bronze

• Los Angeles CA (Orange line) 65/100
• San Bernardino CA (E-Street) 63/100
• Pittsburgh PA (MLK) 56/100
• Seattle WA (SODO) 56/100
• Eugene OR (Green line) 55/100

Basic

• Pittsburgh PA (West) 51/100
• Pittsburgh PA (South) 50/100

So we have no “Gold” BRT lines, and only one “Silver”.  See the scoring criteria here, of interest to me is station spacing:

In a consistently built-up area, the distance between station stops optimizes at around 450 meters (1,476 ft.). Beyond this, more time is imposed on customers walking to stations than is saved by higher bus speeds. Below this distance, bus speeds will be reduced by more than the time saved with shorter walking distances. Thus, in keeping reasonably consistent with optimal station spacing, average distance between stations should not be below 0.3 km (0.2 mi.) or exceed 0.8 km (0.5 mi.).

Two-tenths to a half mile spacing sounds like excellent criteria to me, Cleveland’s HealthLine did this. It also got all three points for Pedestrian Access:

A BRT system could be extremely well-designed and functioning but if passengers cannot access it safely, it cannot achieve its goals. Good pedestrian access is imperative in BRT system design. Additionally, as a new BRT system is a good opportunity for street and public-space redesign, existing pedestrian environments along the corridor should be improved.

Regular posts will continue here during my vacation/research trip, plus I’ll be posting images from Cleveland & Chicago to Twitter & Facebook. Would love to raise the remaining $175 before the credit card bill arrives.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Columbus Day Should Be…

Tomorrow is a controversial federal holiday, so it is a good subject for a poll.

Please vote above, the poll will close at 8pm. Answers are presented in a random order, you can also make up your own answer.

No new post tomorrow, see you again on Tuesday.

— Steve Patterson

Panel To Discuss ‘Where We Stand 7th Edition: The Strategic Assessment of the St. Louis Region’ Report

Today’s post is about a potentially interesting panel discussion, from the email I received:

St. Louis Public Library – Central Library Auditorium
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 6:30–8 p.m.