Chicago’s Taxicabs More Interesting Than St. Louis’ Taxicabs

In a recent post I wondered if local taxicabs could be more whimsical to compete with the likes of Lyft, Uber, etc.  It’s true nobody hires a vehicle because of a pink mustache, but they’re distinctive. This past weekend we were in Chicago for a few days. We drove up and parked in the garage of the condo building where we stayed — $84 for 48 hours with no in/out privileges. We walked and used the bus but we also took four cab rides. Taxicabs are everywhere in Chicago, no need to call and walk — just walk to the street and hail one. At least where we were staying.

Of the hundreds & hundreds of taxicabs we saw, I think only 1-2 were the Ford Crown Victoria that’s so commonplace in St. Louis. No wonder really, the last Crown Vic was produced in September 2011. Though large vehicles, they’re not any easier for me to get in/out of the backseat than any other 4-door.

Of our four trips three of the four were in hybrids: Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius, and Ford C-Max. The fourth was a black town car that stopped for us. The most common taxicab vehicle was saw while in Chicago was the Toyota Prius. We also saw Ford Fusion Hybrid & Nissan Altima Hybrid. We saw quite a few of the modern/stylish VPG MV-1:

The styling looks like an SUV-ish riff on the traditional London cab, with a low-step-in (or roll aboard) flat floor and oodles of headroom. Dimensionally, it measures 8.0 inches shorter in length, 2.1 inches wider, and 18.2 inches taller than the Crown Vic. The rear doors swing open (90 degrees on the passenger side) to reveal a bench seat wide enough for three amply proportioned passengers. An optional ($349) rear-facing jump seat behind the driver accommodates a fourth, and standard anchoring plates are fitted to secure two wheelchairs, though locking down the second one precludes use of the right half of the bench seat. There is currently no provision for fitting a front passenger seat, though one is being considered, along with a passenger airbag. (Motor Trend)

I want to ride in one of these on our next visit in a few months.

It isn’t by chance that Chicago has so many hybrids, their approved vehicle list is either hybrids or CNG. Other creative taxicab examples in Chicago is using social media and free wifi:

In addition to tweeting, he also allows clients (or potential clients, as the case may be) to follow him on Google Latitude or Find My Friends so that people know wherever he is at any given time and can contact him when they need a ride. He offers free WiFi within his cab for iPhone and iPad users (“Don’t use your limited data!” he says), and plans to soon offer free WiFi for regular laptop users. Sometimes, as seen in the tweet above, Temuri gives discounts for his social media followers, and he always remembers who everyone is. (ArsTechnica)

The St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission doesn’t appear to have an approved vehicle list. I know St. Louis is a conservative town but more regulation to push taxicab companies into buying hybrid vehicles would likely prove better for the industry, the companies bottom line, and our air quality.

— Steve Pattersom

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Neighborhood Retail In Older Suburbs

Driving around the inner ring suburb of Overland recently I was struck at the number of corner retail buildings adjacent to the residential streets. Unlike more recent suburbs, where retail is miles away from housing, these were very close. End of street close. Today when we think of retailing in the suburbs it’s easy to assume it was always big boxes or enclosed mall, but like the inner city, it started off with stores within walking distance.

This is far different than the 1960s subdivision in Oklahoma City where I grew up. The 1960s subdivisions I’ve seen here are very similar, by that time commercial development was further away  and with lots more parking than these examples. Suburbs & their subdivision development seemed to continue on this trajectory, except for New Urbanist developments like New Town St. Charles.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: ICM/Summer Rocks Pushed Bluesweek & Taste of St. Louis Out of Downtown on Two Holiday Weekends. Good Move for Downtown & City?

A few months ago Entertainment Saint Louis, the local promoter behind the Taste of St. Louis and Bluesweek, announced both events were moving to Chesterfield. Since those announcements we’ve learned the city was working on a deal to give ICM/Summer Rocks use of the area around Soldiers Memorial for concerts starting next year:

The plan is for events along the lines of Lollapalooza in Chicago, a music festival that has brought millions of dollars and visitors to the city’s Grant Park since 2005, when it went from a traveling event to an annual Chicago spectacle.

ICM Partners intends to bring country music festivals over Memorial Day weekends and rock festivals over Labor Day weekends. The events will be planned to draw residents throughout the South and Midwest to the area around downtown’s Soldiers Memorial. (stltoday)

This means the region will have more total events than before.   The weekly poll this week asks if this is a good move for downtown & the city? The poll is in the right sidebar, the five answers are presented in random order.

I’ll post the results and share my thoughts next week.

— Steve Patterson

From Art Deco To Aluminum

Work is progressing on the construction of new storefronts at the former Board of Education building located at 901 Locust St. Last November I posted about the historic Art Deco storefronts being removed, they weren’t original to the building.

I personally love the contrast between old architecture and crisp modern storefronts so I’m excited to see how this will turn out. I’m especially curious to know how they plan to deal with ADA access on 9th Street. It appears vaults are under part of the public sidewalk, making the task of building a ramp more difficult.

It would’ve been impossible to make the old storefronts ADA compliant, sadly, they had to go. Originally the building had wood storefronts, not the best choice for retailing in the 21st Century, hopefully the aluminum will turn out nice, attracting a good tenant(s).

No post tomorrow, new weekly poll at 8am Sunday.

— Steve Patterson

A Possible Strategy for the North Grand Corridor

This is the fourth post on the North Grand corridor, prompted by the announcement Schnucks would close a store. Here are the first three posts:

1. Some Possible Reasons Why the North Grand Schnucks Didn’t Make a Profit
2. Rethinking the North Grand Corridor for Jobs, Economic Opportunity
3. Institutions & Businesses That Might Help Plan Rejuvenation of North Grand Blvd

The store is now closed. I’ve been reviewing materials on revitalizing low-income areas and one theme is repeated: JOBS! Critics would correctly point out it would take a lot to convince an employer to move their business to a depressed low-income area, that’s why the business and jobs must be created from within.

Anchor institutions—hospitals, colleges, and other institutions deeply rooted in their communities—are a form of commons that is viewed as crucial to revitalizing low-income neighborhoods. Besides being major employers and big customers for local businesses, they have an intrinsic stake in making sure their neighborhoods thrive. Your local hospital, for instance, is not going to pack up its beds and move to Mexico. 

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An initiative in Cleveland aims to help local residents become owners of new businesses that serve a cluster of hospitals, universities and cultural institutions on the city’s struggling East Side, including the famed Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University. The Cleveland Foundation teamed up with Ted Howard of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland to launch the Evergreen Cooperatives: 1) Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, an environmentally conscious employee-owned firm with a contract to clean linens and scrubs for local hospitals; 2) Green City Grower Cooperatives, an employee-owned 3.25 acre greenhouse that produces greens year-round for hospitals and the university; and 3) Evergreen Energy Solutions, where worker-owners install photovoltaic panels and make weatherization improvements for anchor institutions and local residents. (source)

Let’s take a closer look at the Cleveland Example, Evergreen Cooperatives:

The Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland, Ohio are pioneering innovative models of job creation, wealth building, and sustainability. Evergreen’s employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally. They create meaningful green jobs and keep precious financial resources within the Greater University Circle neighborhoods. Worker-owners at Evergreen earn a living wage and build equity in the firms as owners of the business.

From their Vision & Goals page:

The strategic pillars on which the Initiative is built are: (1) leveraging a portion of the multi-billion dollar annual business expenditures of anchor institutions into the surrounding neighborhoods; (2) establishing a robust network of Evergreen Cooperative enterprises based on community wealth building and ownership models designed to service these institutional needs; (3) building on the growing momentum to create environmentally sustainable energy and green collar jobs (and, concurrently, support area anchor institutions in achieving their own environmental goals to shrink their carbon footprints); (4) linking the entire effort to expanding sectors of the economy (e.g., health care, our aging population, local food, and sustainable energy), many of which are recipients of large-scale public investment; and (5) developing the financing and management capacities that can take this effort to scale (that is, to move beyond a few boutique projects or models to have significant municipal impact).

In the 2nd post, above, I listed the major institutions in the area. Between them they hire out for many goods & services. It’ll take a lot of effort to do what Cleveland has done, but I don’t think we have a choice in the matter.  There’s no guarantee this will work, it certainly isn’t a magic bullet to solve all the ills. If you’ve got another idea I’d love to hear it.

— Steve Patterson