The New Orleans I Remember

Six months before I started this blog I met a friend in New Orleans, in April 2004.  More than a year prior to Katrina, you could see poverty and associated issues but the city was beautiful.

I haven’t been back since April 2004, I hope to do so in 2011 or 2012.

– Steve Patterson

Growing Up In Sprawl

Our driveway was three cars wide by three deep, plus room for two more in the garage. We didn’t have sidewalks, when I was older I biked to stores — without a helmet. At times I got glimpses of older neighborhoods.  Our family doctor was located in an older commercial district just south of downtown Oklahoma City, known as Capitol Hill.   As a kid the area was likely in transition downward.  There were vacant department stores and storefronts but there was a clear grid of streets — with sidewalks.

My father would occasionally do carpentry work at our doctor’s house.  When he did I always wanted to tag along because our doctor lived in a big old house in the Heritage Hills neighborhood. When I’ve returned to Oklahoma City over the last 20 years I drive through these areas. They weren’t where I spent my childhood, but where I would escape to once I turned 16 and started driving. If a bus system existed I knew nothing of it.

I racked up a lot of miles for a high school kid with a new license, exploring areas that had long been written off or destroyed by Urban Renewal schemes. I preferred the remains of urbanism to the newness where I lived.

I’m curious why I desired a more urban environment? Most of my friends from high school have done as most people did and just locate in newer versions or sprawl further away from the center. Was it the used brick as the veneer on our frame house that got me curious about old brick buildings? The house next door was veneered with a pink brick made of concrete, it looked as bad as it sounds. Was it the fact I’m gay? I hadn’t read any manual on how to be gay.

Why some people have a strong need to break out of suburbia while others are quite happy fascinates me. My two older brothers were about 7 & 16 when they moved into our custom built new home, less than a year before I was born.  They had both experienced older homes before the move to the new home, in the new subdivision, near the new shopping center.  One has traveled the world with the Navy and he appreciates walkable urbanism. My other brother prefers drivable sprawl.

Does the urban gene skip the middle child?

– Steve Patterson

Separation of Sidewalk & Surface Parking

When building a new surface parking lot in the City of St. Louis you are required to have separation between the parking area and the adjacent public sidewalk.  A fence, landscaping or even a simple concrete curb would have prevented the drive of the above car from pulling so far forward that I couldn’t pass on the sidewalk.

– Steve Patterson

Blank Walls Kill Sidewalks

Like so many other areas, the intersection of Page & North Kingshighway suffers from disinvestment.  Yet, at one point in the last few decades, the 1904 building on the corner received new investment in the form of street facades featuring blank walls and mirrored glass.   The building next door, also from 1904, has a blank facade where windows and doors should be.

I’m not saying this corner would be lively if the corner building hadn’t gained blank walls during the unfortunate new skin with blank walls. But, the blank walls make improving the vibrancy of the sidewalk today impossible.  A new pro-urban formed-based zoning code would prevent future blank walls to the sidewalk.

– Steve Patterson

PR: Brian Owens Closes O’Fallon Park Summer Jazz Concert Series

The following is a press release:

Brian Owens Closes O’Fallon Park Summer Jazz Concert Series

R&B singer, Brian Owens, performs at 6:00PM in the last concert of this summer’s concert series in O’Fallon Park

(ST. LOUIS) – Tonight R&B singer, Brian Owens, will close out this summer’s O’Fallon Park Jazz Concert Series with a performance at 6:00PM. Brian Owens is rapidly earning a reputation as one of the most promising young R&B and soul singers on today’s music scene. At the age of 29, Owens has already shared the stage with many notable performers such as jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, smooth jazz artists Boney James and Spyro Gyra. Brian has made television appearances on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and BET’s “Jazz Discovery” program. He describes his musical style as a blend of Bill Withers, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway, with a bit of Al Green and Marvin Gaye just for fun.

Produced by the Sheldon Concert Hall in partnership with 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French, this is the 2nd year for the jazz series in O’Fallon Park. The series offers residents a unique opportunity to enjoy one of the city’s largest and most beautiful parks. Concertgoers have the opportunity to hear some of the region’s most talented jazz musicians this summer, while enjoying refreshments from the park’s new Boathouse café, which was opened specifically for the event.

In addition to the concert series, many new renovations are taking place in O’Fallon Park this summer, including five new basketball courts and a one-mile fitness trail. This summer also marked the long-awaited groundbreaking for the new O’Fallon Park Recreation Center coming in December 2011.

“There are a lot of exciting changes coming to O’Fallon Park,” says Alderman French. “These renovations are part of a larger effort to reclaim this historic park as a safe and beautiful space for families in our community.”

Tonight is the last concert in what has been an 8-week summer Jazz Concert Series. Tonight’s concert will begin at 6:00PM and is free and open to the public. Concessions will be available at the O’Fallon Park Boathouse and attendees are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket or lawn chair.

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