Public Realm Attacked in SW St Louis City

A Guest Editorial by Jim Zavist, AIA

The attacks continue . . .

On the public realm, that is . . . Watson Road in SW City is not downtown or the CWE. It’s an older four-lane arterial lined with residences, both single and multi-family, churches, banks and small business. It bisects some very walkable neighborhoods and has a well-developed and well-maintained sidewalk system on both sides, mostly with a small tree lawn/planting strip (example below).

Patio dining is something many diners like, and vote for with their feet and credit cards. I like patio and sidewalk dining, especially on weekends like this past one (Saturday night, at Chava’s, for instance), so I’m not a NIMBY. I’m even coming around to the concept of sharing the sidewalks with tables and chairs, as is done by many places on Washington. Where I draw the line is when permanent encroachments are made into the public right-of-way, especially when other alternatives exist.

In response to this demand, more and more restaurants are creating outdoor spaces. In my area/along Watson and Chippewa, both El Paisano and Aya Sophia have recently completed outdoor spaces, and both seem to be doing well. We’re also home to that St. Louis icon, Ted Drewes (013 jpg), and as we all know, they’re heavy users of the public sidewalk.

El Paisano:

Aya Sophia:

Ted Drewes:

It now looks like one of our old-line places, Pietro’s, wants to join the crowd.

This week, the public sidewalk was ripped out and concrete foundations were poured, exactly for what, I’m not quite sure, yet.

My best guess is that we’re getting a permanent deck (on the circular concrete footings) enclosed with a brick wall (on the rectangular footings with the rebar sticking out). I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s covered, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes enclosed, when cooler weather hits. And since it sits smack dab in the middle of the existing pedestrian path, guess what, pedestrians will now be taking a permanent detour.

I guess I’d be more sympathetic and less upset if there were “no other options”. This simply isn’t the case here. The restaurant abuts the public sidewalk (a good thing) on the north and the east. It’s also surrounded by a generous parking lot on the west and south. Why not use the parking lot? I can guess the answer, it’s simple – “We don’t want to/can’t afford to lose any parking.”

Who’s to blame? The owner, for wanting to use what they see as either an extension of their property and/or wanting to put the the public right-of-way to “better use”, as in “Nobody walks there, anyway”, plus “We’re leaving 4′-5′ to squeeze by”? Their architect/designer/contractor for drawings up the owner’s plans and asking the city (been there, done that – sometimes you gotta push the envelope”, plus you’re getting paid to ask, beg and/or plead the owner’s case)? The city for saying yes? Ding, ding, ding! Ultimately, it’s the city’s responsibility to just say no, you’re simply going too far. It won’t make you popular, but it’s your job! Whether it’s the planning department or the public works department or the alderman, somebody (everybody?) needs to be doing their job (better?) and looking at the bigger picture. We have rules for a reason, to protect the public, and there’s no valid reason for making any exceptions here.

I don’t care if you’ve been in the neighborhood for nearly fifty years. I don’t care if you have new competitors and you’re losing a few customers. I don’t care if you’d lose a few parking spaces – your competitors have made that choice. What’s happening here is permanent. It’s not like a few chairs and tables blocking the sidewalk (and can be moved). This will degrade the pedestrian experience in an area and a city that should be encouraging more walking, and it’s another hit on our fragile urban fabric. And, unfortunately, it’s most likely a done deal and won’t/can’t be changed . . .

Local Architect Jim Zavist was born in upstate New York, raised in Louisville KY, spent 30 years in Denver Colorado and relocated to St. Louis in 2005.

Update 6/26/2008 2:20pm:

Steve here, thanks Jim for bringing this to everyone’s attention.   Some of the comments reflect the attitude that they likely have a permit so all must be well.  One such example of work having a permit was the construction of an ADA ramp into a renovated building on Olive (see post).  In this case the ramp was allowed to encroach on the public sidewalk in order to provide an accessible entrance for the building.  The problem is the ramp was being constructed too far into the right of way.  So far that someone in a chair trying to reach this entrance would not have been able to do so.  By posting about it midway it gave everyone a chance to review the situation and make corrections before it was too far along.  Wednesday morning I had a nice face to face meeting with the new Commissioner on the Disabled, David Newburger.  He will be looking into this situation on Watson.  As we discussed sometimes projects are allowed to encroach on the public space.  The task is to ensure the minimum clearance is protected.  But the minimum is just that, minimum.  To create walkable neighborhoods we need to strive for more than the minimum.

Urban Renewal; The Neighborhoods Were Labeled ‘Slums’ for a Reason

Even in the ‘look to the future’ 1950s it would have been hard to garner taxpayer support for a government program to raze vibrant & cohesive neighborhoods. So the neighborhoods that were a target of Urban Renewal had to be rebranded as slums.

By the time Federal urban renewal funds made it to St Louis many of the oldest areas were likely showing their age. Many of these areas were now 75+ years old and had been through the great depression when there was no money for maintenance. Federal lending policies also meant people couldn’t get loans to buy and update a house in the old neighborhood even if they wanted to.

To many these old brick structures, often lacking indoor bathrooms, looked very dated relative to the new cul-de-sac streets of suburbia. Of course anything 75+ years old (with technology of that era), and with deferred maintenance, is going to be easy to pass off as a slum to those with newer places.

Many Planners & Architects wanted a chance to play a real live version of SimCity. They weren’t satisfied with just erasing old structures but they also wanted to rid cities of the old connected street pattern. Out with the old, on with the new.  To them the buildings and streets had to go
This was the era when density got a bad rap and got confused with overcrowding. Density in terms of the number of housing units in a given acre is quite different than the number of people in a single housing unit. In the 1950s St Louis enjoyed a wonderful urban density that helped support the corner market and mass transit — both outcasts in the new sprawling suburbia. St Louis was also overcrowded which was made only worse as urban renewal & highway projects began to remove large sections of the city, displacing those residents. The market solution would have been to build new buildings with more units per acre — where a four family stood build an 8-12 unit building. That did happen in small doses but urban renewal took the concept too far — taking entire blocks at a time.

“But they were slums,” people exclaim today. Yeah, they had been assigned the label of slum. Functionally these “slums” worked far better for the residents than anything new in suburbia and certainly better than that which replaced their former homes and businesses. Within walking distance of their homes was all the services they needed — several markets, cleaners, streetcars, etc. While their home may have lacked a toilet and could have used some paint these areas were anything but slums.  Slums, the government could blight and take but functioning neighborhoods no.  The neighborhoods, home to so many across this city and country, were poor yes but they were home to families, established businesses and so on.  Besides buildings and streets, Urban Renewal destroyed social networks in every city it touched.  People lived their entire lives in areas now being labeled a slum so it could be taken and cleared.

Ironically the projects that replaced these neighborhoods almost universally became genuine slums, completely dysfunctional collections of people that were placed in a location only because their prior homes were leveled.  City after city the pattern was repeated — poor but functioning neighborhoods were razed and replaced with either a highway or monolithic housing projects.  In St Louis one such neighborhood labeled as a slum and slated for demolition was Soulard. In Boston they have the North End.  Each was once given the title of slum and each today is considered a desirable place to live, if you can afford it.

Urban Renewal policies screwed up St Louis and every major city in the US.  We are still dealing with the aftermath more than a half century later.
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Floodwaters Draws Spectators, Park Service Vehicle Blocks Accessible Route

The Mississippi River is rising but so are the number of riverfront spectators. Saturday night I was among hundreds that found a spot along the Arch steps to take in the vastness of the river.

Some folks were playing in the water which doesn’t seem wise given what is likely in the water.

When I left I headed toward the makeshift ADA route over I-70 at Chestnut.

There in my path is a National Park Service truck. We saw no workers near the truck, just a truck parked between my wheelchair and the pathetic excuse for an accessible way over the highway. My friend pushed her grandson’s stroller through the grass and over a rut. I tested the off road ability of the wheelchair and went a bit wider to avoid the rut in the dirt.

You know the place might be a bit more inviting if they didn’t park three ton vehicles in the direct path of visitors! I can just see us spending hundreds of millions on a “lid” over the highway only to have the NPS screw it all up by parking vehicles as they did the other night. Brilliant!

Don’t Park in Front of Curb Ramps

Earlier in the month I did a post about an illegally parked car block the ADA ramp/curb cut which blocked my flow in the wheelchair and required me to backtrack to get to the other side of 10th street.  I’ve been through the same intersection (10th & St Charles) numerous times since then and it has been clear.  The other day, however, a driver decided to make a space where there wasn’t one — blocking the very same ramp.

This time I was ready — I had programmed the police non-emergency number into my phone.  Thankfully I left my number with the dispatcher as the officer called a short time later and didn’t understand the problem.  After directing the officer to look at the blocked ramp he got it.

I came back through the same intersection two hours later and the car was still blocking the ramp but it was ticketed (the rear tire is centered on the ramp).  A friend suggested it should have been towed.  At first I thought that a bit extreme but upon more thought I agree, had the car been blocking auto traffic they would have towed it very quickly.   Towing the car would have been a better lesson for the owner of this car.

Wheelchair Access and the Arch Grounds

Last week I showed the image below, the starting point of Market Street and for many a primary walking route to access the Arch grounds.  Well too bad for those of us in wheelchairs, walking with a cane or just pushing a child stroller.

A block South of Market, at Walnut & Memorial, is the same situation.

The place to cross Memorial is at Chestnut —if you know about it and if you are brave enough to do so.  Above I am about to cross Memorial heading West after leaving the Arch grounds. We can see a pedestrian stepping up the unusually high curb.  To the right is the makeshift accessible route.

As you can see we are given a few feet of pavement and zero protection from motorists.  Traffic on Chestnut is one-way Eastbound — toward me in the above image.  I’m not feeling overly accommodated at this point.

The other way in/out of the grounds is at Washington Ave — a good distance out of the way depending on your point of origin or your destination.  Meanwhile civic leaders and politicians are arguing over who has design control of Memorial and discussing how it will literally take an act of congress to do a lid over the highway.

What needs to happen is quite simple — accept the highway as a given.  Realize we have acres of unused plazas already nearby.  Nobody wants to sit out on a lid over the highway next to blank walls of the buildings facing the arch.  Create safe & attractive ADA-compliant  crossings at Chestnut, Market & Walnut.  Populate each intersection with a street vendor selling water, hot dogs, pretzels and such.  Get it done sooner rather than later.  In the meantime get some of those MODot vertical sticks that help visually separate a traffic lane from what they are counting as an accessible route.