Gardening inside St. Louis’ Medium Security Institution

In March I visited St. Louis’ Medium Security Institution (Unexpected green on St. Patrick’s Day) to check out the installation of some garden plots.

Prisoners would volunteer to do the work with the food donated to local food pantries, per the requirements of the grant.  You heard about MSI recently:

Two 17-year-old prisoners, Eric Glenn Gray and Kurt Michael Wallace, escaped from the Workhouse in North St. Louis early Wednesday morning. They were apprehended late that afternoon. Gray and Wallace were discovered hiding in a vacant house in the 5900 block of Wabada at 5:45 p.m. and arrested without further incident. (Source)

So I inquired as to the status of the garden plots.

I was pleased to see pics of the items growing in the plots.  Conditions are less than ideal, inmates don’t stay long, watering is not easy, etc.

The area where they are gardening is quite large — I can picture a large gardening operation.  This would require intensive square foot gardening and drip irrigation.  I’d like to see the inmates grow much of their own food.

– Steve Patterson

Readers want more payment options for on-street parking

The poll last week was about on-street parking and the answer with the biggest number of votes was more payment options.

Q: On-street parking downtown is free after 7pm weeknights and all day Saturday & Sunday. Thoughts? Pick up to three answers:

1. More payment options like bills, plastic or via phone 75 [27.17%]
2. Too many blocks lack any on-street parking. 40 [14.49%]
3. Extend the 2-hour limit to 3 or 4 hours on blocks with few storefronts. 33 [11.96%]
4. Enforce the 2-hour time limit but not during events like festivals or sporting events 21 [7.61%]
5. Perfect as is 21 [7.61%]
6. Regardless the city needs to enforce the 2-hour limit to encourage turnover 20 [7.25%]
7. Downtown parking meter rates & times should be the same as other areas in the city 18 [6.52%]
8. Downtown on-street parking should be free 24/7  – 16 [5.8%]
9. On-street parking shouldn’t be free on Saturdays 9 [3.26%]
10. On-street parking should stay free after 7pm weekdays but not on the weekends 8 [2.9%]
11. On-street parking should stay free on the weekends but weekdays should be paid until 9pm 7 [2.54%]
12. Other answer… 6 [2.17%]
13. No opinion/unsure 2 [0.72%]
14. On-street parking should be removed so we have more room for traffic flow.  0 [0%]

The six other answers were:

1. lower the costs to visit downtown and more people will come.
2. Enforce the limit, but get rid of the ugly garages that eat up downtown space
3. Meter parking should be free after 6PM
4. On street parking should be free after 5:00 on weekdays and all weekend.
5. Prices should fluctuate based on demand at any given time
6. It’s fine

So what do I make of these results? That the biggest group don’t mind paying to park on the street, they just want more options than change.  If you park in an area that allows more than two hours of parking it requires a lot of quarters, dimes and nickels.  I personally buy a $10 roll of quarters every so often just so that I make sure I have enough.

Cities with modern parking policies have “pay-n-display” machines rather than our 20th century meters.  Pay-n-display eliminates meters at each spot — in fact there are no specific spots — you can get more cars in a given amount of street.  After paying the fee with cash, coin, or credit you affix a receipt inside your car window.  Other systems allow you to extend your time via your cell phone.

The second most popular response was “Too many blocks lack any on-street parking.”  This is a big peeve of mine, in particular the north side of the 1100 block of Washington.  The lane that should have on-street parking in front of the bowling alley, hair salon, pizza place and diner is reserved for “turning movements” — all that traffic that goes north on Tucker.  I’ve made two short videos of this block to highlight the lack of traffic during the weekday rush hour.

March 2010:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_e_CqFA4fk

September 2009:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAFVOnngoTc

It is clear there is disagreement on downtown’s parking policy.

– Steve Patterson

#99 Downtown Circulator now the #99 Downtown Trolley

Last week the #99 Downtown Circulator bus was replaced by the #99 Downtown Trolley.

The trolley is still a bus — one of Metro’s 30ft buses (compared to the standard 40ft).  Some had expected a real trolley instead of a dressed up bus.  To me a real trolley rides on rails, not inflated rubber tires.  I detest those vehicles built to look like an old wood trolley.  No, they equipment used is a standard bus (30ft vs the normal 40ft) with a colorful wrap.

Watch the full press conference (10  min):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1uZuKA95Vg

At the end of the press conference we all boarded three of the newly wrapped trolley buses to ride the full route.

What stayed the same:

• Same 30ft buses used before, requiring steps or use of lift.
• Washington, Broadway, 4th still served.
• Serves the Convention Center MetroLink station and the Civic Center bus & MetroLink station on 14th.
• You must pull the cord to signal you want to exit the bus.

What changed:

• Different route goes west of Tucker on Washington to City Museum
• Follows Market St rather than heading down Broadway by Busch Stadium, now serves Citygarden.
• Better hours and more frequent service.
• Special signs to mark stops
• Friendly route maps posted where the trolley stops.
• The fee structure changed dramatically.  You can still use your Metro monthly pass or a transfer from another line but now $2 will buy an all day pass on the trolley.  Kids, seniors and disabled is $1. Thus a family visiting St. Louis can ride the trolley to and from their hotel to many venues all day long for very little cash.

What is great about the changes:

• The new vehicles are highly visible.
• Service from 5:30am-Midnight Monday-Saturday.
• 20 minute maximum wait.
• People who don’t normally ride buses are riding this line.

What still needs to change:

• Drivers need to announce the upcoming attractions along the route.
• Route maps need to be posted inside the buses so visitors can review as they ride.
• Sunday service?

I’ve ridden the 99 once since the press conference and the only riders were tourists — a family and a couple.  We finally have the downtown line that the old circulator should have been.

– Steve Patterson

Remembering the fallen of past wars

It took war to gain our independence as a country.  Since 1776 we have been in many wars and had many casualties. In the early 20th century grand civic spaces became fashionable in cities.  Engineer Harland Bartholomew headed up St. Louis’ planning efforts from 1916-1950.

His name is on the cornerstone of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, which was laid on November 11, 1936. The memorial was built to remember those who gave their lives during World War I (1914-1919).  From the Soldiers’ Memorial website:

Under the leadership of Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann, and with some funds coming from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (Project No. 5098), the construction of the building, development of the memorial plaza, and improvements to the parks began on October 21, 1935 and the memorial and museum officially opened on Memorial Day, May 30, 1938.

So many years after the fact.

To the south is the memorial for those who died in WWII.

The Court of Honors was dedicated in 1948 — not long after the end of the war.  This new memorial was a sunken open garden rather than a formal & elevated building.  I find it fascinating that in a dozen years the idea of a memorial changed so much.  Or perhaps many still remembered the construction of the building across the street and they viewed the new garden as a compliment.

Later additions were made in the center to honor those from the Korean (1950-1953) and Vietnam (1955-1975) wars.  Of course our involvement in wars didn’t end in 1975. Have we continued wars but not memorials? What about Desert Storm (8/1990 – 2/1991 ), Enduring Freedom (2001-2002) and the Iraq War (2003-present)?  Who knows, perhaps something has been added to this area regarding Desert Storm?

It just feels like, as a society, we’ve become so detached from war and the resulting deaths.  Last week marked 17 years since my oldest brother’s retirement from the U.S. Navy after serving 24 years.  Yes, I was only two when he enlisted. On Independence Day four years ago I ran a commentary from my brother, here is an excerpt:

We often take our freedoms for granted. The overused expression “Freedom is not free,” is certainly applicable today. Neither of my daughters, neither of my brothers and only one of my sons-in-law ever served in the military and I believe that they missed out on some priceless life lessons. While it is held that people who do not vote do not have credibility to criticize our politicians, I believe that serving in the military or some type of public service is another fundamental role of being an American. We all seem to enjoy our freedoms and demand that our worldwide interests be protected. The difficulty arises when we relegate these tasks to those who most Americans, especially the privileged, view as incapable of doing anything else with their lives.

As an openly gay man I wouldn’t have had the same experience as my straight brother. Because I did not serve I do feel indebted to him and all the other who have served or are serving currently. While I’m not a fan of war, I do favor remembering those who come back — both alive and dead.  I hope that as this area of the Gateway Mall evolves we can make it more than just a big place for festivals.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: thoughts on Judge Dierker’s ruling on the NorthSide TIF

You’ve probably heard the news by now:

“A St. Louis judge threw out a city ordinance Friday that authorized $390 million in tax increment financing — the largest in the city’s history — for Paul McKee Jr.’s $8.1 billion NorthSide redevelopment.”

Full story: Judge nixes $390M in financing for McKee’s NorthSide – St. Louis Business Journal