Poll: Regulating Noise From Motorcycles

In January one Illinois town took steps to keep the town quiet:

ALTON – A motorcycle rights and safety promotion group plans to pay for signs to “quiet” motorcycles in Alton, as city officials begin the process to strengthen the city’s anti-noise ordinance.

“We are going to be leaders in this,” said Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst, who campaigned on quieting down motorcycles traveling on city streets and loud car stereos. Telegraph

This week KMOV reporter noted “To date, police have issued 37 tickets to bikers in violation of the ordinance and 133 to motor vehicle drivers.”

The poll this week asks for your thoughts on enforcing noise ordinances.

– Steve Patterson

Why Great Streets?

The life of any great city occurs on the street. Streets are the most public of domains, where we engage in an assortment of activities. Jane Jacobs, in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, said, Cities need “a most intricate and close-grained diversity of uses that give each other mutual support, both economically and socially.” On great commercial and mixed-use blocks, this happens. These streets, when woven through neighborhoods and districts, provide an armature for social interaction and economic growth. They also represent the character, history and culture of the community, making them, quite possibly, iconic.

Great streets are the bonds of great communities. They house civic institutions where we meet to discuss current affairs and make plans for our future and the future of our children. Great streets contain businesses where we obtain goods and services we need and want. Often these are the businesses of our friends and neighbors. Broadly speaking, the stores, shops and offices here are the base of the local economy or, in some instances, were until big-box stores killed their existence. Despite trying times, great streets always seem to rebound.

For those not fortunate enough to live on or near these streets, we still tend to like visiting them. Whether to rehash memories of “the old neighborhood” or to help imagine what our lives had been with a great main street in walking distance from our homes, they have great appeal. We also have an affinity for these places, because they are where we have by-chance interaction with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and future friends or spouses. Regardless, it seems there is something remarkable about great streets and that is why the City of St. Louis is making efforts to strengthen them and make them more prevalent.

In order to study and develop great streets in St. Louis, we have to learn from already existing great streets. The best way to determine where they are and why they are great is to hear from those who use and visit them. For this reason Great Streets of STL asks you to come voice your thoughts at: GreatStreetsofSTL.com.

– Bryan Zundel

Readers OK With Kiel Opera House Becoming Peabody Opera House

Last week, the readers that voted in the poll showed their support for the Peabody name displacing the Kiel name on the old opera house.

Q: Kiel Auditorium is now the Scottrade Center on the south and the Peabody Opera House on the north. Your thoughts on renaming this building?

1. The money to make the project happen is more important than retaining an old name: 92 [57.14%]
2. Henry Kiel was mayor, it is disrespectful to rename the building: 17 [10.56%]
3. The original name was Municipal Auditorium, the Kiel name was added later and was around long enough: 14 [8.7%]
4. Other answer… 12 [7.45%]
5. Renaming is fine, just not a coal company: 11 [6.83%]
6. Unsure/ no opinion: 10 [6.21%]
7. Mayor Henry Kiel has been dead nearly 70 years, he won’t know: 5 [3.11%]

The “Other” responses were:

1. Kiel is what it was when I lived there and knew it. Kiel it ought stay.
2. Maybe people will mistake it for the famous Peabody Conservatory of Music!
3. seriously? who cares!
4. This is money Peabody isn’t using on anti-environmental advertising.
5. Naming civic spaces after corporate sponsors is icky.
6. Sell the name to the highest bidder
7. How about Bosley? He has done more for this town than any Mayor in STL history.
8. I’m not opposed to renaming most buildings, but it should be for better rea
9. Doesn’t matter; people will still call it the Kiel Opera House.
10. The Kiel name is still preserved
11. Changing the name every 5 years destroys “history” or at least a tradi
12. As I-64 is still Hwy 40, Peabody will always be Kiel in the minds of STLers

I’m of the belief that we shouldn’t rename structures after the fact.

– Steve Patterson

Readers support the rights of cyclists to use the roads

Readers that voted in the poll last week clearly favor the rights of bicyclist to use public roadways and thus opposing a proposed ban in St. Charles County on cycling on some state highways in the county.

Q: St Charles County is considering banning bikes from some state highways:

1. Bikes are vehicles and have just as much right to use public roads. 114 [60.96%]
2. Bikes are fine on local roads, but not on state highways lacking shoulders. 52 [27.81%]
3. Bikes belong on sidewalks or trails, not roads. 13 [6.95%]
4. Other answer… 7 [3.74%]
5. Unsure/no opinion 1 [ 0.53%]

However, nearly 28% think cyclists have a right to the roads, but not highways lacking shoulders.  Almost 7% think cyclists belong on sidewalks and trails.  Seriously? Public roads are for vehicles and a bike is a vehicle.

The “other” answers were:

1. Ban Cars
2. Ban the cars and solve the obesity problem
3. Daft Wankers!
4. stl bikers need education on the laws – until they stop at stop signs ban bikers
5. If a bicyclistg wants to risk life and limb on a state highway, go for it.
6. They are state roads…St. Charles has no jurisdiction in banning bikes on them.
7. Reduce speed limit to 35 from 55mph for the cars – why do the cars go so fast?

I’ll be interested to see how this issue plays out.

– Steve Patterson

Kiel Opera House becomes the Peabody Opera House – poll

Note to St. Louis officials: Kiel Auditorium was razed in the early 1990s. I state this because folks are talking about the renaming of the Kiel Opera House to the Peabody Opera House at the Henry W. Kiel Auditorium.  The Kiel Auditorium was replaced by the Kiel Center Savvis Center Scottrade Center.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Tuesday, October 30, 1990:

Plans for an $85 million sports arena that would be built on the site of Kiel Auditorium and replace The Arena near Forest Park are to be announced today at a downtown news conference.

Sources involved in the effort say that some of the area’s top business leaders would form a partnership that would develop the arena. One or more city development agencies would issue about $110 million in tax-exempt bonds to build the arena and a $25 million parking garage west of Kiel .

The 3,500-seat Opera House in the front part of Kiel would remain. The auditorium in the rear of the 58-year-old building and a 900-car parking garage to the south would be torn down to make way for the arena. The city would lease the new facility to the development partnership for about 75 years.

Bonds would be paid back with revenue from arena operations, 10-year commitments from businesses to buy 65 luxury boxes at $50,000 each annually and a city subsidy of about $800,000 a year. The Board of Aldermen would have to approve most of the arrangement.

The 18,000-seat arena would become the new home of the hockey Blues, soccer Storm and basketball Billikens. The Billikens, who now play in Kiel , temporarily would join the Blues and Storm at The Arena, 5700 Oakland Avenue, after its 1990-91 season.

”A lot of effort has gone into development of a new multi-use facility at the Kiel site,” [Mayor] Schoemehl said.

The Kiel Auditorium was named the Municipal Auditorium when it opened in 1934. It was renamed Kiel Auditorium in 1943, the year after 3-term Republican mayor Henry Kiel died at the age of 71.

This is a long introduction to the poll question for this week, how do you feel about the renaming the building? The poll is in the right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson