Readers Support Kid’s Being Able To Sell Cookies & Lemonade From Home

Readers clearly support the ability of kids to sell cookies. lemonade, etc. in front of their homes in the poll last week:

Q: Should zoning laws allow kids to sell cookies, lemonade, etc in front of their homes?

• Yes, no restrictions 61 [50%]
• Yes, but with some restrictions 39 [31.97%]
• Maybe, depends upon the neighborhood. 7 [5.74%]
• No, commercial activity shouldn’t be allowed in residential zones 7 [5.74%]
• Other: 6 [4.92%]
• unsure/no opinion 2 [1.64%]

You can read the intro post here for information on what prompted this question.  Here are the six “other” answers:

1. Arrest them!!!!
2. lemonade stand is different than GS cookies
3. No, selling drugs is okay but not cookies or lemonaide.
4. Classic case of laws over reaching their intent. Laws shouldnt apply.
5. the fact that this happened just blows my mind
6. Zoning laws should be silent… (see comments)

The following is the comment left by #6 above:

I think zoning laws should be silent on children’s sales of cookies, lemonade, etc (things that have gone on for YEARS with no real harm, and potential benefit to cities – people out and about meeting neighbors – a good thing). Police and code enforcement should work with extenuating issues on a case-by-case basis. This neighbor in Hazelwood should have dealt with the issue w/ the parent and worked out a mutually agreeable arrangement (specific dates/times/etc.).

I’m not a fan of Euclidean use-based zoning, it needs to be replaced nationwide by form-based codes.

– Steve Patterson

Reaching the St. Louis County Library

I was thinking of attending a meeting being held tonight (7pm-9pm) at the headquarters of the St. Louis County Library located at 1640 South Lindbergh Blvd. The meeting is a St. Louis Aerotropolis Forum sponsored by the Citizens Alliance for Missouri Patriots (a closed Facebook group) that I’m NOT a member of:

Alliance of Tea Party and Patriot Group leaders and organizers in the State of Missouri who wish to combine forces in working together for our state’s sovereignty, who adhere to and believe in our founding fathers’ constitutional principles, government fiscal responsibility, individual unalienable rights, and a free market system. CAMP does NOT represent any one political party, but only the People of Missouri.

Here is the description of the Facebook event:

Concerned about the China Hub issue to be brought before our state legislators in the upcoming special session? For those in the local St. Louis metro area or across the state, you are invited to join us in hearing our panel of speakers who will be discussing and debating this topic which will affect every citizen in Missouri.

Scheduled panelists are Audrey Spalding from Show Me Institute, and David Roland from Missouri Freedom Center.

We are currently awaiting confirmation on panel speakers from the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association who are working to bring the China Hub to St. Louis.

The forum will be held in the library auditorium starting at 7pm and ending promptly at 9pm.

Scheduled Host is Mr. Rodney White, retired businessman, local author and speaker.

Please invite your neighbors, family, and friends who are wanting to know more about this new government tax credit.

I’d like to hear this perspective,  I have three choices on how to get to the meeting:

1. Drive my car
2. Ask for a ride with someone else.
3. Take public transit

Let’s look at each option.

1) Drive my car

This is the option 99% of those attending will use. But I try to use my car as little as possible, plus I have a narrow window between 6pm-9pm when I can drive to get the best insurance discount. I’d have to leave the event early if I drove to be home by 9pm.  And yes, Progressive knows exactly when I drive  because of the device I voluntarily plugged into my diagnostic port. Google Maps says the drive is 12.6 miles long and would take 18 minutes if I use I-64 or 13.7-14.2 miles (& 29-33 minutes) if I use surface streets.

2) Ask for a ride with someone else

This is a good option, one I wish more people would use rather than driving themselves. I know only one person on the attending list, but I know Ed Martin online only and I’m not sure I want to ask him or be at his mercy.

3) Take public transit

Finally my favorite option! I have two choices to reach the library via transit. The option that gets me there closest to the start time takes the longest (59 minutes) and would involve using MetroLink and two buses. The other option takes 50-56 minutes depending upon when I leave.  This is twice as long as if I drove but from my view this is time I can read, check email, observe the city, etc.

Since I’ve never been there in my power chair before I need to investigate the route in detail. The option that includes only one bus is more appealing than having to transfer from one bus to another so I looked at taking the #58 bus from the Clayton MetroLink/MetroBus station.

Seems simple enough, “walking” 3/10th of a mile is no big deal in my chair.

But when I looked at the aerial image and the street view is when problems became clear.

The street view shows curbs on both sides of the driveway, which means no deal.  In looking back up at the aerial it seems the near side may have been fixed, but the far sides of the drive is unknown. This route is too uncertain.

The other option is to take the #58X Express Bus to Big Bend & Kirkwood Rd then transfer to the #48 northbound on Kirkwood/Lindbergh.

I’m pretty sure the stops are not as shown, but still the area has good sidewalks, ramps and crosswalks. I just need to figure out where to board the 48. Oh, just a bit to the north.

And here we see a common problem. A large pad is provided as well as a shelter but the pad isn’t connected to the sidewalk. Suburban sidewalks are often just for show, not actual use, so having the sidewalk actually connect to points pedestrians would actually use is just radical thinking I suppose.  My chair can deal with the grade change and grass but someone using a manual chair, walker or cane might have difficulty.

The great thing is the #48 stops right in front of the library. I should be good from this point, right? Wrong!

Where the bus stops there is no pedestrian route to the entrance. Perhaps a proper pedestrian access route exists somewhere in either direction?

If I were to risk my life trying either vehicle drive I still have no clue where to find a ramp to reach and accessible entrance. Even the able-bodied would take a chance if they walked in one of the driveways. Walking to the library seems as American as apple pie, but not in St. Louis County apparently.

I checked out their accessibility page:

Buildings and Bookmobiles

What physical accommodations exist for persons with physical limitations?

• Handicapped-accessible parking
• Ramp entrances
• Power doors
• Elevators
• Accessible aisles and routes inside the buildings
• Accessible restrooms, water fountains, and public telephones
• Low service desks
• Specially-designed school bookmobile with wheelchair lift

No thought is given to pedestrians at all. My example is extreme in that I’m coming from a long distance. What about someone, like a senior or a child, in Kirkwood? What is the reverse route?  Public buildings like libraries should demonstrate to others what is expected. Oh, I guess it does, they don’t expect pedestrians. But people do use these bus routes and stops and every transit rider is a pedestrian on at least one end of their trip.

St. Louis County and municipalities continue to spend money on sidewalks and ADA ramps but they fail to connect the dots! These new & improved sidewalks are mere roadside decoration  to give the appearance of walkability & accessibility.

I contacted the St. Louis County Library on the 26th about their lack of a pedestrian access route and they are tagged on the tweet of this post.

– Steve Patterson

Colors Other Than Red Can Be A Pleasant Surprise

Don’t get me wrong, I love our abundant stock of solid red brick buildings, but I also love beautiful contrasts like a nice buff brick building, a limestone facade or even something more colorful.

The buildings that are now the GW Loft Apartments were painted white (or gray?) for decades. They disappeared even though they are massive in size.

But now they demand attention.  I’d tire of this if every building on every street were as colorful, it is the contrast with our reds that make me appreciate both more. Whenever I pass by the orange/yellow building on the #97 bus I can’t help but grin.

– Steve Patterson

We’d Never Have Roads As Incomplete As Our Sidewalks

Wednesday I was out photographing along Jefferson for future posts, the hottest day of the week. I had taken the #94 (Page) bus to Jefferson & Dr. Martin Luther King.  I was going to up to the signal at Stoddard St. to cross Jefferson to the east.  I get to Mills St. and see there is no curb cut on the other side, I can’t go any further. For new readers, I use a power wheelchair to go further than a block from my house.

Not that I would dare cross Jefferson without traffic stopped but I turned that direction. After all, the curb ramp was placed to serve two directions.

Of course, the two-direction corner curb ramp is installed without thought as to logical use. It has been a default. If a person in a wheelchair were to cross Jefferson at this point and be hit by a car the city would attempt to argue the person shouldn’t have done so. I’d argue the city, through the placement of the curb ramp, is implying that crossing Mills or Jefferson from this point is equally accessible. In fact, the ramp faces Jefferson more than Mills.

Even if I got to Stoddard St. I would have been stuck, I just noticed on Google Streetview that neither of the two crosswalks at the  signalized intersection have curb cuts on the east side of Jefferson.

If our road network was designed like our sidewalks, nobody could drive anywhere except a few select places. Pedestrian networks need to be as connected as the road they adjoin.

– Steve Patterson

Pedestrian Signal 8th & Washington Incorrectly Gives a Don’t Walk

For some reason the city’s pedestrian signal gives pedestrians a don’t walk as the traffic lights change at 8th & Washington. Sounds normal right?  When you consider the intersection you will see that pedestrians always  have the right of way.

Washington Ave is a two-way street running east-west (left-right, above). 8th is a one-way street southbound, away from the intersection. Obviously when pedestrians need to cross Washington Ave they need to wait for the walk signal when auto traffic is stopped. At that time, when auto traffic on Washington Ave has a red light at 8th Street, the pedestrians seeking to cross 8th are given a don’t walk signal. Why?

Is a car going to materialize in the intersection and have the right-of-way? No. In fact, there is no point at this intersection that pedestrians crossing 8th do not have the right of way. The walk symbol should be on 24/7. Cars terming left onto 8th do not get an arrow, they must yield to pedestrians. Cars turning right onto 8th must also yield to pedestrians.

Here is a boring one minute video of the change in pedestrian signals:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KkPD3mYD5E

Hopefully the city will change this mistake so pedestrians aren’t given a don’t walk signal.

– Steve Patterson