It has been a little over four months since IKEA officially announced they were opening a location in the St. Louis region — specifically in the City of St. Louis. The big blue & yellow box is now fully formed.
IKEA as seen on WB I-64, not really visible EBAs seen from Vandeventer Ave
The St. Louis IKEA is supposed to open this Fall. In August we’re planning one last visit to the IKEA in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook on our drive back from a weekend in Chicago. When the store opens here we’re planning to get a new king-sized mattress & platform bed.
If you’ve never shopped at an IKEA before I recommend at least four hours to see it in full. Since I first walked into an IKEA in August 1990 I’ve wondered what it would be like to live close to a store. The visits to the seven locations I’ve been to involved either filling my vehicle or getting just a little something to fir in my carryon bag. For the first time I’ll be able to take public transit to an IKEA, maybe just for lunch and to browse their creative displays.
IKEA St. Louis is already hiring some managerial positions, they’ll be hiring for additional positions soon. If you’re interested, you can sign up to be notified.
Is it just me or have existing furniture stores increased their TV advertising?
The garage at Tucker & Pine in December 2014Condemnation notices went up last week, I noticed them on Friday 4/10.
My assumption is the repairs were becoming a blank check project the owners finally halted. Now what? I’m concerned the out of state owner will just walk away. Ideally I’d like to see a new building constructed on this corner, if the St. Louis Streetcar project gets funded a new building would be feasible. I’m sure some would like to see this garage repaired or replaced with a new garage. I suppose that would be marginally acceptable.
What wouldn’t be acceptable, however, is a surface parking lot, this intersection needs the massing.
Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
Our federal, state, and for some of us, St. Louis City, tax returns must be postmarked no later than Wednesday. For today’s poll I thought Id ask about the St. Louis earnings tax. If you live OR work in the city you must pay 1%. Live in another state and play baseball, hockey, or football for opposing teams that play the Cardinals. Blues, Rams? You must pay 1% of the income earned in St. Louis.
Taxes are never popular — few are as controversial as our local earnings tax. So take the poll in the right sidebar — you can pick one or two answers — you can provide your own if you don’t like the choices offered.
Last week our transit agency, Metro, released its first mobile app — called Metro On The Go:
You asked for a Metro app — and now you have it! Metro On The Go, the official mobile application of Metro transit, is now available. You can download it for free from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Metro On The Go lets you plan your trip on Metro transit, check schedules for MetroLink and all 75 MetroBus routes, and tap into real-time vehicle data so you can see when the next bus will arrive — all from the palm of your hand. (NextStopSTL)
The app is available for Android & iOS mobile devices. I’ll share my thoughts on the iOS version later in this post, but first I want to bring up an issue before others do. Some may say things like “not everyone has a smartphone”, “not everyone can afford a smartphone”, “this is elitist”, etc. These people likely have broadband at home and choose to not have a smartphone — for others the reverse is the case:
10% of Americans own a smartphone but do not have broadband at home, and 15% own a smartphone but say that they have a limited number of options for going online other than their cell phone. Those with relatively low income and educational attainment levels, younger adults, and non-whites are especially likely to be “smartphone-dependent.” (Pew Reseach — U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015)
From the same source:
Lower-income smartphone owners are especially likely to use their phone during a job search. Compared with smartphone owners from households earning $75,000 or more per year, those from households earning less than $30,000 annually are nearly twice as likely to use a smartphone to look for information about a job — and more than four times as likely to use their phone to actually submit a job application.
Similarly, “smartphone-dependent” users are much more likely to use their smartphones to access career opportunities. 63% of these smartphone-dependent users have gotten job information on their phone in the last year, and 39% have used their phone to submit a job application.
Young adults (85% of whom are smartphone owners) are also incorporating their mobile devices into a host of information seeking and transactional behaviors. About three-quarters of 18-29 year old smartphone owners have used their phone in the last year to get information about a health condition; about seven-in-ten have used their phone to do online banking or to look up information about job; 44% have consumed educational content on their phone; and 34% have used their phone to apply for a job.
The app can be useful, but is it? In short — yes! In just days my initial complaint has already been addressed.
The main menuFor me the “Next Departures” is the most helpful. When I downloaded the app on the first day the stops didn’t list the bus direction — which is important to know — so I’m glad they listened to feedbackBeing able to see if a bus is on time or running late is very helpful
I wasn’t able to test the Android version, my husband went back to iOS in the Fall of 2013. The ‘Trip Planner’ isn’t as responsive as the Google Maps app. Still, for most of my transit use I need to know the next departure of the #10 at 16th & Olive or the #97 at 16th & Washington. This will come in handy when I’m at places and want to know when the next return bus home arrives. Thanks Metro!
Four months ago today I noticed work going on at 1424 Washington Ave., so I began documenting exterior changes, mistakes, fixes, etc. as I’d pass by. Check it out…
December 9th: I posted this to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Work going on inside 1424 Washington Ave this afternoon” An ADA-ramp with handrails is visible. Click image to view on FacebookJanuary 2nd: Again posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Curious how those renovating 1424 Washington will handle ADA access” Most handrails now gone, concrete busted, the door threshold is flush with the top of the ramp. Click image to view on FacebookJanuary 15th: Sidewalk being busted out in front of new doorwayJanuary 20th: Door on left now a few inches above the old ramp so they raised the interior floor levelJanuary 21st: sidewalk removed in front of new door is bigger than yesterday, old ramp being busted outJanuary 22nd; Old ramp and sidewalk between doors now removedJanuary 23rd: Posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Fresh concrete at 1424 Washington Ave doesn’t appear ADA-compliant, too steep.” I mentioned to the contractor it wasn’t ADA-compoliant, he said the owner knew that but didn’t care. I sent an email to a few city officials with this photo! Click image to view on Facebook.January 28th: Posted to Twitter & Facebook with the caption: “Another attempt at ADA compliance at 1424 Washington Ave, what’s left doesn’t look kosher” Click image to view on FacebookJanuary 30th: I suspected this end will get redoneMarch 16th: and it did but so did the rest as a step now appears as the sidewalk fallsMarch 16th: the view from the other end showing a step that wasn’t there on January 30th. Will this get an end railing to prevent someone from stepping off the high end?April 4th: still no railing on the end, the smaller step should’ve returned around the end.
A lot of concrete & money was wasted, if only they’d done it right the very first time! A quality development by the Three StoogesMcGowan Brothers.
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