Gun Show Billboards in North St. Louis

Billboards for a gun show in St. Charles appeared all over North St. Louis, but some objected:

“We have a lot of momentum going, so to see an advertisement for a gun show really struck a major nerve,” James Clark of Better Family Life said.

After all, Clark’s mission is to encourage teens to put down the pistol and settle beefs by talking instead of shooting.

“This urban core where citizens go to sleep hearing gunshots — we do not need to have that image in these neighborhoods,” Clark said. (KMOV)

Residents got CBS Advertising to removed the billboards in one neighborhood but they remained in many others.

Should the community be able to set standards for such advertising or does that violate the free speech of the show’s organizers?

– Steve Patterson

THF Big Box vs. Planned Creve Coeur Downtown

This story caught my eye back in July:

THF Realty, a major developer of Walmarts and other big-box stores, is sniffing around the Orchard Lakes subdivision just north of Creve Coeur and near busy Olive Boulevard and Interstate 270.

A company representative met with subdivision trustees on June 3 to discuss a potential buyout of the entire subdivision, according to a subsequent letter from the trustees to subdivision homeowners. (STLToday)

Not surprising since vacant highway-adjacent parcels no longer exist. The subdivision of 256 single family homes is adjacent to I-270, extending more than half the distance from Olive to Page.

THF Realty wants to make sure all those motorists driving on I-270 can see the generic big box development they are planning.

I knew where the subdivision was located but had never driven any of it’s streets, so last month I drove each street in the subdivision.

I grew up in a subdivision of similar vintage as Orchard Lakes. From a check of St. Louis County records these houses were built between 1961-66.   There is nothing particularly unique about the homes or the subdivision itself. With a few exceptions, all the homes looked well maintained. Many have newer windows and roofs.

Few sidewalks exist in this subdivision, it’s not at all urban. Not rural either, decidedly suburban. There is no orchard, probably never was.

There are lots of very nice mature trees though.

Orchard Lakes is in unincorporated St. Louis County – barely. Creve Coeur has annexed commercial property along Olive Blvd but they didn’t want the adjacent residential areas. For a while now Creve Coeur has been planning to remake Olive & Ballas into their downtown.

In April 2002, the City of Creve Coeur adopted the Comprehensive Plan. Together, with the Pedestrian Plan and Design Guidelines, these plans set a standard for protecting community assets and strength- ening community character. Among the numerous recommendations made in the Comprehensive Plan are several for the Central Business District. Specifically, the Comprehensive Plan recommends the creation of a downtown (or town center) in the vicinity of the Olive-New Ballas intersection. (Plan PDF)

Orchard Lakes is just north of their proposed downtown/central business district:

The strong real estate market in Creve Coeur is anticipated to continue to be a basis for strengthening residential areas while at the same time stimulating major reinvestment in aging or underutilized commercial areas.

Clearly Creve Coeur’s planners didn’t envision the surrounding residential getting replaced by high traffic big box. To a degree this is what Creve Coeur gets for incorporating only the commercial areas along Olive, but not the adjacent residential to the north. Will be interesting to see if either gets built.

– Steve Patterson

A Decade Ago

A decade ago I was excited about an upcoming 19-day vacation with a friend. Our itinerary would begin in Washington D.C., with a drive through the Pennsylvania countryside to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, on to NYC for a few days and then back to D.C. before flying home. Our flights, car rental and hotel were all booked. We would fly into Dulles Airport on October 19, 2001.

For both os us it would be our first trip to Manhattan, iconic buildings like the Empire State and World Trade Center were on our must-see list.  Then it happened.

The morning of September 11, 2001 I was driving to a client’s house in St. Louis County when I heard the report on the radio of the first plane hitting the first tower. When I arrived they had their television on, we watched the reports…and the second plane hitting the second tower. Like the rest of the world, we were stunned. It seemed unreal, so unimaginable.  Death & destruction like we’d never seen before.

For a while it looked like we would cancel our vacation, but then it became clear these areas needed tourists dollars. We went, and had a great time. Returning to D.C. after New York the Pentagon, still damaged, at least had most of the debris  removed.

Remember the Post 9/11 anthrax scare? A person on NYC’s upper east side died of anthrax poisoning the day we were walking through the area. We visited a friend on the upper west side, a week earlier he could see hazmat crews in the offices of ABC just across the alley cleaning after an anthrax scare.  It was a surreal vacation.

The families of all who died that day, and of first responders who are ill, it was more than surreal. I can’t begin to imagine what they felt then, or now.

On Sundays I introduce a new poll for the week:

The number of Americans who say the government should do whatever it takes to protect its citizens against terrorism —even if it means violating civil liberties — has dropped almost in half since the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. (Source)

This seems like a good topic, the poll is in the right sidebar.  Those on mobile devices will need to switch to the full site to vote in the poll.

– Steve Patterson

Kiener Plaza Helped by Gateway Greening

The other day I strolled through Kiener Plaza and I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful plantings.

Gateway Greening really provides a great service to the city, the parks department could never do such plantings.

– Steve Patterson

May 1, 2012 Will Mark the 30th Anniversary of Richard Serra’s ‘Twain’

Richard Serra’s controversial metal sculpture “Twain” was installed on March 15-17, 1982 and dedicated on Saturday May 1, 1982.

According to a August 25, 1985 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, by the late George McCue, “the formal name arrived late; at the 1982 dedication it was simply “Quadrilateral.”” I know many of you don’t like Twain, see Readers split on Richard Serra’s “Twain” from April 2010.

The following is what I’d like to see accomplished by the 30th anniversary of “Twain’s” dedication:

1) Extend the wide “hallway” that runs next to Market St in Citygarden. Narrow 10th & 11th streets where the hallway crosses both as was done at 9th.

2) Replace the narrow broken sidewalks on the other three sides of the block with new wider sidewalks.

3) Place landscaping grids around the sculpture so grass can grow without having foot traffic create holes that get muddy and collect water.