Validate Your MetroLink Ticket

Metro has announced a change of policy regarding MetroLink ticket validation, effective today:

Starting Monday, January 7, 2013, all MetroLink tickets and 2-hour passes will need to be validated by customers prior to boarding the trains. The ticket vending machines will no longer automatically print the expiration time on these tickets or passes. This will allow customers the flexibility to purchase Metro tickets in advance of their trip, and then validate ticket when they are ready to use them. It also will eliminate confusion over whether or not tickets need to be validated. The following fares must be validated starting January 7.

• Ride Ticket
• Hour Pass
• Round-Trip Tickets (each ticket immediately prior to travel)
• Tickets from 10-Ride Ticket Booklets

I personally welcome this change, it allows buying a ticket before you need it.

The change is already in place.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Should The “Express” Library In The Old Post Office Be Closed?

Nearly a decade ago the developers of the Old Post Office needed more tenants lined up so they could get their project financing, allowing them to raze the historic Century Building across the street for a parking garage. The St. Louis Public Library came through with a lease for an “express” library just four blocks east of the Central Library building and the Century came down.

The Express was nice to have while the Central was closed for renovations but a cheaper temporary location could’ve been found, such as the still-vacant ground floor of the Library administration building at 1415 Olive.

The Century is long gone and Central reopened last month. Is the Express still needed? When does the lease expire? Should it be renewed?

The poll question this week asks if the Express, located four blocks from Central, be closed or kept open.  The poll is in the right sidebar.

Also, the Central Library first opened 101 years ago today.

— Steve Patterson

The ADA, Design Professionals, and Soap Dispensers

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 has many standards for design professionals to use when designing everything from public streets to stadiums to public bathrooms. It doesn’t seem to require a soap dispenser usable only with one hand.

I see this type of dispenser way too often, if it’s really short I can use it one handed. Most of the time I have to wash my hand without soap. Someone continues to select this dispenser even though not everyone can use it. I can’t find an ADA requirement that a dispenser be able to be used with one hand.

The point? Regulation isn’t perfect. Designers must think, not just meet the minimum requirements.

— Steve Patterson

Icy Sidewalks Hard To Navigate In Power Chair

Winter weather has arrived, my first post-stroke winter without a car. I can bundle up to deal with cold temperatures, but modest snow can leave me stranded at home or looking for alternate routes.

I frequently take the sidewalk along Olive (above) from 16th to 14th to reach transit options. I passed over the ice you see but it was very rough, not easy on my power chair. If we’d have had more snow I couldn’t have gotten through this way.

I’ll learn which sidewalks get cleared and which do not, altering my route to avoid problem areas.

— Steve Patterson

A Century of Crown Candy Kitchen

This year one of my favorite St. Louis places will turn 100 years old.

Crown Candy Kitchen was opened in 1913 by Harry Karandzieff and his best friend Pete Jugaloff. They brought their confectionary skills from Greece, along with a dream of providing a friendly family environment to enjoy their delicious creations.

I still recall my first trip to Crown Candy Kitchen in the fall of 1990. It was dark and  and I was intimidated by the neighborhood. The former 14th Street Pedestrian Mall seemed abandoned, although I’d soon learn numerous businesses were still there.

That first visit Andy Karandzieff, one of three brothers, was working behind the counter. Most of the time when I visit Andy is behind the counter, making the malts and Sundaes.

Sadly, last October one of Andy’s older brothers, Mike, died of cancer. Andy & Tommy continue the family business.

— Steve Patterson