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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
Event areas shouldn’t have curbs! Yes, in most areas curbs are necessary for water flow and keeping cars off sidewalks. Yesterday I posted about a conflict between major events and transit access, primarily at 14th @ Chestnut. Today is about curbs — actually my wish for no curbs when a festival area gets designed in the Gateway Mall.
The problem with holding events in an area not designed for events is crowd control and accessibility. Here crowd control blocks access to the curb ramps
The two blocks of Washington Ave feature a mostly curb-free design
When the two blocks of Washington Ave from Tucker to 14th are closed for an event the design doesn’t present accessibility issues.
Of course there are many other issues to consider when designing a festival area: power distribution, lighting, sound, sanitation, etc. Flexibility is important too. Event planners need to be a part of the planning & design process.
14th Street is a very popular north-south street through downtown St. Louis. Unfortunately, it’s too popular. Nearly every MetroBus that comes into downtown uses 14th just as nearly every event shuts down at least one intersection along 14th, usually at Chestnut, requiring many buses to reroute.
14th Street was closed between Clark & Pine recently for the Taste of St. Louis
From Metro’s downtown detail map we can see the six bus routes that pass through the 14th & Chestnut intersection: 10, 32, 41, 74, 94, 97. The 4, 11, 30, 58x, 410x use 14th St south of Market
14th Street closed at Pine on a thursday morning to set up for a weekend event
It seems like twice per month there’s a festival, concert, run, walk, bike ride, parade, or something that totally screws up the bus routes and schedules. All because the events shut down the primary route used by the buses. Because we’ve messed up our street grid for years by removing streets and making others one-way 14th St is the only choice for these bus routes. The reroutes that go into place are time consuming, making that route late everywhere it travels.
The solution is to remove the conflict, not close 14th St. How you ask? Not possible right now, but perhaps once the area is redesigned.
The Gateway Mall Master Plan calls the area around Soldier’s Memorial the “Civic Room”, click image to see section. 14th St separates the left third from the right two thirds+.
From the Master Plan:
The Civic Room will create a large unified space well-suited for civic events, markets, festivals and concerts. In order to achieve this, it is anticipated that Chestnut Street would be closed incrementally over time, beginning with temporary closures for festivals, and ultimately considered for permanent or seasonal closure. though still allowing emergency and service vehicles access. Chestnut Street should be still be hard surfaced with a paving different than surrounding areas, to accommodate tents and other services necessary for festivals. Locations for performance stages and cultural or art annexes should be provided to further define the civic character of the space and create attractions to activate the mall.
This is good, just the wrong location. Rather than Tucker (12th) to 15th I think it needs to be 14th to 17th or 18th. 18th St is a busy street but it doesn’t have any bus routes, close it for an event to combine with Aloe Plaza to 20th. But from 15th to 20th the space is narrow, from Market to Chestnut only.
If the St. Louis Streetcar gets funded and built, 14th St will need to stay open so I hope someone creative can find a way to hold events here while still allowing all transit vehicles continuous access to 14th St.
Transit is important but so are events. One shouldn’t be compromised by the other. Tomorrow’s post will be about design issues with the current area around the Soldier’s Memorial along with some possible solutions.
Next year St. Louis will turn 250 years old. In those early years St. Louis didn’t have a municipal water system, but for the last 178 years we have.
1764: The City of St. Louis is founded. 1831: The City of St. Louis contracts with Abraham Fox and John Wilson to build a waterworks. 1835: The City of St. Louis buys out the bankrupt Fox and Wilson, becoming sole owner of the St. Louis Waterworks. (St. Louis Water history)
Cover of American City: St. Louis Architecture by Robert Sharoff & William Zbaren features a water inlet on the cover
PROJECT OBJECTIVE: The objective of the St. Louis Water Division is to retain a Consultant or Consultants with expertise in water system operations that can provide insight and new ideas, programs and approaches on ways to increase the Water Division’s efficiency and/or revenues in order to postpone or lessen future water rate increases and to improve customer satisfaction. The Cityand the Water Division for the most part would like to identify the ideas, have them bedeveloped into projects or programs and be implemented through Performance Contracting such that the City has no additional initial outlay of funds for capital projects or procurement of equipment or services. There will be some Non-Performance Contracting efforts that will result in delivery of a report with recommendations and a detailed implementation plan that can be executed by the SLWD or others
Sounds like a proactive step, but the winner of the bidding process, French firm Veolia, is viewed by some as a company that specializes in the privatization of public water systems. So the fear is a short-term consulting contract is the gateway to handing over a valuable city asset.
Mayor Slay is saying Comptroller Green has a duty to sign the $250,000 contract since it went through the bidding process. Meanwhile, Lewis Reed, President of the Board of Aldermen, is calling for hearings over the handling of the contract.
For months a grass-roots organization Dump Veolia has fought the contract at every step:
We are a group of concerned residents who want St. Louis to reject a proposed water consultancy contract with the French multinational corporation Veolia, the largest water privatization company in the world.? Learn what the campaign is about, who is mobilizing against Veolia, and why.???
The poll question this week is “Should St. Louis Sign The Water Consulting Contract With Veoila?” The poll is in the right sidebar, results to be posted on Wednesday October 20th.
The once-stately residence at 3630 Page Boulevard was used as an assisted living facility for years. Now the 1888 structure is being razed.
2009 photo of ‘Page Manor’ from GEO St. Louis
Earlier this week from the #94 MetroBus
The sad part is this property is in the 19th ward, so Cultural Resources wasn’t even given a chance to review the request for the demolition permit. Most of the city is in a “preservation review” area where trained staff look at requests for demolition, referring some to the Preservation Board for a decision on the fate.
Note: city records list the property address as 3630 Page Blvd, but Page Manor used the address 3636 Page Blvd.
Construction workers are busy building a new child care center near the Wellston MetroLink station:
The Wellston Developmental Child Care Center is a key component of the Wellston Sustainable Neighborhood Initiative Masterplan. Located adjacent to a Metrolink Light Rail Sytstem (with which it will share parking) as well as being in close proximity to the Metropolitan Enterprise Center (a new job training center) will allow the Development Center to attain the goals of providing early childhood education in a depressed neighborhood, preparing children for the K-12 system, and providing day care assistance for parents training for new jobs.
The 14,650 SF building is oriented primarily on an E-W axis maximizing orientation for energy efficiency and daylighting. The building footprint had been placed on the site to minimize driveway length and take advantage of the adjacent public parking. Stormwater from the site will be handled by a series of micro-detention areas integrated with native landscaping. The program includes public, administrative, infant/toddler, classrooms and support spaces. (Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects)
I’ve requested the site plan & Wellston masterplan from the architects & county economic council, neither have been received.
Construction of the building in Powell Park, seen from the far end of the station’s park-n-ride lot
Last year Powell Park was just a field that area residents cut through to reach the bus & train. Click image for post.
The long used shortcut is now blocked
From the parking lot we see the point where the shortcut comes through the greenery
The shortcut was the most direct path for pedestrians to reach public transit. It wasn’t even paved, but since 1993 it was heavily used. However, I support building on the field — especially facilities that’ll benefit the community.
How will pedestrians now reach the station?
Rather than cut through the field to the right, pedestrians must now walk along Werley Ave
Just past the construction fence is the west edge of the large station parking lot.
Turning east we see the parking lot, the station is at the bottom of the hill. The stop for the #94 MetroBus is on the left
The new child care center will use the existing parking, rather than have a separate parking lot. Still, the parking lot remains a divider between train, bus, residents, and new child care center. It’s possible pedestrian routes will be constructed in the parking lot to connect these elements. Without pedestrian connections the new construction is just transit-ajacent, not transit-oriented.
Once I see an actual site plan I’ll post an update.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
