The police face a couple of unrelated issues on Washington Ave. Drunk people leaving clubs and taking disputes into the street. But another is dealing with cruisers that drive up and down the street being…stupid.
ABOVE: A person standing in a sunroof on Washington Ave. June 10, 2012 12:13am
I’ve seen numerous people hanging out of windows, standing in an open sunroof and motorcyclists revving their engines. While the police are busy cracking down on the blocks west of 9th the cruisers are out east of 9th.
I’m not an expert in law enforcement but having tourists walking from their hotels to dinner witnessing such lawlessness just blocks away from the occupied zone can’t leave a positive impression.
Ninety-six years ago candidates for president were securing delegates to get the nomination for their party. The Democratic Party held their convention in St. Louis:
The 1916 Democratic National Convention was held at the St. Louis Coliseum in St. Louis, Missouri from June 14 – June 16, 1916. It resulted in the nomination of President Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey for President and Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana for Vice-President. (Wikipedia)
St. Louis Coliseum?
The St. Louis Coliseum was an arena in St. Louis, Missouri from 1908 to 1953 at the southwest corner of Washington Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue.
When the cornerstone was laid on August 22, 1908, it was claimed the building would be the largest public building in the United States. It replaced the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall as the city’s main indoor arena.
The building was leased for several years by Tex Rickard and was the site of boxing matches. It was also a venue for the Veiled Prophet Parade.
Kiel Auditorium which opened in 1934 effectively replaced the Coliseum, and it was condemned as unsafe by the city in 1953. (Wikipedia)
This new Coliseum was needed because the new St. Louis Library was going to be built on the site of the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall.
ABOVE: Postcard for the "New Coliseum", source: CardCow.com, click to viewABOVE: St. Louis Coliseum on Sanborn Maps, from UM Digital Library
A week ago tonight the St. Louis Metropolitan Police were all over four blocks of Washington Ave (10th-14th). This will be my fifth summer as a downtown resident and last weekend seemed very familiar based on the last few year.
It goes something like this:
Zero police presence during the busiest times (late friday & saturday nights)
Something bad happens, usually a late night shooting
Everyone gets upset
Elected officials and police develop a plan
Following weekend make a huge show of force
Next weekend police nowhere to be found
What will tonight and tomorrow night look like? My guess is nothing like last weekend.
ABOVE: The St. Louis Police "Incident Command Center" truck was parked on Tucker at Washington Ave.ABOVE: Flares were used at 14th Street to make sure drivers saw the barricades
As officers began placing the barricades to block eastbound Washington at 14th the officers were wearing dark uniforms and the lighting is poor, drivers couldn’t see them. One officer yelled at a couple of drivers like this was an occupied police state. Maybe the flares were necessary given the poor execution of going from open to closed road. The number of police was astonishing, blue uniforms and vehicles everywhere.
Personally I think closing the street to traffic killed the vibrancy of the street. Will this be sustained all summer or will it be impossible to find a single cop on these four blocks tonight?
The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis wants to connect to the city’s central corridor to the west. On Friday it issued a Request for Qualifications (link) to hire a consulting firm to study the feasibility to connect to midtown, the central west end and the planned Loop Trolley. From the RFQ:
The proposed streetcar will strengthen the region’s transit system by feeding into current and proposed MetroLink and MetroBus lines; solidifying existing and spurring additional economic investments. With the streetcar line’s frequent stops along the central east-west corridor, the line will complement and serve intersecting MetroLink and MetroBus routes. With the efforts for the Loop Trolley, the ability to connect the two lines would benefit both efforts and enable riders to go from Downtown to University City by streetcar. A preliminary analysis of connecting the two lines should be included. The feasibility study will build the foundation for additional environmental and engineering work, the tools necessary for the basic environmental work to position this project for additional funding opportunities in the future.
Post-Dispatch writer Tim Bryant made his route suggestion on the Building Blocks blog:
Begin with a single-track loop around the Old Post Office downtown. Close Eighth Street between Olive and Locust to traffic and convert that block to a streetcar terminal connected directly to an expanded 8th & Pine MetroLink station below.
ABOVE: Modern streetcar in Portland OR
From the Old Post Office, a double-track line could head west on Locust past the Central Library, through the growing Downtown West area and Midtown Alley to near SLU, where the line could jog over to Olive Street and continue west through Grand Center to the CWE.At Walton Avenue, the line could head south then west again at McPherson Avenue next to the apartment building where a young Tennessee Williams lived with his family. (The family’s apartment is believed by some to have provided Williams the inspiration to write “The Glass Menagerie.”)
After passing through a CWE business area, the streetcar line could turn south on Kingshighway then west on Waterman to Union, to Pershing and, finally, to DeBaliviere Avenue, where the streetcar could end with another connection to MetroLink and the planned Loop Trolley. (STLtoday.com w/map)
I’ll admit the idea of a streetcar line running on Locust directly in front of my building is mighty appealing, but that’s main problem with Bryant’s route — it goes where development’s already happened. Thus little would be gained from the significant upfront capital costs. To spur “additional economic investments” the route needs to go where that’s actually possible.
Currently two bus lines connect downtown to parts west: the #10 on Olive/Lindell and the #97 on Washington and Delmar west of Compton. Simply replacing one or the other with a streetcar line isn’t feasible. Well you could replace the #10 on Olive/Lindell but you’d not want to keep going west of Kingshighway with Forest Park on one side and mansions on the other.
I’ve suggested a route before, from November 2008:
An example, that I’ve articulated before, would be Olive heading West from downtown, jumping North to Delmar at Vandeventer or Sarah and then continuing West on Delmar to the loop. (post)
My thinking is unchanged, the opportunities to build new density along the route and within a few blocks in each direction are excellent.
East of Tucker a single loop would be made through the central business district, passing no further than one block from the 8th & Pine MetroLink station. West of Tucker a track on either side of a center median. Passengers would board from points along the median. This is important to keep costs down since St. Louis streetcars originally ran in the center so manhole covers and other access points are on the outer edges and the center is relatively free of obstructions.
Like Bryant’s route I want the line to be on Olive west of Grand. The Olive-Lindell split has been reworked (post) since I last suggested a streetcar follow this old route but the intersection could be redone again. Staying on Olive is important at this point because of potential development sites between Grand and Vandeventer. At Vandeventer I’d make right and go north one block to Delmar. From there follow Delmar and join the Loop Trolley.
How do you justify such a massive capital expenditure when the area is currently served by bus routes. If our zoning remains unchanged along the route the expense can’t possibly be justified at all. I love streetcars and to have a line within a block of my loft would be wonderful. But as we’ve seen with MetroLink light rail, without government setting development goals through the use of it’s police power a streetcar line won’t spur new investment and density along the line. Sure, some would happen, but as much as if required. The highest density should be on the blocks facing the route with a drop on each of the next two blocks.
I’m glad to see the Partnership taking this first step. Next would be dropping the idea of north & south light rail lines, building streetcar lines instead to connect north & south city into downtown.
555 Washington Ave is one of our most stunning buildings. It, along with the narrow 511 Washington, are joined internally:
These two facades cover one building behind; the two structures were elaborately joined together in 1898, at which time 555 gained its magnificent recessed entryway. The facade at 511 is one of only two curtain-wall cast iron facades left in the city.
After a period of decline lasting into the 1970s, the building was renovated in 1987 as office space and remains in use today. As with the previous block, this one is isolated from the string of older buildings found to the west — but the profile view of their heavily articulated street elevations, with the old Stix building rising beyond, is quite impressive. (Built St. Louis)
When the St. Louis Centre Pedestrian Bridge over Washington Ave came down two years ago many more people began to see this facade.
ABOVE: 555 Washington was once home to the May Co.ABOVE: Vacant retail space at 555 Washington Ave, Convention Center MetroLink on the left
The first floor space at 6th & Washington remains vacant. I’m hopeful that all the activity with the Laurel & MX across 6th Street will help the building’s owner lease the first floor space.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
