Parking Garage Dwarfs Urban Building

This view of Charlie Gitto’s with an big parking garage on the left and a surface parking lot on the right exemplifies everything that went wrong with urban planning. On this city block, only one other building dodged the wrecking ball.

– Steve Patterson

Celebrating Six Years Of UrbanReviewSTL This Month

Halloween marks the sixth anniversary of this blog. In that time I’ve published over 2,300 posts. To celebrate I’m going to have some Top Six lists this month.

To start things off here is my Top Six Priorities I want to work on in the next 12 months (short term):

6) Moving the taxi stand off the sidewalk in front of the convention center.

5) Getting good policy, procedures and oversight in place regarding valets.

4) Opening up food vendor options (stand & truck) throughout the region.

3) Increased bike parking in the region.

2) Some municipality in the region to begin adopting form-based zoning, even if for a small area.

1) Switching city elections to be non-partisan.

These are not the region’s top priorities but what I’m personally interested in working on.  Discuss.

– Steve Patterson

Two Years Remaining On Disabled Placard

I got this disabled placard in May 2008, after three months in the hospital, following a massive hemorrhagic stroke.  At the time I still couldn’t move much of my left hand & arm but I was still getting back function so I was hopeful that by the time the permit expired I wouldn’t qualify for a renewal.  I have better stability now, I walk around the house often without my cane and sometimes without wearing my leg brace. But it is now clear to me that I’ve reached a plateau in my recovery, I’m permanently disabled.

When I registered my car two month later, in July 2008, they asked me if I wanted disabled plates.  I said no since I had the placard and I had every plan to not need the permanence of disabled plates.  When I renew my plates in July 2012 I will switch to disabled plates so I no longer have to remember to hang the placard when I park somewhere, driving with it hanging is illegal.

No doubt you’ve seen someone that doesn’t appear disabled using a permanent disabled placard.  Who qualifies for one?

Section 301.142.1 RSMo defines “physical disability” as listed below::

1. The person cannot ambulate or walk 50 feet without stopping to rest due to a severe and disabling arthritic, neurological, orthopedic condition, or other severe and disabling condition.
2. The person cannot ambulate or walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device.
3. The person is restricted by a respiratory or other disease to such an extent that the person’s forced respiratory expiratory volume for one second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than 60 mm/hg on room air at rest.
4. The person uses portable oxygen.
5. The person has a cardiac condition to the extent that the person’s functional limitations are classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to the standards set by the American Heart Association.
6. The person is blind as defined in Section 8.700, RSMo.

For a while 50 feet was a long walk for me but it is #2, above, that will always apply to me.

If I live as long as my dad did, 78, that means I’ll have 35 more years as a disabled person.  That is rather hard to comprehend as it has only been 25 years since I graduated from high school.

Despite my disabilities, I love my life.  I don’t want pity. I know so many people, able-bodied & disabled, have far worse issues to deal with. My life is charmed in comparison.

– Steve Patterson

PR: The East-West Gateway Council of Governments Board of Directors Hires New Executive Director

The following is a press release.  Mr. Hillhouse & his wife are moving to downtown St. Louis.

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The East-West Gateway Council of Governments Board of Directors Wednesday approved the hiring of Ed Hillhouse as the metropolitan planning organization’s new executive director, effective Nov. 1. Hillhouse currently is chairman of the board for East-West Gateway and the presiding commissioner for Franklin County, Mo.

Hillhouse was elected as a county commissioner of Franklin County in 2002 and has served as the county’s presiding commissioner since that election. During that time he also has served on the board at East-West Gateway. He has a doctorate degree in education from St. Louis University and served as superintendent of schools for the Meramec Valley School District in Pacific from 1988 to 2002.

East-West Gateway is the St. Louis area’s federally designated metropolitan planning organization responsible for approving federal funding for major local transportation projects. East- West Gateway’s 24-person board, which includes the top elected officials of the region’s seven counties and the mayor of the city of St. Louis, meets monthly to consider issues of regional significance.

Hillhouse sees regional collaboration among local governments as one of his highest priorities, both to better coordinate services and to share resources so that financially constrained municipalities and counties can better serve their citizens. He also sees an increased role for East- West Gateway in bolstering the region’s economy, particularly at a time when the world is becoming increasingly urban and metropolitan areas are the focus for global competition.

“Economic development is critical to the region and East-West Gateway will play its part, both in analyzing the region’s fiscal condition and helping coordinate efforts to create jobs and pursue a sustainable regional economy,” Hillhouse said. “When East-West Gateway was formed, its main purpose was to address surface transportation needs, but we also have grown to address other regional problems in a cooperative way, such as homeland security and disaster preparedness.” For the last eight years Hillhouse has been the presiding commissioner of Franklin County, which at 922 square miles is Missouri’s 4th largest county and with a population of 101,263 according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates, is the state’s 10th most populous county. The county seat is Union and its largest municipality is Washington. The county’s population increased 8 percent from 2000 to 2009, making it one of the state’s fastest growing counties.

That experience governing a county that has rural, suburban and urban aspects will benefit Hillhouse, according to the vice-chairman of the East-West Gateway Board of Directors, Mark Kern, the Belleville-based chairman of the St. Clair County Board.
“At a time when regional perspective is needed more than ever, Ed Hillhouse has shown by his eight years on the East-West Gateway board that he has a clear grasp of both the need for that effort and the challenge of pursuing it,” Kern said. “Ed’s experience governing a fast-growing county gives him a background in economic development and government collaboration that should serve him well as East-West Gateway leads the metropolitan area in maintaining the St. Louis region’s growth and stability.”

Hillhouse is married to Shirley Hillhouse, a fourth-grade teacher at Labadie Elementary School in the Washington School District. In 2009, she was named the Gilder Lehrman American History Teacher of the year for Missouri. The Hillhouses have two sons, Heath, a graduate student at Missouri State University in Springfield; and Hart, a teacher in Pacific.

Hillhouse is a member of the advisory board of the Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging Board. He replaces Les Sterman as East-West Gateway’s executive director. Sterman was executive director for 26 years, leaving the post in June 2009. Since Sterman’s departure, Maggie Hales has served as the interim executive director. On Nov. 1, Hales will return to her prior position as deputy executive director.

Gems Hidden Inside Our Downtown Buildings

Yesterday I met a friend for lunch at a lunch place on the ground floor of the Bank of America building bounded by Broadway, Chestnut, 4th & Pine.

The picture above is the Atrium Cafe as seen from the outside.  Exciting huh?

However, from the lobby the place was very open visually and there was a steady flow of customers.  From the outside it is impossible to tell what is going on inside, a visitor to St. Louis could walk right past the building and not realize the place they want to grab a bite for lunch is right there.

This is not the fault of the owner of the Atrium Cafe, but the design of the building and so many others.  They are internally focused. Hopefully we can get building owners to begin piercing through the exterior walls to create more excitement at the sidewalk level.

– Steve Patterson