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

PR: City, Police Department, Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, and Downtown Community Improvement District Announce New Safety Measures on Washington Avenue

The following is a press release:
—
 The City of St. Louis, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, and the Downtown Community Improvement District today announced new measures to ensure everyone enjoying themselves on Washington Avenue is safe.
 
After an almost two-hour meeting this morning in the Mayor’s office, Lieutenant Colonel Antionette Filla announced the following changes:
 
•     Additional foot patrol officers will be added to Washington Avenue on Thursdays through Sundays from 11pm to 4am for visibility and enforcement.
•     Additional traffic officers will help control the flow of traffic on Thursdays through Sundays from 11pm to 4am.
•       The St. Louis Police Department officers will be conducting random safety checkpoints. These checkpoints will be at varied locations in the Washington Avenue entertainment district and police will be checking for drivers’ licenses, vehicle registrations, seatbelt violations, etc.
 
Maggie Campbell, president of the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, announced the following changes:
 
•     Four Downtown CID Guides will be dedicated to Washington Avenue until 11pm.
•     The Downtown Partnership will add security cameras and monitor them.
•     A group of Washington Avenue stakeholders has formed an advisory group to make recommendations.
 
Jeff Rainford, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, announced the following:
 
•     There is no evidence that Sugar was responsible for the shooting Sunday night. In fact, calls for service at Sugar have dropped since restrictions were put in place last summer. Police say Sugar did have security in place Sunday night.
•     Sugar has voluntarily agreed to stop their under-21 nights in the interest of the neighborhood.  The Excise Commissioner will ask Sugar and 15 to restrict their customers to 21 and above late at night.
•     The City Counselor will draft legislation to create a curfew for people who are under 21 for Downtown.
•     The City Counselor will draft legislation to restrict underage people from being in liquor establishments late at night.
•     The City is considering legislation to require lighting and an attendant at parking lots and garages.
 
 
Jeff Rainford, Chief of Staff to Mayor Slay, Lieutenant Colonel Antionette Filla of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and Maggie Campbell, President of the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis will be available for individual interviews.
 
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Bike Rack Uncovered

On October 14th I posted about a bike rack hidden by cafe furniture (Sidewalk Cafes vs. Bike Parking)

I didn’t get around to emailing the post to anyone with the city. But I did send a pic to the Citizens Service Bureau via Twitter (@STLcsb) and they got it cleared quickly.

The sign is in the way but that is easily tossed aside.

– Steve Patterson

Update on Taxi Stand on Sidewalk

I’ve been blogging about the placement of a taxi stand on the sidewalk in front of the convention center for years, with few results. In January 2007 I posted this video of a taxi exiting the stand via the pedestrian crosswalk:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRusfBYJ-_8

That prompted the Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC) to add bollards at the two crosswalk locations across Washington Ave.  This prevented the taxis from exiting onto the crosswalk but it didn’t address the primary problem: the former sidewalk was now occupied by taxis.  Where should the pedestrians walk?

Pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk in front of America’s Center has increased since the old St. Louis Centre pedestrian bridge came down but it has still been hard to capture the problem in still images or video.  But Sunday after the Rams game the sidewalks were packed and it became easy to photograph & video the problem with parking taxis smack dab in the middle of the pedestrian sidewalk.

The following video is seven minutes of people walking around the taxis, not riveting but telling of the problem.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CQb8asXp3A

Happily I think a solution is near, I will meet with the CVC next week to see a drawing of their concept on how to return the sidewalk space to pedestrians. I’m finally optimistic about the situation.

– Steve Patterson

Gateway Arch Topped Out Forty-Five Years Ago Today

Forty-five years ago Saarinen’s Arch was completed:

“During a nation-wide competition in 1947-48, architect Eero Saarinen’s inspired design for a 630-foot stainless steel arch was chosen as a perfect monument to the spirit of the western pioneers. Construction of the Arch began in 1963, and was completed on October 28, 1965, for a total cost of less than $15 million. The Arch has foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground, and is built to withstand earthquakes and high winds; it sways up to 1 inch in a 20 mph wind, and is built to sway up to 18 inches. A Grand Staircase leads from the St. Louis levee up to the base of the Gateway Arch.” (NPS)

It would be a number of years before the landscaping around the Arch would be completed but for decades the site looked like this:

Of course before it was a parking lot it was 40 city blocks of the original St. Louis.

Five years from today we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Arch.  Civic leaders hope to show off revised access to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, I hope they succeed.

– Steve Patterson