Public Meeting on CWE High Rise

Alderwoman Lyda Krewson (28th Ward) called me today asking that I help announce a public meeting to be held this Saturday morning. Krewson is hosting the meeting to help allow OPUS to present revised drawings for the controversial high rise they are proposing at the NE corner of Lindell and Euclid.

The presentation will be Saturday 4/15/06 at 9:30am at the Schlafly Library which is located on the NW corner of Lindell and Euclid.

Afterwards be sure to head to the McDonald’s protest at Grand & Winnebego which begins at 12:30pm.

– Steve

Forest Park SE Dev. Corp. To Hold Meeting on Forest Park Land Run

Not surprising, an organization that relies on both the area Alderman and BJC has backed the plan to let BJC build on part of Forest Park. Now they are holding a public meeting to give the appearance of seeking public input:

On Thursday, April 13th at 6:00 pm at Adams Park Community Center, 4317 Vista, residents/concerned citizens will have an opportunity to hear and discuss the proposed relocation of the Hudlin Park, portion of Forest Park, east of Kingshighway. The park is located at Clayton Road and Euclid Avenue. The proposed reuse involves expansion of the BJC/Barnes-Jewish Hospital to this site. In turn, Forest Park will receive an annual gift from BJC/Barnes- Jewish Hospital.

Forest Park Southeast Development Corporation submitted a support letter for this proposal – acknowledging that the proposed development would in turn be good for Forest Park, the City of St. Louis, and BJC/Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Attending this meeting will be Alderman Joseph Roddy and other concerned residents/business owners of Forest Park Southeast. Your input is welcomed. Again, the meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 13th at 6:00 pm.

Please forward to others.

Irving M. Blue, Executive Director
Forest Park Southeast Development Corporation

I just love how all this works:

1) Hatch evil plan around self interests but tied concerns about higher taxes if not accepted.
2) Get politicos on board with plan. After all, that is why we give them contributions!
3) Get local group on board now that they are used to our annual grants.
4) Oh yeah, almost forgot, hold some sort of public meeting now that all the decisions are made. Solicit “input” without laughing.
5) Wrap up song & dance and return to doing whatever we feel like secure in the knowledge the alderman and neighborhood are eating out of our hands.

What a system we’ve got.

The show begins at 6pm on 4/13/06 at 4317 Vista.

– Steve

Watch Out For the Aldermanic Motorcade

Thumbing through this week’s RFT I read the brief story titled A Cherry on Top: VIP motorcades are no big deal — they’re just illegal. The story talks about events between an Anheuser-Busch party and the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball at City Hall on February 24th. Among the guests of the A-B party were several aldermen:

So was Dave Drebes, editor and publisher of the local political tabloid Arch City Chronicle. Drebes, who also writes a weekly column for the St. Louis Business Journal, referenced the soirée in the March 3 Business Journal. Noting that pomp reigns as power wanes among city lawmakers, Drebes described “whizzing through stoplights” with three (unnamed) aldermen in a motorcade from the hotel to city hall as sirens and flashing red lights attached to the caravan’s lead car helped clear a path through traffic.

Gregali, Florida and Kirner say the February 24 motorcade was orchestrated and led by the private security firm Special Services Inc. The aldermen and Drebes followed in Gregali’s Mercury minivan, with Gregali behind the wheel. The aldermen say they don’t know who else was in the procession.

Nice. Our aldermen are so special they are part of a caravan of people going a short distance in such a hurry that can’t wait for the traffic signals. If the signals are such an issue perhaps they should work a little harder to get the signals timed correctly.

What I find great about this topic was Drebes’ editorial in the St. Louis Business Journal where the subject first came up. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Drebes be so frank about local politicians:

It was three levels lower than stupid. A handful of aldermen were receiving an escort from the Grand Renaissance over to City Hall, a total distance of probably seven blocks. The siren and flashing lights were shaving a half-minute or so off the commute.

Perhaps in a world of diminishing power, such tiny perks as breezing through downtown once in a while is an acceptable pay-off for the looming proposition of irrelevance.

Power shifts, even when the actual structure of government hasn’t. Aldermen used to really be something in the city of St. Louis, but today they’re are small potatoes and getting smaller. At this rate, they’ll be nuggets soon.

Dave Drebes offers a lot more commentary on the diminishing power of aldermen in the full article. It is a must read, hitting home points about the role of aldermen is basically to answer citizen complaints about stop signs and dumpsters or hand out shrinking Federal Block Grant funds. Good job Dave!!!

Florida, Kirner and Gregali are certainly in the top 5 of my list of aldermen that need to be replaced. Not at all surprising they were among the group being wined and dined by A-B and then part of an illegal motorcade. Gregali is up for re-election in March 2007 but we are stuck with Florida and Kirner until 2009. Well, 2009 unless the recall Florida talk over Drive-ThruGate or her unbalanced campaign finance reports moves up the date.

In the meantime watch out for the aldermanic motorcade.

– Steve

Dates Set for Protest & Appeal on McDonald’s Drive-Thru

Citizens opposed to the proposed Suburban McDonald’s will meet on the sidewalk at 3708 S. Grand at 12:30pm on Saturday April 15, 2006. The media is expected around 1pm. Organizers will have signs but feel free to make your own. A petition will most likely be available as well.

The protest is a lead-in to the appeal of the conditional use variance for the drive-thru. The appeal of the variance will be heard at 1:30pm on Wednesday April 19, 2006 in Room 208 of City Hall.

It is important to have a large crowd at both events. We need to send a strong message to Ald. Florida, Pyramid Construction, McDonald’s, Ald. President Shrewsbury, and Mayor Slay that we will not tolerate prior redevelopment ordinances being trampled by a few with enough cash to get what they want.

On a side note, Ald. Florida’s measure to restrict efforts to recall Aldermen failed at the polls on Tuesday. If I were her I’d be worried, very worried.

Mark your calendars: Saturday 4/15 @ 12:30pm and Wednesday 4/19 @ 1:30pm.

– Steve

ULI Announces Winner of Hines Competition

Earlier today the Urban Land Institute completed the 2006 Urban Design Competition with presentations and selection of the grand prize winner. The event was held at Dubough Hall on the main campus of St. Louis University. I reviewed the finalists earlier this month (read review).

The four finalist teams drew numbers to determine the order in which they’d. It was Harvard (#4110), Harvard (#1015), UC-Berkeley and Columbia. Each team was given 25 minutes for presentation with another 20 minutes of questions from the jury. While a team was presenting the other teams that had not yet gone were not permitted in the room. This makes sense so that a later team does not benefit from seeing the types of questions the jury might ask.

Among the audience members were Marjorie Melton of the Board of Public Service and Planning and Urban Design Director Rollin Stanley.

Each team submitted additional boards today with greater detail on their phase one planning & financials. Nothing in the presentations altered my views. I saw the two Harvard proposals as quite strong, the Berkeley as my overall favorite and the Columbia proposal as a sad reincarnation of 1960’s urban renewal thinking.

All of the teams did an excellent and highly professional job of verbally communicating their ideas. Some individuals were stronger than others but that was to be expected.

The jury took a few minutes to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of all four:

Harvard (4110 — Aurora):

Pro: A bold & confident plan that stresses streets can be positive, good clarity of plan.

Con: Lacks good integration between streets and greenway space. Jury not convinced of connection.

Harvard (1015 — Bridging Innovation at Grand Crossing):

Pro: Took program literally and viewed greenway as an economic driver to bring people to area. Clever approach by “pinching” at Grand (focusing users on area). Entertainment & retail along Grand a good idea.

Con: Cortex area with green roofs not so compelling in terms of site plan, wanted to see more green in the Cortex area. Boardwalk area in NE quadrant may not work and unsure about viability of high rise along Grand at MetroLink.

Columbia:

Pro: Extremely bold moves with walkway system. Very close to one requirement of competition — leaving the bridge design intact.

Con: Economic development required to pay for the infrastructure may not be possible in this location.

Berkeley:

Pro: Does more to establish a neighborhood with a strong grid, magnet school, integration of green with “fingers” in the development.

Con: MetroLink not as fully engaged as it could be. Boardwalk creates barrier.

The three non-winning finalists teams each get $10,000.

The winning team, Harvard #1015 Bridging Innovation at Grand Crossing, won $50,000. While this was not my favorite I think is a very strong proposal. I saw nothing in their concepts that I would argue against. I had argued in January for just such a proposal to create a strong element out of Grand. They did an excellent job of recognizing the TOD (transit oriented development) potential of the site and worked to maximize the existing MetroLink stop. And maximizing transit is exactly what St. Louis needs to do — and quickly.

Congratulations to team members Thomas Hussey, Christina Cambruzzi, Oliver Corlette, Patrick Curran and Tyler Meyr. Congrats as well to faculty advisor Rick Peiser. The additional boards detailing the phase one for each team will be uploaded to the ULI Competition website next week.

– Steve