New Police Substation to Use Scooters

St. Louis Police are using scooters in conjunction with a new Tower Grove East Substation, reports KSDK:

Alderman Reed hopes the substation and the scooters will be a crime deterrent in an area that’s known past problems, “It will send a signal to the bad guys that we’re open for business. We’re open to stopping all the bad activity.”

Of course, St. Louis used to have multiple police stations all over the city but back in the 1990s many of the districts were consolidated into three main stations: one south, one north and one on the West edge of downtown. Police HQ is also located downtown but I don’t know that any beat cops work out of that facility.

I think the scooters are a great idea. They are fast but still people friendly. A good middle ground between a bike cop and a motorcycle cop. And unlike the bike cops, these officers on scooters hopefully won’t be riding along on the sidewalks or going the wrong way on streets.

Back to the substation issue…

I’m no expert on criminology but it seems to me we sent the wrong message to criminals in the 1990s — cops are no longer part of the neighborhood so do what you like. We’ve been trying to overcome this for nearly 20 years through tiny substations in 7-11 storerooms and such.

What do you think of multiple districts being located in several large buildings rather than being dispersed throughout the city as they once were?

– Steve

Tower Grove Heights & Gravois Park Residents Share Common Ground

Tonight’s Tower Grove Heights meeting included a few people from outside the neighborhood, three Gravois Park residents and myself. We came to the TGH meeting to discuss the proposed relocation of the McDonald’s on Grand. Jennifer Florida was not present but we did have a chance to speak with President of the Board of Aldermen, Jim Shrewsbury, before the meeting.

It seems that nearly everyone was already aware of the controversy. Most seemed willing to help the cause by contacting Jennifer Florida and Mayor Slay. News to them was that Grand from Utah to Meramec was blighted back in 1996. Concerned about the prospect of a future relocation of say the Taco Bell or KFC closer to Utah they understood the concerns of the Gravois Park residents.

Following the meeting it was discussed how it would be good for the various neighborhoods adjacent to Grand to begin discussing the future of the street, what everyone would like to see happen and, just as important, what they’d like to keep from happening. Look for future discussions among all those that have an interest in the future of Grand. It would be great if The Lawrence Group, architect/developer of the South Side National Bank property at Grand & Gravois, could assist in this community planning process.

Getting Dutchtown and Benton Park West to join Gravois Park and Tower Grove South in the dialog will go a long way to setting a vision for Grand.

– Steve

AIA Holds Design Charrette in St. Louis’ The Ville Neighborhood

Saturday’s design charrette in The Ville neighborhood was a tremendous success. The residents of the area are ready for change and, with a few exceptions, most understand the concepts of recreating a walkable neighborhood. The sheer number of residents participating in the all-day charrette organized by the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects was encouraging.

Fourth Ward Alderman O.L. Shelton called the event “historic” and I think he is right, it was a critical step in a long road to returning The Ville to its rightful place as a culturally rich and diverse neighborhood.

I was unable to attend the first few hours of the charrette so I arrived after the seven teams had made their initial goals and had begun working on solutions. I spent the afternoon walking around observing the teams. One team had discussed my prior post advocating for a modern streetcar down MLK and they asked me to talk with them for a bit.

I want to reiterate: the charrette was a huge success. However, I want to offer my own critical thoughts on the charrette as well as the the main street, Martin Luther King Drive. The intent of the critical look is not to take away from the excellent work done over the weekend but to make sure the thought process stays on track.

Here we go…
… Continue Reading

I Agree With the Group Trying to Stop the Lindell Tower

That is right, I agree with the group that wants to stop the 26-story Lindell Tower project. No, I don’t want to stop the tower project itself, but I want to stop the city’s process of old codes, aldermanic control, and backroom deals. The tower project, as now proposed, will be a nice addition to both the city skyline as well as the Euclid & Lindell streetscapes (my review). The archaic system by which projects move through the city, however, remains unwelcomed.

Yes, the tower is getting an exception due to its height. Was that exception granted as part of the system that I want to destroy, yes. Does the fact it is being approved through a unsavory process mean it is a bad design, no. The group trying to stop the project claims it is a bad project, that the height is out of scale. While it is true the height does not align with the adjacent buildings that does not mean it is out of scale.

I think this group of well-meaning citizens are fighting the wrong battle. I respect their beliefs and love their passion but I think they’ve latched on to this height thing to the point it is clouding their judgement. I personally love differences of height. Scale and massing are two different subjects entirely. Given all the really atrocious design being plopped down in this city such as Pyramid’s Sullivan Place & the McDonald’s drive-thru, Wohlert’s Magnolia Place where St. Aloysius thankfully still remains today, or Loughborough Commons in Matt Villa’s ward I just can’t expense time debating 26 floors vs. 20 floors or whatever the number may be.

Where I agree is the process, but that is getting lost among the discussions of the specific project and the debate on the number of floors. Relative to the actions I’ve seen from numerous other Aldermen I think Lyda Krewson has done an outstanding job trying to balance the perspectives of her constituents as well as the city at large. Is she part of the system? Absolutely. Does she need to be pressured into changing the system to serve the citizens or be voted out? A resounding yes!

In fact, every single member of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen needs to feel heat over the process of backroom deals, lack of comprehensive planning and zoning dating to the 1940s. That folks, is the battle we all need to be fighting together.

[NOTE I have had to make considerable edits to the recent comments that follow. The reason? Someone posted a comment pretending to be a person oppossing the tower project but I know in fact it was not her. I deleted the pretend comments as well as responses that related to those pretend comments. I understand that sometimes people want to post anonymously but it is quite another to pretend to be someone else. I hated having to delete so many comments but they were not based on a true representation of fact. The offending person, whom I’ve been able to track, has been asked to stop pretending to be someone else. 4/26/06 @ 5pm.

– Steve

Massive Demolition List Makes Me Question Decade

Once again actions in this city lead me to wonder what decade we are in. This coming Monday the City’s Preservation Board will consider an application to demolish some 30 buildings in the Forest Park Southeast/The Grove neighborhood.

Michael Allen & Claire Nowak-Boyd from The Ecology of Absence have written a great piece on the subject as well as photographed all the buildings:

Forest West is the real estate arm of the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation and acquired these buildings from negligent landlords like Jack Kraus. After a year of ownership and silence to the neighborhood about their intent, Forest West now emerges with a plan for demolition that would severely impact the neighborhood and may stunt efforts to rehabilitate its valuable historic buildings.

Rehab is going on in the area and many of these buildings look like good candidates for rehab. Are we in some weird 1950s world where massive demolition is thought to be a good thing for a city? Do I need to buy copies of Jane Jacob’s 1964 classic, The Death & Life of Great American Cities, for every alderman?

The alderman for the area is Joe Roddy. You will recall that he is willing to do what BJC’s lawyers want with respect to Forest Park because BJC is the largest employer in the city. So now comes Washington University asking for demo permits so I’m sure he just signed whatever letter of support they placed in front of him.

The Preservation Board meeting begins at 4pm on Monday April 24, 2006 at 1015 Locust, 12th Floor. If you come be sure to look for public notices from the LCRA and other board of the St. Louis Development Corporation.

– Steve