What Happened to Wireless Internet for Downtown St. Louis?

In 2003 St. Louis made national news when it announced it would be making all of downtown a free wi-fi zone. Everyone, myself included, as all a buzz about what this might mean. From a July 2003 AP story:

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The city of St. Louis is setting up what could be the nation’s largest, free, wireless Internet network in hopes of drawing techno-savvy businesses, tourists and residents to the downtown business district.
The city has teamed up with a local company, O2Connect, to offer the service in a 42-square-block area.

On Wednesday, a city crew mounted and activated the first of six antennae that will transmit an invisible, high-frequency radio signal that can be used to get online. The rest should be in place by month’s end.

“It’s symbolic that we’re really up-to-date downtown,” said Jim Cloar, president and chief executive of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership, a nonprofit group that promotes economic development and urban living.

“And it gives us one more sales tool. We’re just being more technologically proficient, being more customer-friendly and making downtown a better place to do business and a better place to visit, either as a conventioneer or just as a (tourist),” he said. “You won’t have to worry about having the capability to stay in touch, either by e-mail or using the Web.”

City officials said the project should help St. Louis build a high-tech reputation — and business sector.

“The mayor’s expectation is that we will make St. Louis a competitive global technology center,” said Chris Dornfeld of the city. “It’s a great challenge, but when you look at the breadth and density of technology in St. Louis, you can quickly realize it is achievable.”

Locally the St. Louis Business Journal ran a similar story:

By late July, O’Leary [O2Connect’s Tim O’Leary] said he plans to have wireless nodes, which are antennas, installed on several traffic lights in the city. The nodes will run from the riverfront along Broadway west to the mayor’s office and up and down Washington Avenue, all of which will encompass about 72 square-blocks. Broadway will be the east border, the west side of Tucker Boulevard will be the west border, Washington Avenue will be the north border and the south side of Market Street will be the south border.

Though the signal from a node likely will reach about 1,500 feet, O’Leary said that would vary because the signal is like a radio frequency, which can change from day to day. The Internet service should be accessible by the end of July.

O2Connect is providing the services and the equipment to install the nodes free of charge to the city. The contract was approved in June. Chris Dornfeld, chief of information officer for the city, said he sees the service O2Connect is providing as a great step for downtown St. Louis.

“It helps position downtown and the city of St. Louis as a technology leader,” Dornfeld said.

So where are we today? The city’s website of development projects shows the project as in the planning stages:

O2Connect is providing free wireless internet access in the downtown area, between Broadway on the east, Tucker on the west, Washington Ave on the north and Market Street on the South. Wireless access for personal laptops and PDAs will be provided through nodes installed on traffic lights, which should provide signals for up to 1,500 feet. Access was to be made available during 2003. O2Connect is reported to be providing this service with no charge to the city or to internet users.

While in planning it also indicates above that “access was to be made available during 2003.” The page shows it was updated in July 2005. So what gives? I made inquires to O2Connect, the Mayor’s office and to the Downtown St. Louis Partnership. Jim Cloar of the Partnership, despite being out of town, sent a very prompt response:

Good question, Steve. It was being set up by a private entrepreneur who offered it to the City. I know that it was established at about 5 locations (two at Kiener Plaza and three along Washington Avenue, as I recall. The taller buildings blocked out service in the core. I don’t know what happened but I’ll will be happy to check when I get back in town. Some of my counterparts in other cities have suggested that growing concerns about security and increased availability at individual sites have lessened the “demand”. I’ll see if that had relevance here.

I’ve attempted to connect to the internet at Kiener Plaza a number of times. I always manage to get a network connection but it has no internet behind it, making it useless. I will have to try along Washington Ave to see if I get anything. I personally think the idea of having wireless running around the downtown streets would be helpful. As it is, the only free wireless place I know of in that entire area east of Tucker is the St. Louis Bread Co.

I will continue to inquire with Mr. Cloar and others about what happened to this agreement and what is being planned. In the meantime, share your thoughts on downtown wireless internet. Good idea past its prime? Something we should keep working on?

– Steve

Comprehensive Planning Process for Soulard Neighborhood on Sept 26th

From Ald. Phyllis Young:

Soulard has changed significantly through the 30+ years I’ve lived here. The changes that have occurred have taken place without a thorough planning process, but they generally have been positive for the neighborhood. The efforts of small groups of concerned and committed individuals have paid off, resulting in changes such as the historic code revision. The code revision group spent much time and effort writing a thoughtful and sensitive document that has guided development on a case-by-case basis. The Soulard Housing Corporation made up of neighborhood residents, initiated a plan for the renovation and infill of the 800 block of Allen many years ago when that block was the eyesore of the neighborhood. Their vision is reality today, and their efforts continue. Each group has established a goal and worked to achieve it. All these have made Soulard the neighborhood that it is today.
A much larger planning process is in the works. In 2005 the City of St. Louis Planning Commission adopted the Strategic Land Use Plan for the entire city. This was the first time since 1947 that the city had taken a look at the uses of property, the areas where opportunities were available for redevelopment, those areas that should be preserved, and which areas should be commercial/retail or business/ industrial. You can check out this plan at stlcin.missouri.org/landuse. Of course Soulard was included in the plan.

Now it is time to take the next step and look at a comprehensive planning process focusing on the future of each neighborhood, including Soulard. Through this effort I hope that we can establish our goals for the future of our neighborhood and devise a plan of action to achieve those goals. We’ll also need to prioritize the goals and identify the resources needed to achieve them. We’ll need to look at zoning issues that exist in the neighborhood and address those. Parking is always an issue that must be addressed if there’s a need/desire for more retail. There are urban design issues in our neighborhood such as signage, public art, streetscaping, lighting, and many others I’m sure you’ll add.

The planning process will be led by the City of St. Louis’ Planning Department. Rollin Stanley, a Soulard resident, directs this department and has led many of these efforts throughout the city. He and his staff are gathering data that will be used to help make decisions during our sessions. The initial planning meeting will be Tuesday, September 26th. It will be held at St. Peter and Paul’s hall located at 816 Allen (the entrance is from the parking lot at 8th and Allen). The meeting will start at 6:30 PM so come and participate in planning the guidelines that will be followed in the next phase of our neighborhood’s development.

Soulard represents one of the 12 neighborhoods that is at least partially in the 7th Ward. While I am glad to see Ald. Young working with our city’s talented planning staff I wonder when we will see it spread to other areas. I know many in the downtown section of the 7th ward feel a bit ignored by their alderwoman.

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, September 26th at 6:30pm. I’ll be there after class to check it out.

– Steve

Kevin McGowan Calls Me From the Dog House

This morning I received a phone call from developer Kevin McGowan of McGowan|Walsh. He was calling, as you might guess, in response to the flack over a pet ban in the loft building in which he and other members of his family live (see prior post). For the last week he has been in a PR doghouse.

I’ve known Kevin for some time now and we worked together last year on a team looking at the Gateway Mall. It was nice to have the opportunity to talk with him again. He appreciated my prior post on this take as I presented a “rational” perspective as did some of the comments from others.

Kevin wanted to set the record straight:

M|W projects have condo rules similar to most condos downtown or otherwise that allow for pets but place limits no pounds and number of pets. Once the owners take control of the association they are free to change the rules as prescribed in the binding agreement.

His building contains 13 residential units with only four of those being owned by a member of the McGowan family.

The vote to change the rules in the building was “nearly a year ago” and existing pets were grandfathered in. Kevin says he was not present for the vote.

Kevin said he is not an officer in the association now nor was he at the time of the vote.

The issue of late has been that a couple of owners wish to sell and claim the no-pet policy is hurting their ability to sell their lofts. Kevin said the requests to change the policy have been too numerous.

Finally, he says, he was so “exacerbated” by the repeated requests he recently sent off the email trying to put an end to the issue. Again, he is not an officer in the association but just one of the 13 owners.

He and his wife Erin, before having children, had a dog for a good five years. I didn’t ask what they are going to do when their kids want a pet dog.

But I couldn’t have him on the phone and not challenge him. I said it seems like much of the debate is over dogs in common areas as well as dogs barking which can be heard in adjacent units. He agreed. So I asked about having a single cat. I offered that a vote to consider keeping a ban on dogs but allow a single cat might appease the owners trying to sell units. He didn’t seem to have considered that option but was not optimistic they’d consider such a compromise. The other thing, we didn’t discuss, is why not have another vote on the issue of pets in the building? If the majority still feel it is a sound policy it will remain. Obviously an association shouldn’t consider and vote on the same subject every month but at some point if an owner asks to reconsider a policy it should be voted on.

The other thing we discussed was a dog park. It is common knowledge that Kevin was working on trying to get a dog park in Lucas Park for a while. Turns out the city has a policy that prohibits more than 30% of any designated park being separated and used for a dog park. Also, Larry Rice objected to park space being taken away from the homeless. But, he says, he is still working on a dog park because it is good for business. To that end he is looking to set up a non-profit to lease vacant land from the city to use as a dog park where owners could pay a small fee to help cover maintenance. The idea being that non-park land could be used 100% for a dog park. He is firmly convinced a dog park is good in helping attract new residents.

Kevin mentioned one person that, if we had a dog park, would buy a loft downtown: Mayor Francis Slay. He said, “Francis is a big dog lover.” The issue is many dog owners, the Mayor included apparently, want a place where they can take the dog off the lease and let the dog be a….well, a dog. Kevin says Mayor Slay and his wife would move downtown if we had a dog park. You heard it here first, not in Deb Peterson’s column.

A couple of other topics came up in our 45-minute conversation. As I had previously posted, McGowan|Walsh is offering free scooters with the purchase of a loft in the Motor Lofts and Packard Lofts. Kevin says they are now extending this to all McGowan|Walsh projects so it includes the GEW building on Washington at Jefferson and the Ballpark Lofts in Cupples Station adjacent to Busch Stadium. Their first order of nearly 200 scooters are expected to arrive in December and they just placed a second order of almost 300 more scooters. Wow, that is a lot of scooters! Kevin says he really enjoys his scooter. Blue Boat Designs on Washington Avenue was given a scooter from M|W and one of the staff, Jon Carlson, told me the other day he is having a blast riding it to work from home near Tower Grove Park. Kevin was excited about the idea of seeing all these scooters running around downtown.

I just couldn’t let him go without once again bringing up the issue of excessive valet parking downtown. Kevin is an owner in the building where one of the biggest offenders, Lucas Park Grille, is located. His brothers, but not him, are partners in that restaurant. Kevin generally agreed that the valets may be taking too much space and as more and more storefronts become occupied by retailers needing convenient parking for their customers this issue is not going away on its own. He suggested I talk with Ald Lewis Reed on this subject. Good idea as Reed is up for re-election in March so perhaps the matter of valet parking along Washington Avenue can become a campaign issue for him or a challenger.

– Steve

Hosteling Organization May Actually Open a Hostel

For decades the Gateway Council of Hostelling International holds the hugely popular annual fundraiser, the Moonlight Ramble. Each year thousands help raise money for a group whose mission includes youth travel yet does not operate a local hostel. I was critical of this practice last year (see post). It looks as though the group is closer to having a local hostel:

After 90 days of “due diligence,” Gateway Council Board of Directors has entered into a period of negotiation with the University of Missouri at St Louis. Negotiations center around office space, room cost, liability, signage, and renewability of lease. The Gateway Council is interested in creating a kitchen and dining space so the communal nature of hostelling is enhanced; University of Missouri at St Louis is receptive to this idea. The University is also making minor repairs and is painting all rooms.

This is good news indeed.

For years St. Louis has had a single hostel, the Huckleberry Finn Youth Hostel, on the edge of Soulard and thus near downtown. This hostel was previously listed as an official International Hostelling location but a few years ago the owner decided to stop paying the fee for the listing. It was never owned or managed by the local chapter, being privately owned instead. The hostel gets very mixed reviews. At roughly $20/night it is the only affordable choice for many, in particular those dependent upon public transit.

Back to the Gateway Council. They’ve been raising money for years although reports show much of what is raised is actually spent on hosting the fundraiser itself. But it looks like they are getting closer to opening their own hostel in the region. A location at UMSL has both good and bad implications (as would most sites). On the plus side it is facility that was designed as a dorm and is convenient to MetroLink light rail. On the down side it is really a a fair distance from downtown.

Many hostel travelers may arrive via train or bus so transit is very important. Getting from the current bus station to MetroLink is not the easiest although it is just as easy, if not easier, as getting to the hostel in Soulard. Once the new multi-model station opens the bus and train will be in one location right at the Civic Center MetroLink/MetroBus station on 14th. From Metro’s schedules it appears to be a 20 minute ride to UMSL South. To anyone arriving via Lambert Airport this hostel location would be ideal. The real problem is as people are sightseeing downtown and throughout the city they’ll have to go a long way to get back to their rooms. Perhaps that is the price they must pay for cheap accommodations?

A hostel on Delmar east of the MetroLink station would be a perfect location. With transit nearby and many cheap eats in the Loop we could really impress young travelers that one day may return as new residents. Obviously the local organization must work with the budget they’ve got and properties as they become available.

Last night the annual Moonlight Ramble was held in downtown St. Louis. At 10pm cyclists were arriving en mass for the midnight start. It is truly a great event. Hopefully the local organizers will realize increasing proceeds so as to be able to fully fund a local hostel.

– Steve

PS – For those who like to correct spelling please make note: My spell check and the dictionaries I consulted all list the spelling as hosteling — one L. However, the official organization uses two Ls, hostelling. You’ll see it spelled both ways above as I spelled their name as they list it and per the dictionaries otherwise.

Loft Living: Accommodating Dogs and Their Owners

The gossip columnist for the “worst newspaper”in America, Deb Peterson, is reporting local developer Kevin McGowan doesn’t think dog is man’s best friend:

FAUX FRIEND: Kevin McGowan of McGowan Walsh developers recently sponsored a Q&A session on downtown development at Copia on Washington Avenue. Many of the questions that night were about dog parks. McGowan expressed his support for them while maintaining that the city won’t approve one. Now for the rest of the story. Seems that McGowan himself is anti-pet. He recently sent an e-mail around to residents of his building at 1221 Locust Street expressing his views on pets. “Most of you are aware I am not a pet owner and in general I find them dirty, destructive and annoying. Because of pets I do not own there is fur on the elevator, in our staircase, in our basement, in my car, in my house and occasionally on my suits upon exiting the building.” The note goes on to say that pets are dangerous and that he wants to keep the building pet-free. Some residents are fuming because they say McGowan passed the no-pet policy for the building while a resident was out of town, forcing her to get rid of a new puppy she had brought home with her.

I made some inquiries today and got some diverse views. One person, not affiliated with the McGowan family or the building, said the building’s board did in fact have a legit meeting and passed a no-pet policy. A pet ban is not that uncommon for condo buildings, loft or otherwise, as people have concern about noise and such. It is also not uncommon for boards to meet while someone is out of town or has a conflict. It is typical for a board to post any issues up for vote in advance and then to have provisions for someone that cannot attend to give their proxy to someone else to vote in their place.

I personally would never buy into a building where a single family owned a majority of the units. As with all condos the board may not do things you like and it may require you to challenge their decision legally or simply sell and move. This happens in tightly controlled subdivisions as well so don’t think this is a city thing. It comes down to creating legal entities to control common areas and how do the various owners reach mutual decisions.

As for dogs, I’m not a big fan. But they are growing on me. I kinda view them like kids — I like other people’s kids & dogs but I don’t want either for myself. With a goldfish or cat the pet owner (caretaker really) doesn’t have any interaction with neighbors as a result of the pet. But, the dog owner must go out and walk that dog which is an opportunity to meet and talk with others on the sidewalk. They add to the vibrancy where ever they may be, a very good thing. Well, so long as they pickup after the dog.

And downtown you see people walking dogs all the time. This creates problems of disposal of waste, where to leave the dog when going into a store and such. Very good problems to have downtown! For many the solution is in creating a dedicated dog park. But where? I’m told the Serra sculpture is serving as a default dog park already. I joked with one downtown dog owner today about welding on some items to hold bags for poop patrol.

With lofts nearly to the river, adjacent to Busch stadium and then all the way to Jefferson I don’t know that a single dog park is the solution. I think we need to make downtown dog friendly. Restaurants and stores might include a metal bar for wrapping up a leash near the entrance. Throughout downtown we can have “doggy bags” near trash cans. Make downtown one big dog park.

– Steve