Working on ‘Comment’ Problem [Now Fixed]

I’ve encountered an issue with the comments not working. I’m looking for solutions so please be patient. Thanks, Steve

UPDATE 2/8/07 @ 9am — all fixed. You are now free to comment as you like.

Happy 2007!

I want thank all of you for your continued readership this past year and to wish you a vibrant & urban 2007.  I’m working on a summary of highlights from 2006 but in the meantime I wanted to say a few quick things.

While I received some nice accolades during 2006, what was truly satisfying for me personally is the way urban issues (architecture, planning, politics, education, etc…) were being discussed here and elsewhere.  In all the years I’ve lived in St. Louis I’ve not seen so much dialogue on the city & region as we saw in 2006.  We are becoming a more engaged community which will benefit us greatly in the long run.

In the short term it may appear to some of us that we’ve simply created a new form of chaos.   The reality is change does not always come through the “proper” channels or by working within the system.  Our system, by default, is opposed to change.  Future change will involve a clash of long-held tradition and new ideas, people will disagree.  It will not always be pretty.  2007 will include more of the same call for change, we have a good momentum going with urban-minded folks seeking to re-shape this city back to an urban form that accomodates people as well as their various modes of transportation.

On a personal note I look forward to graduate classes starting at SLU as I continue to work toward a Masters in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development.  Work wise I will continue as a real estate broker-salesperson helping people buy & sell properties, consulting on residential design as well as urban planning (offering my critique before construction).

Again, thank you so much for reading Urban Review STL in 2006.  I look forward to bringing you many more issues for debate in 2007.

– Steve

Wi-Fi Can Increase Productivity

I’m sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for my flight.  The airplane we are to use to St. Louis is in flight from LA but won’t arrive until after our scheduled departure time.  But, the free wi-fi (wireless internet) in the airport has allowed me to get caught up on some work -related emails and now make this post.

Wireless internet is one of the most business-friendly things an airport or downtown can do.  St. Louis still needs to look at blanket wi-fi in the downtown area as well as some way to get the entire city on the internet — with some sort of provision for low income
citizens.  OK, the flight just arrive.  Have a good weekend.

Predictions for 2006, How Did I Do

A year ago I made a few predictions, some were on target, some where off and a couple were way off.

Gas Prices:

A gallon of regular gas will exceed $3.00, not due to a natural disaster or terrorism. Republicans and Democrats will argue over the best way to maintain our wasteful habits. Locally our sprawl and mass transit shortcomings will damage the local economy but the same will be true for most of the U.S.

Boy, I really blew this one! I even went so far to revise this in June to $3.49/gallon. All the signs were there but I did not factor in the ability of those in Washington to open up the market in time for the election. It will happen, perhaps in 2007? World demand is increasing and supply is leveling-off. .

Major Projects:

The public will balk at the final design & costs for the riverfront plan, stalling the project. Areas we may not expect like the Gateway Mall, St. Louis Centre, 22nd Street Interchange Alterations and the former Pruitt-Igoe site will begin having serious attention. Easy guess but I do think the Ballpark Village and Bottle District will move forward in some form. I predict I’ll have a review of the proposed Bottle District in a January issue of the West End Word…

Well, the public didn’t really balk at the riverfront plan but there were not huge calls to focus attention & money there. St. Louis Centre has received considerable attention, along with the financial backing of the city. The Gateway Mall has received attention from various groups in the community, a national competition is in the works. The 22nd Interchange, Pruitt-Igoe and Bottle District haven’t really progressed while the Ballpark Village is moving along as expected.

Politics:

The measure to make it harder to recall aldermen will fail by a wide margin, two more aldermen will be recalled. The remaining Aldermen will continue with the status quo known as “aldermanic courtesy” rather than recognize the city would be better served by legislators that view the city as a whole rather than 28 odd-shaped fiefdoms. Candidates file to challenge more than half the incumbent aldermen in the even numbered wards as the filing period opens in late 2006.

Ald. Florida’s charter amendment to make it harder to recall aldermen received 51% of the vote, shy of the 60% required to pass. As we saw, a couple of recall attempts were started against Bosley, Florida and Roddy but none managed to succeed. At this point five of 14 aldermanic seats are contested, will we see a couple more this week?

MetroLink:

St. Louis County residents will love the new MetroLink extension and they’ll forget about most of the delays and cost overruns (but not all). Efforts will begin to ask voters in the City and County to pony up for the next extension which will include North city and West County.

This has pretty much come true, look for a city & county vote for more funding for MetroLink in 2007.

St. Al’s:

One of the big issues I was writing about a year ago was the proposal to raze St. Aloysius Gonzaga. The developer failed to justify to the Preservation Board why the church could not be renovated but machine politics prevailed and Ald. Vollmer got his way with a redevelopment plan with the other aldermen conveniently ignoring good sense and approving the measure. In March 2006 I made the following prediction:

In place of this unique setting we’ll have some very ordinary houses — maybe. I’m not holding by breath. Based on what I’ve seen to date this developer won’t get very far beyond razing the historic structures. My prediction is he’ll get no more than 5 houses completed and sold this calendar year with another 5 in 2007. More than half the sites will remain vacant eyesores.

Well, it is too early to see if all of this will be the case but at this point only one house is occupied. A couple more displays are done with a number of others in various stages of construction.

2007:

I’m still working on my predictions for 2007.  I’ll combine it with my “wish list” for 2007.  Look for this later in the week.

Happy Holidays from Urban Review

I want to wish each of you a wonderful and joyous holiday season.

I’m spending the Christmas Holiday in the San Francisco Bay area with my father, oldest brother and sister-in-law. My brother and his wife live in what looks like any typical California suburban area (garage doors, beige stucco, clay tile roofs) but they are less than a mile from the old downtown of their town, a classic grid-street railroad town founded in the mid-19th century. Despite being part of a sprawling region they are able to walk to a charming downtown.