One thing is certain, no matter which of the three candidates in the 20th Ward General Election wins the race on April 7th: the 20th Ward will have new representation at the Board of Aldermen. Ald. Craig Schmid, first elected in 1995, had his ward # changed on him once, and frequently faced primary & general challengers. He always came out on top — until the recent primary. Thank you Craig for your service & loyalty, but I’m glad you lost the election. It has been time to move on but you kept running anyway.
Voters in the 20th Ward should plan to attend Thursday night’s debate among to hear the three candidates, via Facebook:
Please join your South City neighbors for a 20th Ward Aldermanic Debate. A non-partisan question and answer forum will be moderated by The League of Women Voters. Attendees may ask questions submitted in writing the day of the forum.
All candidates have been invited to participate: Cara Spencer (Dem) Stephen Jehle (Ind) Vicky Ingram (Grn)
The debate begins promptly at 6:45 and will end by 8:15, please feel free to arrive early at 6 for Cherokee Neighborhoods Happy Hour and to be seated. Guests are also welcome to stay for after hours.
This event is hosted by The Chippewa Broadway Business District in partnership with The South City Business Collaborative (Dt2, Carondelet, CSBA, CBBA)
Please share this event with your friends and neighbors, and don’t forget to VOTE on April 7th.
Before Michael Brown was shot & killed last August, community planning had been completed to improve parts of Ferguson & neighboring municipalities. In 2011 Great Rivers Greenway District completed the Maline Greenway Concept Plan, in June 2014 East-West Gateway Council of Governments completed the West Florissant Avenue Great Streets Master Plan — both included extensive community participation along their linear boundaries.
The boundaries of each plan, coincidentally, intersect at the burnt out QuikTrip (9420 W. Florissant Ave). The 1.14 acre site, on W. Florissant Ave, is bordered by Maline Creek on the South. Next week I’ll post about the Urban League’s intentions for this site and how they ignored two published plans with extensive community involvement. Today more detail on both plans.
The Vision for West Florissant Avenue comes from community and stakeholder input received through multi-faceted outreach efforts. These have included public workshops and virtual walking tours, interviews with community leaders, input from the Community Committee and Technical Advisory Committee, an Agency workshop, and an online survey and mapping tool. The Vision Statement has distilled this community and stakeholder input, with the most significant community values expressed as how the corridor should look, feel, and contribute to the community’s future.
The Maline Greenway Concept plan presents the findings of a yearlong planning process that involved inventory, analysis and recommendations. Input from residents within communities along the greenway helped shape the plan. The report includes background information on the District, summary of existing conditions, review of public input, description of the Maline Greenway concept, implementation overview and a summary of recommendations that include not only the trail alignment opportunities but also recommendations that address the social, economic and environmental quality of life for the communities. The Concept Plan helps to guide partnership opportunities, provides an analysis of the corridor, identifies community connections and alignment opportunities.
The West side of W. Florissant is very similar to the East. lots and lots of paving. August 2014
Ferguson’s zoning was updated as recently as 2011 and includes a downtown form-based code. Ferguson’s guiding comprehensive plan document is the Vision 2015 Plan Update that dates to 1998.
Page 24:
Although sidewalks are provided on both sides of West Florissant Avenue along most of the corridor, the pedestrian realm is generally uninviting and often unsafe. Buildings are spaced too far apart to walk, sidewalks are interrupted by frequent driveways and parking entries, and there are few pedestrian amenities or street trees.
Page 25 talks about transit and possible Bus Rapid Transit (BRT):
West Florissant also carries transit, specifically MetroBus Route 74 (Florissant line), and though the headways are long (30 minutes), Route 74 is one of Metro’s heaviest-used lines, with over 1.1 million boardings in 2013. West Florissant is crossed by MetroBus Route 61 (also in Metro’s top ten heaviest-used routes, with 800,000 boardings) at Chambers Road. The heavy transit use along the corridor results in a correspondingly heavy pedestrian demand. There is a clear opportunity to encourage transit- and pedestrian-oriented development at this intersection of West Florissant and Chambers Road.
While the current roadway configuration works relatively well for those traveling by automobile, and offers a transit option, other modes and users are largely shortchanged. West Florissant Avenue’s auto-dominated character and design, width, and traffic speeds, as well as the lack of any bicycle facilities, make it hostile to and unsafe for cyclists. Conditions for pedestrians are somewhat better, with the presence of sidewalks, but the pedestrian experience in many places along the corridor is unpleasant and unsafe.
With new high-quality transit service given priority along the corridor, and with rush-hour headways of 10 minutes, the opportunity exists to remake West Florissant Avenue into a transit-first street, with transit-oriented, pedestrian-scale development clustered around some key stations along the corridor. The corridor has a relatively wide right-of-way, which will make allocating space efficiently to serve the multi-modal needs of all its users easier than if the street were narrower.
New infill development should be guided by new zoning and guidelines that require buildings and entrances to be built up to the sidewalk, forming a consistent street wall. Until redevelopment occurs, individual property owners should be encouraged to beautify the edges of existing parking lots that front the avenue, so that the pedestrian experience is improved.
The study area of West Florissant Ave is long, but you have to start somewhere. From the Executive Summary:
Project construction should start at the south end, where there is high potential for redevelopment projects such as new housing, retail and mixed use projects. Thus investing public funds in this zone first follows a strategy that looks to catalyze private investment as soon as possible. Maline Creek is also planned to be reconstructed, so developers will be attracted to the critical mass of activity which will result in an appealing place for housing to be developed. Putting the South Gateway into construction in the first phase will also help create a rationale for the street design and use of medians and access management, simply because these street treatments are already in place immediately to the south, at Buzz-Westfall Plaza.
Maline Creek was identified as the point where the commercial development stops and residential begins, the former QuikTrip is on the residential side of Maline Creek.
Looking East at Maline Creek from West Florissant, the QT site on the left. August 2014
Numerous park and open space areas exist along the proposed Maline Creek corridor which could potentially function as trailheads and Greenway amenities. Creating attractive linkages between parks and open spaces will promote public use and create the opportunity for the greenway to become a regional attraction. (p1.5)
After the trail leaves Ferguson’s Forestwood Park
Continuing east, the trail is planned to be located in open space at the north side of Maline Creek to West Florissant Avenue. From West Florissant Avenue the trail is planned to proceed south across the creek and then go east on the south side of the creek for approximately 2000 feet. A pedestrian bridge is planned in this area to cross the Maline Creek to reach the north side open space and continue east to Lucas and Hunt Road near Westview Middle School (p1.9)
The QuikTrip site could, perhaps, allow the trail to stay on the North side of Maline Creek.
In the interest of transparency and community involvement I think the community should share in setting the vision for the use of 9420 W. Florissant Ave. More next week.
Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles, running unopposed, was reelected to a second 3-year term in April 2014. Much has changed in the year since — following the recent Dept of Justice report we had the resignations of the city manager, municipal judge, police chief, and others.
Some feel Knowles should also resign, they’ve started a recall campaign:
Five residents notified city hall that they had formed a committee to gather signatures to force a recall election, the first step in a removal process outlined in the city’s charter. It appears the group would have 60 days to gather roughly 1,800 signatures, about 15 percent of the number of people who were eligible to vote in the last mayoral election. (Post-Dispatch)
So I ask the question: should he resign? The Sunday Poll is at the top of the right sidebar and is open until 8pm tonight.
March 20, 2015Featured, Metro East, TravelComments Off on Day Trip: Staunton & Mt Olive Illinois
Two weeks ago I wrote a post called Please Enjoy The Weekend, I didn’t give the details of our planned day trip. Today I want to share with you what we did that day. We crossed into Illinois on the Eads Bridge and took state roads through Pontoon Beach, Edwardsville, and other towns on the way to our first stop. A detour near our destination forced us onto I-55 for about a mile.
First stop: Main Street Staunton IL. We had lunch at Cavataio’s Restaurant on Main & Edwardsville St, click for their website. Go Bulldogs!!We were on Old Route 66 part of the drive from St. Louis to Staunton, at this point we turned right for our next stop.If you’ve driven I-55 you’ve likely seem Country Classic Cars. This was my third visit since 2006, the 2nd visit for my husband.In nearby Mount Olive we found Soulsby’s Service, the oldest remaining Route 66 gas station building. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, click image for more information from the National Park Service.Because of the snow I couldn’t walk to the Mother Jones monument, click image for more informationAfter the cemetery we drove down a few streets of modest homes in Mt Olive IL but then we spotted this house
We’re going to repeat this day trip when there’s no snow or water out. As car guys looking at classic on historic Route 66 is a fun interest. We have more fun planned for this weekend!
Late last month Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich committed suicide at his home in Clayton. His was not the first local suicide among those who, by outside appearances, had a lot going fir them.
Foe example, the Lemp family:
In 1870 Lemp was by far the largest brewery in St. Louis and the Lemp family symbolized the city’s wealth and power. Lemp beer controlled the lion’s share of the St. Louis market, a position it held until Prohibition. In 1892 the brewery was incorporated as the William J. Lemp Brewing Co. In 1897 two of the brewing industry’s titans toasted each other when William Lemp’s daughter, Hilda, married Gustav Pabst of the noted Milwaukee brewing family. (Lemp Mansion)
The suicides began in 1904 with the head of the family, William Sr:
Lemp, 68, shot himself on the morning of Feb. 13, 1904, in his second-floor bedroom of the family mansion at 3322 South 13th Street (now DeMenil Place), next to his brewery covering 13 blocks. Lemp had never gotten over the sudden death in 1901 of his son, Frederick, brewery superintendent, from a heart ailment. His depression deepened. When he didn’t emerge from the room that morning, no one took much notice. (Post-Dispatch)
His son, William Jr., took over the brewery. Sales declined and, in 1919, the brewery shut down because of Prohibition.
Lemp Mansion at 3322 Demenil Pl, previously known as S. 13th St, was built in 1860s. It’s over 7,300 sq ft. in size. Click image to see map.
The next suicide I’ve seen listed as March 19th and as March 20th — 1920:
The second in the series of Lemp family suicides was that of Elsa Lemp, daughter of William Lemp (who killed himself in the Lemp Mansion in February 1904) and the younger sister of Billy Lemp, who took over the brewery. She had married Thomas Wright, President of the More-Jones Brass and Metal Company, in 1910 and divorced him in 1919. She was granted the divorce on the same day she filed the request, but almost immediately turned around and remarried him on March 8, 1920. Just a few weeks later, Elsa told her new-old husband that she wanted a quiet night to herself. The following morning, he heard a sharp crack and ran into the bedroom to find she had shot herself. When Billy Lemp arrived at the scene, he was remarked as commenting only “that’s the Lemps for you.” (STL250 via Facebook)
Wow, clearly Elsa, 37, was conflicted. Granted a divorce on the day filed? Remarried less than a year later only to kill yourself 11/12 days later! Her daughter died during birth in 1914.
Here’s the home where the couple lived:
13 Hortense Place, built in 1901, is almost as large at just over 6,500 sq ft
I have the following questions about this house:
Who built it in 1901? Her husband Thomas Wright?
Or did the couple buy the fairly new home after getting married in 1910?
How long did Thomas Wright live in the house after Elsa’s death?
I searched the 1940 Census and found him living nearby at 46 Portland Place with a new wife, Cora, her son, 24 year-old William O’Fallon, and three servants: Dora Six, Emma Light, and Esther Siegerit. This house was 11 years newer, built in 1912; a bit smaller at just under 5,000 sq ft — still large.
Elsa was the youngest of her siblings, she’d just turned 21 when her father committed suicide in 1904. Her brother William, 55, shot himself in the family mansion in 1922 — not long after selling the brewery property. Another brother, Charles, also shot himself in the mansion in 1949 — he was 77 and the last family member to live in the family mansion. Her sister Hilda Lemp Pabst died, presumably of natural causes, in 1951 at age 74. The last Lemp sibling, Edwin, died in 1970 at age 90.
Edwin Lemp owned 200 acres adjacent to the Meramec River where he began building his 11,000 sq ft home, Cragwold, in 1911:
Edwin Lemp was born in 1880 and grew up during the time that the American conservation movement was at its height. Being a well educated man, he would have been familiar with the conservation issues of the time and most likely read many of the essays written on the topic. With Lemp’s well-known love of nature and animals, it would be easy to assume that he most likely shared many of the same conservation views as Olmsted, Burroughs, Powell, Muir, and Theodore Roosevelt. Lemp’s well-known love of nature and animals can be traced back to his childhood, when he kept canaries and parrots. As an adult, Lemp’s love of nature would lead him to discover the place where he would build his estate.
About the same time his brother William Jr built the Alswel estate nearby. Neither Charles or Edwin married, Edwin was gay and presumably Charles was as well.
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