How do I get there by foot, bus, rail or bike?

A couple I’ve been talking with online is planning a visit to St. Louis in March – if all goes well they may consider relocating from NYC (Staten Island). I’m working with them as their REALTOR® to find just the right house – one of their biggest criteria is proximity to mass transit (bus & light rail).

As part of their trip planning they are selecting a hotel and trying to decide on the various attractions they wish to see while they are here. Being native New Yorkers (born & raised in Manhattan) renting for the week is just not something that is in their mindset. If they can’t get around the city by foot, bus or rail then this is not the city for them.

So, in checking out places to visit they alerted me to a startling fact – places such as the St. Louis Art Museum only give you directions via car. Curious, I looked up a few more places and sadly found that many popular destinations assume access by car – even though bus or MetroLink are an option. None of the random destinations I searched even mentioned arriving by bicycle & availability of bicycle parking.

Many places such as the Contemporary Art Museum simply give you their address. It is up to you to figure out how to arrive.

The Saint Louis Art Museum does briefly mention a shuttle in the summer but doesn’t tell you to take the Forest Park MetroLink stop and walk through the park. After all, who walks besides poor people and we all know they don’t do to museums…

Directions to the Museum are:

By car:
From Interstate 40/64 West, exit right (34D). Continue north into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.

From Interstate 40/64 East, exit right (34D). Continue north on the highway overpass into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.

From Interstate 44 East, exit right (286). Turn left onto Hampton Avenue. Continue north into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.

From Interstate 44 West, exit right (286). Turn right onto Hampton Avenue. Continue north into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.

Free parking is provided in front of and behind the Museum. Allow plenty of time as parking is limited. Designated parking spaces for persons with disabilities are available.

During the summer, Metro St. Louis will be running the Zip2 shuttle bus, which will make getting round Forest Park easy.

The Roberts Mayfair – A Wyndham Historic Hotel downtown is only two short blocks from a MetroLink stop yet directions from the airport assume you are going to rent a car, take a shuttle or taxi.

STL - Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Distance : 17 miles

Directions
70 East, exit Broadway. Follow exit and turn right on Washington. Turn left on 8th Street, and the Mayfair is located on the right side.

Transportation Costs:
Shuttle $15.00
Taxi $30.00 (One Way)

The Chase Park Plaza hotel & entertainment center isn’t far from MetroLink and access by bus is easy. I believe a shuttle still runs up Euclid to get people from the MetroLink?

From the Lambert International Airport:
Upon exiting the airport, take I-70 East to 170 South for approximately 9 miles. Exit to Highway 64/40 East. Exit Kingshighway North and proceed to Lindell. Immediately after you cross over Lindell, make a right into our main entrance at 212 N. Kings highway.

From Points South or North (Interstate 270):
Follow Interstate 270 to Highway 64/40 East. Exit Kingshighway North and proceed to Lindell. Immediately after you cross over Lindell, make a right into our main entrance at 212N. Kingshighway.

The Saint Louis Science Center like the others assumes arriving by car when bus, bike or a walk from the MetroLink to the Planetarium entrance are feasible.

Our main entrance is off of Oakland Avenue, half-a-block east of Kingshighway. From Highway 40/I-64, exit south on Kingshighway then immediately go right on Oakland for half a block. From I-44, exit north on Hampton for almost a mile, then go right at the light on Oakland for a mile, half a block past Macklind. Lot parking behind the Science Center is at $7 per vehicle for the whole day.

Our Planetarium entrance is in the Southeast corner of Forest Park. From I-44 and from Highway 40/I-64, exit north on Hampton. Turn right on Clayton Avenue into Forest Park and follow the Planetarium signs for half a mile. The Planetarium building is on your right. Limited free parking is available adjacent to this building and elsewhere in the Park.

A notable exception is the Saint Louis Zoo which gives detailed instructions from various sources. If they had mentioned cycling and at which entrances they had bike racks they’d get an A+.

Directions

By Car:
From US-40/I-64 — take Hampton Avenue/Museums/Zoo exit.

From I-44 — exit Hampton Avenue. Follow Hampton north one mile to the Zoo.

From I-270 — take I-170 south the U.S. 40/I-64 east to Zoo/Museum exit.

By Metrolink:
Ride the Metrolink mass transit system to either the Forest Park or Central West End stop. Then take the Route# 52 Forest Park bus from the Central West End station or Route #90 Hampton from the Forest Park Station to the Zoo.

By Bus:
Bi-State Transit Authority buses stop and pick up at the Zoo. Take Route #52 Forest Park or Route #90 Hampton.

Parking:
Parking on the Zoo’s two lots is $8 per day. Limited street parking around the perimeter of the Zoo is also available for free. RVs, buses and motorhomes can park on the South lot only (Wells Drive) for $16 a day.

Another exception is the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. Given that you can see the MetroLink stop from the building it would have been foolish if they didn’t mention it. Bus & bicycle rack information, however, is missing.

From MetroLink
Exit MetroLink at the Forest Park Stop History Museum is 2 blocks to the south along Debaliviere.

History Museum Parking
Parking is on the east and west sides of the museum Bus drop off is at the north side in front of the fountain.

But the most humorous directions came when I was searching the city web site trying to find directions to city hall. I never found general directions but did find direction to the City of St. Louis Division of Air Pollution Control. Yes, the division of city government charged with controlling air pollution assumes you’ll be driving a car from a major highway if you are visiting them. They are located on North 13th Street a couple of blocks North of Cole so walking from a downtown MetroLink station is not out of the question and buses certainly run along Tucker. Sad, very sad.

Driving Directions:
From Interstate 70:
Follow I-70 into downtown area. Exit at Tenth Street.
Follow Tenth Street south to O’Fallon Street – turn right.
Follow O’Fallon Street west to Tucker – turn right. Parking lot and building are on the left.

From Interstate 55:
Follow I-55 through downtown (becomes I-70). Exit at Madison Avenue.
Turn left at sign at the top of the off-ramp – cross highway and turn left.
Follow Tenth Street south to O’Fallon Street – turn right.
Follow O’Fallon Street west to Tucker – turn right. Parking lot and building are on the left.

From Interstate 44:
Follow I-44 to I-55 North. Follow I-55 through downtown (becomes I-70). Exit at Madison Avenue.
Turn left at sign at the top of the off-ramp – cross highway and turn left.
Follow Tenth Street south to O’Fallon Street – turn right.
Follow O’Fallon Street west to Tucker – turn right. Parking lot and building are on the left.

From State Highway 40:
Follow Highway 40 into downtown area. Exit at 10th Street (left-side exit).
Follow off-ramp to stoplight at Clark – turn left.
Follow Clark west to Tucker – turn right. Follow Tucker north approximately .5 miles – past O’Fallon Street.
Parking lot and building are on the left.

The city web site does redeem itself a bit with a good list of Transportation Links.

Our businesses and institutions need to think multi-modal if we are going to curb our auto dependance and make our city more pedestrian & bicycle friendly. It only works if we all participate in changing the predominate mindset.

– Steve

AIA San Francisco tackling parking issues

While the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects remained suspiciously silent on the razing of the historic Century Building for an unnecessary parking garage, the AIA in San Francisco was busy questioning conventional thinking around parking. How refreshing it is to have members of a professional organization actually questioning & educating rather than simply using that tired excuse, “We have to do what our clients tell us.”

A recent issue of AIA SF’s “Line” magazine featured a spotlight on parking – divided into About Parking, To Park and Not to Park sections.

The Mythology of Parking:

The Real Cost of Parking:

These articles are outstanding examples of creative & critical thinking. This sort of collective thought process is a contributor to vibrant urban cities. Lack of such thinking is a contributor to devalued land prices and an anything goes development policy.

Imagine your doctor not wanting to tell you what you need to do to remain healthy out of fear you’ll go to another doctor? Or your accountant not informing you your accounting practices are outdated because he/she doesn’t want to lose your business? How much respect would you have for such professionals?

The silence of the architects in St. Louis is an endorsement of the status quo. We can no longer afford to have our architectural profession remain quiet on issues of parking, sprawl, historic preservation and urbanity.

– Steve

St. Louis Marketplace – a predictable failure

One of the biggest fallacies promoted by civic leaders in St. Louis (and elsewhere) is their overblown & costly projects are going to “spur development.” This is often the basis for approving a TIF district (Tax Increment Financing) and the use of eminent domain to steal people’s homes & businesses for the public good. Such thinking is seldom questioned at the time and rarely questioned after the fact.

I’ve said it before but it is worth repeating – spending x-million dollars on a project does not necessarily mean a) the area will benefit from this “investment”, b) the greater public good is actually being served and c) that what is being built is worth a shit. In the case of St. Louis Marketplace – none of these are true.

Don’t get excited about a grocery store at St. Louis Marketplace – this quote is from a December 1996 story in the St. Louis Business Journal (click here to read full article). At the time St. Louis Marketplace was only four years old. In the eight years since we’ve seen two other anchor spaces vacated – Builders Square & Sam’s. Smaller stores such as a Sears Hardware & Appliance store have also closed. Linda Tucci continues in the same story:

I do not know the status of the bonds and debt at this time. My understanding is these are often paid over a 20+ year period so it is my assumption the bonds are not yet paid in full. Given all the vacancies, I doubt the project is able to cover it’s debt load.

Heathcott’s quote above was from a story in the Riverfront Times regarding an big-box sprawl TIF project proposed at Loughborough & I-55 (read story). It appears St. Louis is about to repeat past mistakes.



… Continue Reading

St. Charles County suburb considers something besides single family houses

Chingy’s new hometown of Dardenne Prairie is looking to diversify it’s housing stock. If you are like most people in the St. Louis region you are more likely to know of rap star Chingy than the suburb of Dardenne Prairie. This St. Charles County municipality is largely a bedroom community of single family subdivisions – including the one where rap star Chingy lives. Yes, the St. Louis rapper moved out to the extreme suburbs after making it big in 2003 with his first album, Jackpot. Like so many people in St. Louis – once they hit the jackpot they flee to the land of vinyl siding and front garages.

I’ve been to Chiny’s subdivision – not his house but a neighbors – friends of mine. Like many of the newest subdivisions, the garage doors face the street (and many houses have three-suv garages). A thin veneer of brick graces the front of the houses – putting on a good face. As I recall, this particular subdivision did a better job than most with trees at the entrance but failed to have street trees in the tree lawn.

Up until now, this small municipality has been strictly single family homes on lots with a minimum size of 10,000sf. Period. The city is divided into three wards with two aldermen per ward. To find your ward you don’t worry about precincts – you just look for the name of your subdivision to see which ward you are in (click here to see list). But, city leaders are looking to diversify starting with proposed townhouses.

A developer is proposing a townhouse project which includes what I’m told are “True” Federalist style facades, are closer to the street and rear garages are served by alleys. Townhouse lot size would be 3,945sf – less than half of the single family requirement. Some existing trees on the site are to be saved and included as part of a public park.

All kidding aside about Chingy & suburbia, I do see signs that many of these municipalities are beginning to understand some of the negative ramifications of isolated single family subdivisions. They are a long way away from creating vibrant & diverse neighborhoods but adding townhouses to the mix is certainly a start.

– Steve

Rollin Stanley on St. Louis & Urban Planning

Rollin Stanley, Executive Director of the St. Louis Planning & Urban Design Agency, joined a group of over twenty people at Grbic on Sunday for a discussion of Jane Jacobs’ classic book, Death and Life of Great American Cities. For a couple of hours we had great discussions of the book, St. Louis, sprawl, and modern design.

In October 2004 the Riverfront Times did an feature story on Stanley. Randall Roberts writes:

Rollin Stanley has bold plans for St. Louis. If he had his way, downtown’s one-way streets would be eliminated, buildings would have to retrofit their basements to include showers for bicyclists, and bike lanes would meander alongside major thoroughfares. Stanley envisions a pedestrian paradise where workers, residents and visitors can window-shop and run errands. He also wants more teeth put in Missouri’s planning and zoning laws; currently, his department isn’t required by law to examine, approve — or see — any proposed deviation from the zoning guidelines and comprehensive land-use plan.

Yesteday was my first time meeting Rollin Stanley and his wife Ann. Vary rarely am I immediately impressed with anyone – much less a city official that has to be somewhat political. The Stanley’s are a pleasant exception! While I didn’t necessarily agree 100% with what Stanley had to say it was certainly in the high 90s.

I feel better knowing Rollin Stanley is in town and making a difference. While change at City Hall will not be immediate I have much greater confidence in the long term prospects for the City of St. Louis.

Since the weather was so nice on Sunday and the location was just under two miles from my house, I decided to ride my bike. I felt really urban showing up on my bike.

In case you are curious, this is not an old bike newly painted. It is a brand new bicycle from Kronan Cycle in Sweden. Mine is a single speed with coaster brake but the 3-speed model would make life much easier. I’ve only had this bike a few months but I really enjoy the looks from people.

– Steve