Cherokee Street May Remain a “dry” Street

Ald. Craig Schmid (D-20th) is continuing his anti drinking establishment campaign in the 20th ward, which includes parts of Cherokee St West of Jefferson Ave. Schmid has introduced new legislation titled “Prohibiting package liquor in the 20th Ward.” (see BB47) The exception is for restaurants that get at least 35% of their revenue from food sales.

Schmid’s attitude is summed up in the bill as legislative findings:

The existence of alcoholic beverage establishments appears to contribute directly to numerous peace, health, safety and general welfare problems including loitering, littering, drug trafficking, prostitution, public drunkenness, defacement and damaging of structures, pedestrian obstructions, as well as traffic circulation, parking and noise problems on public streets and neighborhood lots. The existence of such problems creates serious impacts on the health, safety and welfare of residents of single- and multiple-family residences within the district, including fear for the safety of children, elderly residents and of visitors to the district. The problems also contribute to the deterioration of the neighborhood and concomitant devaluation of property and destruction of community values and quality of life. The number of establishments selling alcoholic beverages and the associated problems discourage more desirable and needed commercial uses in the area. In order to preserve the residential character and the neighborhood-serving commercial uses of the area.

Wow, why do we allow such debauchery to run rampant throughout the rest of the city? Gee, maybe because he is operating under the false impression that prostitution will cease to exist if only people can’t buy a drink at a bar.

Oh but it gets better:

the Excise Commissioner shall have authority to:

(3) Issue a drink license only with the following conditions applied and enforced in an area with a Cherokee Street address from the west curbline of Iowa Avenue to the east curbline of Nebraska Avenue
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A. No package liquor and premises must be operated as a restaurant with gross food sales constituting at least 35% of gross sales; and
B. Operator of the premises must have and maintain at all times written permission to use a public commercial parking facilities within 350 feet of the premis:
with a minimum of at least 15 parking spaces (paved, striped, having a six foot good quality, sturdy ornamental metal fence surrounding it and adequate lighting, and with concrete wheel stops, all complying with City of St. Louis requirements); and if there is live entertainment or live performances, with a minimum of at least 30 parking spaces (paved, striped, having a six foot good quality, sturdy ornamental metal fence surrounding it and adequate lighting, and with concrete wheel stops, all complying with City of St. Louis requirements); and having at a minimum at least 30 additional parking spaces for every 1000 square feet of business space in excess of the first 1000 square feet of business space.

Well, there we have it. More parking in an urban neighborhood commercial district.

And we all love establishments with cafe tables — as long as they keep a clear path. But what about a cafe table behind a 4ft high fence?

J. Sidewalk tables for restaurant purposes only may only be permitted in accordance with an extension of premises permit with an appropriate 4 foot high good quality, sturdy, black ornamental metal fence separating the tables from the rest of the minimum 4 foot wide public sidewalk;

The reality is nobody is going to open a wine bar under such conditions which probably suits Schmid just fine.  This isn’t a class thing for Schmid — the person who downs a $2 bud is just as bad as friends that share a $40 bottle of wine.

To the business association this legislation would be an impediment to competing with other commercial districts where the rules are less restrictive.  To me Schmid only knows how to run off perceived problems — he hasn’t a clue how to bring life back to a once thriving commercial street.

The Future Outlook on Downtown St Louis

It is probably easy to think the good times are over downtown: Nearly a month ago I brought the city the news of the closure of prominent developer, John Steffen’s Pyramid Companies. The new modern high rise SkyHouse planned for 14th and Washington has been abandoned and Centene is no longer moving their HQ from Clayton to St Louis and Ballpark Village. Big deal.

Generations of all ages are seeking something besides typical suburbia — houses hidden behind garages, strip malls, big box centers, the indoor mall, the office/industrial park , etc… This doesn’t mean everyone wants to live in downtown St Louis because that is not the case. However the perception of downtown has changed considerably over the last decade or so. This is not to say the current mayor or the current crop of downtown civic boosters deserve all the credit. They deserve some but much of it is simply a shift in demographics and taste. Just as decades ago many people fled to the suburbs in large part because everyone else was too. Times have changed and in smaller and bigger towns all over the country inner city areas are seeing renewed interest while the edge suburbs are not the sure thing they once were. People want to be in real cities be that strolling down a downtown street or having your choice to walk over to a restaurant on Hampton or to a great urban park such as Francis Park.

Downtown St Louis will survive the latest setbacks if we allow it to. Over-hyping projects that are not yet sure things is certainly a good way to set up the public to be disappointed and perceive downtown as having failed again. The current financial market conditions will not allow the rate of growth we’ve seen in the last decade but we will move forward.

Many storefronts remain to be leased. Many. It will take some time for the market to absorb these spaces. Eventually something will open. The more we patronize our local commercial districts the better they will do. This includes locally owned and chain places — such as the new Sprint store at Tucker & Washington Ave.

So many factors are in the right spots for a good next 10-20 years.  The trick now is to not screw it up with bad decision making.  We should now be looking at form-based zoning to guide new construction downtown and the rest of the city.  Now is the perfect time to envision how we’d like to see our city develop over the next few decades.  We should take advantage of this financial break to plan for the future.

National ADA Symposium and Expo Assistive Technology Consumer Fair Monday & Tuesday

I would have been interested beforehand but now that I am disabled I’m very interested in the National ADA Symposium and Expo Assistive Technology Consumer Fair to be held Monday & Tuesday:

May 12-13, 2008
Downtown St. Louis, America’s Center

Paraquad and ADA Great Plains Center are pleased to announce the National ADA Symposium and Expo and the Assistive Technology Consumer Fair are collaborating on this joint event.
The Assistive Technology Fair will educate and empower consumers of assistive technology devices, equipment, products, and services to promote community participation and independent living.  This is the only show of its kind in the Midwest.
There is a wealth of products and services that enable people with disabilities to live life to its fullest.  The AT Fair provides community members with information on disability-related services and opportunities to try new products.
The AT Fair is free to the public and will be held in Hall 1 of the America’s Center from 12:00pm-8:00pm Monday, May 12th and from 9:00am-4:00pm Tuesday, May 13th.
The AT Fair is hosted by the Enabling Mobility Center, MS Society, Paraquad, and the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group.

For more information see atfair.org.  Come out and see everything from vans with slide out ramps to can openers for those of us with only one good hand.  Once you see some the products that are out there you begin to realize how much you take for granted.

Old North St. Louis 2008 House and Community Tour on Saturday, May 10th

My favorite former neighbor is showing off Saturday:

Join us for the Old North St. Louis 2008 House and Community Tour on Saturday, May 10th.  Ten homes and community gardens will be open to the public from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.   You can also get a sneak-peek at the current redevelopment of the former 14th Street Mall.

Come see why Focus St. Louis declared Old North St. Louis “What’s Right with the Region,” why St. Louis Magazine says Old North St. Louis is “one of St. Louis’ most exciting up-and-coming neighborhoods,” and why Alive Magazine listed Old North St. Louis as one of “St. Louis’ Most Influential People, Places and Ideas of 2008.”

Visitors will be able to walk between the homes and gardens on the tour at their own pace or use the free “trolley” shuttle service.  With homes built over a span of 150 years – from the mid-19th Century to this year – the Old North St. Louis House Tour offers an opportunity to view a range of different housing styles.

Advance tickets can be purchased for $10 on our website at www.onsl.org or for $12 the day of the event.  Advance ticket orders will be available for pick-up at the registration area on the day of the tour, which will be on the south side of the intersection of 14th Street and St. Louis Avenue, at the edge of the former 14th Street Mall.

Your ticket includes a program and FREE ice cream cone from landmark Crown Candy located across the street from the neighborhood office. They may be purchased the day of the tour or in advance. If you purchase in advance, the tickets will be waiting to be picked up at the registration booth on the day of the tour.

Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the ongoing neighborhood improvement efforts of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.  ONSLRG is a 27-year-old neighborhood association committed to restoring and developing the physical and social dimensions of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood in a manner that respects its historic, cultural, and urban character.

For more information, call the Old North St. Louis Restoration office at 314-241-5031.

When I moved to Old North in 1991I was sure it would take off any minute.  It has taken a few longer but this area just North of downtown is really taking off now.

Lead with your strong side

Today I did something stupid which can serve as a good analogy for cities.  For new readers I had a stroke on Feb 1st that took out my left side.  Through more than two months of rehab I can walk again with a cane.  So today I decide to pick something off the floor.  In rehab I had done squats to pick up stuff before.

Here is where the analogy and lesson part come in…

I was in a hurry and ignored all that I had learned up to this morning.  Rather than positioning my feet and body so that I was more relying on my strong (right) side I just squatted down as I would have prior to the stroke.  Conditions had changed but I tried the old way.  I ended up sitting on my butt on the floor.
Cities do the same thing— they don’t use their strong side to support then.  St Louis’ strong side is great urban architecture on a nicely scaled grid of walkable streets.  The suburbs don’t have those strong areas.  Yet here we tend to lead with our weak side — suburban anti-city stuff.  The more of this we have the less of the strong side we have.  Ok, so I was sitting on the floor now.

No harm done, people stumble just as cities stumble.  Unlike many cities I had a backup plan.  You see getting off the floor with only one good arm, one good leg and one weak leg is not just a pop back up sort of affair.  In therapy I practiced getting up off the floor — the assumption being that I’d end up there eventually.   Cities and their political leaders just don’t practice how to recover when they fall.  I knew to scoot across the floor and make it to the sofa.  From there I could leverage my strong side to get myself off the floor and seated again.  Cities don’t have such a backup.
St Louis has had a number of bad falls —such as the very expensive downtown indoor mall, St Louis Centre.  Had St Louis built up its strong side rather than coming from a weak position we would have focused on traditional storefront shops along streets.  Instead we went with the suburban mall model sans the acres of free parking and it flopped big time.   St Louis, like me this morning, was trying the quick route.  I recovered fairly quickly but a city’s mistakes are harder to recover from.

Remember that is is best to use your strong side for needed support.