Citygarden On A Warm Summer’s Night

Citygarden is a busy place during the day, but if you haven’t experienced it at night you’re really missing out.

I love strolling through Citygarden because no matter how I feel when I arrive I know I’ll leave with a smile on my face. On those days when it’s just been too hot to go out when the sun is up I get grumpy being indoors so a late night visit is still warm, but needed relief to being stuck in air conditioning.

— Steve Patterson

Five Guys Adds ADA Accessible Route To Reach Former Blockbuster

Back in March I photographed the lack of an ADA accessible route from the public sidewalk to the Lindell Marketplace building that once contained a Blockbuster video rental store. For years pedestrians have had to walk in the auto driveway, risking getting hit.

I was pleasantly surprised months later when Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened in the west end of the former Blockbuster — they’d added an ADA accessible route before opening!

They had to modify the fence, pour concrete in two places and stripe the route. It was the right thing to do, it’s just refreshing to see it done without having to ask.

And yes, I stopped and had lunch there recently.

— Steve Patterson

Convention Center MetroLink Station Maintenance Neglected

Many visitors coming to St. Louis for a convention use our MetroLink light rail to get downtown from the airport. The eastbound station they’ll use to reach their hotel and America’s Center looks decent, but when they leave to return to the airport they’ll see neglected maintenance.

Overall the station looks okay but one column is highly visible and clearly in need of attention. This column has been in this sad condition for at least a few years now.  I know many other stations also need attention, largely from exposure to the elements. Would it really cost that much to patch the plaster and repaint? Maybe a flash mob could so up one day and take care of the plaster when the guard is on the platform?

Big deal you say, we’ve got bigger problems. True, we do. Perception as a failed city is one. With a little effort paid to details around our city we, and our visitors, can begin to feel better about our future.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Move Parking Out of Treasurer’s Office

During the democratic primary Tishaura Jones noted that no other city places the responsibility for parking management under the office of treasurer. I didn’t check other cities to verify this claim but it seems valid.

In the poll last week it became very clear readers agree with Jones about removing parking from the treasurer’s office:

Q: Parking Management, Planning, & Revenues for St. Louis Should:

1. Made part of a city department subject to oversight by the mayor and board
   of Aldermen 58 [90.63%]
2. Be kept within the “county” office of treasurer 6 [9.38%]
3. Unsure/No Opinion 0 [0%]
4. Other: 0 [0%]

Moving responsibility for parking will require changing Missouri law, as Jones indicated during the primary.

Missouri statues Chapter 54 establishes the office of treasurer for each county and details the office responsibilities. The office is about handling the county’s money (St. Louis is a city-county), not parking meters and garages. Except for the City of St. Louis.

St. Louis is a “constitutional charter city” which has its own chapter, Chapter 82. There are numerous  statutes relating to the office of treasurer such as:

82.485. 1. The treasurer of any city not within a county is hereby made and constituted supervisor of parking meters. (full statute)

and

82.516. For such services as supervisor of parking meters, the city treasurer may receive the sum of sixteen thousand dollars per year from the parking fund, as approved by the parking commission. (statute)

Nice salary bonus for handling parking!

Tishaura Jones will face two challengers in the November 6, 2012 general election, a Green and Republican. Jones is expected to win. The winner will be sworn into office in January 2013.

— Steve Patterson

Lenore K. Sullivan Born 110 Years Ago Today

If you’ve spent anytime by the Arch or riverfront you’ve likely walked, biked or driven along Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself who was this woman? If so, here’s your answer:

Leonor Kretzer Sullivan (August 21, 1902 in St. Louis, Missouri – September 1, 1988 in St. Louis) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri. She was a Democrat and the first woman in Congress from Missouri.

Sullivan attended Washington University in St. Louis and was a teacher and director at St. Louis Comptometer school. She was married to John B. Sullivan, who served four terms in Congress, and she served as his administrative aide. Following her husband’s death in 1951, she served as an aide to Congressman Leonard Irving until she left to run for Congress herself in 1952. She was re-elected eleven times. In Congress, she served for many years as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.

Sullivan helped create the food stamp program, which was opposed by Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson and became law in the 60s during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Sullivan was one of very few members of Congress, and the only woman member of Congress, to vote against the Equal Rights Amendment for women in the early 1970s.

She did not seek re-election in 1976, and was succeeded by Dick Gephardt. The former Wharf Street in front of the Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis was renamed Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard in her honor. (Wikipedia)

Sullivan was 49 years old when she became a widow then she served 24 years in Congress.

Here’s a quote attributed to her:

“A woman with a woman’s viewpoint is of more value when she
forgets she’s a woman and begins to act like a man.”

Her congressional bio:

SULLIVAN, Leonor Kretzer, (wife of John Berchmans Sullivan), a Representative from Missouri; born Leonor Alice Kretzer, August 21, 1902, in St. Louis, Mo.; attended public and private schools; attended Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.; teacher and director, St. Louis Comptometer School; served as administrative aide to her husband, John B. Sullivan, 1942-1951, and as secretary to United States Representative Irving of Missouri until May 1952, when she resigned to campaign for congressional nomination; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-third and to the eleven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953-January 3, 1977); chair, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries (Ninety-third and Ninety-fourth Congresses); was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-fifth Congress in 1976; died on September 1, 1988, in St. Louis, Mo.. (US Congress)

So next time you’re on Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd. you’ll know a little bit more about her. Maybe at a St. Louis themed trivia night some information here will help you team. Oh yes, 110 years ago today was her birthday.

— Steve Patterson