Sidewalks on Delmar still unusable

Four years ago today Elizabeth Bansen was struck and killed by an SUV as she returned home from the market two blocks East of her apartment.  Although the accident occurred around 6pm driver didn’t see Bansen in her wheelchair on the street.  On December 6th 2007 I posted on the jury finding the city negligent in Bansen’s death since the sidewalks were not passable.  The accessibility of sidewalks has long been a passion of mine. From that post:

Besides the broken sidewalk in front of the existing business on the street, much of the sidewalk area on this block is completely impassable to a person in a wheelchair.

I did that post nearly two months prior to the massive stroke that disabled me.  Since I’ve traveled many miles using an electric wheelchair myself.  My first two and a half months home from the hospital I couldn’t yet drive so, like many, the wheelchair was my only means of independence.

In 2007 Director of Streets Todd Waelterman and City Attorney Patti Hageman either weren’t sure if the sidewalks were fixed or thought they were.  I showed they were not.   Yesterday I drove over to see the couple of blocks along Delmar to see if the sidewalks between the housing and the market were corrected.  Sadly, the situation is exactly like I found it in December 2007.

Heading West from the market at Jefferson toward the housing the first block is fine.  But when you reach Beaumont you cease to have a sidewalk.  The city claims the sidewalk is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner but in recent rulings around the country the courts are determining that cities cannot push of this basic service onto the owners of abutting properties.  The owner of the building in the background, 2719 Delmar LLC, owns the entire length of this city block.

Going the other direction from the housing to the market one immediately finds a curb without a curb cut.  I know that if I approached the above low curb just right I could get on that sidewalk.  But a resident of these apartments would know the sidewalk doesn’t go through. What about taking the other side of Delmar to avoid being in the street?  The city can debate the sidewalk issue but access from the road to the sidewalk is 100% their responsibility.

On the South side of Delmar the sidewalk is not perfect but it is mostly passable.  But here the curb height makes the sidewalk condition a mute point.

The obstacles are few but they are enough to cause wheelchair users to use the roadway.  The apartment complex is owned by the St. Louis Housing Authority.  Not all of the units are accessible but some are.  Occupants of these units have two basic needs — food and access to transportation. Much of the public transportation is on Jefferson where the market is located so this route along Delmar is a critical path.

I am fortunate to live an a step-free building downtown but for many wheelchair dependent public housing units like these are their only choice.  Routes to food and transportation isn’t a luxury but a must.  Enough to for someone to risk their life.

Two years ago I emailed several with the city about the sidewalk conditions on Delmar.  I’m will again do the same so that hopefully two years from now residents of these apartments will have a safe route to the store and to transportation.

And finally, I’ve emailed with Elizabeth Bansen’s father and two of her siblings.  They miss “Lisi.”  I’ve promised them I will work to ensure that residents of these apartments will have safe sidewalks to access Delmar & Jefferson.

– Steve Patterson

Your favorite St. Louis brewery?

For generations St. Louisans have been brewing and consuming beer.  From the biggest to the smallest, and everything in between, the number of breweries in the St. Louis area is impressive.

The poll this week asks your favorite local brewery.  I’m not asking which you consume the most, but which is your favorite.  They might be the same and they might not.

The list of breweries was taken from participants in the 2009 St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival (must be 21 to enter site):

• Alandale Brewing
• Amalgamated Brewery
• Anheuser Busch
• Augusta Brewery
• Buffalo Brewing
• Mattingly Brewing
• Morgan Street Brewery
• O’Fallon Brewery
• Schlafly
• Square One Brewery
• Trailhead Brewery

I have tried about 5-6 of them but that means there is that many I haven’t tried.   In the event I omitted a local brewery from the poll I have enabled the “other” field so you can add in one not listed.  The breweries are presented alphabetically.

I see the corner bar/brewery as being part of an urban environment.  Applebee’s says they are a “Neighborhood Grill & Bar”  yet their neighborhood is often a suburban strip mall. Just not the same.

Most of these places are small brewers.  Others started small and expanded.  Most are in the City of St. Louis but there are exceptions.  Whenever I’m on Main Street in St. Charles I usually end up at Trailhead.  Going to Augusta used to be about wine for me but since I discovered Augusta Brewery I go for beer instead.

Brews from some of these brewers are available in other establishments/grocery store while others can only be obtained directly.  You may think it unfair to have A-B compete in the poll with small micro breweries.  Again, I’m asking for your favorite brewer.   I like A-B’s Amber Bach but that doesn’t make A-B my favorite brewer in town.

Fans of local beer can go to the stlhops.com forum where members post what beers pubs have in stock on certain days.  Technology and beer are a nice combination.  As I finish writing this post Halloween night I’m finishing off a local pumpkin ale.

Thanks to contributor Jim Zavist for the idea for this poll & post.  The poll is at the top of the right sidebar. If you chose to drink please do so responsibly.

– Steve Patterson

Fifth anniversary of Urban Review STL

Today is the fifth anniversary of this blog.  Five years!  My life has changed dramatically over those five years, partly because of the blog.

On a personal note my great-nephew was born just after I started the blog, an early post included a pic of him just hours old.  Both of my parents have passed.  I went car-free, lived through a stoke, bought a car, started grad school, and I moved downtown.  In 2005 I  ran for the Board of Aldermen, and lost.  I have connected with so many great people over the years.  Hopefully I’ve made a difference.  Over these five years many more blogs have come on the scene locally.  I love it.  The more ideas and viewpoints being shared, discussed and debated the better off we are as a city and region.

Early on I still had thoughts about moving elsewhere.  But I can tell you today that I will live the rest of my life in St. Louis.  That means this blog will continue to evolve over the next five years and coming decades. Part of that evolution will be a new look that I hope to debut after the first of 2010.  As more contributors join me I hope to make the author of each piece more obvious.

After I posted that first piece five years ago I sent an email to some friends  — my first readers.  This year over 80,000 have visited this blog.  The numbers are staggering, I’m honored. When I started I had no plan for what I wanted to accomplish with the blog other than focus my attention at the moment.

In December I will graduate from Saint Louis University with a Master in Arts in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development (UPRED).  Earlier this week I decided to leave real estate sales so I can focus on consulting to developers and municipalities.  With a large number of municipalities within a 2-hour drive of St. Louis I hope to be busy.

Thank you for participating in my journey: adding your comments, giving me feedback, putting up with my rants and mistakes.

– Steve Patterson

Vote Yes on Prop N

This Tuesday voters in St. Louis County will determine how soon much of the Missouri side of the region goes smoke-free.  Well, mostly smoke-free.

If passed, Prop N would prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces, including bars, restaurants, concert venues and indoor and outdoor sports facilities. It would also ban smoking on sidewalks and other outdoor spaces within 15 feet of an entrance to a public building.

The ordinance would exempt casino gaming floors; cigar and tobacco stores; hotel and long-term care rooms that have been designated for smokers; designated smoking areas of Lambert St. Louis International Airport; and bars that receive 25 percent or less of their gross sales from food.  (Source: West End Word)

I think many on both sides of the issue can agree the county and the city’s bill have too many exemptions and the wider a smoke-free policy is the less disadvantage any business may be. That is where agreement ends.

Despite the flaws I hope that voters in St. Louis County support Prop N so our region takes another step closer to being totally smoke-free in establishments open to the public.   The pro-smoking groups will tell you the smoking rate in St. Louis is higher than in other parts of the country.  That is about all I’ll believe from them.  The fact is many places want to go smoke free but are afraid to do so on their own.  They need the law to make it so competing restaurants in their immediate vicinity are also smoke-free.

Secondhand smoke is a public health threat, just like unsanitary restaurant kitchens or unsafe stores.
For workers who spend their days and nights in smoke-filled bars and restaurants, the danger is magnified.

They include many young people working at their first jobs. Often, those workers aren’t offered health insurance and aren’t in an economic position to quit.

People shouldn’t be forced to risk their health just to earn a living.  (Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial)

I agree, this is about the health of our community.  To me this is an important step in the right direction.

– Steve Patterson

9-1-1 Systems in a Mobile Phone World

Current 9-1-1 systems were developed decades ago before mobile phones became popular replacements for landlines. Each year an increasing number of households, like mine, do not have a land line.

From Wikipedia:

Dialing 9-1-1 from a mobile phone (Cellular/PCS) in the United States originally connected the call to the state police or highway patrol, instead of the local public safety answering point (PSAP). The caller had to describe an exact location so that the agency could transfer the call to the correct local emergency services. This was a regular problem, because the exact location of the cellular phone isn’t normally transmitted with the voice call, and with the exponential growth of cellular use, such calls were frequent occurrences.

In 2000, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order requiring wireless carriers to determine and transmit the location of callers who dial 9-1-1. The FCC set up a phased program: Phase I transmitted the location of the receiving antenna for 9-1-1 calls, while Phase II transmitted the location of the calling telephone. The order set up certain accuracy requirements and other technical details, and milestones for completing the implementation of wireless location services. Subsequent to the FCC’s order, many wireless carriers requested waivers of the milestones, and the FCC granted many of them. By mid-2005, the process of Phase II implementation was generally underway, but limited by the complexity of the coordination required from wireless carriers, PSAPs, local telephone companies and other affected government agencies, and the limited funding available to local agencies which need to convert PSAP equipment to display location data (usually on computerized maps). Such rules do not apply in Canada.

FCC rules require that all new mobile phones will provide their latitude and longitude to emergency operators in the event of a 9-1-1 call. Carriers may choose whether to implement this via Global Positioning System (GPS) chips in each phone, or by means of triangulation between cell towers. Due to limitations in technology (of the mobile phone, cellular phone towers, and PSAP equipment), a mobile caller’s geographical information may not always be available to the local PSAP. Technologies are currently under development to remedy this situation and improve performance. Although there are now technological ways to obtain the geographical location of the caller, a 9-1-1 caller should try to be aware of the location of the incident about which he or she is calling.

I’ve read some cities are adding the ability to text the 9-1-1 center in case of emergency.  When I had my stroke on 2/1/2008 I could not get to my mobile phone.  But even if I had there is a chance I could not have clearly been able to verbally tell the operator my location.

To address my own concerns I recently bought a $3 app (reg $7) for my iPhone known as I am Safe.  Other phones to be added soon, I believe.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNtreYBbX7s&feature=player_embedded

If I press the app on my phone I can cancel in 3 seconds.  If not canceled it rings the phone and begins recording audio.  It also sends text messages to five people I predetermined.  Those same five will receive an email with a link to a map of my GPS location (example below) as well as the ability to hear the audio.  In case I’m at home the email includes the front door code and contact info for my neighbor with a key to my place.  I feel better having this app.  And yes, my phone is always close to me now.

I have no connection with this company other than as a paying customer.

I’m told the City of St. Louis is looking at our 9-1-1 technology and how to improve it.  But our region is vast and is covered by numerous emergency systems (23 in St. Louis County),  all tied to land lines.

Used to be you kept a dime for the pay phone, then a quarter. Then both. Now a pay phone is a rare sight in the urban landscape.

Voters in St. Louis County have a chance on Tuesday to determine if part of our region will get newer technology:  Proposition E-911.

– Steve Patterson