Four Flavors for the St. Louis Riverfront

Tuesday night St. Louisans got a first glimpse at four concepts for remaking the drab riverfront. It was a long meeting with much information to take in. My first plan was to run home and write a late night post. Instead, i decided to see if my initial reactions would still hold true after thinking about them for a couple of days. Most did.

The design team has posted a 7.9mb PDF version of Tuesday’s presentation. Throughout this post I will make references to page numbers in this doccument. Before getting into the specific proposals I want to discuss some background and basic assumptions of the design team. First is a prior post of mine from July – click here to read my earlier thoughts.

The National Park Service owns the Arch and grounds and is not open to changes. This leaves Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd at the base of the grounds and the cobblestone bank as areas open for redesign. The peaceful beauty of the Arch and its grounds is a big draw — roughly 4 million visitors per year. Yet the lack of anything either contemplative or dynamic on the actual riverfront means the area remains dead unless a special event is planned such as Fair St. Louis on the 4th of July weekend.

The four concepts are (p52):

… Continue Reading

Observations and Traffic Counts on St. Louis’ Washington Avenue

Continuing my quest to get parking on Washington Avenue I decided to do a quick count of traffic on three blocks of Washington Avenue during today’s rush hour. My methodology was pretty simple and incomplete.
… Continue Reading

Downtown Partnership’s Jim Cloar Takes Action to Keep Parking off Washington Avenue

Nearly two weeks ago the Mayor’s blog reported that a new central business district traffic study was being performed. The announcement came two days after I posted that we needed parking on Washington Avenue East of Tucker.

Today Downtown St. Louis Partnership President Jim Cloar included the following in his weekly notes to members:

The stupidity of his statement is so infuriating. Where does one begin?
… Continue Reading

East Washington Avenue: To Park or Not to Park?

This evening on the way to the First Friday Gallery and Design Walk downtown I couldn’t help but notice cars parked on Washington Avenue East of Tucker. This is special because the street has neither parking meters or no-parking signs. So is it allowed or not? Back in December I did a post on this streetscape and had this to say about parking:

Someone made the foolish decision to not have parking on Washington Avenue East of Tucker. This decision is going to have a negative impact on the friendliness of the street by having four lanes of fast moving traffic going by you.The street will seem dead – parked cars have an amazing ability to indicate that something is going on. Can you imagine sitting on one of those benches near the curb line knowing cars, SUVs & buses are going to be whizzing by just a few feet away? Not me!

As a result, these blocks will not be as successful as the blocks to the West. Just imagine the Loop without on-street parking and four lanes of traffic. Yes, you could get through during rush hour much easier but that shouldn’t be the goal. Think of Euclid without street parking – it would be boring and lifeless.

So I was excited to see people parking along this stretch of Washington Avenue. It looked and felt so much better. But later what did I spot attached to the lamp posts with string? No-parking signs. At some point after 6:30pm the city came by and attached temporary “no-parking tow away zone signs.” They weren’t ticketing or towing. They were simply trying to keep the area lifeless and sterile.

Everyone I’ve talked to about this points the finger in one place – Carole Moody, President of The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. The CVC thinks they need four lanes of traffic to support their conventions. I’m not quite sure why they need that much traffic capacity, can they offer anything to support this need? It seems to me visitors come to a city to see an exciting city, not a blank four lane street. Urban street life will not prosper on Washington Avenue without on-street parking. If you agree with me please send CVC President Carole Moody an email via administrative assistant Bonnie Abler.

And look for a post next week on the St. Louis Convention strategy and the convention hotel that is not living up to expectations.

– Steve

Two Separate Worlds

The last two nights I’ve spent downtown. Thursday night was the opening of UMA, a trendy home accessories store, on the ground floor of the Louderman Lofts building. Great stuff and the party was well done. Friday night was the gallery walk after a light dinner at Lucas Park Grille. With new furnishings and accessory stores opening on nearly every corner and every week downtown is quickly transforming from a business district into a full fledged neighborhood.

Both nights we bumped into friends at the galleries, at the stores and simply on the sidewalk. This is real folks, it is happening.

Today a friend and I drove out to the suburbs to shop at the new Trader Joe’s and our usual stop at Whole Foods. Trader Joe’s was asking for zip codes when I checked out. I told them 63103. I lied. I told them the downtown zip rather than my zip to help get a store downtown in the future.

The more time I spend downtown walking along increasingly interesting sidewalks the more I find the suburbs unacceptable. From the strip mall containing the Trader Joe’s you can see the strip mall containing the Whole Foods. The two prior nights I walked greater distances yet it didn’t feel like a bother. But out in the burbs it is just inconceivable to walk from one strip mall to the next.

First of all, it is dangerous. For those of you that down know this part of St. Louis the strip mall containing the Trader Joe’s is set back from the main road behind some office buildings and a drainage canal. Sidewalks exist in a few places – mostly lining Brentwood Blvd. that separates the two strip malls. But the two are not connected except for road. Downtown with short blocks and interesting storefronts is very pedestrian friendly while the burbs are hostile to anything except the car.

When we get a Whole Foods, Wild Oats or Trader Joe’s downtown (or elsewhere within the city limits) I don’t think I’ll have a need to visit our suburbs. It offers nothing else I need or want.

Steve