Dead Sidewalks Won’t Come Back To Life With Overhead Walkways Gone

Enclosed walkways over public sidewalks are generally a bad idea — removing pedestrians from the public realm. However, with these elevated walkways often comes the real culprits to killing sidewalk life: blank walls, inward focus, etc.

A prime example of what not to do in a downtown was downtown St. Louis’ St. Louis Centre indoor mall.

It was 8 years ago today that a big event was held to begin the removal of the very oppressive walkway from over Washington Ave — the first step in transforming the inward-focused mall into outward-facing MX retail with the interior becoming a parking garage.

See:

• 2010: Undoing a huge mistake from the 1980s
• 2012: MX Rises From Former St. Louis Centre, Pi Now Open

Two other walkways have been removed in the last year, one on each side of the former Southwestern Bell headquarters, later an AT&T building on Chestnut between 9th & 10th. The walkways connected the now vacant tower, now longer owned by AT&T with an older Bell building to the West and a 90s data center to the East.

These walkways were very different than those at the former St. Louis Centre — up high, small, transparent, These allowed employees to walk to/from all 3 buildings without having to keep going through security. With AT&T’s significant reduction in the number of downtown employees the center towner became unnecessary. The tower’s new owners needed to reconfigure the tower from a single-occupany headquarters into a multi-tenant building. For them and AT&T that meant disconnecting the three buildings.

The exteriors are all repaired now, though all three buildings are lifeless at the sidewalk level. This us by design. The removal of these two walkways won’t have the dramatic results we’ve seen at MX.

St. Louis has systematically killed street life block by block, neighborhoods by neighborhood. Attempting to bring back vibrant sidewalks for more than a few blocks here or there is likely a waste of time at this point.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Is Doug Vaughn Right About St. Louis’ Riverfront?

After technical difficulties with the poll software last week I’ve added a new plugin to display the polls. This week it should work fine. Should…

In a trio of segment KMOV’s Doug Vaughn has commented on the St. Louis riverfront — both immediately North & South of the Arch ground. In short, he feels the large vacant buildings, old train trestle, etc are eyesores that should be razed.

I couldn’t find a way to get the videos to display within this post, but the three Doug Unplugged videos I’m talking about are linked below:

1. Urban Decay
2. We can preserve historic buildings and still revitalize the riverfront
3. Clean up the eyesores

Please watch the above videos and then vote in today’s poll:

This poll will close automatically at 8pm tonight. Wednesday I’ll share my thoughts on this subject.

— Steve Patterson

St. Louis Board of Aldermen, New Board Bills Week 5 of 2018-2019 Session

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will meet at 10am today, their 5th meeting of the 2018-2019 session.

It appears I missed numerous new bills last week, they were:

• B.B.#53 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Building Code with amendments, including Appendices E, F, G, H, I and J; repealing Ordinance 68610, Ordinance 68788, and Ordinance 69271; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#54 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Residential Code for One- and Two-family Dwellings with amendments, including Appendices E, F, G, H, J, K, M, R, S, and T; repealing Ordinance 68789; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#55 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Fire Code with amendments, including Appendices B and C; repealing Ordinance 69600; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#56 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Existing Building Code with amendments, including Appendices A, B, and C; repealing Ordinance 68790; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#57 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Property Maintenance Code with amendments; repealing Ordinance 68791; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#58 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code with amendments; repealing Ordinance 68792; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#59 – Kennedy – An Ordinance pertaining to the Mechanical Code of the City of Saint Louis; repealing Ordinance 68639 and Ordinance 68847; adopting the 2018 International Mechanical Code with amendments, including Appendix A; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and an emergency clause.
• B.B.#60 – Kennedy – An Ordinance adopting the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code with amendments; repealing Ordinance 68638; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.
• B.B.#61 – Kennedy – An ordinance adopting the 2017 National Electrical Code with amendments; repealing Ordinance 68831; and containing a penalty clause, severability clause, savings clause, and emergency clause.

Today’s agenda includes five new bills dealing with liquor licenses, street patterns, and several related to transit funds:

• B.B.#62 – Navarro – An ordinance repealing Ordinance 70026 and in lieu thereof enacting a new ordinance prohibiting the issuance of any 3 a.m. closing permits for any currently non-3am licensed premises within the boundaries of the Twenty-Eighth Ward Liquor Control District, as established herein, for a period of three years from the effective date hereof; containing exceptions and allowing, during the moratorium period, for the renewal of or transfer of existing licenses, under certain circumstances, and containing an emergency clause.
• B.B.#63 – Bosley – An ordinance directing the Director of Streets to make such changes in the present traffic pattern controlling traffic on Greer, Dodier, and University, in the 3500 block of said streets between N. Grand and N. Garrison so that as reconfigured the traffic pattern developed and in place as a result of the changes directed by this ordinance are as follows, namely: Greer – 3500 block – traffic to flow two-way between N. Grand and N. Garrison; Dodier – 3500 block – traffic to flow two-way between N. Grand and N. Garrison; University – 3500 block – traffic to flow one-way southeast between N. Grand and N. Garrison.
• B.B.#64 – Williamson – An Ordinance pertaining to the Transit Sales Tax imposed pursuant to Section 94.660, RSMo., as adopted and approved by the voters of St. Louis City on August 2, 1994, pursuant to Ordinance 63168 creating the “City Public Transit Sales Tax Trust Fund” directing the Treasurer of the City of St. Louis to deposit funds received pursuant to said sales tax into the “City Public Transit Sales Tax Trust Fund – Account ONE” appropriating $11,560,000 from the said sales tax for the period herein stated to the Bi-State Development Agency for certain purposes; providing for the payment of such funds during the period July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019; further providing that in no event shall the Comptroller draw warrants on the Treasurer for an amount greater than the amounts of the proceeds deposited in the “City Public Transit Sales Tax Trust Fund” during the period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019; and containing a severability clause.
• B.B.#65 – Williamson – An Ordinance pertaining to the Transit Sales Tax imposed pursuant to Section 94.660, RSMo., as adopted and approved by the voters of St. Louis City on November 4, 1997, pursuant to Ordinance 64111 creating the “City Public Transit Sales Tax Trust Fund” directing the Treasurer of the City of St. Louis to deposit funds received pursuant to said sales tax into the “City Public Transit Sales Tax Trust Fund – Account TWO” appropriating $11,560,000 from the said sales tax for the period herein stated to the Bi-State Development Agency for certain purposes; providing for the payment of such funds during the period July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019; further providing that in no event shall the Comptroller draw warrants on the Treasurer for an amount greater than the amounts of the proceeds deposited in the “City Public Transit Sales Tax Trust Fund” during the period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019; and containing a severability clause.
• B.B.#66 – Williamson – An ordinance appropriating the sum of $21,877,000, as described and defined in Section 94.600 through 94.655, RSMo. 2000 as amended for the period herein stated, which sum is hereby appropriated out of the “Transportation Trust Fund” to the Bi-State Development Agency for transportation purposes; and further providing that the appropriation is conditional upon the Bi-State Development Agency supplying the Board of Estimate and Apportionment an annual evaluation report; further providing that in no event shall the Comptroller draw warrants on the Treasurer for an amount greater than the amount of proceeds deposited in the “Transportation Trust Fund” during the period from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019; providing for the appropriation to be reduced if certain funds are used for other than public transit purposes; further providing that the appropriation is conditional upon Bi-State requiring the payment of prevailing wages and benefits to employees of outside service contractors; and containing a severability clause.

The meeting begins at 10am, past meetings and a live broadcast can be watched online here. See list of all board bills for the 2017-2018 session — the new bills listed above may not be online right away.

— Steve Patterson

Technical Issues Yesterday; One Year Anniversary of Kiener Plaza This Coming Saturday

Yesterday something went haywire, crashing the site. When it did work the poll didn’t appear. I’ve pulled yesterday’s post since only two readers were able to vote.

I’ll have a new post on Friday, my usual on new Board Bills being introduced at the Board of Aldermen. If all goes well I’ll attempt to have yesterday’s poll question on Sunday the 20th.

In the meantime, this coming Saturday is the one year anniversary since Kiener Plaza reopened. I’ve been a few times, I need to return and photograph areas to see how the trees have matured.

Here’s a couple of posts from May 2017:

• Remembering The Old Kiener Plaza
• A Look At The New Kiener Plaza (Photos & Videos)

Have a great week!

— Steve Patterson

St. Louis Board of Aldermen, New Board Bills Week 4 of 2018-2019 Session

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will meet at 10am today, their 4th meeting of the 2018-2019 session. Last week Board Bill 47 wasn’t on the published agenda, but it was introduced for a first reading. Here’s the summary:

An Ordinance directing the Director of Streets to change the 3200 block of Sullivan from a one way passage to a two way passage, and containing an emergency clause.

Today’s agenda includes the following new bills:

• B.B.#1 – Pres. Reed/Williamson – Budget Fiscal Year 2018-2019; and containing an emergency clause.
• B.B.#48 – Roddy – An Ordinance recommended by the Planning Commission, to change the zoning of property on the Central West End Form-Based District Map, from “NG1” Neighborhood General Type 1 Zone to the “NCT1” Neighborhood Center Type 1 Zone in City Block 3914 (4117R West Pine Boulevard), so as to include the described parcel of land in SECTION ONE below and in City Block 3914; and to further change the overall boundaries of the “NG1” Neighborhood General Type 1 Zone and the “NC1” Neighborhood Center Type 1 Zone; established under Ordinance 69406; and containing an emergency clause.
• B.B.#49 – Roddy – An ordinance recommended by the Board of Public Service to conditionally vacate travel on the north side of Forest Park Ave. abutting City Block 3919-E as bounded by Laclede, Spring, Forest Park and Vandeventer, and adjacent to 3763 (3745-3801) Forest Park.
• B.B.#50 – Martin – An Ordinance recommended by the Planning Commission on May 7, 2018, to change the zoning of property in City Block 2861, from “B” Two-Family Dwelling District to the “F” Neighborhood Commercial District, at 5601-03 S. Broadway, and containing an emergency clause.
• B.B.#51 – Ingrassia – An Ordinance amending Ordinance Nos. 69979, 69980 and 69981; approving and authorizing the execution of a First Amendment to Redevelopment Agreement between The City and ROL Capital III, Inc.; authorizing other related actions; and containing a Severability Clause.
• B.B.#52 – Tyus – An ordinance pertaining to income that is exempt from the City’s earnings tax, amending Section Eight of Ordinance 47063, approved April 28, 1954, as amended by Ordinance 64586, and as codified in Section 5.22.090 of the City Code of Ordinances, by adding a provision exempting any income received by a person in the form of or related to a grant, vesting or exercise of stock options, performance shares or performance-based stock related to incentive plans from the City’s earnings tax; and containing an emergency clause.

The meeting begins at 10am, past meetings and a live broadcast can be watched online here. See list of all board bills for the 2017-2018 session — the new bills listed above may not be online right away.

— Steve Patterson