Busch Stadium Parking Garages Need to be Razed

There are ugly parking garages and then there are the twin garages known as Stadium East and Stadium West. These garages used to be on either side of Busch Stadium II (1966-2006).   They will bookend the East & West sides of Ballpark Village.  Each occupies a full city block.

The design of these garages is worse than most downtown in that they lack any sidewalk level retail/restaurant space.  The levels of the floors also prevent any such retail space being carved out of a corner or two.

The brutal design of the garages, their mass and blank walls deadens the sidewalks on all four sides.  When Ballpark Village is done these garages will serve as they have for four decades — as barriers.

These garages need to go if we want any hope of sewing back together our downtown.  At least the equally ugly Kiener Garages have retail/restaurant space at the sidewalk level making them marginally tolerable.  These garages have no redeeming qualities.

Plans for Ballpark Village need to include razing these garages and the construction of new more sensitive parking wrapped by buildings.  Eventually we can undo all the bad planning and bad structures done to downtown over the last half century.  Nothing will bring back the nicely scaled buildings we lost — but we don’t have to keep these monstrosities around forever.  Maybe if we get these garages on the National Register of Historic Places then our elected leaders and developers like Steve Stogel will want to raze them?

SLU’s “Urban Oasis” Open on Former Vista Ave

A year ago another street near Saint Louis University’s Heath Sciences complex was closed to traffic.  The one block section of Vista Ave East of Grand was closed on Aug 24, 2007 (see prior post).  From the press release issued by SLU last year:

Saint Louis University soon will increase beauty, safety and accessibility to the Medical Center with a new pedestrian mall.

The area along Vista Avenue between Grand Boulevard and Carr Lane Avenue will be transformed into an urban oasis that mimics green space near the Doisy College of Health Sciences building as well as parts of campus north of I-64/Hwy. 40. The section will be bordered by the School of Medicine complex on the north and the building that now houses the department of neurology and psychiatry on the south.

Pedestrians will be welcomed to the mall [by] one of SLU’s signature red brick monuments, and beautiful landscaping, trees and flowers will provide a parklike atmosphere. Safety also will be enhanced, as city streetlights will be replaced by upgraded lighting that will shine brightly on the mall.

In addition, SLU’s design and construction team is extending the “green” attributes of the Edward A. Doisy Research Center to the mall project. By removing heat-soaked pavement and adding more grass, the area will become more environmentally friendly.

The block of Vista Ave was your typical street — part of the disappearing street grid in the immediate area.  It’s sidewalks were old and it’s lighting poor:

Today there is no traffic but there is green grass:

There is nothing inherently safer about Vista Ave now that it is closed to vehicular traffic.  The lighting is certainly improved but that could have been changed without shutting off through access. Sidewalks could have been replaced too.

By removing traffic and on-street parking they’ve removed eyes from the street.  In people’s minds this may seem safer but that has more to do with the care-for look and improved nighttime lighting.  Granted someone walking here now doesn’t have to worry about a guy jumping out of a parked or passing car and mugging someone.  On the other hand a criminal knows that nobody in a car is suddenly going to drive down the block and catch them being mischievous.  Again, the cared-for image sends a message to criminals to stay out.  The same could have been accomplished by redoing the sidewalks & lighting and perhaps eliminating on-street parking at each end by having curb bulb outs.  This would have slowed traffic and sent the same message to criminals.

The neighbors in the next block East wouldn’t feel cut off from Grand as I imagine they now feel.  But I think that is part of the intent – to isolate adjacent property owners to the point they are willing to sell out to the university.  By cutting them off from a major arterial road this limits and alters their access to their homes.  This limited access reduces marketability and price.  Unable to sell to others they are happy when  the university comes knocking with any offer.

For years now SLU has slowly been choking off the neighborhood to the East and buying property and razing buildings.  The neighbors see the writing on the wall.  When an entity such as SLU can make you change your route home you know it is only a matter of time before they come for your house.  SLU is not buying property to build new housing.  They don’t want a strong residential neighborhood next door because that would mean people that would object to more parking garages.  SLU wants to wipe out everything East to Compton and little by little it is happening.

Furthermore, the above is hardly an oasis.  If they really wanted it to be park-like a park bench or two would have been nice. When you have a disabled blogger walking down the former street a place to sit and enjoy the oasis would be nice.  But they realize it isn’t really a safe place to sit and hang out — there are no building entries facing this block and pedestrian traffic passing through is pretty minimal.

If closing streets to cars was such a safe thing to do then 14th Street in Old North must have been a really safe place since 1977.  Why not close all the streets in the city?  That would reduce crime big time because we’d all leave because we could no longer get around.

Redo streets? Yes!  Narrow streets?  Yes!  Improve lighting for pedestrians? Yes!  Close streets?  No!

National Trust for Historic Preservation Subsidiary Among Entities Suing Two Preservationists

In the many twists and turns over the last six years over the now demolished Century Building is the fact that a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is among the plaintiffs in what I believe to be a SLAAP suit against two downtown St Louis residents that tried, and ultimately failed, to save the Century Building from being razed and replaced with another parking garage (prior post).

The National Trust once had an ad campaign touting preservation over parking garages. However when they stood to gain $438,000 in fees they tossed aside their principals and agreed to the razing of the 1901 marble-clad Century Building that was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

And when the developers, City of St Louis and the State of Missouri decided to sue the two individuals that had sought to save the building, there was the richer National Trust joining in the case as a minority stakeholder in one of the complex web of entities used to get tax credits. It’s nice to know that the Nation’s leading preservation organization can be bought off for under half a million. From the National Trust Community Investment Corporation (aka NTCIC):

NTCIC created a subsidiary Community Development Entity, NTCIC/Old Post Office, LLC, with US Bank to facilitate the transaction. US Bank is the federal and state HTC investor and the NMTC investor and will own 99.99% of NTCIC/Old Post Office, LLC. That entity in turn owns 99.99% of the St. Louis’ U.S. Custom House and Post Office Building Associates, LP, which owns the Old Post Office. (source)

I’ve got a challenge for you. Find me an intersection downtown (East of Tucker) where all four corners are intact historic buildings. While you are thinking on that one try to get a picture of downtown without a parking garage in the image.

The intersection of 9th & Olive was the very last corner with historic buildings remaining on all four corners – The Old Post Office, The Paul Brown, The Frisco and the Century. No other intersection in the CBD still had such a historic grouping of buildings. When the Century was smashed into bits we lost that last historic corner. All other intersections have a modern building, a surface parking lot or a parking garage on one or more of the corners. Which brings us to the challenge of taking a picture of downtown without a parking garage in the image.

If you get close enough to a building you can do it. But step back and try to get a street view and it becomes more difficult to avoid garages. Sometimes taking a picture from within a parking garage helps but even then you are likely to see another.

Former Mayor Schoemehl’s legacy is the razing of historic structures such as Eames & Young’s Title Guaranty Building and the construction of Gateway One in its place. Mayor Slay’s legacy in this city will be the taking of the Century on that one last remaining historic intersection and the tactics employed to get there. Remember that the Washington Ave rebirth was started during the Harmon administration, not Slay’s.

Of course people will say it was necessary to raze the Century in order to save the Old Post Office across the street. It was argued that a garage had to be built immediately adjacent to the Old Post Office. Its location a block from the 8th & Pine MetroLink line and within a few blocks of other garages wasn’t good enough. The Downtown Now plan from a decade ago called for saving the context around the Post Office and for there to be no parking garages facing the building. But ignoring the plan’s call for no garages facing the building, where to place a garage? Three sides have historic structures while the North side has already lost it’s historic buildings and is surface parking. Three historic blockfaces and one missing. So the plan was to raze a second blockface rather than utilize the existing missing tooth. Brilliant! Nice job Francis.

This actually connects back to Schoemehl’s legacy a few blocks away. The state of Missouri has offices at the Wainright Building and had parking where the May Amphitheater is now. Once Schoemehl had finished razing what was known as “real estate row” parking was supposed to be built underground for the state. The last two blocks got done in the 90s without any underground parking for the state. These are the two blocks being redone again as a sculpture garden. So when it came to locating state courts and offices in the Old Post Office the state didn’t want to get screwed over again.

We almost need to keep reelecting Mayor Slay. Each Mayor for decades has a legacy of destruction in our city. If we keep Slay around hopefully he is done with the Century and thus the balance of our historic structures are safe. Mayor Slay’s 2nd term ends next Spring. If we elect someone new then we must worry about how they are going to put their mark on the city.

No matter who we have as Mayor the National Trust for Historic Preservation Demolition will be there ready to sign off on the demolition of a historic structure in exchange for a hefty fee. It’s reassuring to know some things don’t change.

I Didn’t Know What To Do With a Hair Brush

People seem to miss the obvious such as the crosswalk that didn’t align with the curb ramps or the curb ramp at the bottom of stairs. Following my stroke I was in three hospitals over three months. Overall I’d say I received good treatment.

However it makes you a bit nervous when they miss the obvious. In my first few weeks they had me sedated so I hadn’t clue what was going on around me. Apparently I’d respond to people talking to me — using facial gestures and shaking my head. They were trying to determine how much brain damage had suffered and thus how much of my functions I might regain.

My friends tell me they medical staff thought it was good that when they handed me a toothbrush I knew what to do with it. However they were concerned because I appeared clueless at what to do with a hairbrush. If you’ve seen my picture or met me you know that for a good seven years or so I’ve kept my head shaved. For years before that I had very short clipped hair. So to hand a guy with a shaved head (now with a couple of weeks of stubble) a hairbrush is just plain stupid.

A few weeks as I was awake and receiving therapy I was so happy when the therapist said I was going to get to work on shaving. I had quite the stubble on my face and head by this point. Again for about 7-8 years shaving meant shaving my head and face. Naturally I begin to apply shaving cream to my head. The therapist stops me. In a report I read later it was noted that I was “confused” because I applied lotion to my head. I wasn’t confused at all — I felt like a hippie with 6 weeks of growth on my head. The obvious was missed. Granted I was not really in the best shape to be taking a razor to my head but confused I was not. Well, at least not about that.

I convinced a friend to bring in my clippers and to buy me an electric shaver. One way or another my head was getting shaved.

This is just one example of where trained professionals missed the obvious. Perhaps they always use the toothbrush and hairbrush as measures of cognitive ability? But handing a guy with a shaved head a hairbrush is like handing someone with false teeth a toothbrush.

Often it takes a third party to point out things like “he’s bald” or why put a ramp at a staircase. Professionals do f-up. That is why architects & engineers carry Errors & Omission insurance.  The obvious isn’t always obvious to everyone.

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Examples of the Passenger Loading Zone that the Chaifetz Arena Lacks

Last week I did a piece on the poor accessibility at Saint Louis University’s new $80+ million Chaifetz Arena. The new sidewalk removed at prior curb cut which permitted wheelchair users to cross Compton at Laclede. The new facility lacks a proper passenger loading zone.  Eighty million and the accessibility is worth about a buck fifty.

The SLU Men’s basketball team had been playing at the Scottrade Center built in 1994:

The zone gives a place for a car to pull out of the street to let someone out or pick someone up. You can see the curb ramp to facilitate helping someone in a wheelchair. This facility opened in 1994.

Just down Clark we have Busch Stadium which opened in 2006:

On the other side of the Central Business District is the Edward Jones Dome. I visited that facility recently just prior to a home Rams game and noticed an excellent loading zone:

The ADA standards require:

Passenger loading zones shall provide an access aisle at least 60 in (1525 mm) wide and 20 ft (240 in)(6100 mm) long adjacent and parallel to the vehicle pull-up space (see Fig. 10). If there are curbs between the access aisle and the vehicle pull-up space, then a curb ramp complying with 4.7 shall be provided. Vehicle standing spaces and access aisles shall be level with surface slopes not exceeding 1:50 (2%) in all directions.

Chaifetz fails the above.  All that Chaifetz has is the outside parking lane marked for no parking and some guys to lift a chair onto the sidewalk due to the lack of even a single curb ramp.

No 5ft aisle space, no curb ramp.  The designers had three good examples in town to serve as examples for their new 10,600 seat facilit.  This sends a strong message the disabled are not welcome at Chaifetz. Clearly no thought was given about their arrival points and access issues.