Celebrating Blog’s 19th Anniversary

 

  Nineteen year ago I started this blog as a distraction from my father’s heart attack and slow recovery. It was late 2004 and social media & video streaming apps didn’t exist yet — or at least not widely available to the general public. Blogs were the newest means of …

Thoughts on NGA West’s Upcoming $10 Million Dollar Landscaping Project

 

  The new NGA West campus , Jefferson & Cass, has been under construction for a few years now. Next NGA West is a large-scale construction project that will build a new facility for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in St. Louis, Missouri.This $1.7B project is managed by the U.S. Army …

Four Recent Books From Island Press

 

  Book publisher Island Press always impresses me with thoughtful new books written by people working to solve current problems — the subjects are important ones for urbanists and policy makers to be familiar and actively discussing. These four books are presented in the order I received them. ‘Justice and …

New Siteman Cancer Center, Update on my Cancer

 

  This post is about two indirectly related topics: the new Siteman Cancer Center building under construction on the Washington University School of Medicine/BJC campus and an update on my stage 4 kidney cancer. Let’s deal with the latter first. You may have noticed I’ve not posted in three months, …

Recent Articles:

Parking Garage Repairs Halted, Emergency Structural Condemnation Issued

 

In December I told you about a downtown parking garage closed since July 2014, see: Parking Garage Undergoing Time-Consuming Multi-Million Dollar Restoration; Businesses Closed, Jobs Lost. Since December the big crew of workers dwindled to a just a couple and then last week nobody — the work stopped and the gate was locked.

Pape John's was located at Tucker & Pine until July when it closed for repairs to this parking garage.
The garage at Tucker & Pine in December 2014

Condemnation notices went up last week, I noticed them on Friday 4/10.
Condemnation notices went up last week, I noticed them on Friday 4/10.

My assumption is the repairs were becoming a blank check project the owners finally halted. Now what? I’m concerned the out of state owner will just walk away.  Ideally I’d like to see a new building constructed on this corner, if the St. Louis Streetcar project gets funded a new building would be feasible. I’m sure some would like to see this garage repaired or replaced with a new garage. I suppose that would be marginally acceptable.

What wouldn’t be acceptable, however, is a surface parking lot, this intersection needs the massing.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: St. Louis’ Earnings Taxes…

 

Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar

Our federal, state, and for some of us, St. Louis City, tax returns must be postmarked no later than Wednesday. For today’s poll I thought Id ask about the St. Louis earnings tax. If you live OR work in the city you must pay 1%. Live in another state and play baseball, hockey, or football for opposing teams that play the Cardinals. Blues, Rams? You must pay 1% of the income earned in St. Louis.

Taxes are never popular — few are as controversial as our local earnings tax. So take the poll in the right sidebar — you can pick one or two answers — you can provide your own if you don’t like the choices offered.

— Steve Patterson

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Good News Friday: Metro Mobile App

 

Last week our transit agency, Metro, released its first mobile app — called Metro On The Go:

You asked for a Metro app — and now you have it! Metro On The Go, the official mobile application of Metro transit, is now available. You can download it for free from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Metro On The Go lets you plan your trip on Metro transit, check schedules for MetroLink and all 75 MetroBus routes, and tap into real-time vehicle data so you can see when the next bus will arrive — all from the palm of your hand. (NextStopSTL)

The app is available for Android & iOS mobile devices. I’ll share my thoughts on the iOS version later in this post, but first I want to bring up an issue before others do. Some may say things like “not everyone has a smartphone”, “not everyone can afford a smartphone”, “this is elitist”, etc.  These people likely have broadband at home and choose to not have a smartphone — for others the reverse is the case:

10% of Americans own a smartphone but do not have broadband at home, and 15% own a smartphone but say that they have a limited number of options for going online other than their cell phone. Those with relatively low income and educational attainment levels, younger adults, and non-whites are especially likely to be “smartphone-dependent.” (Pew Reseach — U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015)

From the same source:

Lower-income smartphone owners are especially likely to use their phone during a job search. Compared with smartphone owners from households earning $75,000 or more per year, those from households earning less than $30,000 annually are nearly twice as likely to use a smartphone to look for information about a job — and more than four times as likely to use their phone to actually submit a job application.

Similarly, “smartphone-dependent” users are much more likely to use their smartphones to access career opportunities. 63% of these smartphone-dependent users have gotten job information on their phone in the last year, and 39% have used their phone to submit a job application.

Young adults (85% of whom are smartphone owners) are also incorporating their mobile devices into a host of information seeking and transactional behaviors. About three-quarters of 18-29 year old smartphone owners have used their phone in the last year to get information about a health condition; about seven-in-ten have used their phone to do online banking or to look up information about job; 44% have consumed educational content on their phone; and 34% have used their phone to apply for a job.

The app can be useful, but is it? In short — yes! In just days my initial complaint has already been addressed.

main menu
The main menu

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For me the “Next Departures” is the most helpful. When I downloaded the app on the first day the stops didn’t list the bus direction — which is important to know — so I’m glad they listened to feedback

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Being able to see if a bus is on time or running late is very helpful

I wasn’t able to test the Android version, my husband went back to iOS in the Fall of 2013.  The ‘Trip Planner’ isn’t as responsive as the Google Maps app. Still, for most of my transit use I need to know the next departure of the #10 at 16th & Olive or the #97 at 16th & Washington. This will come in handy when I’m at places and want to know when the next return bus home arrives.  Thanks Metro!

— Steve Patterson

Cutting Corners Costs Time & Money: 1424 Washington Ave

 

Four months ago today I noticed work going on at 1424 Washington Ave., so I began documenting exterior changes, mistakes, fixes, etc. as I’d pass by. Check it out…

December 9th I posted this to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: "Work going on inside 1424 Washington Ave this afternoon"
December 9th: I posted this to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Work going on inside 1424 Washington Ave this afternoon” An ADA-ramp with handrails is visible. Click image to view on Facebook

January 2nd: Again posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: "Curious how those renovating 1424 Washington will handle ADA access" Note the door threshold is flush with the top of the ramp.
January 2nd: Again posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Curious how those renovating 1424 Washington will handle ADA access” Most handrails now gone, concrete busted, the door threshold is flush with the top of the ramp. Click image to view on Facebook

January 15th: Sidewalk being busted out in front of new doorway
January 15th: Sidewalk being busted out in front of new doorway

January 20th: Door on left now a few inches above the old ramp so they raised the interior floor level
January 20th: Door on left now a few inches above the old ramp so they raised the interior floor level

January 21st: sidewalk removed in front of new door is bigger than yesterday, old ramp being busted out
January 21st: sidewalk removed in front of new door is bigger than yesterday, old ramp being busted out

January 22nd; Old ramp and sidewalk between doors now removed
January 22nd; Old ramp and sidewalk between doors now removed

January 23rd: Posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: "Fresh concrete at 1424 Washington Ave doesn't appear ADA-compliant, too steep." I mentioned to the contractor it wasn't ADA-compoliant, he said the owner knew that but didn't care. Click image to view on Facebook.
January 23rd: Posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Fresh concrete at 1424 Washington Ave doesn’t appear ADA-compliant, too steep.” I mentioned to the contractor it wasn’t ADA-compoliant, he said the owner knew that but didn’t care. I sent an email to a few city officials with this photo! Click image to view on Facebook.

January 28th: Posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: "Another attempt at ADA compliance at 1424 Washington Ave, what's left doesn't look kosher" Click image to view on Facebook
January 28th: Posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Another attempt at ADA compliance at 1424 Washington Ave, what’s left doesn’t look kosher” Click image to view on Facebook

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January 30th: I suspected this end will get redone

mar 16th
March 16th: and it did but so did the rest as a step now appears as the sidewalk falls

mar 16th
March 16th: the view from the other end showing a step that wasn’t there on January 30th. Will this get an end railing to prevent someone from stepping off the high end?

April 4th: still no railing on the end, the smaller step should've returned around the end.
April 4th: still no railing on the end, the smaller step should’ve returned around the end.

A lot of concrete & money was wasted, if only they’d done it right the very first time!  A quality development by the Three Stooges McGowan Brothers.

— Steve Patterson

 

 

Readers: MetroBus & MetroLink Are Equally Safe

 

I’ve been a regular rider of public transit in St. Louis for a few years now, I’ve never felt unsafe or witnessed any crime. Still, a recent assault on a train has many concerned.

Talking to people over the years some would only ride MetroLink light rail, they’d never consider MetroBus. I’ve asked [white] people if they’d ridden public transit, a common answer was “Yes, MetroLink.” Most are shocked when I tell them I use MetroBus far more often than MetroLink.

The vote count Sunday was low, but I liked the fair results:

Q: Which mode of public transportation do you think is the safest in St. Louis?

  1. Tie/equal 11 [45.83%]
  2. Bus (MetroBus) 6 [25%]
  3. Light rail (MetroLink) 5 [20.83%]
  4. Unsure/no answer 2 [8.33%]

Despite the hysteria on the local news, both MetroLink & MetroBus are largely safe modes. I’d be more worried about driving on I-270 than being assaulted on public transportation. I’ll leave it to others to dig through piles of data.

— Steve Patterson

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