Gas Tax Holiday a Vacation from Market Realities

Presidential hopefuls McCain and Clinton are both suggesting we take a summer vacation from collecting the federal tax on gasoline. Obama is coming the closest of all the major candidates to just putting it out there — China & India are now crazy about cars, just as we are, the world only has so much oil and the refineries can only convert oil to gas so fast.

We’ve spent nearly a century investing in infrastructure that only works when oil is cheap. Now that most Americans live in auto-dependent suburbia the world market rules have shifted. This is our new reality. There is no good short term solution. The long term solution is invest in different transit systems that move people more efficiently. Of course we are so spread out now that becomes increasingly costly.

Government is going to have to make some tough decisions. In the St. Louis region, for example, we need to rethink the idea of MetroLink being a regional system. I don’t think we can afford to build enough lines to encompass our region. We need to think at the local street level — how can mass transit get the average Joe to work, to the store and so on.  We also need to think about goods — where do they come from, can we ship them more efficiently and better yet can we produce that same good locally for less?

We are in the midst of the reality we created for ourselves.  No summer vacation from the gas tax is going to change that.

We Have Our Own Stupid Bike Lanes

Proponents of bike lanes use arguments of increased safety to advocate an increase in such lanes. That would be nice and all if it were true. What is true enough is the perception of increased safety.

To the novice rider getting out into traffic can be intimidating. Bike lanes give these riders a mostly false sense of security. It is not the fault of the lanes but how they are designed in the US. Here they are largely left over roadway whereas in other areas where they are more effective they are part of a connected network, sometimes with their own signals and such. Here bike lanes simply start and stop out of the blue, leaving the rider on their own when the lane ends. This is where the safety argument falls apart.

Recently Slate did a couple of video segments looking for the stupidest bike lanes, click here to watch both. Go ahead and watch — they are brief and interesting. OK, back?

In July 2005 I did a report on a local bike lane that was more dangerous than stupid — it intentionally placed riders going straight ahead to the right of right turning vehicles.

The bike lane is that area nearest the curb. As you can see the cars in this lane above are required to turn right — right into cyclists heading South. The above is where 8th merges into 7th which at this point is basically Broadway.

Broadway is one of those hit or miss streets — the bike lane stops and resumes all of a sudden. A reader sent me a few pictures from further South, just South of A-B in fact:

Above as we approach the I-55 overpass we have two Southbound travel lanes, but no bike lane.

Under the bridge the roadway widens and a right turn lane begins to form for people going to Cherokee St or Southbound I-55. A brief bike lane appears to separate Southbound bikes from right turning motorists.

This is the exact spot where a cyclist should be at this point. But any rider skilled enough to get to this point doesn’t need a 10ft long bike lane to help them. The novice rider that hugs the right curb still needs help getting positioned in the right spot. If anything this tells motorists to not use all the road when turning right.

Bike lanes can be a good thing but only when they are consistent.  Having then only in spots where the road is too wide and not where it narrows again is just inviting a bike accident.

Curb ramps useless when blocked by illegally parked cars

Sunday was such a nice day I decided in the afternoon to make my way the 9-10 blocks from my house to City Grocers at 10th & Olive.  Knowing of at least one curb ramp issue ay 16th & Locust I took the power wheelchair Eastbound on Washington Ave.  Everything was fine and dandy until I turned on 10th Southbound:

A block South of Washington at St Charles St I encountered this white Pontiac in my path.  To an able-bodied person they’d just walk around but when you are in a wheelchair your options are more limited.

I thought about ramming the side of the vehicle with the chair but then I realized that would probably do more damage to me than the car.  My cane on the other hand could have done a number on the car without hurting me.  But I thought if the owner came out I would be a sitting target.   Plus I am not really the type that would damage another’s property — even if they are insensitive and need a good lesson in where not to park.

The sensible thing would have been to call the police.  But it was a nice day and I didn’t want to get all worked up.  I also presumed the dispatcher would have been less than enthusiastic about the problem.  I let it go and back tracked to Washington where I then crossed to the other side of 10th.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, I got a large canvas bag full of food.  Leaving the store I looked up 10th and saw the car was still parked there.  So I headed Westbound along the sidewalk on the South side of Olive.  To my surprise at 11th there was no curb ramp at all.  Oh the other three corners all had ramps but they were of no use to me.   So again I doubled back from 11th to 10th and took 10th to Locust.  Locust was fine until I got to 13th St (by the Shell building) where my options to continue Westbound basically ran out.  I was able to take 13th up to Washington where I was able to continue the remaining blocks to home.

In all of this the basic message is that without curb ramps on all the corners, or a car blocking a ramp, it becomes increasingly harder to navigate through the city.  In the end it was doable –  just required a bit of backtracking on my part.  Added to my memory now are those routes where lack of ramps make getting from A to B a challenge.

Sidewalk Dining, Keeping a Clear Pathway

Friday night a friend and I decided to meet for dinner not far from my place.

We decided upon beso, downtown’s newest restaurant. How new? Friday night was opening night. This is the narrow place a couple of doors West of the burned-out Copia, in a space that was the short lived-restaurant, Red. beso had a few minor glitches as you might expect but overall it is a welcome addition to the scene. We sat outside and the tables were arranged so as to keep a clear path open on the sidewalk. Across the street at Bridge & Tunnel Pizza the tables were also arranged so as to respect the pedestrian passing by.

Above, at beso, diners enjoy dinner while a pathway was kept clear for pedestrians — those walking, those of us using wheelchair and those pushing baby strollers. Even without Copia this block seems destined to have valet parking. While we were eating the valet had only a small space and frankly nobody seemed to use it.

Flannery’s down the street has larger tables and chairs arranged in a single row. Here I was able to take the path near the buildings and get by just fine — even with people seated. It wasn’t generous near the entry but it was doable.

Unacceptable was the situation at Solace and Sugar (formerly KYO) at 14th and Washington, shown above. All pedestrians were forced to the outer edge of the sidewalk. A man pushing a baby stroller followed right behind me just trying to get through as well.

Sidewalk dining is one those things that makes living in an urban setting so great. However it needs to be respectful of the needs of all pedestrians using the same space. Clearly it is possible for some establishments to have sidewalk service without forcing pedestrians to hug the curb.

The city must have some sort of guidelines for those establishments that obtain cafe permits. But who is left to enforce the rules. Like the numerous valet stands that basically raise a middle finger to the idea of fairly sharing the public right of way, nobody seems to exist at city hall to monitor the situation.

As a property owner in the downtown community improvement district I pay additional taxes for increased services. Helping monitor the increasing number of sidewalk cafes and valet stands would certainly be an improvement. Perhaps this is already being done which would help explain why most of the cafes I encountered left sufficient space. Or simply that the operators of those establishments are more considerate than others.  The problem likely exists in other parts of the city with sidewalk dining.

So What Did I Miss?

Being in the hospital for all of February, March & April you tend to miss what is going on.  Sure at the end of February I got internet access but not all subtle little things make it to the web — especially while I am out of commission.  I did notice a few things coming back into town on Wednesday and when I went to dinner with friends on Wednesday evening.

Ameren is constructing a pedestrian bridge over 18th/Truman Prkwy so that employees can walk to their cars without stepping foot on a public sidewalk.  I’m sure safety was the argument but if the area had something besides acres of parking and a fairly inactive corporate HQ the area would be safer.  Starting prior to my stroke and continuing for some time construction crews had the sidewalk totally blocked.  With only the West side of the 18th street viaduct having a sidewalk pedestrians had only one North-South option.  ADA requires an accessible route be maintained even during construction.  I will have a follow-up post on this project (w/pictures) in the near future.
The Drury Inn is now open at I-44 & Hampton.  Ick.  More generic roadside crap in our city.  At quick glance it appears to not have proper connections to the public sidewalks but I’ll have to check that out.

The KFC on South Grand near Gravois got a face lift.

We seem to have once again been competing with Chicago, this time for homicides in a given period. I think they won.

So now is your chance to fill me in on things big and small that I might have missed these last three months.