Police Ticketing Valet Parking Violators

Walking to The Gelateria tonight I noticed police ticketing vehicles parked on the public street where valet parking signs were posted. This was on the northside of the 1200 block of Washington Avenue, across from places like Wasabi and Lucas Park Grille.

The time was 7:45pm. Of the 17 total spaces eight were empty, coned off to us regular folks. The remaining nine spaces were occupied with four of those having just been ticketed. Keep in mind no evening businesses operate on this side of the street.

If you’ve read my prior posts on this issue you know my view: a business should get two spaces in front of their door for the valet with all cars getting parked on private lots elsewhere. This leaves public spaces to the general public. This is only fair to those businesses that don’t operate valet service.

The city has no ordinance regulating valet parking. It is even questionable if the Street Department has the authority to issue the valet permits they have issued. The Treasury Dept, responsible for parking meters in the city, has indicated they have no policy.

I was tempted to park in one of those eight vacant spaces just so I’d get a ticket. It would give me a good opportunity to challenge the validity of the whole valet thing in court.

But the bigger issue is one of perception. Downtown St. Louis is hoppin’ tonight yet eight public spaces sit empty except for some orange cones. How will people visiting St. Louis from other cities or just from the ‘burbs take the idea of empty spaces but they can’t park there. I think they’ll find it frustrating and it will only compound pre-conceived ideas of downtown parking issues. We are killing ourselves here.

Copia, in the next block east, has wised up a bit. Rather than leave their entire block completely empty, as they have been doing, it looks like they’ve started parking their customer’s cars on the block. Looks much better but I’d still rather see the general downtown visitor get a fair shot at these spaces.

To the “leaders” downtown — I’m not going to drop this topic until it is resolved. Better get busy and earn those big salaries.

– Steve

How Wide is Too Wide?

Today I was at the intersection of Washington & Jefferson. Having a few extra minutes in my schedule and the desire to be outside (couldn’t take the scooter this morning) I decided to measure pedestrian crossing across Washington Ave on the east side of the intersection.

Care to take any guesses?

60 feet? Ha!

75 feet? Get real.

100 feet? Close.

A whopping 105 from curb to curb in the center of the intersection. Granted we don’t have many pedestrians in the area at this time. But with loft development in the immediate vicinity this will soon change. Or maybe it won’t? With crossings this wide and no separate pedestrian crossing signals this area may be doomed to being lifeless.

Decades ago the city undertook a massive program of street widening to accommodate the auto. It is time invested in reversing past mistakes.

– Steve

The Gelateria Rivals City Grocers for Most Significant DT Neighborhood Contribution

After speaking to a class at Webster’s Old Post Office campus last night I headed over to meet a friend at The Gelateria for what else — gelato! A steady stream of customers came in and out during the nearly two hours we hung out. Finally around 9pm I decided it was time to scoot home.

Today I’m back at The Gelateria having a beverage while checking email and updating my site (yes, they are a free wi-fi hotspot). With weekend hours until midnight they are the late night destination place downtown.

At the end of 2004 I proclaimed City Grocers the best new thing:

A grocery store as the best of 2004? YES! Nothing else will have such an impact on the future of downtown as a grocery store. Schnuck’s Markets development arm, Desco, is busy razing the Century Building for a f*cking parking garage – they can’t be bothered with serving the real needs of downtown. But, local developer Craig Heller and grocer Rance Baker decided to fill the void by opening City Grocers in the ground floor of Heller’s Bell Lofts. Heller, Baker and the staff of City Grocers are the urban heros of 2004!

While City Grocers’ role is not diminished by the new kid downtown they are challenged for the title of most significant neighborhood contribution. I’ll call it a tie for now. However, Joe Edwards’ bowling alley, Flamingo Bowl, may be the new king when it opens this summer.

If you haven’t checked out the grocery selection at City Grocers or the hazelnut gelato at The Gelateria you are missing out.

– Steve

[UPDATE 2/23/06 @ 12:30pm – Changed headline from “…most significant downtown business” to “…most significant DT neighborhood business.” This should help clarify that I am talking about businesses that contribute to the feel of a neigbhorhood and not a 9-5 CBD. Nobody decides to spend a Saturday downtown due to ATT/SBC (unless they are putting in OT). – SLP]

Moseley To Open Cinema Downtown

The Post-Dispatch’s Deb Peterson is reporting local theatre owner Harmon Moseley will open a theatre in part of the Jefferson Arms. For those that have lived here a while you’ll recall the various attempts to have a theatre downtown — behind the train shed turned parking lot at Union Station.

The lame idea that people would drive to Union Station to see a film was absurd. Of course they hoped people would take in dinner while they were there. Well, they thought wrong. Destination places tend to do well as long as they are the new & hot destination.

A theatre will do great at Jefferson Arms. Not so much because of the building (although it is interesting) but because of the location on Tucker at Locust. With the many downtown residents and the many more of us that like to visit friends downtown I can see it staying busy.

Moseley says he wants to “raise the bar” in St. Louis by including a full bar. Great idea as some recent movies require a good stiff drink to deal with the poor script and lackluster performances. They cannot all be Brokeback Mountain.

Now for a mini-rant…

In the last five years we’ve witnessed a virtually empty downtown transform into an interesting downtown. We are a long way from being 24/7 but each new enterprise helps. A neighborhood needs all those places necessary for daily life. A theatre isn’t exactly a necessity but I can’t imagine doing without the option.

Downtown leaders need to be marketing the businesses that have opened. They are doing a poor job.

For example, take the Explore St. Louis site from the Regional Commerce & Growth Association (RCGA). They list the following neighborhoods in St. Louis: Laclede’s Landing, The Ville, Lafayette Square, Soulard, South Grand, The Hill. Uh, hello, Downtown!!! You know, the place where your offices are and where we have this white elephant convention center and near bankrupt convention hotel.

The Loop does well because of the efforts of Joe Edwards and other merchants. They have no bureaucratic entity like the Downtown Partnership or Downtown Now to deal with. They get organize, decide what they are going to do and then do it. We kinda have that downtown already with the developers bringing in new business owners. Do we need the Partnership?

Maybe some of our independent filmmakers in town can put together a documentary on the politics behind the razing of the Century Building. Wouldn’t that make an interesting opening film in the Jefferson Arms?

– Steve

RIP: St. Louis Centre to become 600 Washington

Thankfully someone is doing the right thing with the near dead downtown indoor mall known since the early 80’s as St. Louis Centre. Pyramid is pulling the trigger and putting it out of its misery. It was a design failure from day one (see prior post).

From the BizJournal:

The $75 million redevelopment plan for St. Louis Centre, financed by National City Bank, includes 120 luxury condos priced between $155,000 and $800,000 or between $195 and $250 per square foot. The middle of the center will have the roof removed to expose a football field-sized open air atrium. Inward facing condos on the first floor will have terraces overlooking a swimming pool. A dog run and other amenities also will be included in the development.

On the ground floor, 80,000 square feet of retail will be available for between six and 12 stores or restaurants. Steffen said he has talked with several major national retailers about the space, including Whole Foods and Borders. “We’re looking at a lot of options,” he said. Pyramid Architects is the architect; Paric is the general contractor on the center redevelopment.

I’m not sure that a $155,000 condo qualifies as “luxury.” Typically condos in that price range qualify as “basic.” Sadly, even the larger units on the top end of the scale don’t meet my definition of luxury (commercial ranges, sub-zero fridges, steam showers with body sprays and rain shower heads, etc…).

I also like the “talking with” comment regarding Borders and Whole Foods, does that mean Pyramid keeps calling and they keep saying no? I’m not sure we have the density for either at this point but I’d love to see both. But, I think a large grocery store such as Whole Foods would do much better in the longer term near most of the residents and that is (or will be) west of Tucker. Rather than go with an outside chain store why not get a second location of City Grocers to open in the downtown area? Or another Straubs?

The only drawing I’ve seen of the proposal was a tiny one on the cover of the Journal’s print edition. Not much to go by but from what I can tell is looks OK. Nothing to write home about. It also appears a bit short. Here is what we do know:

St. Louis Centre will undergo a major facelift, including removing the green and white skin on the exterior and tearing down the skybridge that links the mall to the former Dillard’s building at 601 Washington Avenue.

Okay, what about the three other bridges? To the west is a bridge to the bank tower, to the east to a parking garage and another massive bridge to the soon to be Macy’s. The bridge over Washington Avenue is arguably the most important one to eliminate but the others are an issue as well.

The other thing is how the building is built over the sidewalk on three sides (north, west and south). Will this still be the case? What will be done to make the sidewalk less tunnel like?

And how do we get on-street parking around the building so the sidewalk is enjoyable for sidewalk dining? Seventh street on the west is only 3 lanes wide as it is. In fact, this is where cabbies wait before they pull up to America’s Center. Who will want to enjoy outdoor dining with a line of cabs idling?

It still amazes me how a $95 million dollar project could become virtually worthless 20 years later. It really shows the folly of thinking some big project is going to save downtown. The truth is it takes many smaller scale projects to build a neighborhood.

– Steve