Beyond the Motor City highlights infrastructure issues

Infrastructure is not the sexiest topic, unless you are really into infrastructure as I am.

On Monday I attended the free screening of Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City.

Director Aaron Woolf joined a group of us beforehand for dinner.  The dinner was organized by Courtney Sloger from Metro & NextStopSTL.org where she wrote a nice summary of the film and the post-film panel discussion, here is an excerpt:

“The film shows rich pictures and details of Detroit’s downtown area during its heyday in the 1920s – vibrant skyscrapers, retail and industries surrounded by neighboring burroughs [sic] and connected by bustling corridors with streetcars, automobiles and pedestrians. The rise of the American automotive industry ushered in a boom for the Motor City, and many of the city’s residents and industry moved to the suburban areas with the explosion of highway infrastructure and affordability of the automobile. Now the depopulated city (which had lost over half of its residents by turn of the century, but maintained its land acreage) is having problems affording services when people and places are so spread out. Providing services like public transit, fire, police, streets works, sewers, etc. have become almost prohibitively expensive, and residents lament the loss of community that happens when people do not live and interact with one another on a daily basis. The images of Detroit are stark, and the frustration of its citizens and leaders are palatable. As the movie points out, there are very significant costs, both economically and socially, of sprawl.”

Woolf pointed out in the discussion his films are not about assigning blame but offer hope and direction to solve problems.  You can stream the entire film at the link above.

– Steve Patterson

Readers say new bridge should be named for Dred & Harriet Scott

The poll last week asked about the name of the new bridge being built across the Mississippi River.

Q: The new Mississippi River bridge is named “Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Bridge” but should named in honor of?

1. Dred & Harriet Scott 39 [16.05%]
2. Miles Davis 36 [14.81%]
3. Other answer… 33 [13.58%]
4. Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Bridge is good. 29 [11.93%]
5. Pierre Laclede 24 [9.88%]
6. Ulysses S. Grant 15 [6.17%]
7. Louis Armstrong 14 [5.76%]
8. Auguste Chouteau 13 [5.35%]
9. Josephine Baker 10 [4.12%]
10. Elijah Lovejoy 8 [3.29%]
11. Phyllis Diller 7 [2.88%]
12. Vincent Price 5 [2.06%]
13. Katherine Dunham 5 [2.06%]
14. Susan Blow 2 [0.82%]
15. Agnes Moorehead 2 [0.82%]
16. Shelley Winters 1 [0.41%]
17. Irma Rombauer 0 [0%]
18. Harland Bartholomew 0 [0%]

“Other” placed third, here are those answers along with the date & time received and commentary by me.

1. John Hinckley, Jr. [ouch!]
2. Mound City
3. Henry Shaw Bridge [he has enough stuff with his name on it.]
4. Nelly
5. Tru-Link (Truman-Lincoln)
6. Ike Turner
7. Generic Design
8. James E. Slagle Memorial Bridge [a friend that passed away last year]
9. Tennessee Williams
10. Anyone/thing BUT Reagan.
11. Anyone but Reagan
12. Ronald Reagan
13. T. S. Eliot Bridge
14. Charles Lindbergh
15. Meriwether Bridge
16. George W. Bush [I’d go with Reagan before Bush]
17. Homer G. Phillips
18. I-70 bridge
19. Don’t name it after a person. [suggestions?]
20. Luther Ely Smith
21. Mark Twain
22. Albert Pujols Bridge
23. Dave Sinclair
24. Albert Pujols
25. John Berry Meachum
26. Veterans’ Bridge
27. Mary Meachum (underground railroad)
28. Dred Scott
29. nobody, no one
30. Malcolm X
31. Stan Musial
32. Peter E. Parisi
33. Max Factor

I’m still not sure if the name of the bridge is up for debate or if it is a done deal.

– Steve Patterson

Poll on displacing homeless living under the Tucker bridge

Last Friday was the final deadline the City of St. Louis gave to the homeless persons living in the old railway tunnel under Tucker Blvd.

The homeless living in a place called ‘Hopeville’ have to be out from the Tucker Tunnel before 8 a.m. Friday in preparation for the City of St. Louis’ $34 million construction project. However, some homeless have resisted the move, waiting until the last minute.

Two homeless men are hanging onto what they call home at Tucker Tunnel.  (KSDK)

The name “Hopeville” is a recent name for the space under the road.  Others have called it scary and dangerous.  The deadline is now past and the removal of the tunnel and collapsing road will proceed.

The poll this week seeks to find out your thoughts about removing the homeless to reconstruct this stretch of Tucker Blvd.  The poll is in the right sidebar.

– Steve Pattersoon

Left turn onto Taft Ave from Gravois Ave?

When heading away from downtown (Southwest) on Gravois you go under the train tracks just after Meramec St.  When you come back up to grade there is a traffic signal at Taft Ave:

As you can see from the pavement markings the lane heading away gives you the option to go straight or turn left, a pretty common situation in the city.  But this intersection isn’t so common.

If you look at the signs posted on the signal arm you will see they indicate no turns are allowed, neither left or right.  Clearly the pavement markings conflict with the posted signs.  I will be sending a link to the post to city officials and folks with MoDOT.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: who would you name our new bridge after?

The new bridge over the Mississippi River has been named the Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Bridge. Reagan was born in Tampico, IL (4+ hours away) in 1911 but moved to California in the 1930s.

In August 2004 William Perkins and Russ Reike, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, gave Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL) petitions with over 4,000 signatures supporting the naming of the new bridge “Veteran’s Memorial Bridge”. This effort is supported by Rep. John Shimpkus (R-IL) and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. The Missouri State Legislature voted on August 28, 2005 to name the bridge after Ronald Reagan (Source: Wikipedia)

There are many others from the St. Louis area (Illinois & Missouri) that would be better to name the bridge after.  The Agnes Moorehead Memorial Bridge has some campy appeal, traffic reporters could say things like, “There is an accident on the Endora so expect delays.” Seriously, someone from the metro east would be a much better fit than Reagan who grew up more than four hours north of the metro area.

Although she was born in DuPage County near Chicago, the late Katherine Dunham often called East St. Louis her home.  The poll this week asks who you’d name the bridge after.  I’ve included a long list but you have the option to name your own answer.

– Steve Patterson