Readers: No Free Parking During Downtown Events

In the poll last week more than two-thirds of readers the voted clearly support Tishaura Jones’ decision to continue enforcement of parking meters.

Q: Should the St. Louis Treasurer suspend parking meter enforcement during downtown events?

1. No 99 [67.81%]
2. Yes 41 [28.08%]
3. Maybe 5 [3.42%]
4. Unsure/No Opinion 1 [0.68%]
5. Yes, but only for the Komen Race 0 [0%]

I agree with Jones and those who voted no, too many events to say parking is free. How far away from the event would be free? What about events held elsewhere, would those events also have free parking too? Look, I’m sorry the Komen Race organizers failed to make it clear to participants that on-street parking hasn’t been free since July 2013. The ticket is only $10, take transit or carpool next year.

— Steve Patterson

Fare Increase Starts Today

Metro’s new fares begin today:

The option most favored by the public was Option 2 which will raise the prices of the MetroLink one-ride fare, as well as the weekly, monthly, and university semester passes. The cost of the one-ride MetroLink fare will increase from $2.25 to $2.50. Weekly passes will increase from $25 to $27; monthly passes from $72 to $78; and the semester pass will go from $150 to $175.

The fare increase will not impact the $2 base MetroBus fare and the 2-Hour Pass/Transfer will remain at $3.00. The cost of the $7.50 Day Pass will not change nor will the current $4.00 Metro Call-A-Ride fare. (Metro)

The 2-hour pass is the same as a transfer, used on MetroBus or MetroLink light rail. This $3 pass/transfer allows riders who want to ride any combination of bus or rail, in any direction, within a 2-hour window, to do so for little more than the base fare. Those who don’t need more than a single ride in two hours can pay the one ride fare ($2 bus, $2.50 light rail).  I can imagine some weekly/monthly pass holders going to one ride or 2-hour passes, they’ll need to do the math to determine the most cost effective way for them to use Metro. I don’t use the system enough to justify a monthly pass.

One system similar in size to Metro is Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Their fares start at $2.25 for “Bus/Rapid/BRT” and are $2.50 for their “Park-N-Ride Bus.”   For transfers I looked at their FAQ:

Transfer Privileges are included in all RTA fare media: the All-Day Pass, 7-Day Flex Pass or Monthly Pass, and 5-trip farecards. RTA riders paying cash no longer receive transfers and should consider purchasing farecards or passes.

Interesting, if you buy 5 tickets in advance they each cost the same as one but include a transfer. I looked at 6-8 other systems and each has a unique way of handling the question of transfers. Some make everyone pay for a transfer but market it as being “free.” I like the option of just paying the base fare for most trips, upgrading to a 2-hour pass/transfer when I need to.

— Steve Patterson

Fifth Anniversary of Citygarden, Five Biggest Flaws

Five years ago today Citygarden was officially opened to the public.  I want to talk about five big design flaws, but first some background and a few of the many positives.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Citygarden in the last five years, observing the good & bad.   Here are the five biggest flaws at Citygarden:

1. Didn’t plan for continuation of Gateway Mall “Hallway” to the east & west
2. Lack of curb bulbs on perimeter streets (8th, Market, 10th, Chestnut) — see map
3. Keeping 9th Street closed
4. No public restroom
5. Restaurant space

Let’s take a look at each:

1) Didn’t plan for continuation of Gateway Mall “Hallway” to the east & west

One the best things about the Gateway Mall Master Plan was the idea of a wide “hallway” running the length of the mall, Citygarden got things going with the first two blocks. Had they built the east & west ends of these two blocks, at 8th & 10th, with continuation we might have be wen able to add another block or two to the Hallway by now. In the center, at 9th, they built the prototype for how the hallway would cross streets.

Had the ends at 8th & 10th been designed to match how the hallway crosses 9th Street it would be so much easier (cheaper) to continue. Either continuation wasn’t considered or the decision was made to not make it easy. The previous version of these two blocks (1994-2008) had a similar scheme of a wide walkway through an allée of trees with the hope of it extending. Never happened in its 14 years.

2) Lack of curb bulbs on perimeter streets (8th, Market, 10th, Chestnut)

At the south and north ends of 9th, Market & Chestnut, respectively, 9th was narrowed by “bulbing” the curb out to cap the parking lane, reducing the crossing distance. This is also mentioned in the Master Plan. Sadly, it was only done on 9th.

Had they done it at 10th and 8th too they could’ve extended the hallway mentioned above. This also would’ve helped crossing the too-wide Market Street and Chestnut. The master plan called for a 20-direction bike lane along the north side of Market, but the planners could never describe how that would work with signals, entry/exit, etc.

3) Keeping 9th Street closed

Initially 9th Street was supposed to be reopened the vehicles once Citygarden was completed, 9th is one-way northbound. But some wanted to closed permanently.

Initially they’d move the barricades late at night to allow traffic through, not sure if they still do that. One-way couplets only work if streets remain open in opposite directions, 8th & 10th are both one-way southbound. Except that now, because of Ballpark Village, 8th is two-way south of Market.  We have a poorly functioning downtown grid of one-way & two-way streets, each with  random blocks closed to traffic. Maddening.

I think part of the reason they wanted 9th kept closed is they quickly realized nobody had considered pedestrian signals at the hallway crossing 9th (nor at Chestnut). Oops. Once again pedestrians weren’t given proper consideration.

4) No public restroom

The Gateway Foundation spent tens of millions of dollars building Citygarden, and for the most part it is a world-class facility.

Really? All that money but no place to use the bathroom? The simplest fix now is to extend the hallway one block west to incorporate the Twain block, adding a modern restroom structure off of the hallway in that block. I suggested as much in 2010.

5) Restaurant space

The third restaurant opened recently in the restaurant space in the northeast corner (8th & Chestnut. Architecturally the building is a looker, the main reasons the first two places failed were poor service (The Terrace View) and food & service (Joe’s Chili Bowl). I ate at both more than once, because of the ambiance.  I met a friend for lunch at Death in the Afternoon on Friday, I was impressed with both the food & service. Others seemed to be impressed too as the place quickly filled for lunch.

The previous problems were service (2) and food (1), so why is the building a flaw? The problems are on the Chestnut side.

These five flaws need to be addressed. A 6th, a poorly-built ADA ramp at 10th & Chestnut, got replaced a couple of years ago after I finally made a formal complaint with the city. The City of St. Louis owns the land but the Gateway Foundation funded, designed, built and manages Citygarden.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Oppose or Support St. Louis Marrying 4 Same-Sex Couples on June 25th

Thursday morning I decided the poll I had planned to run this week will have to wait until next week. Late Wednesday St. Louis officials married four same-sex couples despite Missouri’s 2004 constitutional ban.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster sued the city of St. Louis on Thursday morning, seeking and getting an injunction to stop the city from issuing more same-sex marriage licenses. (stltoday)

The four marriages occurred on the same day a U.S. appeals court struct down Utah’s ban and a federal district judge tossed Indiana’s ban.

Before you scroll down to the comments to complain this has nothing to do with urban planning let me say it has everything to do with public policy, and St. Louis.

In a reader poll last year more than half indicated Missouri should wait on same-sex marriage until forced otherwise by the courts. In February the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s ban.

Ok, so the poll is in the right sidebar (desktop layout) and the comments are open.

— Steve Patterson

‘Spanish Lake’ Documentary Overly Simplifies North St. Louis County In/Out Migration

Last week I finally saw the documentary ‘Spanish Lake’. Director Phillip Andrew Morton grew up in Spanish Lake, an unincorporated area of northeast St. Louis County. I suggest you see the film, showing at the Tivoli through July 3rd, but do so with a few grain of salt.

First, what the film got right:

• St. Louis County leadership guided federal low-income housing to the area
• St. Louis County has many municipalities
• Nearby Blackjack was incorporated in an attempt to keep out low-income public housing
• Real estate interests actively engaged in “blockbusting” and “steering”

If you take the film at face value you’ll walk away falsely thinking:

• All residents from Pruitt-Igoe moved to brand new apartments in Spanish Lake
• Spanish Lake would be perfect today if not for poor blacks moving in and quickly ruining things

The Spanish Lake area has a very long history, famed explorers Lewis & Clark camped here at the start and end of their trip (1804-1806), residents have lived in the area since. This was a rural farming community for many years, but in the 1920s new housing subdivisions were platted. Northdale, the subdivision where filmmaker Morton first lived, was among the first tract housing planned for Spanish Lake, it was platted in March 1929. The depression and World War II meant the subdivision were nothing more than a drawing on file with St. Louis County. . Northdale was platted for a parcel on the east side of a freight railroad line, Northdale 2 was platted just two weeks later, in March 1929, for the west side of the railroad line.

Before farmers began platting home sites on their property, in the City of St. Louis property owners were busy placing deed restrictions to keep non-whites from buying. One example from 1911 went all the way to the Supreme Court in the 1940s:

On February 16, 1911, thirty out of a total of thirty-nine owners of property fronting both sides of Labadie Avenue between Taylor Avenue and Cora Avenue in the city of St. Louis, signed an agreement, which was subsequently recorded, providing in part:
“. . . the said property is hereby restricted to the use and occupancy for the term of Fifty (50) years from this date, so that it shall be a condition all the time and whether recited and referred to as [sic] not in subsequent conveyances and shall attach to the land as a condition precedent to the sale of the same, that hereafter no part of said property or any
Page 334 U. S. 5
portion thereof shall be, for said term of Fifty-years, occupied by any person not of the Caucasian race, it being intended hereby to restrict the use of said property for said period of time against the occupancy as owners or tenants of any portion of said property for resident or other purpose by people of the Negro or Mongolian Race.”
The entire district described in the agreement included fifty-seven parcels of land. The thirty owners who signed the agreement held title to forty-seven parcels, including the particular parcel involved in this case. At the time the agreement was signed, five of the parcels in the district were owned by Negroes. One of those had been occupied by Negro families since 1882, nearly thirty years before the restrictive agreement was executed. The trial court found that owners of seven out of nine homes on the south side of Labadie Avenue, within the restricted district and “in the immediate vicinity” of the premises in question, had failed to sign the restrictive agreement in 1911. At the time this action was brought, four of the premises were occupied by Negroes, and had been so occupied for periods ranging from twenty-three to sixty-three years. A fifth parcel had been occupied by Negroes until a year before this suit was instituted. (Shelly v. Kraemer, 1948)

The 1948 decision meant the government courts couldn’t be used to enforce private restrictive covenants.  Real estate interests pounced on neighborhoods, playing up fears of whites that they’d better sell while they could. Go back up and reread the quote — black families had lived on that block for years. The big fear was going over a “tipping point” where all white neighborhoods would gain just enough non-whites to make the remaining whites leave; roughly 10%.  This has been the case for more than a century now.

Presumably because of the Great Depression and WWII, the homes in Northdale weren’t built until 1951; each virtually identical 864 square foot slab on grade boxes (no basement). A decade later Northdale 2 homes were built on the lots platted the other side of the tracks. These homes were built in brick, with a full basement, and 3 bedrooms instead of just 2. Those early Northdale homes were the very cheapest new housing available, and with government loans cheaper than renting in the then-overcrowded city.

At the same time as the strip mall and initial apartment buildings were going up so were nicer homes, such as those in the Hidden Lake Subdivision behind the Spanish Gardens Apts and the Belle Parke Plaza strip mall. These houses face a private lake, are 1,500-2,000 sq ft  with 2-car garages.

Meanwhile…

The county had adopted a master plan in 1965 which embraced the 1,700 acres which were later to become the City of Black Jack. That plan designated sixty-seven acres for multiple-family construction. In 1970, 15.2 of those acres were occupied by 321 apartments, 483.1 acres were occupied by single-family dwellings, and the rest of the land was undeveloped. (source)

Apartments were planned before Congress changed the Urban Renewal program into Model Cities (1966).   Many many factors play into people’s decisions about where to live, when to move, etc… Yes, race may be a part of the decision; humans like to self-select to be with like individuals. Economics is another. For years General Motors had a factory in north city (Natural Bridge & Union), the Corvette was assembled there until 1981 when “production shifted from St. Louis, Missouri to Bowling Green, Kentucky” (Wikipedia). The entire plant was closed in 1987, but in 1983 a new plant opened in the St. Charles County town of Wentzville. The movement of blue collar jobs meant blue collar workers would follow.

Why keep living in a 30+ year old 2-bedroom 1-bath house without a basement or garage when you can get a newer & nicer home closer to work?   I’ll have more on the Spanish Lake area in the coming weeks, but I do suggest you get to the Tivoli to see it.

— Steve Patterson