Wi-Fi Can Increase Productivity

I’m sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for my flight.  The airplane we are to use to St. Louis is in flight from LA but won’t arrive until after our scheduled departure time.  But, the free wi-fi (wireless internet) in the airport has allowed me to get caught up on some work -related emails and now make this post.

Wireless internet is one of the most business-friendly things an airport or downtown can do.  St. Louis still needs to look at blanket wi-fi in the downtown area as well as some way to get the entire city on the internet — with some sort of provision for low income
citizens.  OK, the flight just arrive.  Have a good weekend.

Mixed-Use Project in Bay Area A Good Model for St. Louis

Yesterday I checked out a recent mixed-use project in the Bay Area, an excellent combination of large grocery store, smaller chain stores and restaurants along with some adjacent apartments. It is still far more suburban than I’d chose for myself but the form and connections are very suitable for nearly anywhere in the St. Louis region.

Now, before you go to the comments to tell me that St. Louis is not San Francisco you are correct, that is why I said this is in the Bay area. The “Shops at Waterford” is located in the town of Dublin — a good 35 miles from San Francisco near the intersection of two major interstates, the 580 & 680. This is part of an area in the East Bay known as the Tri-Valley which also includes Pleasanton, Livermore and San Ramon.

So, what is so great about the Shops at Waterford? Well, it is a new kind of suburban model of urbanity that places a high priority on pedestrian connections in a highly auto-centric area. It is neither old urbanism nor the new urbanism.

Here is the arial of the area (image1), with Waterford in the center of the image, at the NW corner of Dublin Blvd & Tassajara Rd (see map):

Both major streets are 4-6 lanes with zero on-street parking. As you can see, this is the first development on the intersection. Out parcel buildings are not some tiny Starbucks drive-thru but larger structures placed up to the streets.

The large roof you see is a large Safeway grocery store. To the top of the site are apartments built around a central parking garage, to the left are townhouses and then single family houses. From above it looks pretty conventional, but on the ground it is quite different than your typical shopping area in St. Louis.

2) Above: The view looking west along Dublin Blvd. This is pretty common for much of this area, street trees help separate pedestrians from the passing traffic. This wide boulevard includes a bike lane and in this area a right turn lane into the residential area.

3) Above: The opposite view looking East along Dublin Blvd. over toward the intersection with Tassajara. At left is the building which “holds” the corner. Again, street trees help improve the pedestrian experience as well as give the area a more pleasing appearance. The drives out to the street are only two lanes — one in and one out. This keeps the pedestrian crossings short.

4) Above: The pedestrian connection from Dublin Blvd. is quite well marked. This clear pedestrian path is welcoming.

5) Looking back to Dublin Blvd. we can see the first of many bike racks. Note the generous width of the sidewalks within the private development.

6) From this same spot we can look over toward the parking lot and see the nice walkway through to the building at the corner of the site. Of course, this also creates a pleasant pathway for those arriving by car.

7) Above is the same walkway seen from the parking lot.

8) From the crosswalk we can look North into the development. At left you can see the two entrance/exits for the Safeway with the apartments in the background at the far edge.

9) Standing in front of one Safeway entrance looking North we can see the second entrance (the green tower) and another bike rack. I like that the bike rack is not some cheap design meant to hold 20 bikes and squished up against a wall in a dark corner. Also note the stone wall that screens the extra shopping carts from view.

10) Continuing past the Safeway we can begin to see how the apartments relate to the shopping area.

11) Above is the second of the walkways out into the parking and smaller out buildings. More bike racks and benches.

12) Looking back where we’ve been, the generous sidewalks and adjacent parking make a decent place for outdoor seating.

13) The corner where the one-story shops meet the apartments is great for a restaurant with outdoor seating. I’m not sure you can get real Texas BBQ in Northern California but that is a subject for another blog.

14) This view back to the South gives us a nice overview with the Safeway store dominating the center of the buildings.

15) Looking to the West we can see the buildings do not actually meet. The strip with the Safeway on the left stops short enough to leave a generous walkway to the adjacent residential neighborhood. Apartments with ground-level retail are on the right.

16) Above is another view of the same corner. To the right is an entrance to a parking garage for apartments residents and to serve as additional parking for the shopping area. The apartments surround the garage so you don’t see it from the shopping area.

The bright colors of synthetic stucco are par for the course in California, something I don’t care for too much. But, my point is not to look at those issues but look at the form of the buildings.

17) Turning to the East (Tassajara Rd.) we can see more of the retail spaces topped by apartments.

18) As we walk along by the retail/condos we look back to the South and on the right we can see where we walked with the Safeway in the center. On the left is an out building that we’ll get to later. Once again, note the very clear & inviting pedestrian walkways within the project.

19) Looking back to the West we see the how the apartments relate to the internal sidewalk and parking area. We are now at the East end of the project at Tassajara Rd.

20) At Tassajara Rd. we look to the North and we can see how the condos continue for a good distance, the shopping center walkway is to the left. Street trees between the sidewalk and street improve the experience for those walking from their apartment to the store. But let’s head back South along Tassajara Rd. toward Dublin Blvd.

21) The pedestrian crossing here could have been done a bit better, pushing it back away from the curb a bit. This would have reduced the width a pedestrian has to cross.

22) Crossing the entrance we see a sign indicating that recycled (gray) water is used for the landscaping irrigation. This is a very effective way of using non-sewer water, such as rain water. This lessons the load on the sewer system.

23) OK, we’ve crossed the entrance/exit heading South along Tassajara Rd. This is an out building yet it doesn’t give a blank wall to the sidewalk, Stacey’s restaurant has their patio along the sidewalk. A bit of trivia, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams is the owner of Stacey’s.

24) From the same spot we can look back into the project, we see more bike racks and additional outdoor seating for Stacey’s restaurant. Through the system of walkways we could get to Safetway from here without having to cross through a parking lot.

25) And for context we look back at the apartments.

26) Further down the sidewalk we turn back again to see Stacey’s patio and the condos across the entrance.

27) Back on track heading South along Tassajara Rd. toward Dublin Blvd. we see on the right the out building that contained the Stacey’s restaurant. At the opposite end we see a Blockbuster Video. This is actually the back of the store but it has windows to break up anotherwise empty facade. The sidewalk, while not the urban ideal that I prefer, is about as pleasant as it can be along a 6-lane arterial roadway.

28) In the background is the corner out building which, like the one we just saw, has windows and other features to make it interesting from the main streets but entrances face the parking lot. This is a great way to design for both pedestrians and autos.

29) I didn’t head down to the corner, instead let’s walk back into the development next to the Blockbusters. We will see how these out buildings relate to each other and to the rest of the development.

30) Above we are looking North back toward the apartments. The entrance to the Blockbuster is on the right, the Safeway is to the left across the parking.

31) As we walk back North toward the apartments we can see this area actually has two separate out buildings, the Stacey’s/Blockbuster on the right and another on the left.

32) At the opposite end of this walkway we look back to the South. The Stacey’s is on
our left.

33) Looking back to the East (Tassajara Rd.) we see the opposite view of #24 above.

34) Above is the view looking East toward the main strip center.

35) Continuing on the same path heading back to the main center we see the opposite side of the walkway shown in #11 above.

36) Turning to the North we look back at the apartments and the walkway shown in image #18. Throughout the entire project generous walkways guide the pedestrian from store to restaurant and either back to their car or their residence.

I rejoined my father and brother who had finished their shopping while I was taking pictures. Once back in the car, we headed around back to check out the loading dock area for the Safeway.

37) Here we can see the back of the store, not great but I’ve seen considerably worse.

37) Safeway’s loading dock, above left, is well screened. The sidewalk is likely not used much due to better access that I will show you shortly. This “attached” sidewalk is minimum width with little for the pedestrian. For drivers the view is not bad for the back of a major grocery store.

38) Townhouses across Glynn’s Rose Drive back up to the road, just as the Safeway store does.

39) Above, at the intersection of Glynn’s Rose Drive and Roscommon Way we can see the wide walkway into the corner of the shopping center shown in image #15. The apartments at the corner here have a view down the street but also the loading dock area at right.

40) Turning to the East we can look down Roscommon Way toward the new single-family houses. Again, I’m not a fan of attached sidewalks but it does get the job done. Clearly, the families living in these houses have a pretty easy walk to the store.

From a 2003 Business Journal article:

Shea Properties, the Orange County-based investment real estate division of J.F. Shea Co., which designs, develops and manages commercial and residential developments in California and Colorado, was eager to spearhead the development because it tries to specialize in unique projects.

“This project is a first for our company and groundbreaking as well for suburbia – having a vertical, mixed-use development in a place like Dublin,” said Bob Burke, Shea’s general manager of Northern California operations.

“We have 47 (residential) units per acre, which is twice the average in Dublin,” Burke said. “The apartment complex consists of four-story buildings surrounding a parking structure, which is a novel approach to achieve higher density in the suburbs. Doing something like this in suburbia is unique.”

The master planning and some architecture was done by SPGA. A BART station (Dublin/Pleasanton) is a couple of miles away from this project, a bit too far to walk but not bad for a short bike ride.
As I indicated at the opening, this development is not even close to being urban enough to entice me to live there, but that is OK. As suburban development goes, it does not get much better than this project. People from the surrounding municipalities can arrive easily by car while those that live in the immediate area have only a short walk. All can easily walk throughout the project.

In the City of St. Louis I think we need to be more urban than this project, with true urban buildings facing streets with on-street parking. However, in more auto-centric areas such as near our highways or highly abandonded areas this might be a good model. Couldn’t Loughborough Commons have had such a well-designed relationship? Shopping on North Grand could have had such a connection to the new Hope VI housing.

Nearly every other place in the St. Louis region, especially those developed in the last 50 years, could benefit from such a well-designed project. The question is, do we have the will to demand quality developments such as this that are accessible by foot, bike or car?

For additional photos of this project click here.

Predictions for 2006, How Did I Do

A year ago I made a few predictions, some were on target, some where off and a couple were way off.

Gas Prices:

A gallon of regular gas will exceed $3.00, not due to a natural disaster or terrorism. Republicans and Democrats will argue over the best way to maintain our wasteful habits. Locally our sprawl and mass transit shortcomings will damage the local economy but the same will be true for most of the U.S.

Boy, I really blew this one! I even went so far to revise this in June to $3.49/gallon. All the signs were there but I did not factor in the ability of those in Washington to open up the market in time for the election. It will happen, perhaps in 2007? World demand is increasing and supply is leveling-off. .

Major Projects:

The public will balk at the final design & costs for the riverfront plan, stalling the project. Areas we may not expect like the Gateway Mall, St. Louis Centre, 22nd Street Interchange Alterations and the former Pruitt-Igoe site will begin having serious attention. Easy guess but I do think the Ballpark Village and Bottle District will move forward in some form. I predict I’ll have a review of the proposed Bottle District in a January issue of the West End Word…

Well, the public didn’t really balk at the riverfront plan but there were not huge calls to focus attention & money there. St. Louis Centre has received considerable attention, along with the financial backing of the city. The Gateway Mall has received attention from various groups in the community, a national competition is in the works. The 22nd Interchange, Pruitt-Igoe and Bottle District haven’t really progressed while the Ballpark Village is moving along as expected.

Politics:

The measure to make it harder to recall aldermen will fail by a wide margin, two more aldermen will be recalled. The remaining Aldermen will continue with the status quo known as “aldermanic courtesy” rather than recognize the city would be better served by legislators that view the city as a whole rather than 28 odd-shaped fiefdoms. Candidates file to challenge more than half the incumbent aldermen in the even numbered wards as the filing period opens in late 2006.

Ald. Florida’s charter amendment to make it harder to recall aldermen received 51% of the vote, shy of the 60% required to pass. As we saw, a couple of recall attempts were started against Bosley, Florida and Roddy but none managed to succeed. At this point five of 14 aldermanic seats are contested, will we see a couple more this week?

MetroLink:

St. Louis County residents will love the new MetroLink extension and they’ll forget about most of the delays and cost overruns (but not all). Efforts will begin to ask voters in the City and County to pony up for the next extension which will include North city and West County.

This has pretty much come true, look for a city & county vote for more funding for MetroLink in 2007.

St. Al’s:

One of the big issues I was writing about a year ago was the proposal to raze St. Aloysius Gonzaga. The developer failed to justify to the Preservation Board why the church could not be renovated but machine politics prevailed and Ald. Vollmer got his way with a redevelopment plan with the other aldermen conveniently ignoring good sense and approving the measure. In March 2006 I made the following prediction:

In place of this unique setting we’ll have some very ordinary houses — maybe. I’m not holding by breath. Based on what I’ve seen to date this developer won’t get very far beyond razing the historic structures. My prediction is he’ll get no more than 5 houses completed and sold this calendar year with another 5 in 2007. More than half the sites will remain vacant eyesores.

Well, it is too early to see if all of this will be the case but at this point only one house is occupied. A couple more displays are done with a number of others in various stages of construction.

2007:

I’m still working on my predictions for 2007.  I’ll combine it with my “wish list” for 2007.  Look for this later in the week.

Happy Holidays from Urban Review

I want to wish each of you a wonderful and joyous holiday season.

I’m spending the Christmas Holiday in the San Francisco Bay area with my father, oldest brother and sister-in-law. My brother and his wife live in what looks like any typical California suburban area (garage doors, beige stucco, clay tile roofs) but they are less than a mile from the old downtown of their town, a classic grid-street railroad town founded in the mid-19th century. Despite being part of a sprawling region they are able to walk to a charming downtown.

FAQ About Blogging

I get quite a few questions from people about blogs, often how to set one up.  So I thought I’d put out some of the basics, Q&A style.

What is a blog?

A blog is simply a type of website, the name is short for web log. Typically a blog is, per wiki “a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.” A blog can be anything the author(s) makes of it from talking about their personal life to writing about international events.

How does a blog differ from a website?

A blog uses “Content Management Software” to organize how the content is presented on the site. The CMS handles all the tasks of setting up the look and where to put information, thus allowing the writer to very simply focus on writing. A traditional website requires great skill to build a good website or a program and some knowledge about how to put it together. But even once you do a traditional website in a program such as Frontpage you lack common features found on CMS such as the search function, archives, comments and RSS feeds.

What is the deal with this whole “RSS” thing?

RSS is better than sliced bread! It stands for Real Simple Syndication but you don’t need to remember that. As we all read more and more websites it has become increasingly time-consuming checking them all out. Rather than spend time going to website after website to see if something new has been added you simply need to “subscribe” to that site’s RSS feed. This can be done in a number of ways.

For those of you using Windows with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Browser I’ll save you the Macs are better lecture, you’ve probably heard it before. But, IE is a horrible browser and simply can’t handle modern life — you are much better off with Firefox (free download). From Firefox on Windows or Mac or Mac’s Safari browser you can easily subscribe by clicking on the RSS symbol in the address bar. If you use a web-based email program such as MyYahoo from AT&T the home page gives you an option to subscribe there as well.

So what do you get when you subscribe to a website with an RSS feed? In some cases you only get the headlines, in other cases you get a headline and excerpt. The beauty is you can quickly see which of your subscriptions have new content, saving you time by not visiting sites that are not updated.

I have roughly 300 or so websites bookmarked via RSS. Some of these sites only add a post every few weeks, while some have multiple posts each day. With the sites that rarely update it is no big deal having them one the as I know when they’ve added something new — that is the only time I visit.

Another way to think of this is like your investment portfolio, if you have one. You track all your stocks in one place to know what is happening with each one rather than have to visit each and every company’s investor webpage. With RSS you are determining the information you want to track.

So RSS is a blog thing?

Yes and no. Every CMS program that I know of for blogs includes RSS by default. But RSS is not limited to blogs. For example, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an RSS page listing all of the various RSS feeds you can get from them. These include as diverse RSS feeds as “Top Business Headlines” to “Yesterday’s Most Read Headlines” to “Garage Sales” in classifieds. The popular Craigslist has RSS feeds for each an every one of their section, quite handy if you want to focus on a few areas. Every major media outlet now has RSS for their content. Ride the bus a lot and what to know if Metro has any service alerts? Simply subscribe to their RSS feed for alerts and you’ll know right away in your web browser if the do. Basically, in today’s world any website that gets new information needs an RSS feed so the world knows about it.

My organization or group doesn’t want to “blog”, we need a real website right?

Wrong! No offense to the web designers out there but many businesses, non-profits and individuals (such as aldermen) can do much better with a CMS-based blog than with a traditional website. Even large corporations are using blogs to reach customers, GM has their FastLane blog which includes information posted from various members of their managment team, including VP Bob Lutz.

Most individuals and organizations that consider a website do so because they have some information to share with others. The type of information you have to share will determine what is best for you or your group. If all you have is very static information that never changes then a traditional website is likely a good choice for you. However, if you constantly have content to add to a site a blog is the way to go.

One example of how to effectively use a blog would be for a neighborhood organization/development corporation. With a blog for the organization you can use static pages for basics such as who the staff is, what the office address and phone number is, and maybe a list of board members and regular committees (each committee or even could have its own page too).

Now say they have 5-6 committees set up and each of those committees is having meetings and such. If the organization is like most it is volunteer based and by the time the committee chair has a chance to write something up for the newsletter it is past the deadline. With a blog each committee chairperson could be given the access to add new content to the organization’s blog. Rather than worry about writing an update with a given number of words for a newsletter they could simply type out a “post” just as they might if sending out an email. If they have documents to reference those can easily be uploaded and linked to. Because we don’t want to exclude those who don’t have internet access, the newsletter editor can now take information from the organization’s site to use in the print edition. This allows the organization to be up to the minute with information as well as control the message about a particular subject.

So I need to install the Content Management Software on my computer?

Nope! That is the beautify of this, it is all web based so no software is added to your computer. You’ll need a more recent browser (Safari, Firefox and possibly IE7) so that 10-year old computer running Windows 98 is probably not going to cut it. You’ll also need DSL or other high-speed internet because dial-up is going to be painfully slow.

A blog must be expensive?

Not at all. You can actually set up a blog completely free. Yes, free! Sources for free blogs include:

• WordPress (this is the free version I what I currently use)
  
• Blogger (from Google, very popular)
• Vox and LiveJournal from Six-Apart

With these free services you may end up with a longer URL such as stlrising.blogspot.com or jenniferflorida.wordpress.com, although your own domain names are possible with these, I think (although don’t ask me how).

Even pictures and videos don’t require any costs at all. You can use free sites like Flickr or YouTube to upload and include images/video in your site. Going back to our local organization example, you can upload pictures from an event to Flickr and then post them on your blog — the only cost is your labor. Suppose you already maintain an email list of members, with this you can send them a link to the post that includes the pictures rather than possibly clog their email account.

If you want to build more sophisticated sites you’ll want to step up to a hosted form of CMS. You can work through someone locally that can host the site for you as well as do the basic setup or you can buy your own hosting space and do it yourself. In other examples you might get your own hosting account but use a professional to help with the setup. If you are able to use an FTP site and other behind the scenes type stuff for a webpage you can probably handle this yourself.

Who Hosts UrbanReviewSTL?

I use Dreamhost for my websites and email hosting, although many such firms exist. At $120/yr (or $96/yr if you pay for two years at a time) you’ll likely have more bandwidth and storage space than you’ll ever need. They include a “one-click” install for a WordPress blog and very complete instructions in case you get lost. They also include one free domain name when you sign up.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I get a referral fee for everyone that signs up with them that references me. Of course, you can sign-up with them without doing so (or use someone else). My main concern is getting more organizations and elected officials online so that we can effectively communicate relevant information. If you are considering such a hosting account, I can actually save you $25. Use the promotional code 314urbanreview and they’ll take $25 off your initial registration, regardless of the plan you pick. I’ll still get a small fee while you can get your blog set up for less than $100.

If a 501(c)3 non-profit group out there wants to do this but truly can’t afford the $120 fee shoot me an email (steve at urbanreviewstl dot com) and I can work with you to get the out of pocket expense down to nearly nothing for the first year, helping you get started. I’ll want to verify you’ve got a staff person or volunteer who is capable of doing the set-up and adding content. If I really like your group I may volunteer to do the setup for you as long as I know it will get used on a regular basis. Again, the idea is to get as many organizations out there as possible posting as much information as possible.

Google Will Find my Traditional Website, Right?

Oh, sorry, probably not. Well, that is not entirely true. Your website will end up on page 4 of someone’s Google search while my post about your organization will end up on page 1. Those RSS feeds we discussed earlier along with some things called “pings” help Google, Yahoo and others know you exist and know what you are writing about.

Here is a good local example. If you Google for Save Cleveland High you’ll get saveclevelandhigh.org as the top response — the search engines have the website name & URL down. However, if you Google for Save Cleveland School you’ll find on page one a post by the Arch City Chronicle, one from this site and one from Toby Weiss’ B.E.L.T blog. I got to page 8 of the google search and still hadn’t found a direct link to the actual main site – not good. That means, depending upon the search someone performs, they might read someone else’s site before getting to your site with your message. If saveclevelandhigh.org had utilized blog software to build their site or at least the “news” section (you can mix traditional methods with CMS) they’d have RSS and pings on each news item. This alone would have likely guaranteed them page one ranking on Google regardless of the variations on search terms used. For the record, the Save Cleveland High website is an exceptionally clean and attractive design.

How is this Whole Communication Thing Important?

We have lots of great people, great organizations and great events happening in the St. Louis region. Too often these exist in a vacuum — nobody else knows what you’ve got going on. Or you are planning a big project and you want to communicate lots of details that are hard to convey in a public meeting without either A) getting it wrong or having it misunderstood or B) boring everyone to death. With your own site you’ll increase your chances a blogger or local news outlet will notice your event/project/organization and give you additional coverage. If you have images to share it is easily done. If you have files such as PDF or Word documents these can easily be added to a hosted blog so that everyone can reference the same documents, even if your office is closed. And finally in an organization there are simply not enough hours in the day to answer all the phone calls or return all the emails — with an effective website (aka blog) you can easily share information in a consistent manner and have it reach the widest audience possible. Many of those repetitive questions that keep you from getting more done are perect areas to address on a website.
The more others know about your organization, your programs, and your events the more likely they are to contribute their time and/or money. Or perhaps the more likely they are to finally decide to take the time to attend an event or send you an email with some feedback. As a community we can benefit from an increased level of communication.

Do you have any other Real World Examples where a Blog Might be Effective?

Oh boy, do I.

• Each of the Democratic ward committees in the city (all 28) could have their own blog. The central committee could buy one hosting account for $120/year (even less if they use the promo code above) and host all 28 sites. The central committee site could have basic information and a link to all 28 sites. They could take it a step further and have a syndicated site where they bring in the most recent 5-10 posts from the 28 wards.
• Every elected official in the entire St. Louis region should have a blog. Period. Not only are they an effective campaign tool but they are a great way to reaching many people in a fair and consistent manner.
• Some of the really small municipalities in the region that do not have websites currently due to limited budgets could put together an effective website using the power of content managment software. This would be a highly cost-effective way of providing basic information on elected officials, various boards, notices of up coming events (including official events such as council meetings) and so forth.
• Neighborhood, school, church and other civic organizations can all have an affordable and effective presense on the web.
• Special causes can be more effective with a blog. One recent local example was Praxair Watch which sprung up quickly after the explosion on the edge of Lafayette Square. The site hasn’t been updated since June but in the midst of the controversy it was updated often and a great means of spreading the word. Such a site also kept the official neighborhood organization out of the middle of things.
• Organizations such as the Landmarks Association,
• Even major groups like the RCGA (St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association) lack RSS feeds for their news items, reducing the ability of a blogger like me or, far more importantly, an out-of-state CEO, to easily track progress in St. Louis. Ditto for the Downtown St. Louis Partnership.

OK, any Examples of How this CMS is used in Places Besides Personal Blogs?

An example of a complex website built using Content Management Software (CMS) is the YMCA of Greater St. Louis. The main site has an RSS feed for overall YMCA stuff but suppose I want to track what is going on at say the Carondelet branch only? Yes, they have an RSS feed that goes out for each and every branch so that I can chose to obtain information as specific or as general as I want. This level of website development requires a professional and it does not come free. However, it does allow the average non-computer geek at each branch to “post” new information to their site simply by logging into the web-based system and fill out information in a few fields — the CMS software handles the rest. The sites stay current because the staff does not have to be website geniuses to update them! As a communication tool, the CMS-based website is considerably better than a more traditional website that requires expensive website design software and a Ph.D. in computer science to post a simple announcement.