Downtown Just Gained One More Resident

Last week I teased you that I was moving. And while guesses often focused on the 15th and 7th (Ald. Florida and Ald Young, respectively) I actually moved to the 6th, where Ald. Kacie Triplett was elected earlier this year in a heated 3-way race. I did not move for political reasons, I moved because I got a cool place for a great price in a part of town I wanted to experience.
My first six months in St. Louis were in the fashionable Central West End. I enjoyed walks up and down Euclid and shopping at Straub’s. The year was 1990 and the rent on my 8th floor studio apartment was $330. From there I jumped over to Old North St. Louis, then still officially known as Murphy-Blair. After a few years there, I moved down south to Dutchtown in 1994 and then a few blocks over to Mt. Pleasant in 2004. I’ve actually moved very little and then only because it was want I wanted to do.

So where did I move?

I am in the Printer’s Lofts on Locust between 16th and 17th. Pretty basic loft, no upgrades. A nice spot in the parking garage for my scooter.  Seems like a waste to have an entire parking space for a single scooter. Although I spent the night in the loft last night I have not fully moved in — that will come soon enough.  But, I have enough items to get me through.  As lofts go it is pretty big but it is still a downsize from my 2,642 square foot corner storefront — nearly a 40% reduction in space.

I will have room for my bicycles, which I plan to use often.  I also will get one of those old lady carts to allow me to walk down to the store and do my grocery shopping when wheel everything back.   I might, for grins, bike to MetroLink and head out to Eager to go to the Trader Joe’s at some point.

This will be a good place for me as I finish my masters degree (in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development).  Who knows, in a couple of years I might move on — both Old North and the Cherokee area are calling my name.  Until then, see you downtown.

The End of the Local Video Store?

The age of the video store is coming to a close. Unlike many of you, I’m old enough to recall the VHS vs Betamax fight and the start of the video stores. First they were little local mom & pop stores which become, at times, local chains. Then we saw the rise of places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. The demise of the local cinema was predicted by many.

Recently the Hollywood Video at Jefferson & Broadway, next to the ‘can’t touch this’ Schmid Fountain, closed its doors. Earlier, the Blockbuster a tad further South on Broadway closed as well. Blockbuster locations on Chippewa as well as Kingshighway @ MLK have also shuttered their doors. There are probably numerous other examples throughout St. Louis and all across the country.

Perhaps they should have added a drive-thru window?

The choices for the movie fan these days are great, far better than standing in some generic retail space looking at row after row of video cases. First, the cinema is still a special treat with places like the Moolah, Chase and Tivoli. Cable & satellite offer more channels than ever before with new releases coming much sooner than they used to. Online rental models like NetFlix are amazingly fast and the interface is quite addictive. And finally, for a buck, you can rent movies via a machine from companies such as RedBox and MovieCube.

If you’ve not seen RedBox or MovieCube it is an interesting delivery method. Situated inside of places like McDonald’s or Schnuck’s these machines taking all of 5-6 square feet of floor space are quick and efficient.  Today’s retailers need to increase the revenues received on a per square foot basis and large areas with videos simply don’t cut the mustard anymore.

It is interesting to see all these changes in the video market, something that didn’t exist 30 years ago.  Many storefronts, often built for these places, are left scattered around the landscape.  Some will remain vacant while others will find new uses.  This is yet another reason why the building form should be a higher priority over the use of a structure.  The use will likely change over the years but the building form remains in place as long as the building remains standing.  As a society, we cannot afford to change buildings for each and every change of use.

Where to Buy Clothing?

The basics of life are food & shelter, we pretty much need these to keep going. Except for nudists, the next thing on the list of basics are clothing. But what and where to purchase?

Do we go with all cotton? What about American made? Locally made? Sustainably made with foreign labor? It is all a bit confusing.

The old delima was shopping in the city vs suburbs — the box vs the local merchant. Now it is a bit more complicated — does the box sell something better for the planet? At some point price has to be a factor, I don’t need any $100 t-shirts no matter how well built or regardless of who made it.
I have no great insights in this area but I need to purchase more clothes and I want to put my money in the right spot. Thoughts?

We Need More Parking…For Bicycles

Next week is back to the bicycle for me. Sure, we are going into winter and it is easy for me to type this while in Miami Beach in 80-degree weather. Still, staying warm on a bicycle is easier than staying warm on a scooter. I’m not putting the scooter away, just not relying on it for 100% of my transit.

Later this week, I’ve got a convention downtown. It would be nice to bike there but where to lock? There are parking garages everywhere downtown, including one as part of the convention center complex. The large curved front is all cars — both the driveway and sidewalk are devoted to cars. No room for one little bike. Not to worry, I’ll find a place to lock it.

So this and some bugging from a friend got me thinking about what it is that I’d like to see in the city and the surrounding region. The first thing is bike parking. No doubt about it, bike parking is critical to successfully being able to park bikes. Duh, right? Bike lanes are rather useless unless you just want to ride around in circles. Sure, often a sign post or some other object exists to secure a bike but you just never know.

The uncertainly, if you have a choice, may cause you to leave the bike at home and take the car to the store a mile away — an easy bike ride. Convenient parking, on the public sidewalk, is a key element to increasing the daily use of bicycling. Of course the city owns and controls their sidewalk. Some, such as the City of St. Louis, allow taxi cabs to wait around for customers on sidewalks. A better use of this space would be to have bike parking throughout commercial districts.

But this is easier said than done. Because the city doesn’t want to have people installing bike racks left and right without any oversight (they may want to save that sidewalk for a taxi, for example), the process is long and brutal. Chicago has a better answer — they simply install them. It works like this, business owners ask for bike parking, the city quickly evaluates, and installs the rack. Likely in less time it would take to get on the agenda at the Board of Public Service to get your rack approved.

So what do I want? I want municipal supported bike parking! We can find ways to spend tens of millions on parking garages but the city can’t find any money to install bike racks downtown and in commercial districts?

Earlier today I met Andy Clark, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists. He was here, in Miami, speaking to rail advocates about the importance of cycling. Briefly we talked about St. Louis and how much we have to do before becoming a bike friendly city. I hope we get there some day.
In addition to bike parking, I’d like to see some of the following:

• A transportation-focused bike plan
• A bike station in the central business district as well as in downtown Clayton. Should include shower/locker facilities and indoor bike storage.
• Municipal/Regional adoption of Complete Streets.
  
• New zoning in the City of St. Louis, as well as nearby municipalities, to require a more urban form. This will benefit cyclists (and pedestrians) without punishing motorists. This is in conjunction with Complete Streets above.

There is a strong connection between using public transit (all forms), walking, cycling and yes even using my scooter. There is an upside here too for the motorist. The more folks we get out of cars the more room on the existing road there will be for you. Just give me a few feet of sidewalk for bike parking.

Valets at Lush Block Bike Lane w/Sign

A new place opens so that means yet another place with valet parking. Never mind those cyclists.

As you can see above, the bike lane becomes a partial holding lane for bike traffic.

Approaching on Westbound Olive at this point there are no cars but there is a sign in the bike lane.

See, there it is in the above. These images were sent to me from a reader but I’ve heard about it from others as well.

So why must these valets be so insensitive to others? Is is the club owner telling them what to do? Perhaps the valet owners set the mood? Whatever it is, we’ve got to control this. We don’t need cyclists having to avoid signs in the blike lanes.