Proposed Daycare Center Continues to Paint Brick Building

Back in 2001 I took the picture, at right, of 4657 Virginia. A stunning building with wonderful brick. The color is great with excellent detailing. Inside the entry to the left is glazed brick.

Fast forward to April 20, 2005 and the building gets paint job. Literally. Painting a store front is one thing – it is supposed to get painted. Painting brick, with some very rare exceptions, should never be done. The building owner in this case got paint all over the brick, glass and the glazed brick in the left entryway.

The close-up shot below shows the massive over spray. Note the corner brick detail.

Earlier today I snapped this shot of the brick receiving even more paint. A big yellow stripe.

Most brick buildings in St. Louis were never meant to be painted. This is why they have such interesting textures & colors. Painting them, in my perspective, is criminal and almost always destroys the character of the building.

Previous posts on this property:
> May 16, 2005
> May 2, 2005
> March 16, 2005

– Steve

Rare Lustron Home Razed by Developer on a Saturday

In December 2004 I posted the picture at right of a Lustron House endanger of being razed for what was a rather boring in-fill development. While the Lustron house is not the most urban of houses they are also quite rare and worth saving.

Today I learned we have one less Lustron house in the City of St. Louis. It wasn’t disassembled as others have done when it was in the way of “progress.” Nope, it was unceremoniously razed.

This picture and the following were taken by Angie Boesch of the Lustron Locator website on this past Sunday.

One person concerned about the future of the Lustron house went by a noon on Saturday and the building was still standing. At 8pm that evening it was demolished.

I can understand a developer wanting to use a site for a different purpose. What I can’t understand is not saving the house by having it disassembled and moved. They came to the site as individual parts and they could leave a site in the same manner. Leaving as twisted metal just is not right.

Sad. These neat houses deserve a better fate.

Residents of the 24th Ward upset over the alderman have started a recall effort. This project and others with the same developers are part of the reasons for the recall effort.

Click here to read a story about alderman Bauer and a picture with him and the developers responsible for razing the Lustron.

I’m all for development and keeping things moving forward but not at the expense of history. We need political leaders and developers that have respect for our built environment.

– Steve

The Future of Downtown St. Louis Depends Upon [insert latest project here]

Tavia Evans reports in yesterday’s Post-Dispatch that RGGA’s Dick Fleming is tossing out yet another scare tactic about the future of downtown:

That is funny. Last year all the downtown “advocates” said the future of downtown depended upon tearing down the historic Century Building for a parking garage serving the Old Post Office Square. Before that downtown depended upon a new Cardinals baseball stadium. A convention hotel was going to save downtown too. Don’t forget an arena for the Blues. And the football dome, that was the key to saving downtown.

I’m sick of it. These guys are worse than the local TV news. They couch all these projects as a must have so that nobody will speak out against whatever project they want to publicly fund.

The writing is on the wall. Federated is buying out May Company with the building next door to St. Louis Centre. The mall’s new owner, Barry Cohen, is saying it can be made to work as a mall, perhaps without the skybridges. Can another round of good money after bad be far behind?

Back to the Post-Dispatch:

Cohen bought the mostly-empty mall in August at a foreclosure sale, reportedly for $5.4 million; St. Louis Centre was built in the 1980s for about $95 million.

Massive public supported real estate projects sure don’t hold their value very well do they? Would you buy a house if the value 25 years later would be less than 10% of the purchase price? No wonder people such as Fleming must work overtime to sell the public a bill of goods.

If we are to believe them downtown will be in ruins if we don’t support the project of the year. I hope us in the general public are not stupid enough to believe this load of BS. I know I can see through it – although it keeps getting thicker and thicker.

Downtown is well on its way because of the work of residential developers and businesses like City Grocers. This is what makes downtown great. They add true value, not just take our tax dollars for a ride.

– Steve

Daycare Center Appeal Hearing Rescheduled to May 25th

The proposed daycare center on Virginia at Itaska was supposed to have a hearing on May 4th. However, at that hearing the applicant appealing the denial of the occupancy permit asked for an extension which was granted. The new hearing date is May 25th.

For more information (and pictures) read my posts from March 16th and May 2nd:

PUBLIC NOTICE-A public hearing will be held by the Board of Adjustment at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25, 2005, in Room 208 City Hall to consider the following:

APPEAL #8441-Appeal filed by Montrice Lewis, from the determination of the Board of Public Service in the denial of an occupancy permit authorizing the Appellant to operate a day care center for 20 children at 4657 Virginia. Ward 25 #AO328491-05 Zone: “F” Neighborhood Commercial District.

Talk of Barricades & One-Way Streets

From 20th Ward Alderman Craig Schmid:

These proposed changes are in a number of wards, including the 25th. I am personally opposed to the idea of these barricades and one-way streets. Below is an email I sent to Craig today:

Craig,
I just got a copy of an email you sent out about considering changes to streets to control crime. As you might expect, I have some opinions on the subject. The short version is blockades and one-way streets are bad news overall. Here is the long version:

Barricades and one-way streets do work to control outside criminals because it reduces accessibility. However, it does the same for residents. Nothing screams “ghetto” more than those big ugly concrete barriers. These send the message to developers and buyers the area is unsafe and a ghetto.

Initially you will see a quick drop in the outside criminals but will also see a drop in interest from outsiders looking for a place to live. Insiders will begin to feel trapped by the barricades. Still others will cling to the barricades and fight any efforts to eventually remove them. In the West End they were effective in helping houses on one side of the barricades while the other side continued to rot. Now it is a challenge to remove the barricades to let development continue.

One-way streets have a similar effect. They are mostly to move traffic at higher speeds. This makes them less friendly streets to live on. The criminals will adjust but residents won’t. One-way streets are also not pedestrian or bicycle friendly as they encourage motor traffic to go by at higher rates. When bicycling you don’t want to have to go to the next block to ride with traffic. This may encourage more wrong-way cycling which could lead to increased accidents and deaths.

Barricades and one-way streets would, in the long term, be highly destructive to the area. I personally will not invest in any area that contains them. Many young people feel the same way. These measures would be a huge mistake. We need to look at alternative solutions.

– Steve

I do want to say that I applaud Craig for bringing issues like this to the people and asking for their opinion. The easy thing for Craig to do in his ward would just be to have it done and deal with the complaints after the fact. I like that he is bringing up a potentially controversial issue so they public can discuss the proposal, make alternative suggestions and in general be heard by those they are serving. Democracy in action.

– Steve