Poorly Executed Pedestrian Access Around St. Louis Federal Reserve

Yesterday I posted about the challenges crossing 4th Street at Locust (Crosswalks & Curb Ramps Needed at 4th & Locust) to get to the Federal Reserve.  Today I want to share problems with crossing Broadway (5th) at Locust and St. Charles at Broadway to reach the Federal Reserve.

The situation, above, differs from 4th in that here a crosswalk exists on the pavement.  However, there is no curb ramp on the far side. Like 4th, this was done when the Federal Reserve took over this block of Locust for their pedestrian plaza.

From the Post-Dispatch on December 11, 2003:

A $13 MILLION PLAN to restore the Security Building took an important step forward — and so it seems did a proposed $90 million investment by the 500-pound gorilla next door, the Federal Reserve. … The designs for the Security Building, by the way, revealed another interesting transformation: a Fed plan to replace Locust Street between Fourth and Broadway with a pedestrian plaza.

So the Federal Reserve spent $90 million but they couldn’t include a couple of curb ramps in newly poured concrete?  Unacceptable!  But in November 2005 the Downtown St. Louis Partnership (now Partnership for Downtown St. Louis) gave the Federal Reserve an award for the plaza.

There is one spot where both ends of the crosswalk have curb ramps, shown above.  Recently the Federal Reserve completed their expansion, which included a new sidewalk along St. Charles St.

On the right you will see a curb ramp at the corner of the new work by the Federal Reserve.  Not sure where someone is supposed to go from there.  The detectable warnings direct the blind into the middle of the intersection.  I suppose someone could cross Broadway since an exit from a parking garage could serve as a dangerous curb ramp on this side of Broadway.

When trying to cross St. Charles there is a curb ramp on this side of the street, between the building corner and the traffic signal.  However, the ramp for the other side is way out at the corner, hidden from view by the blue & yellow boxes.  Brilliant!  I guess for only $90 million you can’t expect much?

Keep in mind that others, such as parents with strollers, use curb ramps.  These issues are personally frustrating to me but they make St. Louis less than ideal for all pedestrians.

– Steve Patterson

PR: City Residents Offered Free Firewood

The following is a press release:

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The City of St. Louis Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry will offer free firewood to City residents starting Monday, November 8, 2010 on the Lower Muny Opera parking lot in Forest Park.

The wood is available most days after 3 p.m. Monday-Friday.

All wood comes from the removal of dead or damaged trees from City streets and parks. Daily wood supply is not guaranteed and the wood will vary with size and species when left on parking lot for citizens. It is offered on a first come, first served basis. This process ends during the first week in March.

Due to park restrictions, no commercial vehicles or trailers are permitted.

“This is an excellent cost-saving opportunity for both the City and City residents,” said Commissioner of Forestry Greg Hayes. “The City avoids having to dispose of the wood and City residents have a chance to pick up free firewood.”

For more information or questions, please call the Forestry Division at 613-7200.

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Crosswalks & Curb Ramps Needed at 4th & Locust

Pedestrians trying to cross 4th Street at Locust face an interesting combination of ramps and signals.  Neither side has a marked crosswalk.  On the north side of Locust there is an older ramp on the east side of 4th but when the St. Louis Federal Reserve didn’t bother to include a ramp on the west side.

The south side of Locust has the opposite problem, a ramp on the west side but not one on the east.  This side, however, does include a pedestrian signal.  However, a crosswalk is badly  needed here because motorists on the one-way street don’t know where to stop when they get a red light.  This is a dangerous intersection for the able-bodied pedestrian and impossible for the disabled pedestrian.

St. Louis vacated Locust between 4th & Broadway (5th) but nobody ensured that pedestrians could get to/from this one-block pedestrianized street.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Will St. Louis Voters Repeal The Earnings Tax in April 2011?

Tuesday Missouri voters approved Proposition A by a wide margin.

Yes 1,294,705 [68.4%]
No 597,920 [31.6%]
Total Votes 1,892,625

As a result, Missouri cities no longer have the option of an earnings tax.  The two cities with an earnings tax, Kansas City & St. Louis, must hold a vote in the Spring to see if voters wish to keep the earnings tax.  If they vote to eliminate the earnings tax it would be phased out over a 10 year period.  If kept, another vote must take place 5 years later, in 2016.

Voters in both cities voted against Proposition A, although not as strongly in Kansas City

St. Louis:

YES 28,251 [31.84%]
NO 60,473 [68.16%]

Kansas City:

YES 37,264 [44.85%]
NO 45,826 [55.15%]

The poll question this week seeks to find out what you think will be the outcome of this vote in St. Louis.  The answers have two parts — will Rex Sinquefield fund the campaign to repeal the earnings tax and will we keep the tax or repeal it?  The poll is in the upper right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson

North 14th Street Finally Reopened To Vehicle Traffic

In March 1977 the North 14th Street Pedestrian Mall opened with high expectations.  However, the high expectations quickly turned to high vacancy as merchants closed up shop. Retailers have long known the importance of providing some on-street parking in front of their establishments but over 100 pedestrian malls had been built in North America by 1977 and St. Louis didn’t want to be left out of the trend.

Just fourteen years later, in 1991, the mall was nearly dead.  It had already been this way for a while.  It had, perhaps, one good year of life.

In July a celebration was held to mark the completion of the street but delayed streetlights meant the city wouldn’t permit vehicles.  Prior to the mall the sidewalks were narrow and broken.  After the mall there was far more sidewalk than pedestrians.  Today the street offers a balance between pedestrian & motorist. With construction time, North 14th was out of balance for 34 years, a very long time when the failed urban planning experiment prevented organic revitalization of the street.

– Steve Patterson