Old St. Louis Rising

When redevelopment efforts take you into older parts of the city, we connect with the people who first lived in our neighborhoods.

A hundred twenty years ago, most of the city did not have sewer lines. Instead, many of the homes had a "privy" in the back yard. As property owners upgraded their properties with indoor plumbing and sewer connections, the old privies were abandoned. The sites of those old privies now are a treasure trove for searchers of St. Louis history.

Entering long vacant buildings or doing excavation work in the older parts of town can turn up many interesting lost items from the past. Old bottles, machine parts, photographs, maps and pottery shards are often found.

Holding a small bottle of "Dr. Pritchard's Medical Elixir" in your hands, uncovered through the redevelopment of an old city site, brings us back to 19th century St. Louis. It makes you wonder what life was like for families back in those days, before homes had indoor running water and city streets were dirt roads travelled by horse drawn carriages.

Where "Earth First" Meets Southern Comfort

Louisville is working to become the midwest's intersection of arts, music, and activism. At least at the annual Forecastle Festival. Ever heard of it?

St. Louis is a sister city. Check out the list of links and sponsors. It's an interesting mix.

Weeding - Not Reading!

Growing up in Northern California, every summer we had to hack down the tinder dry grasses growing on the back hill of my parent's yard. It was miserable, hot work. It was one of the things I really hated doing. It seemed like whenever I wanted to play ball with friends or just hang out, my dad would have a list of chores for me to do. It never ended. Maybe now I'm turning into my old man? Our son probably thinks so...

Yesterday there was a comment raising concerns over the possible removal of some mature trees as part of plan to build a new South City baseball field in Wilmore Park. Now, growing trees in St. Louis is not a problem. I should know. The picture above is a shot of our back yard. This year, as part of our regular yard work, we had to pull out over 100 volunteer baby trees. They sprout like crazy. St. Louis is like living in a rainforest, especially this year. We have to fight back mother nature from taking over the yard.

So it's the waning days of summer and teenagers nowadays want to do the same stuff they've always wanted to do - have fun and sleep in. No problem there. But mother nature is relentless in her efforts to take over our yard. So with teen son now taller than me, I'm thinking it's fair for him to pitch in a little more on house work.

On top of the occasional house work demands, he's got a summer reading list for high school. He's required to read and report on between one and three books. Read and weed. That's what he's supposed to be doing. Besides everything on his to do list, which includes band pratices, hanging out with his friends, sleeping in, and whatever else comes up.

Being a teen, he needs pocket money for date nights, snow cones, etc, so I made him a little business proposal: weed this section of yard, and I'll pay you $20. Finish half, and you get $10, etc. But it's got to be done by Friday. So last night I asked him, "Have you started weeding yet?"

"Yeah, I finished one chapter".

"Not reading, weeding!"

"Uh, no." He hadn't. Not really a big surprise.

The good thing is, weeding here is pretty light work. With all the rain we get, the weeds come out pretty easy. Nonetheless, it's boring, lousy stuff, no matter what.

Too much? Not enough? What do you think? How many hours a week of chores are reasonable to expect out of a teenager? Do you push your kids to help out a lot around the house?

Everything Old is New Again!

USA Today is reporting that to remain competitive, suburbs are embracing urbanism.

However, in areas already suffering low walkability scores, it will take years to change current auto-dependent communities into pedestrian friendly areas.

The same story also reports that property values are dropping faster farther from the urban core.

Youth Ballfield Follow Up - This Won't Be Easy!

A couple of weeks ago, we attended an American Legion ballgame out in Washington, Missouri. The field is located in a city park, right next to a huge outdoor bandstand/pavillion.

Ballparks are gathering places for people to have a good time. They're a community space.

They allow for both active (playing) and passive (watching) use. They're fun and offer lots of creative design possibilities.

The city is blessed with abundant parkland. Our parks are filled with a variety of both active and passive uses.

There are golf courses, hiking trails, boating lakes and fishing lakes, rugby fields, playgrounds, rose gardens, zoos, museums, and much more.

Building a new ballpark in a city park would be a change from whatever is currently on the site, unless we improve an existing field, but then you're running into the whole field permit/musical chairs problem.

Building the ballfield in a mature park setting allows for massive trees to be part of the site plan.

I've found an area of passive use inside Wilmore Park where 4 or 5 large trees would need to be removed to build the new field, but once built, the ballpark would be surrounded by 60 foot tall trees. The field would have a historic feel from day one.

Whether to install lights; dealing with noise and parking; managing drainage, covering maintenance costs, allowing signage, hours of use, and many other management issues arise.

The initial cost for a first class facility would run close to a million dollars. The end product could be a source of community pride. Or the effort could turn into a source of tremendous frustration.

It's hard for some people to understand why anyone would oppose such a concept. It's hard for others to consider permitting any changes to something they love exactly the way it is now.

The people who don't want change are sort of like the people who have a grandfathered field permit: their interest is already in place. Treading on it in any way is an offense to them. When it comes to changing the status quo, a lady from South County summed it up this way: "you're going against the establishment".

The only way for something like this to really happen is for the community at large to perceive the plan as a net improvement over our current situation.

While a million dollar improvement might seem a no-brainer to some, to others, the idea is a non-starter.

Arch Connections

About a month ago, I wrote a post about connecting the Arch grounds, downtown, and the riverfront by rebuilding Memorial Drive. There's a lot of thinking going on right now about the future of the Arch and the riverfront. Improving access is one thing. Whether to change anything on the Arch grounds is something else altogether.

St. Louis is famous for arches. The Eads Bridge, old Busch Stadium, and the Gateway Arch are some of the most notable. Arches provide strength and connection. They bridge things. Yesterday's Platform suggested how the Arch site might become a center for advancement, a working connection to tomorrow. It's hard to summarize the idea in a few words.

Best to read the commentary here.

PD Sunday Highlights Historic Preservation

If you're interested in historic architecture and rehab, pick up a copy of this Sunday's Post Dispatch. The Post covered the issue from a number of interesting angles. Many names and faces familiar to the blog community were featured. Michael Allen, Thomas Crone, and Toby Weiss were all prominently mentioned.

One section was titled, "Would You Save This Building?" Many of the recent controversial demolitions and currently threatened buildings made the list. One that didn't was the old Parkmoor restaurant in Clayton. The Parkmoor's gone and a new Walgreen's is in its place.

The Parkmoor highlighted one of the tensions for lovers of old architecture. Buildings threatened with demolition are usually privately owned. When an owner is tired of operating an old building, or offered a high price to sell (read Walgreen's), the path toward the building's removal is often chosen by the owner. The community has little to say.

Personally, I only ate at the Parkmoor a couple of times, maybe once, but I always thought the building was an exceptionally cool looking building. Maybe if we'd all have spent more money there the building would've been saved? Or maybe Walgreen's could have put their store in the old Parkmoor space?

Another feature of the story was "urban exploring". Much urban exploring results in the photography of abandoned buildings. A photo session of the long abandoned Armour meat packing plant in East St. Louis was featured. The story drew attention to the inherent danger of entering abandoned buildings and the scary prospect of coming face to face with a vagrant or homeless person.

Anyone thinking of entering an abandoned building should be careful of the dangers. Encountering vagrants is only one possible threat. Collapsing floors, wild animals, dead things, disease, broken glass and all sorts of other unseemlies abound. These are dangerous places, indeed on the very edge of civilized society. Want to take a tour sometime?

One important aspect of the historic preservation narrative was little mentioned in the story: the role of community based development organizations. Maybe there will be a follow up? Community based organizations are largely responsible for driving local historic preservation efforts.

When I refer to "community based", I'm not speaking of the broader nonprofit sector, but rather those specific place-based organizations focused on a particular neighborhood, historic district, or municipal geography. There are lots of such local organizations in St. Louis carrying out the heavy lifting of historic preservation.

Groups such as the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee, the Old North St Louis Restoration Group, the Hyde Park Alliance, the Soulard Restoration Group, and the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation are just a few of the many neighborhood based organizations working to preserve St. Louis' rich architectural heritage.

If you share a passion for preserving historic buildings, connecting with a local group doing good work would be a good place to start.

The miniest of surveys

They say the longest journey begins with a single step. This morning I took a few teensy, weensy baby steps on what promises to be an interesting journey to a destination at this moment very much unknown.

There's a nascent effort underway to see about adding a varsity level youth baseball field somewhere in South City. No sites have been identified and the process is at the very beginning. The Journal has run a couple of articles on the issue over the past two months. One possible location is in Wilmore Park.

I've made a few preliminary phone calls to people on the issue. Today, I took the dog and we went down to Wilmore to walk the area and see about getting some feedback from park users.

I received feedback from an interesting cross section of park users: a couple of older women from South County walking their dogs, a city mom jogging with her dog and young daughter, a couple highly experienced in neighborhood affairs and city business, and a single women from the Lindenwood neighborhood walking for exercise. Here's their feedback about the very general idea of building a new baseball field at Wilmore.

The County ladies were generally against it. They cautioned that something like this is going against the establishment and the environment. They said the city teams should go to Clydesdale Park in South County near Grant's Farm.

The city mom with her daughter in the stroller turned out to have two young sons in elementary school. She lives in the St. Louis Hills Estates area. She was in favor of the concept, and also thought Francis Park should be considered.

The savvy city person was open to the idea, wanting more information on cost and maintenance responsibilities before forming a position.

And the single lady walking was very much in favor. She stated that the area being considered was generally very lightly used and that this would be something good for the park and city youth.

So all in all, that's pretty positive. Out of this completely unscientific sample, it turns out the only people strongly negative to the concept were from St. Louis County.

People are protective of what they have and uncomfortable with change. At the same time, most St. Louisans want to do right by kids and love baseball. It will be interesting to see what happens with this idea in the months to come.

On a related note, there's an effort underway to construct a new public high school football stadium in Fairground Park in North City. It's a similar situation: there's a lack of quality football fields for city school teams. Fairground Park is very historic. The field is proposed to built with private funds. Has anyone heard if this effort is still in the works? Football season is about to begin and it's been months since I've heard anything new on this project.

Rock Reunions

Our high school-aged son plays guitar and drums in a local rock band. They've worked up to playing small venues around town and a couple of weeks ago played the Creepy Crawl near the Fox. The other guitarist in the band is from Fenton, and he had some of his relatives at the show, including a nice Aunt and Uncle we met for the first time. We're all there to support our young people as they venture out on stage in front of audiences.

One of the cool things about St. Louis is that it's very much like a small town. Bumping into friends and acquaintenances out in public is a common thing around here. Same goes for last night. Todd Rundgren was on tour performing at the Pageant (pictured above with bass player, Rachel Haden).

On the way inside, we bumped into the aunt and uncle of son's Fenton bandmate we met a couple weeks earlier at the Creepy Crawl. Turns out they're old Todd fans too. For the show, we brought young son and his girlfriend. Between the two of them, son had never been to the Pageant, and she had never heard of Todd Rundgren.

Opening up was a 3-piece local rock band named "Logos". Not much older than our son, the band has 2 eighteen year old guitar players and a 22 year old drummer. Son and his date thoroughly enjoyed these guys. They were straight forward, high energy rock and rollers. So even if they weren't to appreciate TR, they had a music snack with Logos. Not to worry. TR would not disappoint.

He opened the show with a shout out to Beatle Bob and then went into "Love in Action". Todd's new record is called "Arena" and it's all about guitar rock. Nothing subtle about it and not an acoustic guitar in sight. The band had four guitars, four part vocal harmony, and powered the house for two hours.

We were on the floor, ten feet from the stage. At sixty, Rundgren looks great. Hopefully he still has a few tours left. One of the cool things about last night's show was the way our fifteen year old son and his girlfriend could see the loyal fans attending the concert. Most of these these fans have followed Rundgren for 30 plus years. It's like a big family.

If your impression of TR is mostly based on "Bang The Drum All Day", "I Saw the Light", and "Hello It's Me", there's a whole world of music he's created far beyond those popular successes. It's worth some checking around. Lots of old videos are on the net.

This was the 6th or 7th time I've seen him perform, and except for losing a little in his voice, this show was no less enjoyable than any of the others. Given the years of enjoying his music, maybe even more.

It was back in high school in the 1970s when we started listening to Todd Rundgren. And it was one of our friends, a great guy named Victor, who got us all started listening to him. Victor was a good friend, and remembering back, my first guitar student. We went to a couple of Todd shows together and even started our own band named after one of Rundgren's lesser known songs. I still have the T-shirt. This was late-70s, San Francisco Bay Area.

After high school, we all went separate ways. Victor moved across the Bay to San Francisco and joined the City's growing gay community. We never saw him again, but heard he had died sometime around 1982 from AIDS. He was one of the early victims of the disease. Back then, there were pretty much no treatments for it. At last night's show we remembered Victor and know he would have loved to have been there with us. He was in spirit.

STL: A Best Kept Secret...Again

There's a very cool site on the internet: walkscore.com It ranks the country's 40 largest cities based on their walkability.

Unfortunately, since we're 52nd, St. Louis doesn't make the cut for comparison purposes. It's too bad too, because when you enter "St. Louis, MO", it scores downtown a 95 - "Walker's Paradise".

Many St. Louis neighborhoods rate very well. It's easy to compare yours. Just click on the site, enter your address, and a custom map is created built around your address, scoring your neighborhood's walkability.

Among the city's most walkable neighborhoods are Soulard, the Central West End, and South Grand. But check some others. You'll be surprised how well St. Louis neighborhoods score.

Complicated transformations

Getting through the remaking of the connection between the Arch grounds and riverfront will be a complicated transformation. Not only will reaching agreement on the overall plan be difficult, it will be an equal or greater challenge getting the many governmental agencies holding jurisdiction to sign off on each others' requirements.

The National Park Service controls the Arch grounds and lands under Memorial Drive and the depressed lanes, but the City of St. Louis and MODOT determine uses of local and state roadways.

The City Street Department and the Board of Aldermen decide the future of city streets, while the Federal Highway Administration is over the US highway system.

East West Gateway Coordinating Council serves as lead agency over transporation projects in the bi-state region.

Various citizen and community groups have their list of priorities and concerns. The city of St. Louis has a long list of civic responsibilities and adding the cost of rebuilding Memorial Drive isn't on the list.

Something this big only takes one interested party to block the process, while it will take countless organizations and individuals to buy in and say "yes" to make it happen. Given the level of difficulty involved in carrying out such an ambitious effort, maybe that explains why some consider the task "infeasible" or "undoable"?

Like the pragmatist saying goes: "don't let the great be the enemy of the good". Even if replacing the depressed lanes with a new Memorial Drive is the best long term plan, maybe we'd be better off lowering expectations to gain more cooperation?

How much effort is this concept worth? Better to spend the same time working to add a quality baseball field in South City so all teams there have a place to practice and play games?

Funny thing is, there are those thinking given neighborhood resistence, that's a near impossible task too...so what's one to do?

Let's pursue both.

Here or there?

This morning, I was heading out the door the same time as the neighbor across the street. Referring to the hot and humid day ahead of us, he greeted me saying, "On days like these, don't you miss being in California?"

"Not really" I said. "This morning, there was a story on the news about a tiny flower on the endangered species list raising concerns about construction of the new Mississippi River Bridge."

We both laughed and the neighbor said, "Well, I guess we are in California!".

Getting things done is some states is harder than others. I remember many years working in the housing industry in California. The battle was always
on between home builders and environmentalists. And both sides agreed: there was a severe shortage of affordable housing. No matter. Rare plants and animals often stood in the way of producing affordable housing.

That doesn't happen very often here. Not that we don't have lots of wildlife. Really we have more. In abundance. Our year round moisture and hospitable growing environment support great habitats for plant and animal life. What we do have a lot of are native american artifacts, especially along our waterways, and indeed, some artifacts have been found in the path of the new bridge project.

My hunch only, but I'm betting the new bridge project stays pretty much on schedule, with mitigation plans for any rare plants and historic sites in place to allow the project to proceed as planned.

Post-Dispatch weighs in on new Memorial Drive plan

Friday editorial

Keeping Rams in STL will be a tough challenge

Rumors are swirling that the Rams are for sale. In the face of this, the Rams stadium lease has an adjuster coming due that requires St. Louis to provide the Rams a facility in the top fifteen or twenty percent of NFL stadiums nationwide. If not, the Rams are free to leave town.

New stadiums are coming in at close to a billion dollars. We're a long way from the top 20 percent now. Is St. Louis ready to pay for a massive upgrade to the Ed or a new stadium altogether to keep the Rams? In our current economy, are people ready to fund a new stadium for NFL football with public money.

Meanwhile, the team's market value is supposedly close to a billion dollars. Combine a billion dollar sale of the team with a billion dollar new venue and there aren't many mid-sized markets in the US capable of raising that kind of money for football.

We lived through the Oakland Raiders departure to Los Angeles and eventual return to Oakland. It wouldn't surprise me to see Al Davis make another move for more money. Oakland California is losing the A's, and if Davis could make a billion dollars by moving the Raiders, that'd be pretty tempting.

It's hard to imagine that the Rams owners would see things much differently.

All Aboard Metrolink!

After work yesterday, I walked to the 8th and Pine Metrolink Station and rode down the escalator to the underground platform. There were hundreds of people waiting for the train.

The people that came down behind me were looking around in amazement. Ridership numbers for the third quarter 2008 compared to 2007 will probably show a 50+ percent increase.

Riding the trains gives you time to think and plan your next day, or week, or year. Low cost transportation and bonus time in your day! Now, that's a bargain.

Looking out the big windows yesterday, there were these huge, puffy clouds filling the sky above St. Louis. It was a perfect day for mid-July. Meteorologists were in their glory. Mild July weather is sort of like a 50-degree day in January. Yes, we have changeable weather!

So I'm riding the train and wondering about those big clouds. How much do they weigh? According to this article, alot. A whole, heckava lot. As much as forty million elephants for a really big one!

The other day was a very cloudy day. Clouds were hanging low in the sky and they were moving quickly. One cloud on the horizon was shaped just like a volcano. It was like a gray volcano set against a gray/white background. Yeah, so we don't have much for mountains and beaches in St. Louis, but we sure have some awesome skies, clouds, sunrises and sunsets.

The natural beauty of a midwestern sky stands up pretty well compared with any physical landscape. And through those giant Metrolink windows, you get a front row seat!

A kid might find an elephant-shaped cloud up in that sky. Speaking of kids, I am reminded of a little boy riding the train with his mom last week. They were sitting across from me, and I could hear their conversation.

He was about three, brown haired, and chatting the whole way. His nose was pressed up against those big windows and he was asking his mom nonstop questions. He reminded me of our son at that age. Tons of questions and a love of trains.

"Mom, this train goes downtown, right? And we don't want to go downtown, do we?" (Where does a three year old get that idea?)

"Oh sure we do. We go downtown for lots of things. Downtown is good"

"Oh, okay, mom. But is that a river?"

"Well, no, not really. It fills up when it rains. It's more like a big drainage ditch than a river."

"Oh, okay." Then we arrived at the station and the little boy and his mom walked hand and hand down the platform. She didn't want the little guy to drop over the side.

Which was completely the opposite of what I saw this morning. Pulling away from the UCity station, a little kid jumped from the station platform, down onto the railbed, ran across the tracks, presumably to climb up the other side.

Strange. Maybe he/she were looking for a short cut? Who knows? It's always something different. Like that time this lady was going on for fifteen minutes on her cell phone giving college "advice" (more like lecturing) to her daughter or niece or somebody.

Why people have such a personal conversations in front of total strangers is beyond me. Your stop is only a few minutes away!

Group Formed to Drive Arch Changes

A new organization, "Groundswell For Change", has been created to promote new changes for the Arch grounds. They have a quality website and long lists of names for both a steering committee and endorsements.

Channel 5 profiles the group in a story here

Groundswell For Change Endorsements:

AIA St. Louis
American Society of Landscape Architects
Associated General Contractors of America
Building & Construction Trades Council of St. Louis, AFL-CIO
Carpenter' District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity
Civic Progress
Downtown NOW!
Downtown St. Louis Partnership
Eastern Missouri Laborers' District Council
Greater St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Joint Letter - St. Louis County Executive, Chairman, Madison County Board, St. Charles County Executive, Chairman, St. Clair County Board
Landmarks Association of St. Louis
Metro Mayors of St. Louis
Missouri Growth Assocaition
Missouri Restaurant Association
RCGA, St. Louis
Regional Business Council
Resolution of Support for Revitalization of the Downtown St. Louis Riverfront
St. Louis Area Hotel Association
St. Louis Association of REALTORS
St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
St. Louis County Municipal League

Groundswell For Change Steering Committee:

Ann Auer, Executive Vice President, Missouri Growth Association
Pat Bergauer, Executive Vice President, Missouri Restaurant Association
Vicki L. Boyer, Executive Director, St. Louis Area Hotel Association
Robert Bray, President, St. Louis Area Hotel Association
James Buford, President and CEO, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
Hon. T.R. Carr, Mayor, Hazelwood; President, St. Louis County Municipal League
Larry Chapman, President, Missouri Growth Association
James A. Cloar, President and CEO, Downtown St. Louis Partnership
Dr. William H. Danforth, Chancellor Emeritus, Washington University; Danforth Foundation trustee
Dan Dierdorf, Chairman, St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
Hon. Charlie Dooley, St. Louis County Executive
Hon. Alan Dunstan, Madison County Board Chairman
Gary Elliott, Business Manager, Eastern Missouri Laborers' District Council
Gerald T. Feldhaus, Executive Secretary Treasurer, Building and Construction Trades Council of St. Louis, AFL-CIO
David Fisher, Executive Director, The Great Rivers Greenway District
Richard C.D. Fleming, CEO and President, St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association
Cliff Franklin, President and CEO, FUSE
Brad D. Furfaro, President, St. Louis Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
Denise Hasty, Vice President, Governmental Affairs Associated General Contractors of St. Louis
Tom Irwin, Executive Director, Civic Progress
Hon. Mark Kern, St. Clair County Board Chairman
Fred Kratky, CEO and Executive Vice President, St. Louis Association of Realtors
William J. Kuehling, Attorney
Rich LoRusso, President, Missouri Restaurant Association
Richard M. McClure, President, Civic Progress
Hon. Michael McMillan, License Collector, City of St. Louis
Terry Nelson, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity
David Newburger, Attorney; St. Louis City Commissioner on the Disabled
Rudy Nickens, Executive Director, The Black Rep
Kathleen T. Osborn, Regional Business Council
Hon. Alvin Parks, Mayor, City of East St. Louis
Perri Pryor, Secretary Treasurer, Eastern Missouri Laborers' District Council
Kitty Ratcliffe, President, St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
Hon. Lewis E. Reed, President, Board of Aldermen, City of St. Louis
Hon. Francis Slay, Mayor, City of St. Louis
Robert A. Soutier, President, Greater St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Max and Colleen Starkloff, Starkloff Disability Institute
Dr. Donald Suggs, President and Publisher, St. Louis American
Anthony ("Tony") Thompson, president and CEO, KWAME Building Group
Wendy Timm, Treasurer, Missouri Growth Association
Leonard P. Toenjes, President, Associated General Contractors of St. Louis
Hon. Gerry Welch, Mayor, Webster Groves; President, Metro Mayors of St. Louis, Inc.
Hon. Phyllis Young, Alderman, 7th Ward, City of St. Louis

There is a good FAQ section, with lots of information about the organization's vision. The vision describes creating a better connection to the Arch grounds through a lid across the depressed lanes at the Old Court House and the development of a major new institution on the Arch grounds to increase visitor interest in the Arch.

The FAQ estimates the cost of the 3-block Lid project at $106,800,000, which includes an $18,000,000 endowment fund for maintenance.

The Groundswell for Change website has a section devoted to "thinking big". In that section, the group highlights what is happening in other cities, including Louisville. Louisville's riverfront area is very similar to ours in St. Louis. In Louisville, plans required moving a highway and reconfiguration of the street grid to reconnect the waterfront with its downtown. What if a similar plan were considered in St. Louis?

To avoid "junking up the Arch grounds", key advisors to the Danforth Foundation, Walter Metcalf, Dr. Robert Archibald, and Dr. Peter Raven, recommended that an international competition, not unlike the one that led to the design of the Arch, be held to design the new cultural institution and other changes. The call for a design competition is joined by others in the pro-St. louis community seeking solutions to make transformational change at the Arch.

Momentum is building around the issues surrounding the improvement of the Arch and how best to connect the area to downtown.

Heads Up!

According to the Young Architects Forum St. Louis website, the National Park Service is expected to give preliminary feedback from this month's meetings regarding the future management and possible development of the Arch grounds. From the Young Architect's site we found this reference:

"The National Parks Service will issue a newsletter within the next 30 days that will outline in greater detail the identified potential management options for public review and comment."

This newsletter may provide the first official response to the idea of vacating the depressed and elevated lanes of I-70 adjoining the Arch grounds.

From the same Young Architects website, it appears the AIA is readying an official response on the Arch plan as well. Does anyone know if the AIA has a take on the issue of depressed lanes and Memorial Drive?

The St. Louis Chapter of the AIA could be the perfect group to sponsor a design competition for the future of Memorial Drive.

I'm with Steve...

When it comes to the St. Louis blogosphere, Steve Patterson with his Urban Review blog is pretty much the giant among the rest of us. Steve's readership dwarfs everone else's. When most of us post, maybe 100 people see it. Steve gets something like 30,000 unique visitors per month. Patterson is always getting recognized for the work in his blog.

Steve was one of the first to post on the idea of rebuilding Memorial Drive, and he's at it again. Steve is joining the chorus of voices calling for the vacation of the depressed and elevated lanes through downtown and their replacement with a new Memorial Drive. This is good. When Steve takes up an issue, it gets noticed.

For years now, there have been countless posts and comments in the blogs about various issues surrounding urban life and St. Louis. Is it possible that a growing base of support around the Memorial Drive issue, given voice through the blogs, may lead to a major public policy outcome in St. Louis?

The idea is out there. The challenge now is to give it life beyond the computer connected.

"Equals 42" Hits Nail on Head

In the 50th comment at a thread over at Urban Review St. Louis, the anonymous poster known as "Equals 42" makes the following comment regarding the idea of replacing the I-70 depressed lanes with a new Memorial Parkway:

"Jim (Zavist), I don’t believe we have to continue to direct North-South traffic down Memorial Drive (hopefully Parkway). If I-70 dumped off onto Broadway near the Dome and Casino, traffic would be directed down Broadway and 4th streets where it belongs as they are both large streets (ignore the loss of a lane at the Fed Reserve) and can handle traffic with appropriate speed restrictions (downtown should never be relegated to a shortcut). Memorial Parkway can serve as an additional route not directly connected to the Interstates. From the south, more of the same. Dump downtown traffic off at Broadway and 4th near Chouteau and it helps people get to the Chouteau Landing areas talked about forever.

People in St Louis are under the mistaken belief that they have traffic. They don’t. I lived 30 years in LA and SF. I travel for a living and regularly see Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and DC traffic. Those cities have traffic to contend with on your daily commute. To claim that removing a small stretch of obsolete highway by the arch will seriously impact traffic downtown is simply not true based on my years of living and working downtown. Real traffic there happens seldom and is primarily for events such as the Rams and 4th of July fireworks. As the axiom goes, you don’t build a church for Easter mass, you build it to accommodate normal Sundays. On top of that, we’ve seen what little disruption there really is when they took out 64/40. Outrageous claims that everyone’s days would be ruined, businesses closed, etc were found to be just wrong. [They allowed everyone to take credit for the planning that “alleviated” the problem.]

At $5/gallon (I have to use premium) we should be reconsidering all our intracity highways and the state and fed should be requiring zoning changes which compress our sprawl into more manageable, denser urban areas better served by transit. That would constitute a portion of an effective energy policy. The upside could be a spurred recovery in depressed property prices in already developed cities which could help stem the “wealth loss” effect currently plaguing the consumer side of the economy."

Recentering St. Louis

For the past 50 years, St. Louis has been one of the most sprawling regions anywhere in the country. Statistics show that we have consumed land for development at a pace 7X the rate of our population growth.

The result of all of this sprawl has led to the shift of our geographic center to a point closer to 40 and 270 than downtown St. Louis. With the skyrocketing increase in the cost of fuel, among other cost of living increases, perhaps we are on the brink of a demographic pullback toward the heart of the region?

The Platform at STL Today features a family from DeSoto Missouri who was spending $800 per month on gasoline commuting back and forth from their home in DeSoto to their jobs in the city of St. Louis. They bought a home in the city to lower their expenses. The house payment on their city home is hundreds less than what they were paying in gasoline cost.

Riding Metrolink, we have another opportunity to conserve and reuse older sites within the urban core. Some plans are already in the works, some are completed, and others are possibilities waiting to be explored.

At Emerson Park in East St. Louis, hundreds of new affordable homes have been developed next to the Emerson Park Metrolink Station.

In Maplewood, between the Manchester and Sunnen Metrolink stations, plans are in the works to redevelop the 50+ acre Sunnen products site into a mixed use development.

In Clayton, someone help me out here, but it looks like the County's old jail sits right next to the Metrolink tracks, fronting on Brentwood Boulevard, near Shaw Park, and only a block or so from the Clayton Metrolink stop. The building definitely looks like an old jail, constructed with tall skinny windows and an exercise yard surrounded by 20 foot high, concrete walls. Are there plans for this site?

And maybe the best of all transit oriented development sites sits right in the heart of downtown St. Louis - next to the new Busch Stadium. The site waiting for a project, aka Ballpark Village, is right on top of a Metrolink station with convenient access to points throughout the region.

With people seeking alternatives to reduce dependency on the automobile, a return to the city and inner ring suburbs may be an unanticipated postive outcome toward strengthening the core of the St. Louis region. Affordable housing available in our urban core helps build momentum in that direction.

I'm curious about that old County jail site if that's indeed what it is. Any word on the future of that location?

"But where will the traffic go?"

One of the first reactions most people have when someone suggests removing an interstate or otherwise reducing traffic capacity is, "where will the traffic go"?

We learned with the I-64 project, that people make quick adjustments to changing traffic situations. Here is an article detailing potential benefits in changing/reducing traffic patterns and capacity.

There is evidence that such efforts can lead to community reinvestment, improving neighborhoods, and reducing sprawl.

The Case for a New Memorial Drive

The National Park Service is updating the management plan which governs the use of the Arch grounds. Now is the time to attend meetings and give public comment. The first meeting happened earlier this week, and the next meeting will be from 3:00 pm -6:30 pm on Tuesday, July 1, at the Old Court House.

The meetings are being held open house style, with professional planners from the consulting firm EDAW on hand facilitating the process and recording public input. In addition, planning and design professionals with the National Park Service are present.

I attended the meeting this week at Forest Park to help promote the idea of removing the depressed and elevated lanes of I-70 through downtown, and replace them with a new, landscaped Memorial Drive. Here are some of the possibilities we discussed:

NORTH SOUTH ORIENTATION - PARALLELS RIVERFRONT For years, St. Louis has been devising ways to turn our backs on the riverfront and remove people from downtown. Most major roads lead away from the river or follow an east-west orientation. Broadway, an important north-south running street, on the west side of the Old Court House and away from the riverfront and Arch grounds, would connect with an extension of Memorial Drive on the north side of downtown. Other than Broadway, the first major north-south running through street in downtown is Tucker, 12 blocks west of the river.

A new Memorial Drive recreates the entrance to our city, on a north-south axis parallel to the river, in a way that connects most of downtown's main anchors, including the Mississippi river. For years we have looked for ways to restore the city's connection to the Mississippi river, and a new Memorial Drive could make that happen, and a lot more.

CONNECTIVITY - A new Memorial Drive connects downtown assets and anchors: the Eads Bridge, the Dr. Martin Luther King Bridge, Washington Avenue, the Arch Grounds, exit and entrance ramps to the Poplar Street Bridge; Laclede's Landing, the Edward Jones Dome, the Old Cathedral, the Bottle District, the Riverfront, Lumiere Casino, the Old Court House, and downtown hotels.

VIEWS/DAYLIGHT - The elevated sections of I-70 adjacent to Laclede's Landing, the Edward Jones Dome and the proposed Bottle District block views of the Arch grounds, historic downtown architecture, and much more. Removal of the elevated lanes as part of the plan to rebuild Memorial Drive adds open space, improves views, enhances the walkability, and improves the overall experience of people downtown.

PARTNERS AND STAKEHOLDERS - A plan to improve Memorial Drive has many possible partners and stakeholders, including the Downtown Residents Association, the Partnership for Downtown, Downtown Now, Laclede's Landing, the National Park Service, Lumiere Casino, the Rams, the Cardinals, downtown hotels and businesses, downtown workers, city and regional residents and leaders, the RCGA, and others. Basically, anyone interested in the future and quality of life of downtown St. Louis is a potential partner in this effort.

TIMING - The sooner the better, or timed to coincide with the new Mississippi River Bridge.

LEVERAGES OTHER FEDERAL and LOCAL INVESTMENTS - The new Mississippi River Bridge will lessen traffic demands on the I-70 depressed lanes, and is bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment to the St. Louis region, including a substantial federal share. A plan to rebuild Memorial Drive, made possible in part as a result of the new Mississippi River Bridge, leverages substantial public investment in the new bridge into additional benefits designed to enhance the quality of life for downtown St. Louis and the entire region.

NO SITE ACQUISITIONS OR DISPLACMENT - Unlike most major highway construction projects, this plan requires no private site acquisitions or displacement of existing businesses or residents - a major cost savings. Everything necessary to rebuild Memorial Drive can be accomplished on existing public rights of way. In fact, the National Park Service already owns the land under the depressed lanes and both sides of Memorial Drive adjacent to the Arch grounds.

OPENS NEW SITES FOR DEVELOPMENT - Rather than displacing businesses or residents, there is the real possibility that removal of the old interstate will open up new sites for development with excellent views of the Arch.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT - We have learned through the rebuilding of Highway 40 that the closing of an interstate highway doesn't automatically bring on Armageddon. We are surviving the 2-year shutdown of Interstate 64 pretty well.

A new Memorial Drive will make available increased north and south access through downtown, connect drivers to the new Mississippi River Bridge on the north and the Poplar Street Bridge and Interstates 44 and 55 on the south, and gives us the opportunity to fix the rush hour gridlock around the Old Court House by redesigning our traffic system along Memorial Drive.

Timing of signalized intersections along the new Memorial Drive based on peak and reduced traffic periods will minimize delays for traffic entering or exiting downtown during commute hours, while maximizing pedestrian access at all other times.

CONSTRUCTION CONSIDERATIONS - Building a new Memorial Drive and vacating the depressed lanes and removal of the elevated highway section next to Laclede's Landing is not as big an endeavor as it might sound. It's mostly demolition, fill, and the building of a new, landscaped, surface boulevard. There are no high cost bridges or tunnels, and no right of way acquisitions involved.

COST FACTORS - The biggest construction project underway in the St. Louis region is the rebuilding of a 10.9 mile stretch of Highway 40 from the City of St. Louis to Ballas Road in West St. Louis County. The total cost of the project is $535,000,000, with a $420,000,000 construction cost. The I-64 project includes demolishing and rebuilding 25 bridges over the highway, plus the massive reconstruciton of the 40/170 interchange.

The current proposal to build a 3-block lid over Memorial Drive is estimated to cost between $80,000,000 - $100,000,000. One reason for the high cost of the lid plan is that since 9/11, new safety standards for tunnels require extensive ventilation systems. For the same $80,000,000 - $100,000,000 (nearly a quarter the cost of the full I-64 rebuild), how much could we do to build a new Memorial Drive?

From a construction standpoint, since there are no bridges or tunnels to build, the project involves the demolition of the old highway sections, filling in the depressed lanes, and building the new section of Memorial Drive. More work is needed to design and engineer the project, however based on the information we have to date, it might be considerably less expensive to vacate the highway and rebuild Memorial Drive than building the 3-block lid over the depressed lanes.

FOLLOWING BEST PRACTICES - Other regions are improving their downtowns by the removal of highway sections cutting through the heart of their downtown areas. By replacing Interstate 70 with a new Memorial Drive, we would be following a proven strategy of successful urban revitalization, one that restores our connection to river.

LET'S FACE IT - THE CURRENT SITUATION STINKS Our downtown and the Arch deserve a lot better than the current configuration of Memorial Drive and I-70. Memorial Drive is dangerous, univiting and tired. I-70 forms either a moat or a wall dividing the Arch, Laclede's Landing, and the riverfront from the rest of St. Louis.

For one of the most beautiful manmade monuments on the planet, the Arch suffers from some, if not the worst, staging of any of them. No one benefits from the current situation - not visitors, not residents, not businesses, not anyone - well except perhaps for those drivers trying to get out of downtown St. Louis as fast as possible.

This is our opportunity to make a major change to the entire area. The change would be a dramatic improvement - the sort of thing that most people understand intuitively - they just think can't be done due to an assumption that the depressed lanes will always be there, but they don't have to be. Other regions have removed obsolete interstate highways from the heart of their downtowns, and we can too!

PROCESS - Ultimately, this is up to us. Senator Danforth is right when he states that for anything to happen in the effort to improve the access to the Arch Grounds and Riverfront, it will require the local community to buy in to the vision and work together. Key regulating agencies will be looking for a locally driven plan and financing strategy.

TRANSFORMATIONAL PROJECT - Over the past ten years, St. Louis has made phenomenal progress in revitalizing downtown. The removal of the depressed and elevated lanes of Interstate 70 through downtown, from the Poplar Street Bridge on the south to approximately Carr Street on the North, (roughly a one mile stretch), would be another huge step forward in our renaissance. A new Memorial Drive will give people entering downtown and approaching the Arch a true sense of arrival. Travelling a beautifully landscaped boulevard, visitors entering our city will see the Arch on one side and the Old Court House on the other.

Civic anchors will be connected. Daylight and views will be dramatically improved. New prime sites for development will be created. Not only will access to the Arch grounds be improved, but the overall connection between downtown, Laclede's Landing and the riverfront will be improved throughout a one-mile north-south section on the eastern edge of downtown.

Now is our time and this is our opportunity. Whatever we decide, we have this chance to make a major improvement to downtown, our riverfront and the Arch. We are in the planning and decision making phase now. St. Louis will live with the decisions we make today for the next 100-200 years, and for all of us around now, certainly the rest of our lives. If you love St. Louis and are excited about its future, this is an extremely important issue.

The next meeting to discuss the future of the Arch grounds is this coming Tuesday afternoon, July 1, at the Old Court House. If you like this idea or have other ideas about how to improve the Arch grounds, please attend the meeting or send your comments to the new Arch Superintendent, Tom Bradley, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, MO 63102.

Downtown 2-Ways

Walking through the streets of downtown this morning, I passed the Old Post Office and the under construction Old Post Office Plaza.

The street on the west side of the Old Post Office, 9th Street, also fronting the Roberts Orpheum theater, has reopened. It's operating as a two-way street between Olive and Washington.

Having to look both ways before crossing a narrow downtown street, felt like a throwback to Old St. Louis, and it was a good feeling.

Maybe with one section of a downtown street working as an "un-medianed" two-way, there's a chance for more?

Open Seating?

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day. The city is winning the war on lead poisoning, and the weather outside is perfect.

Walking downtown, there are lots of people outside. Tables at sidewalk cafes are full. It's warm, and a seat at a table under an umbrella is very inviting. Why not have more?

It takes years for a shade tree to grow up and produce shade, but a table under an umbrella offers instant shade.

What do people think of the idea of creating a sidewalk table program for the heart of downtown? There would need to be a sponsor, but we could set it up so anyone could grab a seat for free. Under an umbrella. Watching the world go by.

The owners of Gitto's and Starbucks might not like brown baggers taking up their cafe tables, but certainly people bringing their lunch to work would like a place to sit outside and eat on a nice day like today.

What about the homeless, wouldn't they take up all the free tables? Probably not. They don't seem to congregate outside the Christian Science building next to the Post Office. Besides, we're sharing downtown with homeless people anyway, and a homeless person needs a place to sit for a while the same as everyone else.

Yeah, there are benches in parks already, so why would we need to add tables and umbrellas to sidewalks? The best reason I guess is that it puts more people on the street. For me, personally, given the choice? I think I'd rather sit at a table and chair on the sidewalk than under a tree on a grassy field in a park. That's just me.

I wonder if any other cities have adopted free sidewalk cafe table programs to improve street life? It seems like a low cost way to inject some much sought after pedestrian activity. I like it.

It's Here!

Gas prices in the St. Louis area hit $4.00 per gallon for regular unleaded yesterday, while the news is reporting that Missouri has the lowest priced gasoline in the nation.

Remembering not long ago, when $2.00 per gallon gas seemed expensive, paying double that is borderline surreal.

We're making adjustments, and figuring our future decisions we'll be permanently shifted based on higher fuel costs.

For starters, we're car sharing on the home front, only operating one vehicle. Any car purchased in the future will average a minimum of 30 mpg, and we'll likely share that car as well.

Future residential moves will be withing walkin distance of Metrolink and shopping, and jobs will be in places along the Metrolink line. It's fortunate to have these options in St. Louis.

Having friends living in Jefferson and St. Charles County who deal with long commutes to work makes me wonder how the higher fuel prices are impacting them.

Having family living in California, where gas prices are running around $4.50 per gallon and long drives in heavy traffic are a routine part of the lifestyle, makes me wonder how California and other western states can sustain their car cultures.

Driving the highways on the weekends around St. Louis, and you notice a significant reduction in traffic. There's no doubt that people are definitely cutting back on unnecessary trips.

In the long run, higher fuel prices will encourage greater use of public transportation and walkable, close in communities. This should help make the urban core of the St. Louis region more competitive when people consider their neighborhood choices.

Heart for STL Corporations

St. Louis has enjoyed being headquarters for lots of major corporations. Unfortunately, for the past ten years or so, we've lost some. Southwestern Bell moved to Texas. Boeing bought out McDonnell Douglas. And now, the grandaddy of StL corporations, Anheuser Busch, is facing a takeover threat.

When we lose corporate headquarters, the whole community suffers. Visit the Zoo, and you see the names of many St. Louis corporate sponsors underwriting our free Zoo. Losing a corporate headquarters hurts us on the asset side of our civic balance sheet.

There's a grass roots move to keep A-B a St. Louis based company. Read more about it here: savebudweiser.com

Hard left or hard right?

With so much attention focused on the democratic presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, it's been easy to lose sight of the major showdown about to happen in our country this fall. While the democratic candidates have been fighting to pin down their parties nomination, it's important to remember, they're playing on the same team. The real choice for this country comes in November. And this time around, the choices for president offer Americans a real difference.

For the republicans, we have an older, white, pro-Iraq war, veteran and former P-O-W. For the democrats, we have a young, black, anti-Iraq war, Harvard trained lawyer. While the candidates will work to keep the campaign respectful, there is no telling what their party operatives and supporters might do.

In the end, this election will move our country in one of two completely opposite directions. The economy, oil prices, the war in Iraq, health care, oh, and the economy, will be central themes. How does McCain lift the economy? How does Obama address the issue of rising gas prices? What will Hillary add to the debate? Where are we headed in Iraq and Afghanistan? Where will all those Bush cabinet people go?

Does McCain pick Romney for VP to strengthen his domestic economy hand? Does Obama bring in Hillary to solidify the democratic base? While the primary race between Clinton and Obama was great political theater, it was just a warm up for what promises to be a fascinating and close general election.

Metro Proposing Fare Increases

Metro, our public transit system which includes Metrolink, is predicting budget shortfalls. To maintain current levels of service, the system is proposing rate increases.

Monthly passes for Metrolink are available for $60 (not sure if that gets you unlimited bus ridership as well). One-way Metrolink tickets are $2 apiece.

With the cost of gasoline and downtown parking, Metro fares seem low. I don't know how our rates compare to those in most other regions, but I do know that Metrolink fares are a tiny fraction compared to the fares charged on the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART).

Increasing public transit fares during tough economic times will be a large pill for some to swallow, especially those living on low and fixed incomes. On the other hand, given the rapidly increasing cost of operating single person occupany vehicles, maintaining the capacity of our public transportation system seems a necessity.

Ridership is growing to record levels. Perhaps increased ridership will offset some of the fare increase?

Goodbye Old Paint!

Today the tow truck from the Kidney Foundation arrived to haul off our 1996 Dodge Caravan. For two years now, the A/C has been dead, and a couple of weeks ago the transmission locked up. A few minor dings primered over, along with noticeable wear and tear on the interior trim, and it was time to make the decision to part with the car.

There's some sadness in seeing the vehicle that's been a part of so many of our memories being towed away for the last time. On the other hand, it's nice freeing up a parking space in front of the house, not having to budget any repair costs for the aging machine, and to remove it from the insurance policy. The one thing I will miss about it is that full tank of gas I paid for just before the transmission died.

Looking forward, there will be more trips by bicycle to the grocery store and the Metrolink Station. That's not a bad thing. And we can take our time thinking about what/if we should replace the dead van with a new one. With the high cost of the gasoline these days, buying a vehicle that averages less than 30 mpg is a tough decision.

On the bright side, if you're in the market for a new vehicle, they say they're practically giving them away. There are ads running promoting $5,000 cash rebates on new vehicles or three-year guarantees on $2.99 per gallon gas prices. I'm thinking an offer of a high mpg car, with a higher mliegage scooter thrown in the deal, just might turn us into buyers!

Dumb question, I know...

Since eating and drinking are prohibited on board Metrolink trains, why is there a Pepsi machine on the 8th and Pine station platform?

Busch Stadium -- It Was Built!

(Since many people leave based on their first impression, the title of this post was changed from the original tongue in cheek version, "Busch Stadium Should Have Not Been Built")

No, not the new Busch Stadium, it should have been built...we're referring to Busch II, the first downtown stadium opened in 1966, about the same time as the Arch.

Busch Stadium should not have been built because it replaced a thriving Chinatown in downtown St. Louis referred to as "Hop Alley". People don't often think of St. Louis as a destination for Asian immigrants, but it did at one time have it's own Chinatown.

Hop Alley was tiny compared to the Chinatowns of New York and San Francisco. I wasn't around at the time, but from what I've read, it was real, and it was located at the site of the former Busch Stadium. When the stadium was built, a number of former uses were removed, to make way for the new ballpark.

Had Busch Stadium remained in North City at Grand and Dodier, Hop Alley in downtown St. Louis would have been preserved, and St. Louis today would be more urban and ethnically diverse. True fact? Maybe so? We really don't know and we can't say. That's not our history, so basing arguments on the premise really can't be proven either way.

As much as St. Louisans loath change, our history is one of steady changes. Today, we have a thriving Asian district along Olive Boulevard. It's much larger than the old Hop Alley, running nearly from the city limits on the east to west of 170 in Creve Coeur and Olivette.

Busch II, our first downtown baseball stadium, was part of a wave of downtown redevelopment which included the Arch and many of the office towers downtown. From an academic perspective, one might ask, what would have happened if instead of downtown, the Cardinals chose to move to the western suburbs? That didn't happen either, but it's fun to think of the possibile outcomes. Some might suggest the Cardinals leaving St. Louis proper would have been good for the city.

They might argue that city leaders would then have been forced to consider a future without major league sports. Older buildings would have been preserved, so there would have been more rehab opportunities. Remember though, this was the 1960s, and historic preservation had not reached the economic leveraging potential we see today. So perhaps, the buildings demolished for Busch Stadium and other new construction would have been lost anyway. We don't know.

Instead, we are what we are today. We continue to evolve and change. Our community has certain tools and values guiding our efforts, and we have different issues and challenges now than we had in 1966.

Will Anheuser Busch remain a St. Louis based company? Will the Arch grounds and downtown be better connected? Will the Rams remain in downtown St. Louis or the region at all? What will come of the St. Louis Centre Skybridge over Washington Avenue?

Lemay is No. 1!

In its April 2008 edition, Fortune magazine rates the the top 100 communities in the country to start a small business. 85th on the list, and the only St. Louis place to be included is...drumbeat please...Lemay, Missouri!

Located at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the River Des Peres, Lemay's history is as old as Carondelet's, and its welcoming business climate makes it a competitive location to start a new company. Factor in its central location, and Lemay businesses have a lower transportation costs as well.

Part of the Hancock and Bayless School districts, Lemay has a stock of older homes, many built in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. One challenge for older communities like Lemay and our other inner ring suburbs is how to modernize their pre and post World War 2 housing stocks to keep them attractive to today's homebuyers.

One of the best routes to preserve historic neighborhoods is to keep them viable over the decades. With Lemay's notice as a good place for business, it can only mean good things for the area's other community betterment efforts.

Hats off to the many people and organizations working to promote the Lemay community, and congratulations for this recognition by one of the country's leading financial advice publications!

Dave Murray: A Stand Up Guy

After having waded through water in the alley, sitting for hours at rain-delayed youth baseball tournament games, and watching cars navigate the shoulder lane on I-44 like motor boats, to say the weather forecasters blew it this weekend would be the understatement of the year.

Last week, the forecast was for a beautiful weekend. The Post Dispatch said it would perfect weather to go to the pool. Yet, by Monday afternoon, it was clear Mother Nature had different plans. Some parts of the region had 6 or more inches or rain over the weeked.

In a show of class, on the 5:00 pm newscast on Channel 2 Monday afternoon, weatherman Dave Murray gave a stand up, apology for his blown forecast. He did it with class, and cautioned, never trust a St. Louis warm front. Seeing a weather man owe up for a rotten weather prediction was a breath of fresh air.

It's interesting in these days of advanced radar, computer models, etc, that in St. Louis, weather predictions remain a tough call. Through it all, some stations are now making 7-day forecasts? They're kidding, right?

Metrolink Comings and Goings

In the week-plus since the car died, I've been a regular rider on Metrolink. Having light rail available as an alternate to driving your own car sure is a nice option. It's economical, it's relaxing, and it opens your eyes to all sorts of things you never see from behind the wheel of a car.

We have a funny way about names here in St. Louis. They get changed, but we don't
always go with the changes. Like Metro. I think the whole public transit system of Bi-State now operates under the name Metro, but for me, I'll always think of the trains as Metrolink.

They say we're really like a small town here in St. Louis, and it's true. Without fail, every day I've ridden the train, I've bumped into one or more friends and business associates. The other day, one of my colleagues working in another downtown office was waiting at the station. We hadn't seen each other for awhile, so I walked up to him, we shook hands, and started to chat. Seated next to him was a woman, seemingly minding her own business. Not for long. She made me her business.

"Hey, you wanna move?", she said. "Huh?" I'm thinking...move? "Why?" I asked. "You're blocking my view." "Blocking your view? Of what". (We were in an underground station. She motioned to the west bound tunnel. We were waiting for a train coming from the east. At that point my friend muttered, "...people in their own world..." He stood up and we walked a few feet down the platform, and continued our conversation.

At the other end of the line, while exiting the station, a guy walking up the stairs is holding his MP3 player in his mouth like an infant's binky. Okay. I'm thinking, maybe some variation on a Peter Frampton voice box? That was different.

Every day is something new. More and more people are riding the trains. Ridership is growing and setting new records every week. With the price of gas these days, it's no wonder. Just yesterday I saw diesel at $4.65 per gallon. It's gotten insane.

So you've heard of the "last straw"? The last straw implies that there are some preceding, final straws. Yesterday, one of those final straws for me was waiting at the Clayton station. He, better stated the views he represented, were among the things leading up to our departure from our old church. In meetings, he espoused views justifying slavery based on a biblical context.

The seat next to me is empty. I'm hoping, don't sit here...don't sit here...don't sit here. There were lots of other empty seats...He sits down right next to me. Wonderful. I keep my head forward, and slightly turned away. He doesn't say a word. Good. Maybe he doesn't recognize me. We're sitting next to each other passing a few platforms.

He's holding some official looking documents in his hands, and he's dressed like a lawyer. I'm curious. Taking a quick glance at the title, they're called "The Law and the Gospel". Oh brother. I guess things really don't change that much.

Today on the train, we're riding through one of my favorite parts of the trip: the industrial section near the Grand Avenue platform. Here you're passing alongside lots of other rail lines. Stopped at the station, I see about a half dozen pigeons and one other bird pecking into the coal-looking rocks between the rails of the next track. They looked to be eating, but what sort of food would they find there? In between a pile of railbed rock. It was odd.

Then it dawned on me. A passing freight train must have dropped some grain or something down onto the tracks. It's the last place you'd think a tiny creature would get a meal, but sure enough, they liked it just fine.

One of the nice things about Metrolink is that it's very uncomplicated. You're either going west bound or east bound. With the exception of the trip out to Lambert, it's pretty much a one-track line. And the engineers give lots of updates and announcements. There's not a whole lot of thinking required. You get on board, chill for 20 or 30 minutes. Then you get off and you're there. A connection between work and home that is made via Metrolink has got to be one of the best quality of life options there is in St. Louis.

With the outrageous price of gas these days, and no relief in sight, maybe St. Louis is ready to up the pace of Metrolink expansion? I would definitely vote in favor of that happening.

A good reason to move: sleep!

When we moved to a quieter, 2-way street with lots of shade we thought we found just right house. Great neighbors. Pretty brick houses. Great holiday decorations. Tops in block parties. Walking distance to everything. A lush backyard as seen in the photo above. We love the house and the neighborhood.

Lots of kids making friends with young son. Parks and churches nearby. People taking good care of their houses. What more could you want in a neighborhood? Everything seemed perfect. And it was! There's just one tiny problem. The place isn't just perfect for us - the wildlife likes it too. Too much. Not inside-outside!

All that lush vegetation in the backyard? It's the perfect habitat for rabbits, mice, squirrels, birds, possum, raccoon, foxes, everything. We're in the city, and it's living on the set of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Which is okay. We like having wildlife in the area. This time of year the singing birds are everywhere. And it's neat to see the occasional fox. We love the rabbits. It's all good. All good except for one thing: our dog can't stand it. She's half beagle, half shepherd. To her, the situation is totally unacceptable. And she's made it her job to do something about it. And she does.

Every night, without fail, between 3 and 4 am, she gets up to get to work. And she can't do her rounds without someone with her, for if she does, she will bark to alert us humans of her successes in flushing the wildlife from the yard. And good neighbors that we try to be, we can't have her out there in the middle of the night barking at every rabbit and squirrel she rousts from the yard. So daddy gets to accompany her on her "job".

Now you know that a happy dog needs to have a job, right? They do. And we want our dog to be happy. So, bleary-eyed and half awake, out I go, wrapped in a blanket, toting a flashlight, and dozing on a folding chair, to accompany loyal Hollie, as she protects us from the invading hoards of field mice, squirrels, and cotton tail rabbits. It's all very sweet really. But it's wreaking havoc on my sleep pattern. Something's gotta give, and we certainly won't give up the dog. And I've got to be able to get at least six hours of sleep. So what to do?

It dawned on me this morning. The only solution is we move. Not because we have a kid "reaching school age". Or because we have an "old house". Or because of the "1% earnings tax". No, I guess we'd be moving because we love our dog too much. That's a good reason, isn't it. Or is it crazy? We move because we love the dog too much?

Love of dogs is something that must be pretty important to St. Louis. We've got our own Dog Museum, and we've got an amazing person in one Randy Grimm of Stray Rescue. STL Rising wishes to thank fellow St.Louisan, Randy Grimm, for his love of dogs and his selfless acts of service rescuing stray dogs from the streets of our region. For his years of effort, Stray Rescue was just awarded the $1,000,000 top prize in a national contest to continue its efforts.

According to the sponsors of the contest, one of the reasons Stray Rescue was chosen was the way the St. Louis community rallied around Grimm's Stray Rescue program. Thanks to Randy Grimm and Stray Rescue for all the good they do to help save dogs from the streets and bringing positive attention to St. Louis.

St. Louis getting national attention for pulling together as a community for a worthwhile cause....that's about the best kind of news we can get, isn't it? And so while we may need to find a different house on a block where the backyard doesn't transform nightly into a scene from Where the Wild Things Are, that's certainly no reason to move too far away. A downtown condo maybe? Or maybe one in a converted old school? Something along Metro? Pave the backward? Hmmm. I wonder if they offer "test rests"...

Online discussion looking for a larger audience...

Start on page 28 and read backwards...

A new project for Charlie Brennan?

When it comes to promoting the good things about St. Louis, KMOX's Charlie Brennan is a one-man PR machine. The historic red line downtown, books about St. Louis, and plaques like the one of Mr. and Mrs. Dred Scott in front of the Old Court House are just a few of things he's done to help tell the story of St. Louis.

We come to depend on people like Charlie Brennan to get the word out about this place. After all, we're not a very self-promoting sort of people. We tend to be humble, low-key, self-deprecating, and modest. And it's too bad really. There really are a lot of good things to tout about St. Louis. Like Forest Park.

The transformation of Forest Park is nothing short of amazing. It has gone from a tired, scary for some, expanse of green space - albeit dotted with interesting attractions - to a seamless place of beauty and serenity. At the heart of it all is the Grand Basin at the foot of Art Hill.

When you're standing there, in front of the Grand Basin, you're in the exact spot where the 1904 World's Fair took place. But would you ever know it? What about out of towners? Would they? They've possibly heard of the 1904 World's Fair (it's one of the few things we do talk about...). So they might know the Fair happened in Forest Park. But the park is so big, would they know where in the park the Fair was held? Probably not.

Is there a marker, perhaps a bronze relief with an image of the Fair, mounted atop a brick or stone pedestal, describing the Fair? Wouldn't something like that be a nice addition to the promenade that runs along the edge of the Grand Basin, from where you can look across the water, to Art Hill, and upward to the Art Museum?

"....Here in the summer of 1904, St. Louis staged the 1904 World's Fair. This Grand Basin and the Art Museum on top of Art Hill are the only remaining landmarks from the Fair. The Fair ran from April to December of 1904, and was the first place...." etc. For a town so proud of its World's Fair, I can't think of a historical marker in Forest Park memorializing it. Is there one?

If not, wouldn't that be an ideal project for Charlie Brennan? After all, isn't he our town's number one historical and civic ambassador? Maybe so, but the idea of electing Charlie Brennan to do the work is symptomatic of another St. Louis trait: We like other people to do things for us.

The blogosphere is a good place to see lots of people calling out other people to do things. But beyond the blogs, overall, it's part of how we are. We find problems. We cite them. Then we expect others to take responsibility. Maybe it's all part of human nature.

Volunteering others to do work is cheap talk. Ideas are free. Everyone has them. Accomplishing stuff takes time, resources, and commitment. That's where we are faced with choices.

Do you choose to make a difference? Where do you see the priorities for our time, resources and commitment?

NPS to Start Dialogue Re. Future of Arch Grounds

Did you know that the National Park Service controls the land under the I-70 depressed lanes? That's one of the things involved with any changes to Memorial Drive, the depressed lanes, or the Arch grounds. It's all under the control of the National Park Service.

Yesterday, the National Park Service announced that it will revisit the "management plan" for the Arch, a document that dates back over 40 years. A lot has changed in 40 years, so the National Park Service has decided to engage the public in a discussion about how to position the Arch and its surroundings for the next generation or two.

One suggestion is to build a "walkway" over Memorial Drive, however, the idea of ceding land from the NPS to the City of St. Louis or some other local authority was not expressly mentioned as part of the agenda.

It will be interesting to see how much is available for review and discussion, but the good news is that this is a start. The timeframe for receiving public input is estimated at 18 months.

KMOX Reports on North St. Louis Land Acquisition Activity

KMOX has picked up on the story of private land acquisitions taking place on the near north side. The pattern of land acquisitions suggests a development plan may be in the works. Reporter Kevin Killeen interviewed a state representative, however, he was unable to get any comment about the acquisition activity from the ownership group.

While the story has been covered widely in the blogs, and was featured in the RFT, the mainstream media has given the issue minimal attention. Perhaps with wider media attention, a major announcement of a development proposal may be coming soon?

Red Light Cameras Hard at Work

Over the past couple of years, "red light cameras" have been popping up at signalized intersections across the metro. The camera snaps a picture of cars running a red light, and then the owner of the car is mailed a violation notice with a fine. Based on the number of flash bulbs going off, the system is generating a lot of traffic fines.

A longer standing tradition here in St. Louis is the right of way given to cars driving in funeral processions. To newcomers, it's a little hard to get used to. Cars in parade formation drive right through red lights.

Yesterday, the two practices faced off right in front of me. The light was red, a funeral procession continued right through the red light, and there was the red light camera, busily snapping photos of every car driving through the light. There must have been thirty or forty of them.

What happens now? Do these drivers have to fight the tickets? Will they get them? Do they assume when a long line of cars runs a light in succession, it's a funeral procession so they don't bother sending the tickets?

Blogger has a problem

The security codes to make new posts, the ones where you have to enter the anti-spam letters in the box, have become nearly impossible to read. For me at least. Has anyone else noticed this?

Why does blogger schmoosh the security letters so close together that they are nearly impossible to read? Sometimes it takes me four or five tries to get a post past the spam blocker. Is it just me, or is my increasingly advancing age rendering me more and more incapable of functioning in this (youth dominated/sight advantaged?) internet world?

(ps: I'm now on my third try to enter this post...maybe its an Apple thing?)

(okay, this is ridiculous,,,now its the fourth try...)

(the first round of editing has me back dealing with blogger's spam blocker gatekeeper..here we go again...)

Hillary for the win?

About 6 weeks ago, Barack Obama was looking solid to win the democratic nomination for president. However, since the whole Reverend Wright (sp?) eruption, the democratic nomination now looks totally up for grabs.

Hillary has a strong base in St. Louis. Our mayor endorsed her campaign early on, while Senator Claire McCaskill has been a strong Obama backer.

Both candidates offer new direction for the country. Would one be better for St. Louis?

Maybe we'll see an Obama/Clinton ticket? Does anyone believe that will be the ultimate outcome of the Democratic National Convention?

If it were, then do the democrats prevail versus John McCain in November?

Centene and the Art of the Deal

After a failed eminent domain attempt in Clayton, Centene offered to build its corporate headquarters at Ballpark Village. For reasons never fully explained, Centene withdrew its Ballpark Village plans, and is now once again poised to re-up its Clayton Missouri headquarters expansion effort.

Given all the recent history of Centene's site location efforts, real estate observers will be interested to follow the next round of negotiations. There is no question that the 1,000 or so Centene jobs are an attractive economic development opportunity for any community.

As a decision maker, where do you think the negotiation leverage rests now? Does Clayton offer tax incentives to re-lure Centene?

Impacting change

Outside of our professional lives, we face many choices about the issues that are important enough to us that we want to become personally involved. We all filter them through some sort of internal screening process to set our own priorities. Yet, if we are to positively impact the situation, we must come up with an effective approach. How do you decide how to proceed? A few examples...

Your neighborhood has a problem property. You want something done about it. What's the best thing to do?

There are lots of historic buildings in your community, and you're concerned about preserving them. How should you proceed?

The school near your home needs better athletic fields, but they are landlocked. How can you help them get a "home field"?

A local nonprofit does important work, but the funding to continue their operation is at risk. What should you do?

Every day we encounter different challenges and opportunities, especially in active communities like St. Louis. There are tradeoffs, positives and negatives, and lots of different perspectives and competing priorities.

If you have a goal to see some certain outcome, what is the best way for a single person to make a real impact toward achieving the desired result?

Do you have a pet project you'd like to see happen? For some, the preservation of the San Luis Apartments has become an important issue. There is a plan to tear the building down and create a parking lot to serve the needs of the Arch Diocese. Some would rather see the building preserved. Competing priorities, different perspectives. A neighborhood priority? Maybe, maybe not.

A pet project of mine? One is the revamping of the connection between the Arch/Riverfront and downtown. I believe it's a major concern impacting our city/region and that we can do better. A lot better.

However, it's also one of those things where a single person doesn't carry much weight. So why should I get involved? The Arch connection to downtown involves a myriad of public agencies, lots of money, and many institutions and individuals. It's a complicated situation, but that makes it more interesting! It could take years.

The only way something will happen is for the community to come together around a feasible solution. We want to build a better community, but we also don't want to waste precious time. Perhaps the real challenge is to figure out how to pick your battles?

STL Rising: From the In-Box

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL

(forwarded with permission)

Dear Friends of the Community:

The "African-American Heritage Festival Committee" (AAHFC) proudly presents the Third Annual "African American Heritage Festival" at the beautiful and refurbished Fairground Park. The city's Northside has always been and will always be the cultural base for the Black community. With many former Northside residents spread over the metropolitan area, we invite you all to this festivity because you are still members of this proud community.

The AAHFC is planning this exciting event for Sunday May 18, 2008. The festivities will begin at 1:00 p.m. and we will party and play until 6:00 p.m. The ENTIRE FAIRGROUND PARK will be filled with plenty of action for everyone so come all and bring your entire family. There will be fishing, boat rides, games, sporting events, music, entertainment, booths and concession stands and much, much more!

Anyone wishing to participate in the event must RSVP to Ms. Harris via fax at (314)381-8534 or call (314)385-0145 to confirm your space. Booth space is now available but it won't be for long so you need to call to confirm your space by May 13, 2008. Time is of the essence. All booths and concession stands are $50.00. Please make checks/money orders payable to "African American Heritage Festival". Ms. Harris will provide all the information to obtain the permits for booths and concessions.

All proceeds from this event will be donated to the charitable organization of the Alderman's choice within the 1st, 3rd, and 21st Wards of your Northside community. Be proud of your community and its heritage. Come out to this wonderful event. This event is for YOU! Please call if you have any questions and we thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Bennice Jones-King - Alderwoman, 21st Ward
Charles Quincy Troupe - Alderman, 1st Ward
Freeman Bosley, Sr. - Alderman, 3rd Ward

Metropolis STL Figures Prominent in 2008 STL City Schools Story

An article in today's Post about young city families with kids reaching school age highlights the stories of a number of former Metropolis St. Louis members.

The article is about the choices families face in trying to balance their desire to live in the city with finding suitable educational opportunities for their children. From homeowner to Special Administrative Board member, former Metropolis St. Louis members are making their stamp on the city.

KWMU To Feature Neighborhood Histories

Tune in to Don Marsh's St. Louis On The Air show today at 11:00 am, 90.7 FM, to hear a discussion about neighborhood histories as a marketing and economic development resource. It promises to be an interesting conversation. Marsh's teaser for the show didn't reveal any of the guests. Anybody know?

STL Cardinals: Community Partner

Being forever in search of sources to underwrite community projects, I just happened upon one you might want to check out for yourself. We're talking about the Cardinal's "consignment ticket sales" program.

If you have access to a large group of Cardinal fans - and in St. Louis, who doesn't? - you have the opportunity to make an easy $3,000 - $5,000 for your community group. Here's how the Cardinals explained it to me...

Make a plan to sell 300-500 tickets through your organization. Work out a game date with the Cardinals. The Cardinals then print out the tickets, and in 3-5 business days, they get them to you. You enter into a contract to purchase the tickets, but there is no payment required up front. About 2 weeks before the date of the game, on "settlement day", you make payment to the Cardinals for the tickets according to the contract.

Here's how it helps your organization. Depending on the face value of the ticket, the Cardinals discount the price. Discounts of up to $10 per ticket are available. Work it right, and your organization can clear $10 per ticket. Sell 300-500 tickets, and that translates to $3,000 - $5,000 to your program or project's bottom line. Not bad for a day at the ballpark!

Work out your arrangements early in the season - like now - for a game say in August or September, and you have more than 2 months to sell the tickets. That's not too hard. For your efforts, enjoy a fun night out with your group; your organization gets its name on the Busch Stadium scoreboard and perhaps a plug on KTRS radio; you bring in cash for your program or project; so it's a win all around.

Surely there must be limitations on such an offer, so for more information, call the St. Louis Cardinals group sales office at 314-345-9370 and ask about the "consignment ticket sales" program. It could turn out to be a real winner for your organization!

"Pulse" or "Linked In"?

As we get more connected through the online world, companies offering professional networks through the internet appear to be a growing trend.

To date, most of the inquiries I've received have been through the "Linked In" network. However, since Friday, I've had two inquiries from highly reputable people, on the "Pulse" network. Is Pulse trying to outwork Linked In? Is there a difference?

Online professional networks make sense, but I wonder which ones are the best. How many would you join?

Well, I just joined Pulse. (The system prompts said "Plaxo". Aren't they a part of "Big Pharma"?) Upon entering the Pulse system, there were many of my Linked In contacts!

Small world meets big world?

STL Rising: Earthquake Reports

We were already up - the dog was barking for no apparent reason - and then out of nowhere the whole house started to shake. My first reaction was that a massive gust of wind had just slammed into the house. The only curious thing was that it had lasted so long, twice really, first a short blast, followed by a second, longer one.

The shaking was violent; we could hear it. The next thing we thought was we had just had an earthquake. One's first reactions following an earthquake where everything seems okay are relief and possibly some excitement. However, in an earthquake, one's perspective quickly changes.

The likelihood is, wherever you are during an earthquake, things are probably worse somewhere else. Coming from California, we've felt a lot of earthquakes. This morning's quake was the strongest one I've ever felt outside of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in Northern California.

We were attending the World Series game between the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants when the earthquake hit - that's a whole 'nother story - and sure enough, while the shaking was bad at Candlestick Park, it was much worse in other places. Living along the San Andreas Fault line, you live in wait for the "Big One".

Fortunately, our Midwest shaker ended before things got out of control. So far, there are no reports of serious damage. The quake is reported to have been centered 127 miles east of St. Louis, registering 5.4 on the Richter Scale. Compared to the California quakes we've been through it felt stronger than that. Hopefully things are okay in central Illinois.

I'm thinking the stronger shaking we felt from a medium magnitude quake has something to do with the solid bedrock spread out under this midwest.

Rock, Meet Bottom

There is a space in time in any musical performance where one beat falls exactly between two others. As part of the natural wiring of our brains, we feel that point. When a note is played slightly off beat, we sense that too.

John Bonham, drummer for the classic rock band Led Zeppelin, had an uncanny ability to hit that mark with perfection. The heavy beat behind all of Zeppelin's music was based on Bonham's signature rhythm. The bottom of something, like in music, is looking for a firm stop. It establishes a critical turning point for us to know that something is preparing to resolve in the other direction.

It is becoming more and more apparent that parts of our city have also found their bottom and are now coming back up. N. Grand is a good example. Yesterday, I was part of a group of about thirty people attending a meeting of the Federal Reserve's 2008 Exploring Innovation series. We met at the new offices of Justine Petersen, located at 1023 N. Grand. 1023 N. Grand was once an abandoned building owned by the city's Land Reutilization Authority.

Justine Petersen has renovated the former LRA building into an exquisite headquarters office to serve their homeownership and micro enterprise lending programs. In addition, the building has storefront space for lease fronting N. Grand.

The building is located about five blocks north of the Fox Theater in what some would generally consider North City, but what is also an expansion of the city's burgeoning Midtown district. The meeting was well attended, and many people parked their cars for free along the side street.

1023 N. Grand is a stately old office building, once housing doctors and lawyers. Much of the original charm is intact, especially noticeable when entering through the main N. Grand entrance. It is during the down phase of a community when such properties become abandoned, and a credit to the people at Justine Petersen for seeing potential in the same building and becoming a partner in the revitalization of another part of our city.

As in music, there is art in identifying that precise moment when things begin resolving in a positive direction. Petersen Housing made magic through their efforts. Around town, there is an increasing sense that more and more of our neighborhoods are going through the same positive turnaround. Can you feel it?