St. Louis May Be One of Few Cities in the World With an Elevated Bikeway

The message to the crowd was simple — the Great Rivers Greenway District already owns the old elevated railway trestle that runs from Hadley and Cass to the McKinley Bridge and they want to turn it into one of the world’s few elevated bikeway and walking trails. Inspiration comes from Paris’ Promenade Plantée and New York’s planned High Line.  Chicago and Philly are also working on similar projects.

A good crowd (a “few” if KSDK were counting) gathered last Thursday evening at the Confluence Academy in Old North St. Louis to hear the early thoughts on the proposal. Questions centered around specifics and planners had to continue to remind everyone that this in the very beginning stages — no specifics are known other than what it is they own and control.

Paris and New York are the only two cities with elevated bikeways. Chicago is looking at doing the same thing but they don’t yet have control over the trestle they have in mind. The following are some of the images from the presentation:

The idea is to have a bike path, a walking path, message boards, native greenery and to make creative use of the old supports for the electric wires that powered the old interurban lines.

Some of the concepts they presented included wind, sun and rain collection.

They hope to encourage adjacent buildings to add green roofs to improve the experience, reduce the heat island affect and reduce energy costs for those owners. Taller trellis’ would be added where necessary to prevent people from gaining access to roofs from the trestle.

One idea they explored is to widen the trestle at a point or two to gain more “plaza” space and room for viewing.

One nice thing is the prominent view from I-70. Greening up the trestle and incorporating signs would hopefully increase the curiosity of motorists.

A small portion of the trestle is already being prepared for such a use — connecting to the soon to re-open McKinley bridge. This will give cyclists an easy route to Illinois.

One potential issue is the proposed Mississippi River Bridge — it would intersect with I-70 immediately south of where the trestle crosses. Although the clearance from the highway to the bottom of the trestle is fine, it does not meet current standards. MoDot is seeking Federal approval to allow for an exemption so the trestle can remain in place. Of course, no final design or funding has been worked out between Missouri and Illinois on this bridge so it is anyone’s guess when and if I every actually happens.

I’d like to see I-70 removed from the area between downtown and the arch but part of me doubts that would every actually get removed even if a new bridge for I-70 traffic was built. I’d like to see the MacArthur Bridge, located to the south of the Poplar Street Bridge, reopened to auto traffic, or perhaps as another bike/pedestrian bridge like the Chain of Rocks (the MacArthur still carries railroad traffic below the former auto deck).
Despite the potentially high cost, I think retaining these old industrial structures and reusing them for bike connection is a worthwhile pursuit. The connection with the wonderful North Riverfront trail at Branch Street would be great.

Increasing Use of Biofuels May Lead to More World Hunger

New biofuels designed to use plants to keep the U.S. and the rest of the world in their auto-dependent lifestyles is increasing the cost of food, an increasing issue for poor countries:

Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, has called for a five-year moratorium on the production of biofuels, saying that converting crops such as maize, wheat and sugar into fuels was driving up the prices of food, land and water.

Noting that the price of wheat has doubled in one year, Mr. Ziegler warned that if the prices of food crops continued to rise, the poorest countries will not be able to import enough food for their people.

While such fuels do offer some promise for the future it is clear to many that we simply cannot continue to drive the miles that the average American does. We already contribute more per capita to the warming of the planet, the last thing we need to do is increase the hunger in poor nations by burning ethanol in a “flex fuel” Chevy Suburban SUV. A reduction of total miles driven is the only real sustainable solution. It doesn’t mean everyone needs to stop driving altogether — simply work to reduce total miles by carpooling, combining errands, shop at the closer store, and use other modes of transportation. More on the food issue via Green Car Congress.

Metropolitan Taxicab Commission Not Forced to Provide Taxi Stand on Sidewalk at Convention Center

For nearly a year now I have been trying to get the taxi stand, located literally in the pedestrian sidewalk area of Washington Ave, removed (see July post). To me a taxi stand directly in the path of pedestrians is careless and opens the city up to a major liability should someone be injured or killed by an exiting taxi.

The official line from the taxi commission is that they don’t control municipal rights of way. True enough, placing a taxi stand on private property is likely much easier than in the public right of way —- be it the street or sidewalk. Within the public right of way, the city must agree to the location. The Metropolitan St. Louis Taxicab Commission includes both the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County.

The relevant section of the Missouri statues relative to the taxicab commission is:

The provisions of this section notwithstanding, existing municipal regulations relating to taxicab curb locations and curb fees as well as local business licenses which do not seek to regulate taxicab use shall not be preempted by the taxicab code except by agreement between the commission and applicable municipality.

So while the taxicab commission is correct that they do not have the authority to place a stand on a municipal right of way without that city giving it’s approval, it is also correct that a municipality cannot force the Metropolitan Taxi Commission to place a taxi stand in a dangerous location — such as an active sidewalk location used by pedestrians. In fact, a municipality cannot force the taxicab commission to place a stand where they do not wish to. This, in my estimation, would make the members of the Taxicab Commission equally liable for such decision to put a taxi stand within a sidewalk location. The commissioners cannot simply pass the buck to the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Bureau (that operates the convention center) and the City of St. Louis.

The next public meeting of the Metropolitan St. Louis Taxicab Commission is Wednesday October 31, 2007 at 9am in the auditorium at 100 North Tucker. If you think the commissioners should consider removing this stand please email them at complaint@stl-taxi.com. You can call them at (314) 241-7600 [or toll free at (877) 785-8294]. And finally you can contact them via fax at (314) 241-7603.  Correspondence should be firm but polite and directed to either Chairman Lou Hamilton or director D. Michael Tully.
Others to contact include:

• Jim Cloar of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership:  jcloar@downtownstl.org; (314) 436-6500 x224; or fax (314) 436-1646
• Kathleen Ratcliffe of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission: kratcliffe@explorestlouis.com; (314) 992-0604; or Toll-Free: (800) 325-7962; or via fax (314) 421-0039.
• Kathy Hale of the Mayor’s office: halek@stlouiscity.com
• Ald. Phyllis Young; via email; (314) 622-3287; or fax (314) 622-4273
• Director of Streets, Todd Waelterman; via email waeltermannt@stlouiscity.com; (314) 647-3111; or fax (314) 768-2888

Visitors to St. Louis should not be forced to walk around taxi cabs or have them driving toward them on the sidewalk as they exit their sidewalk-based location.  Pedestrians should not be subject to this danger simply because the city refuses to give up a lane of the street for the convention center refuses to give up a portion of the circle drive in front of the convention center out of the path of pedestrians. While the taxicab commission cannot legally place a stand elsewhere they are not forced to provide the existing stand — they can legally remove it.

Political Insider Blocks Path of Sidewalk with SUV, Defense Caught on Video

Arriving at City Hall this morning I spotted an SUV parked smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk along Tucker Blvd — in such a way that someone in a wheelchair or mobility scooter could not pass by:

That is my scooter (aka motorized bicycle per state law) in the very far left. As you can see, it is parked way out of the line of travel along the sidewalk. The black Acura MDX, however, is directly in the path of pedestrians and anyone that might be using a mobility device to get around. Who would be so insensitive as to park in the pedestrian path?

Getting in closer we can see that it really would be a challenge for some to get around this vehicle.

From another angle we can see the challenge someone might face.

From the rear we can see how close the planers are on the right, forcing pedestrians to alter their direct course. So again, who would do this?

The placard on the dash indicates a member of the Metropolitan St. Louis Taxi Commission — on official business! I had my thoughts but I couldn’t confirm it because I have no way to track vehicles.

Once at the Board of Alderman meeting my suspicion was nearly confirmed. Taxi commissioner, political insider, political consultant, and lobbyist Lou Hamilton was coming in and out of the BoA chambers. Still, this was not proof that this vehicle was his.
However, I was downstairs on the phone in the rotunda of city hall when Hamilton was heading to the exit. I quickly ended my call and headed out the door. Hamilton stopped just outside, to light up a cig, and I continued to my scooter. I had my camera out and was ready. I think he spotted me but I wasn’t about to leave. I figured I could wait him out.

The video explains the rest pretty well:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld9MwhV4ZLU[/youtube]

Not blocking the sidewalk? The pictures and video seem to show otherwise!

Basically the aldermen were afraid to be seen getting into his SUV to head to lunch — can’t say that I blame them. Let’s see, it was back in 2006 that Ald. Florida, Gregali and Kirner were part of a motorcade that included Hamilton, this was first described by Dave Drebes on March 3, 2006 and later by the RFT on April 5, 2006:

The aldermanic trio weren’t the only local VIPs who received special treatment on February 24. Public relations executive and mayoral lobbyist Lou Hamilton and his wife, Mayor’s Ball chair Tricia Roland-Hamilton, departed city hall that evening in a dark SUV with a blue light flashing atop its dashboard.

Lou Hamilton could not be reached for comment.

I didn’t see any emergency lights on Hamilton’s Acura, maybe it is his wife’s vehicle?

Hamilton is chairman of the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission — the very commission that continues to have a taxi stand set up in front of our convention center. Despite repeated private requests & public blog posts to remove the taxi stand, it has not happened. It seems clear that chairman Hamilton doesn’t place much value on pedestrians but and is willing to use his ‘official business’ placard to justify parking directly in the path of pedestrians. This personal philosophy must be why the taxi commission, under his leadership, has refused to yank the taxi’s off the sidewalk.

For the purposes of disclosure, Hamilton’s former company, Vigilant Communications, was hired by Ald Dorothy Kirner when I challenged her for the 25th Ward seat in the Spring of 2005.

Two St. Louis Blogs Make ‘Top 100 Architecture Blogs’ List

Congratulations to Toby Weiss and Andrew Raimist for making a list of the top 100 architecture blogs.  International Luxury Home website ‘International Listings’ created the diverse list.

48. B.E.L.T.: This blog is about “Built Environment in Layman’s Terms.” But, the photography is by Toby Weiss, an architectural photographer. Once again, this blog was difficult to classify so it ended up as a niche blog since the writing is as interesting as the photographs.

76. Architectural Ruminations: Andrew Raimist, from Raimist Architecture, Inc., offers his perspectives on St. Louis, Missouri, modern architecture including works of modern architect Harris Armstrong, and Raimist’s photographs. 

Congrats to these two for the widespread recognition of their work.  Click here to view the full list.