A Brief Look at St. Louis’ Kiener Plaza

This morning I attended a presentation by Fred Kent and Kathy Madden of the Project for Public Spaces. Great folks doing great work. They are about creating places, not “projects.” Afterwards I was taking a guest downtown to the media conference in town so I thought I’d stop by Kiener Plaza to check my email (the park is a free wi-fi zone).

First, crossing the street into Kiener plaza was interesting. Check out the photo at right. See anything wrong? Note the location of the pedestrian crosswalk and the location of the pedestrian signal. Standing at the crosswalk I was unable to make out the cross signal. Instead, I crossed based on traffic.

Kiener Plaza is so full of mistakes there is not way I could cover them all in one post. Much of the lack of use can also be contributed to the dreadful buildings, mostly parking garages, facing the space.

But, I was there to check my email. Coincidentally I ran into PPS’ Fred Kent and Kathy Madden while I was there. They had just been interviewed by Charlie Brennan on KMOX. We had a nice conversation. We agreed that St. Louis has the potential to be a great place.

I settle down to check my email and glare is a problem so I move to a shady area near the amphitheater. No wi-fi signal detected. I head back toward the middle of the park and I get a signal. Great. One problem, no internet. The folks at the tourist information office seemed clueless about the wi-fi.

Originally Kiener Plaza was only a block in size. Bounded by Broadway, Market, 6th and Chestnut. During the 80s make over the block to the West was cleared if its historic buildings and given an amphitheater. In the process 6th street was closed.

Map of Kiener Plaza

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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

Patterson Discusses Recent Aldermanic Election

In late March I wrote a piece for The Commonspace about my experiences running for alderman. It was intended for release in April but it just same out today. Funny, the election was two months ago but it seems like longer.

Click here for the May 2005 issue of The Commonspace. My article is the first one in the “Church and State” section.

– Steve

Patterson Discusses Recent Aldermanic Election

In late March I wrote a piece for The Commonspace about my experiences running for alderman. It was intended for release in April but it just same out today. Funny, the election was two months ago but it seems like longer.

Click here for the May 2005 issue of The Commonspace. My article is the first one in the “Church and State” section.

– Steve

South Grand Improvements Miss the Mark in Areas

Last night I was biking along Grand where new improvements were made, including the designation of bike lanes. The main improvement to Grand was to reduce the amount of paving. To narrow the street to two lanes in each direction plus a striped bike lane. On-street parking remains in places and in others the room simply doesn’t exist.

At Arsenal the shops on the East side of the street facing Tower Grove Park gained a bit more “green” space between the sidewalk and curb line. Since no on-street parking exists in this area one might assume you don’t need any concrete between curb and sidewalk. But that would be a wrong assumption. I was on the bike lane and wanted to get to the sidewalk. My choices were either continue ahead to where parking is permitted and then double back or walk my bike through the planting area. At this point it is just mulch but eventually this will be planted.

Also, this is a pretty active corner. The hair salon, florist and corner restaurant are all popular. Auto parking is in the back of the building. Bike parking is non-existent. The one lamp post in the mulched area doesn’t give cyclists many choices for securing their bikes when visiting these businesses. I’d like to see two or three inverted-U racks added in this section.


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