Gateway Mall Still Unloved, Conservancy Resigned, Advisory Board Kept In Dark

Just a few years ago I was optimistic about the future of the Gateway Mall, the linear park north of Market Street, stretching from Broadway to just past 20th Street. The Gateway Mall Master Plan had been adopted by the city. The Gateway Mall Advisory Board was established to ensure proposed projects met the master plan. A separate, non-profit, group, the Gateway Mall Conservancy, was formed to raise private money to implement the plan.

Peter Fischer, the man behind Citygarden via the Gateway Foundation, headed the Gateway Mall Conservancy and had a seat on the Gateway Mall Advisory Board.  Another member of the Conservancy was Emily Pulitzer. Between Fischer & Pulitzer I thought they’d be able to raise the money needed to continue work on more blocks of the park.

From a press release from Mayor Slay:

March 12, 2010 – Mayor Francis Slay convened the first meeting of the newly formed Gateway Mall Conservancy Board yesterday. The purpose of the Board is to facilitate the planning, design, funding and execution efforts for the entire Gateway Mall, which runs from the Old Courthouse west to past Union Station.

The Gateway Mall Master Plan, formally adopted by the City of St. Louis in July of last year, provides the City with a comprehensive vision for transforming downtown’s central park into an outstanding open space. Building on this long-range vision, the Plan creates an overall framework to guide future individual proposals within the Mall.

“This is an important step in building on the momentum created by the opening of Citygarden last summer,” Slay said. “This Board is made up of individuals who can provide executive, civic, and fundraising energy and leadership. They each have already contributed to our community in so many ways.”

Named to the Gateway Mall Conservancy Board were Peter Fischer, Gateway Foundation; Robert Archibald, Missouri Historical Society; Steve Cousins, Armstrong Teasdale LLP; John Ferring, Plaze, Inc.; David Mesker, retired, A.G. Edwards; Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts; Kitty Ratcliffe, St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission; Henry S. Webber, Washington University; Josephine Weil, Community Volunteer; and Patricia Roland-Hamilton as Executive Director.

Also announced today was the formation of the Gateway Mall Advisory Board, a group of stakeholders responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Gateway Mall Master Plan and providing ongoing community input about the Gateway Mall. Its composition and responsibilities are outlined by City ordinance.

Its role is to oversee and review compliance with the Plan and provide review of proposed modifications to the Plan. Members of the Board constitute a part of the public review process and have the authority to conduct a public review of any proposed expansion, modification, replacement, relocation, adaptive re-use, or removal of existing roads, paths, parking lots, recreation areas or natural areas.

“It’s critical to ensure we adhere to the vision set forth in the Master Plan,” said Gary Bess, the City’s Director of Parks, Recreation & Forestry. “We will look to this group to assist us in doing so.”  (Press Release PDF)

I was among those appointed to the Gateway Mall Advisory Board, rather than just be a critic on the outside I had an appointed seat at the table.

But there were early signs it wouldn’t last. Peter Fischer wouldn’t authorize the funds to renew the domain GatewayMall.org, so the initial website disappeared. Executive Director Tricia Roland-Hamilton’s email address, peroland@gatewaymall.org, ceased working when the domain shut down. She then had to use her personal email account. So much for having a place to let citizens understand what this appointed body was doing.

We rejected one proposal in 2012 and in 2011 gave preliminary approval to changes to Kiener Plaza:

Andy [Trivers] then introduced guests Donald Stastny and Nate Trevethan. Nate, representing Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, presented the vision for Kiener Plaza, as prepared as part of the entire Arch grounds project. Donald and Nate also used models to present the preliminary vision to the Board.

The initial vision calls for removal of the amphitheater, the addition of a Beer Garden and Café, a Pavilion, Playground and Carousel. The schematic design also calls for the continuance of the “Hallway” along the northern edge of Market Street, special lighting, and an event lawn.

This presentation is the initial step in the Project Approval Process for privately funded projects within the Gateway Mall. On a motion by Byron Marshall and seconded by Jack Reis, the Board approved the preliminary prospectus. (Gateway Mall Advisory Board minutes from January 26, 2011)

Because Kiener Plaza was part of the master plan we had to look at proposals for change.  At the time we expected to see more detailed drawings in the future, but we never did. Apparently, as I just recently learned, the ordinance authorizing the tax vote also removed Kiener Plaza from the master plan.

Here’s an email message I received from Parks director Gary Bess after I began asking questions:

As most media outlets have reported, Kiener has been included in the City Arch River Project   This point has also been included in public meetings regarding the project   When the ordinance was passed authorizing the CAR project/tax, Kiener was dropped from the Gateway Mall Plan and included in CAR  We were informed in February that in light of the above change the Conservancy was transferring all previous design work to CityArchRiver further indicating that the Conservancy  believed it has done all it could do to move the Kiener project forward and felt others could help in moving the the implementation of the master plan West of Tucker forward and resigned

Assumed you knew about Kiener’s inclusion in the CAR project based upon media and public meeting  The Conservancy is a private not for profit and chose not to publicly announce their resignations  i respect this decision    The City will look for new options on private funding for the Mall project West of Tucker.  The good news of course is projects East of Tucker are complete and/or funded.

I’m disappointed and angry — mostly at myself for thinking somehow this would be different than previous plans. I’m angry at Peter Fisher for turning down a skate park west of Tucker because it wasn’t dignified enough for his sensibilities. We could’ve had a great skate park in operation by now, but we don’t!!  I kept my mouth shut because I had a seat at the table, I was trying hard to be a good player, working within the system.

I informed the other members of the Gateway Mall Advisory Board (expired & current) of this news via email Sunday evening.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Thoughts on Culinaria (Downtown Schnucks grocery)

Culinaria, the downtown Schnucks grocery store, opened 4 years ago today. Schnucks management originally had very low expectations, but the location has consistently done a very good volume of business, according to managers anyway.

During the last 4 years the store has changed very little, except for trying to squeeze more product by adding displays here and there. They just completed the first major revamp of the store, closing an aisle to add more shelving.

Over the last four years the store has been inproving the foods offered since opening day. I recall early on the only flour they had was bleached white flour, I had to visit Straub’s to get decent flour for something I wanted to bake. After I complained they added unbleached & wheat flour from Gold Medal, but now they also have several varieties of flour from King Arthur. Just took too long for a store with the tag line “bring out the foodie in you” to get ingredients this foodie uses.

I don’t know about you but I don’t look for produce & gourmet cheese at Best Buy, nor do I buy televisions at the grocery store. Culinaria has also sold charcoal, mini grills, & lighter fluid — likely aimed at downtown residents. The thing is, we can’t use charcoal grills! We can use propane grills, but no charcoal.

Eventually I think they’ll figure out how to sell groceries in a compact downtown setting, maybe in another 4 years. Anyway, the poll this week wants to know how you feel about the store. The poll is in the right sidebar, mobile users need to select the desktop layout.

— Steve Patterson

New Downtown Elementary School Open House Saturday August 10th 10AM-Noon

For a couple of years now a small group of parents have been working to open a new charter school: Lafayette Preparatory Academy:

We start with the conviction that every child, at-risk or otherwise, has the right to a high-quality education. We follow it with the vision that if we provide the families living in the Urban Core and surrounding neighborhoods of St. Louis that education, it will not only benefit them individually, but contribute to what is increasingly becoming the revitalization of downtown St. Louis.

Subscribe to the upcoming Newsletters or join the conversation and stay up-to-date on Facebook and Twitter. 

I first met with organizers in the Fall of 2011, offering some help with social media. At that time they described a their desire to stay in St. Louis, but also make sure their young kids get a quality education.

This first year (2013-2014) the school offers kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. Their original plan was to add a grade level each year through high school graduation. The school is opening in leased space in the office wing attached to Christ Church Cathedral. The community is invited to an open house tomorrow morning:

Come one, come all … LPA is ready to open and wants to share with you all of the hard work put in by the many volunteers and families committed to bringing an excellent elementary school to support the growth in Downtown St. Louis. We invite you to come see what all the hype is about. At the Open House, you will see the changes made in our facility and learn more about our college prep program. (source) 

The open house is 10am-noon Saturday August 10th at 1210 Locust (entrance off alley on east side).

— Steve Patterson

City Planning Student Critique of Proposed St. Louis Streetcar

Regular readers know I’m a supporter of public transit, and an advocate for modern streetcars, in particular. When I received an email from a planning student asking about publishing her paper on her evaluation, I was curious. Here’s how Jill Mead described herself to me in that email:

I’m a Masters in Public Health and Masters of City Planning student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. I also work for the Pedestrian & Bike Info Center at UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center. If that weren’t enough, I’m very much a St. Louisan. I grew up in Forest Park Southeast (in the 80s!) and am a K-12 graduate of the SLPS. I went to UMSL for one year and Wash U for the rest of my college degree. 

Though I don’t agree with her analysis and conclusions in the paper, I thought it would spur some good discussion. Here is a brief summary of her paper:

Spurred by the availability of federal funds and inspired by the success of streetcar projects in other cities, the non-profit Partnership for Downtown St. Louis released a feasibility study for a downtown St. Louis streetcar project in March 2013. The feasibility study recommended the project based on its likelihood of achieving its two main objectives: (1) enhancing the region’s transit system and (2) catalyzing economic growth throughout the streetcar corridor. While the St. Louis Streetcar Feasibility Study is optimistic about the achievement of these two objectives, reviewing the study calls some of their claims into question. Ridership estimates seem inflated given the slow travel speeds of the streetcar and methodology used. The choice of alignment fails to prioritize the city’s densest areas and is out of sync with plans being made at the regional level. In terms of the streetcar’s ability to catalyze economic development in St. Louis, the study inadequately addresses the wide variety of contextual factors, such as land use policy and the existence of strong public-private partnerships and market demand that were characteristic of other cities’ success in attracting development to streetcar corridors. The paper concludes that strategies to improve economic growth and public transportation are necessary in St. Louis, but it is not clear that the proposed St. Louis Streetcar project is the best use of public resources to achieve these goals.

Here’s a link to Mead’s full paper: Evaluation of the St. Louis Streetcar Proposal (19 page PDF).

Mead must have missed the reason for looking at a modern streetcar now, mentioned on page 2 of the Final St. Louis Streetcar Feasibility Study:

When St. Louis University announced plans to move their law school from midtown St. Louis to downtown, the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis once again began the discussion of a streetcar for downtown. This move presented an opportunity to link the two campuses with a streetcar and fulfill the goals of the Downtown Next Plan.

The idea of SLU running shuttle buses every day between midtown and downtown meant only a small segment of the population would be served, pollution would increase, roads would be see additional traffic from the continuous loop of shuttles. Us regular transit riders along Olive/Lindell would still have 30-40 minute headways on the existing #10 MetroBus.  Why not improve the public transit system for all?

Connecting to south St. Louis wouldn’t help SLU with transporting students, faculty, and staff between the main campus in midtown and the new law school building downtown. By including a north-south segment on 14th the proposal recognizes future expansion into south & north city.

The existing MetroBus isn’t slow, it doesn’t take me long to get to the Central West End from my downtown loft, but the streetcar will come every 10-15 minutes instead of every 30-40 minutes — that’s far more important than whether it takes 8 minutes versus say 12-15 minutes to reach my stop! The streetcar will be faster than the bus, the center dedicated right-of-way, off-board fare payment, etc. will  make the trip no longer than bus, very likely shorter. Buses are sometimes late; they get stuck in traffic, wheelchair lifts malfunction, rerouted around events, etc. When the bus takes 10 minutes to get to my stop but arrives 10 minutes late that puts me way behind. If I take the 30 minute earlier bus I arrive way too early and it uses more of my day.

Also from page 2 of the final study:

The purpose of the study was to: 

• support the goals established in The Downtown Next 2020 Vision to improve Downtown’s accessibility; 
• create a catalyst for continued economic development; 
• provide additional opportunities for alternative transportation; 
• support the region’s and City’s sustainability initiatives;
• and  promote an environment that will retain and attract new jobs and residents to the City.

I’ve invited Mead to come downtown and ride the #10 MetroBus with me, to midtown and back, to better understand the existing conditions, then I think she’ll see how the streetcar will be a potentially massive improvement. She’s in town visiting family, we’re talking about doing this later in the week.

Mead is correct when she said, “the study inadequately addresses the wide variety of contextual factors, such as land use policy.” The word  “zoning” appears just four times in the final study report. “Proper zoning” is mentioned, but not defined. My fear is we won’t set up the necessary land-use controls to guide new development over the 10-20 years following the completion of the streetcar. If the prevailing Laissez faire attitude in St. Louis is allowed to squash good form-based zoning then the streetcar investment will be at least partially wasted.

But if we can get the formula right, it will be a boon and expansions can follow every few years, as we’ve seen in other cities. But I’ve been here long enough to know the old guard isn’t going to change so easily. Will this time be different?

Please share your thoughts on Mead’s paper, or my response, below.

— Steve Patterson

Wildlife In Citygarden

Not sure why I’m surprised to see wildlife in the city, but I always am. Citygarden has the large white rabbit sculptures but the other night we saw a little bunny.

What wildlife have you seen in your city yard or city park that surprised you?

— Steve Patterson