Fourteen years ago today the new Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse opened in downtown St. Louis, a year later was the terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The 9/11 attack meant immediate security changes around the year-old courthouse, these temporary fixes remain with us today. The big change involved Jersey barriers — lots of them.
Looking north on 11th toward Walnut you see the west side drop-off area is blockedLooking West on Clark toward 11th, at right you can see concrete benches designed to act as barriers.
This courthouse was designed well after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, yet despite the built-in efforts to protect the building, the Jersey barriers have been in place for all but the first year. I’d like to see a different solution, something that looks less temporary.
The labor of many built the building that opened 120 tears ago today: St. Louis Union Station. This 1894 station replaced the original St. Louis Union Station, which was located six blocks east, at 12th & Poplar. The original had opened 19 years earlier, on June 1, 1875
The beauty of Carl Milles’ sculpture with Union Station in the backgroundWindow detail inside the Grand Hall at Union Station
After millions passed through this station over 80+ years it closed. In ruins it was the location of the fight scene from Escape from New York (1981). Last Friday, August 29th, marked 29 years since Union Station reopened as a festival marketplace. Basically a mall under the train shed. New owner are replacing the failed mall with convention/meeting space to support the hotel. See StLouisUnionStation.com for more information.
August 11, 2014Downtown, Featured, RetailComments Off on Downtown’s Grocery Store Turns Five Today
Culinaria, the grocery store downtown, is five years old today. Downtown’s previous grocery store, City Grocers, was open almost five years before Culinaria opened.
Schnucks family members cutting the ribbon on August 11, 2009
A decade of grocery shopping has made a huge difference in downtown! City Grocers paved the way for Culinaria.
More than half the readers last week indicated the horses pulling carriages downtown are fine, here are the results:
Q: St. Louis’ Director of Health wants to ban horse carriages, we should:
ignore her, the horses are fine 96 [51.61%]
Increase fees on operators to fund inspection & enforcement to protect the horses 50 [26.88%]
ban them, it’s cruel to the horses 27 [14.52%]
Unsure/No Opinion 12 [6.45%]
Other: 1 [0.54%] “Streets of DT smell like pee, they should be banned or clean up after themselves”
While I don’t think they should be banned, I do see room for improvement.
A horse-drawn carriage on 4th Street
The city’s veterinarian also sees room to improve, here’s her recommendations:
Based upon my assessment, investigation, and professional judgement, I recommend the following actions be taken at a minimum:
Ensure that carriage horse stables operating within the city are held to the current standards and best practices of equine husbandry including but not limited to:Work with carriage horse stables to improve record keeping and access to records such as: medical records (including most recent Coggins test); farrier records; work schedules; and number of weeks on/off duty.
Adequate fresh air and ventilation (i.e. individual and industrial fans in good repair combined with windows, doors, grates, vents and eaves).
Fastidious cleaning practices to minimize horse exposure to dust, debris and odor.
Ideally, storage of food and bedding materials in an area separate from the horse barn.
Develop a system of welfare checks enacted by Health Department Animal Control Officers and City Veterinarian. This would include inspection of stables as well as horses working in the field at various times of day/night.
Develop a consistent hot weather policy for working carriage horses and ensure that it is adhered to.
Requiring that the individual horse, Moose, undergo a complete respiratory diagnostic workup and is found to be healthy and unremarkable prior to his return to the city for use as a carriage horse. Primarily, he should have Bronchoalveolar Lavage performed to rulein or ruleout Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD) and quantify the severity of the condition if present, as a variety of management techniques and therapies may be indicated at that time. This workup should be performed in collaboration with the City Veterinarian.
Included in this document find only the earnest observations, opinions, and recommendations of the veterinarian serving the City of St. Louis.
Dr. Sarah Frei Veterinarian,
City of St Louis 2801 Clark Ave St. Louis, MO 63103
You can read her full assessment here. Additional information is available on the Department of Health’s Carriage Horse page. The press release indicates: “The Department is also requiring that, effective immediately, all horses not be worked when the maximum heat index reaches 100 degrees on any single day.”
I often write about parking issues, like the Arcade building needing additional parking to get renovated. Closer to my loft I’ve written this year about the former CPI parking lot to the north of my building. Today’s post is even closer — the small private lot that’s park of my condo association. On Friday July 25th I noticed some commotion outside, out on the balcony I see more cars than usual and two police vehicles.
View from ,my balcony on Friday July 25th.Police officers talking to a person whose car is blocked and a person who blocked.
The tenant in the commercial space of my building, upset that residents of our two buildings sometimes park in “their” lot, parked in a way that blocks resident’s vehicles. Some condo owners, myself included, have read the condo docs over and over concluding the spaces in this parking lot are a common use area, not deeded to the owner of the commercial spaces. The parking below is common use but our spaces are legally deeded to us. The original developer, who retains ownership of both commercial spaces, insists the parking lot is for use by commercial tenants only. The other commercial space is vacant.
Here’s what I see going on:
A lot of my neighbors, single & couples, have just one car which they park in their garage space. Lots of other couples have two cars, with some having spaces for both. Still, we have many 2-car couples where one vehicle must be parked outside.
The tenant used to share the parking lot when the other commercial space was occupied, but since it closed a couple of years ago they’ve decided all spaces are theirs.
When the developer gets a new tenant for the vacant space this tenant will need a strategy for reducing the number of employee vehicles.
Personally I think my neighbors (residents & tenant) need to take a serious look at bicycling and/or public transit. When you live/work in suburbia abundant free parking is a given, but when you decide to live or locate your firm downtown you can’t continue to have the same expectation. My husband and I have one car between the two of us. We’re hoping Enterprise CarShare will add some vehicles west of Tucker for those rare times we both need a vehicle.
On Washington Ave, a block north, we have the #94 & #97 MetroBus lines, with #10 on Olive, a block south. Two blocks east on 14th we have the #32, #31, & #74, the #99 downtown trolley stops a couple of blocks away. Within a 1/4 mile are more bus lines. Sure, there are couples that work far away in opposite directions, but I bet among residents and the tenant’s staff are people that could fairly easily use public transit.
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