I believe the design of our physical environment plays a role in our decisions, just as other factors, like time & money, might. When the route between point A and B is a pleasant walk, many will opt to walk. But those same people who’ll opt to walk in ideal conditions will decide not to walk if the route isn’t pleasant. I also think the design of our pedestrian network is lagging, motorists would never accept equivalent conditions. For example, crossing Gravois at McNair.
The design says you should cross only on the west side of McNair. Those traveling on the east side of McNair need to use the west side to cross Gravois, per the roadway design. Because of how Gravois cuts through the orthogonal street grid, setting up the proper crossing on the east side would be complicated. With only one side of McNair available as a crossing point you’d think it would be correct.
The woman at right just pressed the button to get a walk signal, but what’s missing? Crosswalk stripes & curb ramp. The sewer inlet prevents a ramp on this side of the poll.If we change the camera angle we can see a ramp does exist on the other side of the traffic signal base, opposite of the button.
The button and ramp are supposed to be on the same side…basic common sense. It’s also common sense to stripe a crosswalk to guide pedestrians crossing 8 lanes (6 traffic, 2 parking).
Looking back from across Gravois it isn’t clear the ramp is to the left of the post. It’s not clear to motorists this is a pedestrian crossing. Also, this ramp was built too high so asphalt was used to make it usable for some, though not ADA-compliant.
Just don’t blame the City of St. Louis for this, Gravois is a state road maintained by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). I accept that crosswalks can’t/shouldn’t be striped at every street that intersects with Gravois, but if pedestrian signals are in place so should a visible crosswalk.
Can you imagine roads designed with so little thought for the users? I can’t. I’ll send a link to this post to MoDOT & city officials to alert them of the problems at this intersection.
In a letter released Friday night, Carlson said he “misunderstood” a series of questions when he said he was unsure if he was legally obligated to report sexual abuse to police. Carlson had been deposed for a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where he was previously a bishop. Carlson had a role in handling claims against priests who were accused of sexually abusing children from 1979-1994. (KMOV)
In the deposition questions about mandatory reporting begin on page 84, it picks up again on pages 108-09. According to a question from one of the lawyers, mandatory reporting became the law in 1973. Carlson served as the Auxiliary Bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1983–1994, where he handled sex abuse claims.
The poll this week asks your favorably of Robert Carlson, the poll is at the top of the right sidebar.
This post is about an absentee landlord, how the city reacts to code violations, and a blogger stepping in to make change happen. I’d originally planned to post the property address and the name of the owner, but he responded to my letter, we’ve texted, talked on the phone, and emailed. Publicly embarrassing him would serve no purpose, at this point.
Twenty-four years ago tomorrow a prominent local family bought a property in the McKinley Heights neighborhood, they’ve been renting it all these years. The house is very attractive, and maintained. The carriage house, however, has been falling down for years, at least according to a neighbor. I viewed the carriage house from the alley, from the neighbor’s 2nd floor porch, and satellite images.
You can easily see daylight by pushing on the carriage door, the entire structure is covered in vines
The flat roof has large holes, the floor to the 2nd floor no longer exists. When I emailed city officials to inquire about why this property was allowed to be in this condition, I’d been cited for much less. At the last minute in my email I added a sentence wondering if the owner’s last name is why ore if it was incompetence. I got called on that, and apologized. A couple of days later a reply comes from a staff member at the Building Division with a copy of the 2011 violation letter and a note saying the owner failed to contact them, failed to show up for housing court in 2011, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Wow, so a prominent last name doesn’t get them off the hook!
I got involved and within a week had the owner talking to the building department about fixing the carriage house. My secret? The internet! The address of record for this property is the owner’s bank in suburban Ballwin, they pay the annual tax bill. However, it seems they discard all other correspondence sent by the city. I used the internet to find the owner’s home address, also in Ballwin. Before I’d heard back from the city about the violation letter and bench warrant, I’d mailed the owner a letter asking his intentions. I found his phone number online too, but chose to mail a letter knowing that would be less confrontational. He called me, we played phone tag a little before finally speaking. He had no idea about the 2011 violation letter, the missed housing court date, or the bench warrant.
I got his email address so I could forward to him what the city emailed me, along with contact information for the Building Division, Cultural Resources, and a link to the McKinley Heights Historic District Design Standards. I immediately replied to the city officials I’d been emailing with to fill them in on the discussion along with how to reach him. The very next night the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer (NSO) told the neighborhood meeting the bench warrant had been served. With a bench warrant the police don’t come looking for you, but get pulled over for speeding you’ll be taken in when they see it in the system.
The bench warrant wasn’t served, as told to the neighborhood, I used the internet to track down the property owner. Most likely everyone at city hall followed their procedures, mailing letters to the recorded address. Waiting and mailing more letters. It’s very clear the address is in care of a bank. Many property owners have the tax bill sent to an address other than their home, sometimes it is the property itself. When the city fails to get a response from the first letter mailed to such an address they need to try something new rather than mailing a court notice to the same address.
How many other properties are in the same situation because city staff haven’t searched online for the property owner? The staff may not be incompetent, but the official procedures are if they don’t include taking a half an hour to do some searching online.
For years the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis opposed food carts/trucks, saying they were unfair competition to brick & mortar restaurants.
Food truckle on Locust for a Partnership for Downtown lunchtime event on Tuesday
I’m glad to see they’re finally on board with mobile food. Here’s the info from Tuesday:
Lunchtime Live! What: Lunchtime Live! Concert Series
Where: Old Post Office Plaza (8th & Locust)
When: Every Tuesday, May – September (11:30 am – 1:30 pm)
More Information: 314-436-6500 ext. 237 or lvanquaethem@downtownstl.org
The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis is scheduled to present Lunchtime Live!, a concert series at the Old Post Office Plaza, occurring every Tuesday, May – September. The Old Post Office Plaza is a unique 30,000 square-foot open space that is surrounded by restaurants, hotels, office and residential buildings, right in the heart of Downtown.
Each week, a different band will perform and an assortment of Food Trucks will be featured. This week (6/10) we invite you to listen to the musical stylings of the Trixie Delighter and enjoy delicious food from Bombay Food Junkies, Guerilla, My Big Fat Greek Truck and Sweet Divine! (source)
Given that no food establishments face their Old Post Office Plaza the options for food are limited. Brick & mortar restaurants aren’t going to prepare food, set up tents, during the lunch rush hour to sell to a smallish crowd. I think more activities and more food trucks will attract more people, benefitting everyone. I’m glad to see they’ve changed their policy.
Over 63% of readers that voted in the non-scientific poll last week said the move to push out the locally-produced Taste of St. Louis & Bluesweek festivals in favor of concerts from ICM/Summer Rocks is a bad move, 16% thought it was a wash, and just over 20% think it is a good move. Here’s the breakdown:
Q: ICM/Summer Rocks pushed Bluesweek & Taste of St. Louis out of downtown on two holiday weekends. Good move for downtown & city?
Very bad move! 30 [40.54%]
Sorta bad 17 [22.97%]
Meh, no big deal 12 [16.22%]
Slightly good 9 [12.16%]
Excellent! 6 [8.11%]
I tend to agree, I think next year we’ll see just how inexperienced ICM is at producing a festival, especially in a complicated setting like the area around Soldiers Memorial.
Recycling center at the 2010 Taste of St. Louis
I’ve had the pleasure of watching the Taste of St. Louis grown over the years, starting out where Citygarden is now, later at Soldiers Memorial. Each year they learned from past mistakes. We’ll see how this goes, hopefully it’ll be a positive overall.
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