KMOV Confused About Downtown’s Borders, Location Of Shooting

CBS affiliate KMOV seems confused about the borders of downtown as well as the location of a shooting yesterday.

The casual reader would think downtown St. Louis is unsafe.  But the article says the victim was leaving a gas station at 8800 Broadway.  8800 Broadway  – north & south — is over 7 miles from downtown.  The map they show with their article shows 8800 South Broadway but it says the victim hit a house on Riverview so the shooting had to happen at 8800 North Broadway. Granted downtown is between these two points but it would be nice if the media understood that downtown doesn’t extend south of Chouteau, north of Cass or west of Jefferson. The CBD (Central Business District) is even smaller.

– Steve Patterson

City Employee Parks City Vehicle Next To Fire Hydrant

If you or I parked blocking a fire hydrant it wouldn’t be long before our car was ticketed and towed away, resulting in big fees.  But a city employee driving a city-owned vehicle, it seems, can get away with doing what we can’t.

I’m sure it was just for a few minutes but anyone could use the same excuse.  The fact is the city isn’t going to ticket or tow away it’s own vehicle.  This employee likely didn’t face any disciplinary action for how they parked.  As a matter of policy, city employees operating city vehicles need to be held to the same standard as anyone else.

Some vehicles mention the department on the door but this one didn’t so I assume it is a pool vehicle that can be checked out as needed.  This makes me wonder, who manages the vehicles? What does the employee agree to when they check out a car?

– Steve Patterson

Collinsville’s Gateway Conference Center & Adjacent Doubletree Hotel

Where do you look to plan an annual conference in the St. Louis region where you will have large & small meeting rooms plus hotel space for 2,000+ attendees.  If your budget is large you go to America’s Center in downtown St. Louis.  But if your budget isn’t so big you go to the Gateway Conference Center in Collinsville IL (aerial).

“Most of Collinsville’s lodging is within walking distance of the convention center.”

That seems very convenient!

The Gateway Convention Center is located adjacent to the Doubletree Collinsville/St. Louis and is an ideal partner for your larger meetings and tradeshows. Gateway Center offers 50,000 square feet of flexible, ground-level space that is sure to suit all your event needsThe convention center is surrounded by more than 40 restaurants and several visitor-friendly attractions. Lambert St. Louis International Airport is a short 30 minute drive away.

Together with Doubletree Collinsville/St. Louis, Gateway Center is “The Great Way to Gather” in the St. Louis MO metropolitan area for large events!

Wow, perfect! Convention center with adjacent hotel and others within walking distance.  Sounds perfect, right? Well almost…

If your conference has persons with mobility issues these stairs are a major obstacle. The problem is a flood control channel owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Doubletree is adjacent to the Gateway Center  and it has the small meeting rooms the other hotels in the area lack but the stairs are a major barrier when 100 or so of your attendees use mobility scooters, wheelchairs or just push baby strollers.

Part Two of this post will be published next week on the 29th.  That post will look at the walkability & accessibility of the Eastport Plaza area where Collinsville’s Gateway Center is located.  Pushing carts of convention materials from the main hotel to the center is also impossible.  The solution is a “switchback ramp” on each side of the levee. The Doubletree Hotel has new ownership and recently received a $12 million dollar makeover inside & out.

The hotel was built in 1982, construction on the Gateway Center started six years later. In 2007 the hotel, then a Holiday Inn, made the headlines.  This article from July 3, 2008 explains:

“The state auctioned off the hotel Thursday. St. Louis-based Lodging Hospitality Management, which owns 16 hotels in the St. Louis area, submitted the highest bid of six that were submitted, according to [Illinois State Treasurer Alexi] Giannoulias.

Giannoulias said in a statement that installing new owners will put an end to a 25-year “financial debacle.” Giannoulias said former owners B.C. Gitcho and Gary Fears received “an outrageously favorable $13.4 million state-backed loan” and quickly fell behind on payments enough that the outstanding principal and interest totaled $32.2 million.”

What I don’t yet know is when the steps and bridge were built over the flood control ditch.  Was the costs shared by the hotel and Collinsville? Did bonds for the Gateway Center finance the steps & bridge to the existing hotel?  I will keep digging.

In the meantime, next week I will post a look at the area where the Gateway Center is located, called Eastport Plaza.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Thoughts On St. Louis’ Gateway Station

Two years ago today the Gateway Station opened, combing Amtrak passenger rail service with Greyhound bus service.  The station, at 15th & Poplar, is adjacent to the Civic Center MetroLink light rail station and local bus transfer station

In January of this year author James Howard Kunstler named the Gateway Station his Eyesore of the Month, which prompted a reaction from me: Kunstler’s wrong, St. Louis’ new train/bus depot is not an eyesore.  Also in January the Gateway Station was the setting for a Recovery Act high-speed rail announcement in St. Louis.

I like the station but I’ve never been a customer.  I had used the old “temporary” Amtrak station and the old Greyhound station in the former Cass Bank at N 13th & Cass.Neither was great, although the interior of the old bank was spectacular.  Next month I will take a trip by train so I will get to use the new station as a customer.

The poll this week asks for your thoughts on the station now that it has been open for two full years. The poll is located in the upper right corner of the blog.

– Steve Patterson

Collinsville IL Still Has One-Way Streets

Yesterday I was briefly in downtown Collinsville IL.  I’d forgotten how nice their Main Street looks.  I last wrote about their Main Street in July 2007 when it looked like they may undo what never should have been done: Collinsville IL May Finally Correct One-Way Main Street Mistake.  Unfortunately, Collinsville still has a one-way couplet — Main St eastbound and Clay St westbound.

Does the direction of auto traffic matter to pedestrians?  Yes!  On the sidewalk you feel like you are next to an escape route. Decades ago traffic engineers convinced nearly every town, big & small, to install one-way streets to move traffic faster.  One-way streets in a small town make little sense but undoing what has been in place for so long is nearly impossible.

It is a shame too, Main St in Collinsville has very charming buildings and a decent streetscape. Changing Main & Clay to be two-way again would have huge benefits.  The vibe would instantly be different.

– Steve Patterson