Bill Would Require A Pedestrian Access Route Separate From Vehicular Route

A bill was introduced to the Board of Aldermen on Friday that I’m very glad to finally see:

BOARD BILL NO. 92 INTRODUCED BY ALDERMAN SCOTT OGILVIE An ordinance pertaining to pedestrian access to buildings; establishing regulations for pedestrian access that primarily serves users of the subject property and for which dedication of public access rights is not required. (Board Bill 92)

Basically the bill makes it a requirement that buildings with public access have a pedestrian connection between the sidewalk and primary entrance. The route will be required to be separate from the vehicular route, the days of building new buildings and making pedestrians come/go through parking lots would be over.

Those businesses that don’t have a pedestrian path are basically saying pedestrians aren’t welcome, if you want to spend money here you’ll have to take your chances walking in the driveways. If approved, this would be required of new construction and presumably major renovations.Board Bill 92 has been assigned to the Public Safety committee.

Thanks to Ald Scott Ogilvie for listening to me and taking steps to make St. Louis a better place for pedestrians.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Should The City Of St. Louis Ban Plastic Shopping Bags?

Recently Los Angeles joined many others in banning plastic shopping bags:

In the first five months of the year, the number of plastic bag bans in the U.S. has doubled, from 37 to 75, after almost doubling, from 19 to 37, in 2011. The industry has been unable to stop major U.S. cities such as Seattle, Austin and now, most likely, Los Angeles, from banning its products.

Two-thirds of the bans are in California, and plastic bag bans are now in place in three of the 14 largest and five of the 29 largest cities in the U.S., with Los Angeles — the nation’s second-largest city, with a population of 4 million — set to join that group. (Plastics News)

However, such measures are not without controversy:

Many cities are imposing fees and bans on plastic shopping bags. Advocates argue these measures help the environment. But others say these measures are ineffective, and hurt the urban poor. (NPR)

Some stores, such as Aldi, don’t offer free plastic bags, customers must buy bags or bring their own. Other stores offer five cent discounts if you bring your own bag.

This is the topic of poll this week, the question is “Should the City of St. Louis ban plastic shopping bags?” The poll is in the right sidebar, results on Wednesday June 20, 2012.

– Steve Patterson

Recycling Is Normal

Recycling seems commonplace these days, especially compared to 30-40 years ago, I’ve even taken stuff home to recycle rather than discard it in  a trash receptacle on the street.

Increasingly municipalities, such as Normal IL,  are providing recycling options on the street. Lately solar trash compactors have helped reduce trash collection costs.

Here’s a news report on these solar trash compactors:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e8Be9rq_C8

I like these compactors, hopefully their initial cost will come down and we’ll start getting them in St. Louis.

 – Steve Patterson

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Overkill On Washington Avenue

A week ago tonight the St. Louis Metropolitan Police were all over four blocks of Washington Ave  (10th-14th). This will be my fifth summer as a downtown resident and last weekend seemed very familiar based on the last few year.

It goes something like this:

1. Zero police presence during the busiest times (late friday & saturday nights)
2. Something bad happens, usually a late night shooting
3. Everyone gets upset
4. Elected officials and police develop a plan
5. Following weekend make a huge show of force
6. Next weekend police nowhere to be found

As officers began placing the barricades to block eastbound Washington at 14th the officers were wearing dark uniforms and the lighting is poor, drivers couldn’t see them. One officer yelled at a couple of drivers like this was an occupied police state. Maybe the flares were necessary given the poor execution of going from open to closed road. The number of police was astonishing, blue uniforms and vehicles everywhere.

Personally I think closing the street to traffic killed the vibrancy of the street.  Will this be sustained all summer or will it be impossible to find a single cop on these four blocks tonight?

– Steve Patterson

Pedestrian Signal Activation Button Beyond Reach

Last week I was at Kingshighway Blvd at Devonshire Ave but I wanted to be on the other side of Kingshighway.

Most signals in the city don’t require activating the pedestrian signal but after I didn’t get the walk symbol I began looking for a button.

Oh there it is. Unfortunately, I can’t reach it because 1) it’s too high and 2) it’s at the one place on the poll I can’t reach because no sidewalk exists. After dinner I crossed Kingshighway at the other crosswalk, pressed the button but still no walk symbol. Complete pedestrian failure.

– Steve Patterson

UPDATE: Monday June 11, 2012 @ 9:15am – Just received an email from a city traffic engineer that this button was moved on Friday June 8th.