St. Louis Needs a Car Sharing Program

I’ve been enjoying my recent lack of car ownership but I am far from car-free, for example I catch rides with friends at times. This is a good thing, it forces some car pooling where we all might take single occupancy vehicles otherwise. I’ve had a meeting on the east side with a combination of my scooter, light rail, bus and walking — quite enjoyable. But I tell you, I’ve gotten soaked before and right now it is scorching hot outside. Just try to find a public drinking fountain these days.

There have been times where I wanted to go beyond where my scooter and transit would take me — not necessarily long distance but just in busy areas where transit is not convenient. For these times it would be nice to have access to a car maybe just for an hour or two. This is where car sharing (wiki) comes in the picture.

From local co-ops to national companies like Flexcar and Zipcar, car sharing is becoming increasingly popular across North America. It allows people to not own a car but have access to one those times they need it. Locally people have been working on car sharing for some time, trying to get funding to support the cars when not in use. The community benefits are great — people spend less money on car ownership so they have it for other things such as housing, food, or even entertainment. With more people owning fewer cars, less space is dedicated to the storage of cars — mostly sitting idle all day.

At right, a Toyota Corolla from Flexcar near transit in downtown San Diego. 

Book Review; ‘Unyielding Spirit, the history of the Polish people in St. Louis’ by NiNi Harris

My longtime personal friend NiNi Harris has written another book looking at a small segment of St. Louis. Her six prior books covered a number of topics including a history of Carondelet and Bohemian Hill. This time her focus is on the history of the Polish in St. Louis.

NiNi (pronounced nee-nee) gave me a media copy of the book for review and I immediately got engrossed in the stories told. While the book includes a good dose of discussion about physical place (church cornerstones, streets, etc…) this is really a book about people.

The book is also a good lesson in history covering 19th Century trouble in Poland, WWI and WWI. This is all tied to immigration of people fleeing their homeland as well as Polish immigrants in St. Louis sending money and men to help in Poland.

Throughout the book we learn about how individuals and families played roles in the establishment of churches in the fast developing neighborhoods of St. Louis. Census figures are used minimally to communicate the point that there were brief periods of time where St. Louis’ population was doubling.

We learn about the founding of numerous Polish Catholic churches in the city. All are now closed except St. Stanislaus which is featured on the cover. The land for St. Stans at 20th & Cass on the then edge of the developing city cost $4,864 in 1880 — quite a sum of money. At the time the parishioners met in the basement of a local Irish church until their first structure was dedicated in 1882. Included in the subtle history lesson was an issue in cities to the east between Polish parishes and their Archdiocese over church management, which likely led to an unusual arrangement:

“With the advice and consent of the Archbishop of St. Louis on May 2, 1891, the parish was made a corporation in the State of Missouri.”

Other churches were established on the near north side including St. Casimir. We also learn about a small group from St. Casimir that formed Sts. Cyril and Methodius Polish National Catholic Church — separating themselves from the Roman Catholic church. Archbishop John Glennon, it was discovered, “on March 14, 1908, excommunicated nine Polish St. Louisans and cautioned parishioners of the St. Casimir.” The decree indicated that members of St. Casimir that attend “services at a schismatic or protestant Church are by that act excommunicated.”

The book looks at the three main areas where the Polish resided and worked in St. Louis — the near north side, the near South side (between what is now known as Soulard and the river) and an area further South now called Mt. Pleasant. Interestingly, I lived for a number of years in the Polish area to the North (including the now Old North St. Louis area) and currently live in the Mt. Pleasant area, just a couple of blocks from the closed St. Hedwig church. Oh sorry, make that “consolidated” church. Still, you learn about the people working hard to buy a home or 4-flat and still how much money they raised to fund and build these churches.

My first flat in Old North was downstairs from an old Polish woman who’d live basically her entire life in that 4-family. Like so many immigrants, her parents had bought the building when she was a young girl. Upon getting married she raised her family in that building. Times, however, changed and her children didn’t want to raise their families in small shotgun flats so while she remained she rented other units out to people like me. My rent in 1991 was only $75/month.

Neighbors included the Bratkowski family, mentioned throughout the book. By reading the book I learned about my friend John Bratkowski’s grandfather’s business being taken for construction of I-70 and much about the early childhood of his mother.
You also learn about businesses they opened as well as the overlap these ethnic areas had with German and Irish areas. Reading about Polish persons enslaved in WWII labor camps is tough. The reader is excited to learn about young men and women finally leaving the slave camps and immigrating to America and finding their way to Polish neighborhoods in St. Louis.

Of course it would be hard to go through a history of people and not talk about the Great Depression. You get a good sense of the importance of holding onto a job, no matter how low the pay or backbreaking the work, because you likely had to help support your entire family. Managing to pay the mortgage and keeping food on the table was the important focus for families through the city during lean years. Even during the prosperous 20s, many immigrant families were just getting started and were not awash in cash. Thus, it should be no surprise that given the poverty, the lack of materials during the war and the shortage of labor with men off fighting in Europe that maintenance of homes in older areas (now approaching 60 years old) was not a high priority.

It was a shock to the new immigrants that had seen their European homeland a battleground to begin to put their lives in order in the US only to have their neighborhoods bombed out not by war planes but by government action — the poorly named “Urban Renewal.” The “slums” around St. Stanislaus where Polish families lived and worked were forcibly taken and wiped off the planet. By this point in the book I had become attached to some of the families, learning about their lives and how they relate to their church and work. But, alas, not enough of the homes had indoor plumbing so the government solution was to raze everything in site — including streets, sidewalks and alleys. You see, the logic was these people were living in slum conditions due to the lack of an indoor toilet so therefore we (liberal society) must help them out by removing everything they had built and worked for. Twisted logic!

On a side note, this past week I visited my Dad, now 78, in Oklahoma and I began to inquire about the depression and the dust bowl in rural Western Oklahoma. He recalled thinking things were bad for his family, living in a small 3-room farm house lacking running water and electricity, until at about the age of 8 (roughly 1937) he went to Oklahoma City with his father to sell a few heads of cattle they had raised. It was then that he saw the shanty towns along the river near the stockyards and thinking that while they were not doing well many more people were far worse off than they were. My Dad remembers his family getting a new block outhouse from the WPA back in the late 30s to replace the old wooden one. When he married my mom in August 1949 his family still did not have indoor plumbing (that would come in the 1950s).

Back in St. Louis a bunch of white men decided that because a certain percentage of older buildings had not been updated with modern plumbing that entire neighborhoods must be decimated, a bad use of good statistics (see the 1947 Plan). In the Polish areas around St. Stans up to 70% of the units still relied on outdoor privies, certainly creating a health issue. Still, rather than create a program to assist residents to finally be able to improve their dwellings the planners of the day didn’t consider such a logical solution — they feared the lack deterioration would “continue to expand until the whole city is engulfed.” NiNi’s book takes you through this time as residents struggle with the loss of their homes, businesses and social networks. Sure, St. Stans was not razed — just most of the homes of its parishioners! Again, we have some really messed up logic when we think a church can survive when we destroy everything around it. Of course, the men at the time honestly thought they were going to be creating wonderful new neighborhoods. In short, they didn’t realize they had wonderful neighborhoods that simply needed long-overdue maintenance and toilets.

This book, highly recommended for anyone seeking a better understanding of life in St. Louis, can be purchased at the Carondelet Historical Society, the lovely Chatillion-DeMenil Mansion in Benton Park, during rectory hours at St. Stans and throughout the upcoming Polish Festival at the Polish Falcons on St. Louis Ave. The book, published by St. Stans is 143 pages and sells for $20. The ISBN is 978-0-9794985-0-3.

St. Louis’ Marine Villa Neighborhood Latest Battleground for Ald Schmid

Ald. Schmid, D-20th, survived a brutal spring election whereby many voiced opposition to his leadership in the ward. At the end of the day, more supporters showed up at the polls than opponents. Just when you thought things might calm down for another four year stint, residents of one neighborhood in Schmid’s ward are critical of Schmid’s role as president of the “Improvement Association.”

A recent post on Steve Wilke-Shapiro’s excellent 15thwardSTL site about a sunshine law bill sponsored by Ald Schmid quickly turned to the issue of the Marine Villa neighborhood. The first comment called into question the alderman for the area acting as president of the neighborhood as well as his reluctance to turn over a copy of bylaws to members once requested. This drew a response from a former resident, Joe Frank:

I was secretary of Marine Villa Improvement Association during part of 2001-02 when we were trying to reactivate the organization after a long period of dormancy. Just to get things going, we decided to use the original 1969 bylaws, so that we could have something semi-legal to go by. Those included silly statements like “no members of a Communist or activist group” may join.

The following from “MV Resident” seems to sum up an opposing perspective:

Marine Villa has seen a resurgence of new residents who want to be equally involved in their neighborhood as Craig. Unfortunately Craig does not give them this opportunity. Residents of Marine Villa have repeatedly tried to become more involved in the MVIA by becoming elected officials, chairing committees etc. As president, Craig would not allow this. When MVIA members asked for the bylaws, Craig refused to provide them. It wasn’t until a large group of Marine Villa residents sent him a letter voicing their displeasure that Craig disclosed the bylaws, agreed to elections, allowed the formation of committees and a formal agenda for the meeting. All of this lasted only one meeting. Last meeting Craig did not have an agenda, copies of the bylaws or committee sign up sheets.

And these hard to find bylaws dating to 1969? Yes, I have them for you to read in full (click here for 2-page bylaws in PDF format). So any of you socialist party or activist group members please note that if you are “recruiting members or causing a confrontation at a meeting” you will be “asked to leave quietly.” Interestingly, as a non-partisan organization I wonder if Ald. Schmid used his “title” as President of the organization during the recent campaign? If so, this would appear to violate Article III, section D.

The by-laws call for elections of officers every two years although some say elections haven’t happened in a while. The President is responsible for creating a nominating committee.

Marine Villa is #18 on the city’s list of 79 neighborhoods (see alphabetical list). The website linked to from that list is one of the old fashioned ones dating back to the late 90s (ancient in web terms). Right away you can see the next general meeting is April 23, 2007 while the next board meeting is “to be announced.” Scroll down just a tad and you’ll see about a fire hydrant painting event from 2002, bulk trash pickup news from 2006 and 2007 and then another 2004 event.

A history page talks about the origins of the name of the neighborhood:

The name and boundaries of this tiny enclave came into existence in 1968. It is theorized that the name was chosen as tribute to the large number of rivermen that once had their own community in this area. The old Marine Hospital, one of several hospitals authorized by an act of Congress in 1837 for the treatment of sick and disabled rivermen, was located at Marine and Winnebago Street, a site currently occupied by the National Record of Archives.

So the neighborhood is named for a hospital that no longer exists. Hmmm…

I really don’t care for these “improvement associations” either. These bylaws focus on “strict application of zoning” which is a bad idea really given how suburban focused our zoning really is. Come on, the guys that wrote our zoning wanted to replace Soulard with a suburban cul-de-sac subdivision!

Also keep in mind that when many of these were formed in the late 1960s we had over 600,000 in population (619,269 as of 1970 census) vs only 353,837 as of July 1, 2006 (see prior post on census figures). Times have changed over the decades as zoning, demographic shifts, attitudes and policies have caused our population to plummet nearly 60% since 1970. To some, this reduction in density is good. While having too many people stuffed into a housing unit (aka overcrowding) is bad, having more housing units is a good thing (minimum density to support retail, transit, etc…).

Gentrification is often thought of in terms of white folks pushing out minority groups or similarly those of middle to upper incomes pushing out lower economic segments. I believe in Marine Villa and in other parts of the city we are seeing a new, and much needed, form of gentrification — pushing out of the ‘I hate cities’ people that have been ruining our city for decades — the types that want all neighborhoods to have only single-family owner occupied housing units, to have fewer total units (aka reduce density), to enact policies which discourage small business districts over sprawling auto-focused strip & big box centers. People can tell you they live in the city, love the city and on and on but actions speak louder than words. For example, the fountain where Chippewa, Broadway and Jefferson meet was not designed to be a community gathering spot. In fact, it was designed to discourage gathering of any kind. This “improvement” is a hostile element in the city.

Another website exists for the improvement association at http://www.marinevilla.org. While attractive I think this site is just getting started. I’m not certain if Schmid is behind this or those who seek different leadership, or quite possibly someone in the middle. Regardless, I think good marketing is critical to attracting new residents, businesses and fresh capital.

Marine Villa is oddly defined with edges of interesting stuff along both Jefferson and Cherokee. Some interesting stuff is taking shape along old buildings on Broadway at Chippewa. Great potential exists in the building stock, the interesting topography, and the street pattern. One of my favorite views of the city is to look south-ish down Marine Ave from Chippewa (map link). From here you get a great view of the Mississippi and on a clear day, the JB Bridge. I was on a bike ride with a friend the first time I saw this view — it took my breath away as it was totally unexpected. For those of you that think St. Louis is flat, bike around this neighborhood for a while.

I will continue to watch the goings on in the neighborhood although I doubt I can attend any of their meetings. The main issue for me is they fall on the same night as the city’s Preservation Board so that usually trumps other things on my schedule.

More Infrastructure Failures Likely

Today, as we learn more about the tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota, we should understand this may well be a continued occurance throughout America. In March of this year a portion of a concrete railing of a minor St. Louis road collapsed onto interstate I-55 just blocks from my house (see post).   Had the massive piece of concrete landed on top of a car no doubt that someone would have been killed.

In the last 50+ years prior generations went on a road building spree.  Land was plentiful, gasoline was cheap and pollution from car exhausts wasn’t a concern.  Roads and bridges sprang up everywhere to feed the rush into the corn fields and forests around established cities.
The proper maintenance of that older infrastructure, combined with the costs for our current expansion projects to handle ever more SUVs, will send the richest country to the poor house.

Yesterday’s bridge collapse will likely reinforce the advocates seeking billions of dollars to replace or build new bridges, ramps, roads and such.  These groups, backed by those who seek to gain work from the projects, will push for more bridge replacements.  Clearly, the bridge that collapsed was in need of help.   Reports indicate it was known that three structural members were carrying more load than others, why weren’t these beefed up so as to prevent a collapse and the deaths of those trusting the safety of the bridge?

Reports vary but it seems like the Minnesota officials were not planning to replace the bridge for another 10 years or so.  To a degree, they were likely trying to figure out what to do with all the traffic during the construction.

Our society has become so dependent upon the car and the old infrastructure we’ve built that we don’t seem to know how to reverse the trend.  Each passing year we just pile on more new infrastructure and make our way down a list of items to be repaired or replaced.  The WPA never really stopped, we just renamed the job creation program the Department of Transportation.

The freedom of mobility is often cited as the benefit the car and our system of roads and bridges has afforded us in our society.  The irony, of course, is the increased mobility for those driving came at the expense of those who once relied on the rights of way for walking or bicycling.  Increased mobility for some had lead us to decreased mobility for others.  For example, far fewer kids walk to school than just 30 years ago.  Why?  That “freedom” of mobility has become mandatory.

I liken this to the unhealthy behavior that keeps a battered woman in an abusive relationship.   Our auto-dependent culture is not really good for us but we just can’t bring ourselves to leave it.  The number of victims of this freedom will continue to rise.

City of St. Louis Lacks Good Street Tree Requirement

One of the key ingredients, in my view, of making cities more walkable (ie: walker friendly) is the proper placement of street trees — trees placed between the sidewalk and curb. These add order to the street as well as create a sense of division between sidewalk and passing traffic. Sadly, the city doens’t have a street tree requirement for new projects.

Above is Hartford looking eastbound with the old Commerce Bank parking lot on the right. Planned housing for this parking area has hit a financing snafu but evntually we’ll see something built here. This post is about the great street trees that line both sides of Hartford.

Sadly, when Commerce Bank torn down the more urbna 2-story structure a few years ago and built a new branch they neglected to include urban street trees along the entire south side of Hartford.

Combined with mostly blank walls this treeless area gives off a much different feel than the surrounding area with its tree-lined streets and sidewalks. At most six trees could have been placed along the side length of this property for a total cost of maybe $3,000. The true value to the area would have been far greater.

In stark contrast to the side street, the Grand side of the Commerce does have urban street trees at nice intervals. I have to wonder if the city made Commerce include these? Was there a concious decision to not have trees on Hartford just around the corner?

The retail building just to the north of Commerce Bank, built in the early 1990s, includes street trees along Grand (above) and Hartford (below).

So often it is the little things that make a difference and when it comes to increasing pedestrian activity (and thus a reduced burden on car storage) little details such as street trees do make a difference.

The city does have some suburbanish landscaping requirements that basically require some token trees/shrubs between the sidewalk and parking lots to screen cars but when it comes to the public right of way — the public sidewalk — it is perfectly OK to allow it to be a wide expanse of blank concrete. Somebody in city government needs to wake up and work on improving our standards. They could start by reviewing the Great Streets initiative from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.