The Future Outlook on Downtown St Louis

It is probably easy to think the good times are over downtown: Nearly a month ago I brought the city the news of the closure of prominent developer, John Steffen’s Pyramid Companies. The new modern high rise SkyHouse planned for 14th and Washington has been abandoned and Centene is no longer moving their HQ from Clayton to St Louis and Ballpark Village. Big deal.

Generations of all ages are seeking something besides typical suburbia — houses hidden behind garages, strip malls, big box centers, the indoor mall, the office/industrial park , etc… This doesn’t mean everyone wants to live in downtown St Louis because that is not the case. However the perception of downtown has changed considerably over the last decade or so. This is not to say the current mayor or the current crop of downtown civic boosters deserve all the credit. They deserve some but much of it is simply a shift in demographics and taste. Just as decades ago many people fled to the suburbs in large part because everyone else was too. Times have changed and in smaller and bigger towns all over the country inner city areas are seeing renewed interest while the edge suburbs are not the sure thing they once were. People want to be in real cities be that strolling down a downtown street or having your choice to walk over to a restaurant on Hampton or to a great urban park such as Francis Park.

Downtown St Louis will survive the latest setbacks if we allow it to. Over-hyping projects that are not yet sure things is certainly a good way to set up the public to be disappointed and perceive downtown as having failed again. The current financial market conditions will not allow the rate of growth we’ve seen in the last decade but we will move forward.

Many storefronts remain to be leased. Many. It will take some time for the market to absorb these spaces. Eventually something will open. The more we patronize our local commercial districts the better they will do. This includes locally owned and chain places — such as the new Sprint store at Tucker & Washington Ave.

So many factors are in the right spots for a good next 10-20 years.  The trick now is to not screw it up with bad decision making.  We should now be looking at form-based zoning to guide new construction downtown and the rest of the city.  Now is the perfect time to envision how we’d like to see our city develop over the next few decades.  We should take advantage of this financial break to plan for the future.

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.

Navigating the sidewalks in a wheelchair

Today, my first full day back from physical rehab, I attended a Society of Professional Journalists luncheon down the street.  So I ventured out in the power chair from my place at 16th & Locust over to Lucas Park Grille at 13th and Washington.

Not a huge distance but one that would have been pretty difficult in a manual chair.  Curb ramps were in place on all the corners except one.  The ones that did exist, however, were often broken or had a huge edge at the point of approach.  Again the power chair was able to handle the situation but not everyone has such a chair.  Also I have to say that using a manual chair vs a power one can be rewarding — like riding a bike vs driving a car — one requires physical exertion but with that you get a sense of accomplishment.  You seem more connected to your environment.

At a casual glance we look around and see curb ramps and thus assume the environment is accessible to the physically disabled.   The real question we need to ask is how functional is the environment?  Poorly installed or damaged curb ramps reduces functionality, at times to zero.  Cities all over the country pay a small fortune to upgrade their intersections with curb ramps but when they don’t work as intended it simply becomes another waste of taxpayer money.

On the other side, when curbs and such are done right, disabled members of the community can lead independent lives rather than wasting away in costly nursing homes.    In that context, investing in accessible
infrastructure is very cost effective.

A fellow patient from MRC also returned to his home near South County Mall yesterday.  Despite being close to both a good number of employment and shopping choices his options for getting there are very limited.  His neighborhood of single family detached dwellings has plenty of paving for driveways but not sidewalks.  Getting to a point where he could catch a bus is nearly impossible.  He’ll need an expensive van with a lift to be mobile not because of his inability to push his wheelchair but because of the poor pedestrian nature of where he lives.   So while I may have issues with a ramp here or there at least we have sidewalks!

We all make choices about where we live and I must say I am very pleased with mine.