Midtown needs bike parking

Bike parking throughout our region is severely lacking. You can somewhat excuse the auto-centric edges for not having bike parking but in the urban core biking is more common and places to secure bikes are necessary.

As midtown (aka Grand Center) becomes a more popular place to dine and shop seeing bikes locked to lamp posts, street signs and parking meters will become increasingly common.  Locking to a lamp post requires a long cable rather than a more common u-lock.  Bike racks need to be planned.

– Steve Patterson

Boycott all gasoline, not just BP gasoline

Everyone is angry at BP right now. Given the ecological disaster in the Gulf it is understandable. Many are boycotting BP branded gasoline and buying gasoline from non-BP stations instead:

Across the country, American consumers are voicing their disgust with BP (BP) over the worst oil spill in U.S. history the only way they can — by not buying gas sold under the oil company’s name. Despite their good intentions, however, it turns out that this will do little harm to the U.K. company’s bottom line.

In 2008, BP announced it was exiting the retail gasoline business because the margins were lousy. Rivals ExxonMobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP) did the same thing. Today, BP owns only about 100 of the 900 or so gas stations bearing its name.  See full article from DailyFinance.

So the boycott may be hurting local business owners in your community.  Certainly employees of these stations may face a loss of their job if the customers stay away.  The answer is not to boycott BP gasoline, but to boycott all gasoline.  We, the users of products made from crude oil, are the reason companies such as BP are drilling deeper offshore.  Granted we didn’t force them to take the risks that made have led to the explosion, worker deaths and the massive amounts of oil continuing to spill into the gulf.

But boycott all gasoline?   Yes, by significantly reducing your energy consumption.  Here are some ways:

• Walk, bike and use public transportation more.  Any increase in these three is good.
• Carpool with co-workers.
• Get a high mileage motor scooter.
• Reduce car ownership in your household — 2 > 1, 3 > 2, etc
• Combine trips.  Don’t drive somewhere just for one task — make sure you can do one more thing while you are out.
• Avoid products made from crude.  Hard to do since oil is in everything around us. Buying locally produced products made from renewal resources helps.
• Buy products with less packaging.
• Adjust your thermostat just a couple of degrees so you use less energy.
• Buy from stores closer to your house to reducing your driving. If you are walking, biking or using transit you are already doing this but if you are driving consider your route and options on where to buy the things you need. Know the retailers between your house and work so you don’t drive out of your way.
• If you drive a car more than five days per week see if you can reduce the number of days — try to go 2-3 days without getting in your car.

Driving past the BP station to get gas from another brand just doesn’t seem effective in the big scheme of things.

– Steve Patterson

Readers: Vacant Ballpark Village site now downtown’s biggest eyesore, I-70 close behind

The top winner for downtown’s biggest eyesore is the vacant site that was planned to be Ballpark Village.  But second & third place were the depressed lanes and the elevated lanes of I-70, respectively.  City to River’s idea will take care of I-70. Each person was allowed two picks.

Q: With the St. Louis Centre pedestrian bridge being removed, downtown’s biggest eyesore becomes? (pick up to 2)

1. The vacant Ballpark Village site 106 [28.42%]
2. The I-70 depressed lanes in front of the Arch 98 [26.27%]
3. The I-70 elevated lanes North of Washington St 92 [24.66%]
4. Other answer… 24 [6.43%]
5. Twain 20 [5.36%]
6. Lumiere Casino 19 [5.09%]
7. The Kiel Center parking garages 7 [1.88%]
8. US Bank’s parking garage (8th & Washington) 7 [1.88%]

Total Votes 373

“Other” edged out the other answers I had suggested.

1. Kacie Starr Triplett
2. Chouteau’s Landing
3. Arcade Building
4. Highway 40 and the railyard to the south
5. The building to the right of I-64 , just before you cross the Poplar (name?).
6. Downtown
7. Lumiere’s digital sign needs to go!
8. The vacant Arcade building
9. Powell Square
10. Kiener Center parking garages–particularly considering their prominent location
11. The I-40 bridges running through the center of the city
12. “Powell Square”
13. The Stadium Parking Structures
14. Kiel Opera House
15. The countless surface parking lots
16. All buildings on 70 Northbound from the Arch all the way to the Airport
17. Powell Square
18. The Peabody Building
19. Statdium East and West parking garages
20. Gateway One
21. Powell Square
22. Amrica’s Center
23. Macy’s garage
24. GatewayOne tower

I want to comment on a couple of the “other” answers.

Peabody is a tenant in the Gateway One building, occupying 7 of the 15 floors. The plan decades ago was to have four of these half buildings. I’m glad only one was built but I like obscured view of the Old Courthouse and Arch.  It forces you to walk closer to get the full view.  While Gateway One is not great architecture, it is not remotely close to being an eyesore.

I don’t consider Powell Square in downtown as I tend to think of I-64/40 as on the near south side.  But assuming it is part of downtown it is an eyesore in it’s windowless state. But this is not an eyesore to be removed.  This building just needs windows to be stunning.

– Steve Patterson

Is this a pedestrian crossing on Grand?

This weekend I noticed a couple of planters decorated with reflectors in the center of N. Grand Blvd in front of the Fox Theater.

It appears the intent is to create a pedestrian refuge for those crossing the busy street to get to the Fox.

From the above we can see Grand Blvd before the planters were added in the center. So I ask again, is this intended as a refuge for pedestrians crossing the street?  If so much more work needs to be done to make it a proper crossing – curb ramps and stripes.

– Steve Patterson

New shopping center in Des Peres not reachable by pedestrians, many to blame

I don’t get out to suburbia often but when I do I stop to photograph the new construction that I see. Recently I visited The Shoppes at Tallbrooke in Des Peres MO (11698 Manchester Rd): 

Pretty ordinary wouldn’t you say? These are a dime a dozen in auto-centric areas of our region.  What is consistent is the new sidewalk along the major road, in this case, Manchester Rd:

Projects that “we’re walkable” image.  But this sidewalk is only about image and not about actually being walkable.

You see the sidewalk runs along the side of the road but a pedestrian on the sidewalk doesn’t have a walk to use to enter the development to patronize the retailers.  The blame falls to several: the developer, the architect, the civil engineer and the City of Des Peres.

The site plan clearly shows the walk in front of the businesses but nothing connecting to the main road or either side road leading to the residential neighborhood to the south.  I expect the architects and civil engineers to include an ADA Access Route from the public sidewalk to the business entrances but all too often they don’t.

I am most angry with the City of Des Peres. I looked up their most recent Comprehensive Plan, from the 2003 document you get a sense that walkability was important but it is such a weak document it is no wonder all they got was the useless window dressing sidewalk that doesn’t connect to anything.  The following is selected text under the section “Planning Goals:”  (Bold added for emphasis)

Land Use
1. Attain the highest quality development for all land use classifications.
2. Enhance the value of residential properties.
3. Enhance community identity in the existing areas of Des Peres and develop that identity in newly annexed areas.
4. Guide urbanization consistent with the ecological capabilities of the land.
12. Limit commercial uses exclusively to the Manchester Road Corridor.

Transportation
4. Expand facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Urban Design
1. Increase landscaping on both public and private properties along the Manchester Road streetscape.
2. Enhance the pedestrian facilities along the Manchester Road corridor.
4. Improve the quality of signage along Manchester Road.
5. Enhance architectural standards for buildings along the Manchester Road corridor.
6. Provide more human scale elements to the Manchester Road streetscape such as street furniture, art, lighting and signage.

Economic Development
4. Retain the retail sales and service identity of shopping centers in the City.
5. Increase employment within the City’s business district.
6. Promote the development of business establishments that service the needs of the local population.

Good stuff, they want pedestrian & bicycle facilities and they want to serve the local population — the folks that might actually walk to the businesses.  They want to expand sidewalks:

Residential area:

Objective 1: Expand the network of pedestrian sidewalks in the area.

You might think the document is very general and not that specific — until you read further:

When redevelopment or rehabilitation of commercial properties takes place, it is important that they follow architectural guidelines established for all buildings in the commercial area. The purpose of such guidelines is not to impose a certain architectural style on the area but to ensure that the varying styles of buildings in the area will be architecturally harmonious and pleasing. There should be a mixture of styles, colors and materials for each commercial building in the district. However the diversity among buildings should blend well throughout the district. The whole should be greater than the sum of its parts.

When either a new building is developed or an old building redeveloped, their design should be reviewed in the context of surrounding buildings and the area in general.

Architectural guidelines should focus on eliminating two areas of the architectural spectrum. They must eliminate designs on the extremes and designs in the center. The extremes represent cheap or unusual building materials, wide use of bright colors and odd design schemes. These buildings draw so much attention to themselves that the rest of the commercial district recedes into obscurity. The center of the spectrum represents the conformist, cookie-cutter building found in any suburban community. These buildings draw little attention to themselves because they can be found anywhere. They don’t add character or identity to a commercial district.

A lot of attention to architecture but nothing about being able to get anywhere on the expanded sidewalks.  I kept reading:

Ground signs are a separate structure located in the front yard of a site along Manchester Road. They primarily relate to the streetscape and not the building. The critical element in the design of these signs is ensuring that they are human scale and do not dominate the streetscape. These signs should be at the eye level of the motorist or the pedestrian. They should also be easy to read and understand. Excessive messages, font styles, small-scale lettering and colors unnecessarily clutter the appearance of a sign and make it confusing to motorists.

Oh I see, pedestrians get human scaled signs at eye level.  That is so much better than being able to walk to businesses on a sidewalk.  It gets better:

There should be some improvements to both the hardscape and landscaping along Manchester Road. More human scale elements need to be inserted into the area to make it more inviting for pedestrians. Although there is a sidewalk along both sides of Manchester Road, some segments are missing. The sidewalk needs to be extended in these areas. There should be a continuous sidewalk along both sides of Manchester Road throughout the planning area. The sidewalks along the roadway should be accented with pedestrian plazas at strategic intersections along the corridor. These small congregating areas would be approximately 500 sq. ft. in size. The area would be hard surfaced with a decorative material such as paving stones or stamped concrete. It would contain benches, trash receptacles and street art. The hard surface area would be ringed by plant material and accented with decorative street lamps. It is important for all of these plazas to be similar in design and materials to create continuity throughout the corridor.

Are they serious? Decorative lamps and “inserted” elements?  Some planners got paid good money to write this useless phrasing.

Paving stones of a consistent style and color should be inserted in the area of the streetscape between the sidewalk and the street curb. These areas vary in width along the corridor from 2-10 ft. They usually contain either asphalt or sod. The asphalt is unattractive and lacks flexibility as a material. These strips usually contain underground utilities where excavations are necessary. Asphalt does not lend itself well to surface patching, as it tends to fade over time. Sod is more attractive but not hearty enough to survive the difficult conditions present along a major arterial roadway. Salt, exhaust, debris and other materials destroy the sod over time.

They can go into this level of detail but the idea of suggesting that developments along Manchester Rd actually connect to the sidewalk isn’t mentioned.  Instead they’ve covered all those things that help create the appearance of walkability without, you know, actually being walkable.  It is no wonder this new strip center is so disconnected.

– Steve Patterson