City Savvy

Alternative source of general revenue?


From an amenity and destination standpoint, the City of St. Louis could be considered a "target rich environment". Lots of people from throughout the region and the entire midwest visit St. Louis for a variety of reasons.

They come here for our restaurants, the interesting neighborhoods, the museums, the schools, to view historic architecture, visit world class hospitals, attend sporting events, enjoy our wonderful parks, neighborhood festivals, and parades.

Year after year, they come by the millions. Tomorrow, tens of thousands will line up on the streets of downtown for the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. Those visitors support local businesses but they also place a demand on local services in a city starved for general revenue.

How to capture some of that traffic in a way to bolster a flagging city budget? What about creating a program for the savvy city visitor? Those visitors know they get the best of our region's arts and entertainment when they visit St. Louis.

Why not invite them to become "patrons" of the City St. Louis? With modern technology, such a system is possible. Patrons would simply affix a bar code on their vehicles.

The city could then install scanners at the many entry points to St. Louis. Once a month, an electronic transer could be made from the checking accounts of city patrons to the City of St. Louis Collector of Revenue. Only those people actually visiting the city would pay a fee. Those never entering St. Louis would not be assessed any access charges.

Of course, such a program would need to be completely voluntary. It would, however, provide one alternative to the city's earnings tax. If you're a non-city resident, would you support such a program?

Vacant Properties Awareness

The image above is from a recent street slip edition of What's Up Magazine. What's Up Magazine is a project of Jay Swoboda that builds awareness and creates income opportunties for the homeless of St. Louis. The street slip edition above delves into the arena of vacant properties and describes the recent "Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference" held in Cleveland, Ohio. For related info, please visit: community progress.net

There's no doubt that St. Louis has a vacant properties problem. It's not a new problem. It's been with us since at least the 1970s. Today, the population of St. Louis is roughly 41% of its 1950s peak of approximately 850,000. Back then the city was a network of neighborhoods from north to south, all served by street cars and lots of neighborhood retail.

When those 500,000 or so residents moved away, they left behind empty buildings and a growing base of decay. They took with them a lot of spending power. Some areas were hit much harder than others. Today, you can see those areas in abandoned buildings, poorly maintained buildings, and lots of vacant land. What to do now?

There are lots of ideas. What makes sense for St. Louis? This is an important issue for St. Louis to address, and if done right, could be a source of great economic and community development. Thanks to Jay and others for raising the profile of the issue.

Dog friendly St. Louis

Most dogs need more exercise than they get. Today in my in-box there was an announcement of a new pet service geared toward offering a tailor made exercise routine for your dog. It's run by a young entrepreneur here in St. Louis. Please take note and share the information with people who might need such a service:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Young Entrepreneur is the First to Bring Dog Running to Saint Louis: Pet Services Company, Go Dogs St. Louis, to Offer Dog Running

SAINT LOUIS, Mo – (Nov. 16, 2010) - Recently established pet services company, Go Dogs St. Louis, is the first company in the St. Louis area to offer dog running. Young entrepreneur, Natalie Provost, knew she wanted to start a business in the pet industry and while there are multiple pet service companies in the greater St. Louis area offering daily dog walks and visits, some dogs need more exercise. Natalie recognized a need for the area that fit with her athletic background and love for dogs.

Go Dogs St. Louis is based on the premise that dogs need exercise, and certain breeds need significantly more exercise than their owners have the time or capacity to provide. Running provides dogs with dynamic and mentally stimulating exercise and offers multiple health and behavioral benefits. Adequate amounts of regular, essential exercise increases a canine companion’s quality of life and allows pet parents to enjoy a healthier pet as well as positive behavior in the home. Regular exercise is especially important for energetic, hyperactive and overweight dogs.

“Our goal is to enhance the quality of dog’s life with fun and regular essential exercise,” says Go Dogs St. Louis founder and principal, Natalie Provost. In addition to dog running, Go Dogs St. Louis also offers a variety of pet services, including dog walking, puppy program, pet taxi and pet sitting.

Not all dogs are candidates for running, which is why Go Dogs St. Louis evaluates each dog prior to beginning any endurance program and may recommend an alternative endurance routine, such as brisk or leisurely walking. “The goal is not to log miles, but rather to improve and maintain each dog’s health and general well being through fun and stimulating exercise,” says Natalie Provost.

For more information please visit godogsstl.com

Contact:
Natalie Provost
natalie@godogsstl.com
Phone: (314) 452-3545

Thanks, Natalie, for sending out the press release.

Note from the moderator: Please check out the website. It has lots of practical information about providing a good home and healthy lifestyle for your dog(s).

Creating multiple levels of momentum

The City + Arch + River Foundation has set October 2015 for the deadline to complete improvements to the Arch. That's an aggressive timeline for a $300,000,000 project. It's good to have a goal date because it gets everyone working together on a clear objective. Setting the goal gets momentum moving towards the date.

Teams in the Arch design competition described longer range efforts to improve downtown and the Arch beyond the 2015 deadline. One of those is highway removal. Why not set another deadline to remove the downtown lanes of I-70 separating the riverfront and Arch grounds from downtown? Having multiple deadlines creates multiple levels of momentum.

What about setting October 2020 for the goal date to replace the highway with a new boulevard? That leaves five years for building the boulevard after completion of the new I-70 bridge over the Mississippi. More people working on combined efforts, all with common interests and shared values - a better connected, more vibrant downtown, riverfront, and Arch grounds - creates mulitple levels of momentum.


The Arch design program is in its final stages. Design teams and community leaders are looking at construction plans and cost estimates. They are also finalizing crucial connections between downtown and the riverfront neighborhoods of Laclede's Landing, the Arch, and Chouteau's Landing. One option is to build a lid over the depressed lanes. MVVA, the winning team of the Arch design competition, proposed a lid over the depressed lanes, but also left north and south bound lanes of Memorial Drive passing through the lid.

In the image above, City to River suggests how a program of building the lid, removing the highway lanes, and having Memorial Drive pass underneath the lid can all be combined in a downtown/riverfront connectivity strategy. As the drawing indicates, it is possible to build a lid over the depressed lanes designed to have the boulevard ultimately separated from it by passing through an 1-2 block underpass made available through the vacation of the depressed interstate lanes.

Click on the image for a more detailed view - highlighted areas show new commercial frontage created for expansion of existing buildings and new development sites. Much better views of these connections are available through the City to River link above. It's possible to imagine how drivers could access new underground Arch parking through this same lid underpass. In this manner, the underpass and lid become a primary new entry point for drivers visiting the Arch and downtown.

Creating a phased development plan for downtown and the riverfront with multiple goals on parallel tracks builds momentum for all projects and keeps things building towards greater outcomes.

SF Rising

Having spent my first 30 years in the Bay Area, I grew up on Giants' baseball, watching Hall of Famers like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Gaylord Perry on the field. But we never saw a World Series winner. Places like St. Louis and Oakland got to experience those thrills.

The years of Candlestick Park baseball were long, cold, and difficult. Since moving out of New York, the Giants have never won a World Series. For all the fans of the Giants in the Bay Area and elsewhere, let's hope this is their year.

The Giants of 2010 are a fun team to cheer. They're built around pitching and youth. Their manager, in classic San Francisco tradition, is a gravelly-voiced Italian named Bruce Bocce. You can imagine seeing him dining at one of the City's North Beach restaurants after a game.

The 2010 team has an inspiring narrative in young catching and hitting star Buster Posey. The team's orange and black color theme is dull for most of the year, but a perfect match for October baseball.

St. Louis has a rooting interest in former Cardinal Edgar Renteria filling in at shortstop for the injured Juan Uribe. Renteria brings multiple post season championships and overall veteran experience to the clubhouse.

After many years of possibly leaving the Bay Area for warmer, friendlier playing confines, at ATT Park, the Giants now play in what is arguably the most beautiful ballpark in the country.

Could 2010 finally be the year for a World Championship parade for the San Francisco Giants down Market Street? Is the new ballpark the difference?

Perhaps ATT Park is an example of how architecture improves our quality of life. Or, can architects help you win a World Series? Maybe in San Francisco!

Sitting amongst subsidized millionaires...

...well, not exactly amongst, let's say above.

On Sunday we attended the Rams/Chargers game at the Edward Jones Dome. Our seats were located halfway to the top of the nose bleed section. Corner of the end zone. Great game. The resurgent Rams won by a score of 20-17, evening their record to 3 wins and 3 losses.

These days, professional sports teams get subsidies to build stadiums. I like football and I like baseball, so I don't mind part of my tax dollar going to such things, especially when we have a winning team. If that's what it takes to keep big league sports in town, I'm open to it.

Our society subsidizes lots of things. Highways, military spending, the arts, police and fire protection, libraries and schools. Why not entertainment?

Welcome Sign In "The Grove"

Never mind that old "don't forget to turn out the lights" line people used to say about St. Louis.

From the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation comes word that the Grove/Forest Park Southeast neighborhood will soon be welcoming residents and visitors to the area with a bright new illuminated sign over Manchester Avenue.

Click here for more details and photos.

One block of downtown street grid re-connected

After more than two years of closure, 8th Street between Washington Avenue and Locust has been reopened to cars, cyclists, pedestrians, and truck traffic.

The street connects the main entrance of the Convention Center to the Old Post Office Plaza and the rest of downtown, adjacent to the west side of US Bank and the new Robert's Tower.

With some construction activity still underway on the new tower, for the time being 8th Street is only opened for one lane, but it's amazing what a difference it already makes just having that one street re-connected. It's much easier to get around.

It makes you wonder how many more options for downtown visitors the one re-opening creates, and then makes you really wonder what a fully reconnected downtown street grid would mean for the vitality of St. Louis.

No doubt there is a multiplier effect on many levels.

Arch design competition picked a winning team...

...but many large questions remain.

Chief among those is how to deal with the connection between the Arch grounds and downtown.

The winning MVVA team proposed a lid over the I-70 depressed lanes, with Memorial Drive remaining open in both directions across the lid.

Last week there was a meeting where proponents of the Arch redesign suggested that Memorial Drive be closed at the lid.

MVVA proposed closing Washington Avenue between Memorial Drive and the riverfront. The jury for the competition didn't like that idea, and recommended keeping the street open.

MVVA proposed closing Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard at the foot of the Arch grounds along the riverfront, which to date hasn't generated much public response.

Large questions remain in the reworking of the Arch grounds. A ninety-day fine-tuning period has been established, currently at about day seventeen, to finalize how these questions will be decided.

The biggest questions are the same ones that were being asked at the start of the competition: What to do with the connections between downtown and the Arch grounds and what to do with the I-70 barrier between the city and the riverfront neighborhoods.

The question of how to pay for all of it is equally a part of the conversation. Proponents are mum on cost estimates. The design team is working on a budget at this time as well, but the cost will depend on the design, which is still being finalized.

With so many moving parts, the process is complex and difficult. How do you sell something with so many open questions? In the Show Me State of Missouri, it's not easy.

Refresh Everything Contest

St. Louis's own Operation Brightside is in a national gardening competition. Learn more and support our local team by voting here.

New study: 40% of kids' food "empty calories"

The news reported today on the continuing epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. Quoting an MD from the east coast, the story said that 40% of a child's diet between the ages of 2 and 18 is from "empty calories".

Eating foods with empty calories adds to your waistline, but provides no nourishment. Obesity follows.

The story described the types of foods that provide empty calories. Candy, junk food, and pizza. Pizza??

How is pizza an empty calorie food? It's bread, cheese, tomato sauce, and meat or vegetable topping. Those are all healthy foods. What's the problem?

Bosnian Born + Brooklyn Bred = St. Louis Success

Pizzeria Tivoli

Located in a splendidly rehabbed historic mixed use property at the corner of Kingsighway and Holly Hills on the same block as Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South St. Louis, the new Pizzeria Tivoli deserves your business.

Chef Sam hails from Brooklyn and owner Yana from Bosnia. The owner lives upstairs after completing an immaculate rehab of the property. Creative pizza selections are baked in an open flame, 600 degree wood burning brick oven, resulting in a delicious smoky-light crispness in the crust and wonderful flavor in the toppings.

All pizzas are the same size (well approximately the same size - they're all hand made so no two are exactly the same size), large enough for two persons (three slices apiece), and surprisingly affordable (ranging from $10-$12). Quality beers on tap and good wine by the glass can be purchased in the $4 range. Don't be surprised if you decide to extend your stay with a second pizza and beverage of your choice. Pictured above is their spinach pizza, a house favorite.

Service is friendly, music is excellent, dine on the sidewalk patio wrapping the building or in the cozy interior. Pizzeria Tivoli is family friendly, a great date spot, and welcome addition to Sorrows Parish and the southside community.

Media Advisory: "Avoid Downtown If You Can"

No way to frame a masterpiece...


Today's multi-vehicle accident between the Arch and the Old Court House, which snarled I-70 traffic in both directions for over an hour, provides stark illustration of the unsightly and dangerous barrier in the middle of downtown created by the depressed and elevated lanes of I-70.

Emergency crews filled the depressed lanes. Let's hope there were no serious injuries. News coverage on all major media outlets is continuing. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the accident, most downtown streets remained undisturbed.

KMOV's coverage including lots of additional photographs of the early scenes of the wreckage along with reader comments.

Elephant in the room

Missouri voters will soon have their say on the Kansas City and St. Louis earnings taxes. Efforts are afoot to abolish the taxes. Some say elimination of the taxes will make both cities more competitive.

Here are a couple of questions for those for and against the earnings tax. To non- city residents and business owners: If the city of St. Louis abolished the earnings tax, would you be more or less likely to move your business or personal residence to the city of St. Louis?

With a 1/3 drop in general revenue to result from a loss of the earnings tax, city services are likely going to be reduced. Due to declining revenues, services in the city are already being cut back. Residents are now paying for trash service once considered "free" (covered by already collected city taxes).

So, here's the second question. To non-city residents and business owners: With a smaller government offering fewer services, would you be more or less likely to move your business or personal residence to the City of St. Louis?

Here's a third question, to current city residents: With fewer city services being provided as a result of a loss of the earnings tax, would you be more or less likely to move out of the City of St. Louis?

Loved by the spirit world

The scene above is a reminder that Halloween night is right around the corner. Time to start planning those yard decorations and scary sound effects!

The scene below is even scarier. With evidence of serious deferred maintenance, the building in the photograph is in precarious condition.



What do these two scenes have in common? One of them is already in the inventory of abandoned city properties and the other is close. Abandoned properties are held in trust by the City's Land Reutilization Authority, or "LRA" for short.

Which one do you think it is? Most would assume the derelict building, but in this case, it's the cemetery that has ended up in city hands.

How could a cemetery end up in the city's LRA? For abandonment by its owners. And what about the building with the rear wall near collapse? The answer will likely be the same.

Once an owner abandons its real estate, taxes and other expenses of ownership aren't paid, and it eventually ends up in the hands of the city. The process takes years. In many cases the buildings deteriorate to the point where they are demolished at the city's expense.

It's a slow, unfortunate process, filled with dread and loss. The subject of property abandonment presents many challenges and there are no easy answers. The problems leading to abandonment were years in the making, and whatever the strategy, will require lots of resource to solve.

Abandoned properties cross over into a sort of nether world. Most people in the real world have turned their backs on them. The properties go unsold at tax sales. We most want for something better, but there is little good expected.

Scary houses on Halloween are with us only one night a year. Unfortunately, the inventory of abandoned properties is with us day after day, month after month, and year after year.

Forest Park Side Trail

Recently we were walking in Forest Park and turned down a side trail looking for a short cut across the park. The trail takes you by restored water courses and vegetation, stone water falls, lily gardens, and then, surprisingly, this tiny stone amphitheater.

There's no sign leading to this delightful and romantic spot. You'd never know it was there without venturing off the main road and down the side trail. It makes you wonder how many other hidden treasures there are scattered throughout the remade Forest Park or planned for its future?

Urban Irony

Here is a truck unloading a delivery on Olive Street in the heart of the improving Old Post Office District of downtown St. Louis. The truck is double parked, leaving room for cars to pass in the next lane. The scene is a sign of life and commerce. Trucks are an important part of a vibrant city.

Ten years ago, you'd rarely see a truck unloading in the heart of downtown St. Louis. Today, cars, pedestrians, cyclists and trucks are all learning to share the streets of a healthy urban core.

Meanwhile, a few blocks east, long range plans are in the works to reconnect downtown to the riverfront and Arch grounds. City to River is promoting the concept of highway removal and the creation of a new urban street in its place.

In the planning process leading up to the Arch design competition, there was widespread agreement that the biggest problem facing the Arch was a lack of connectivity to downtown and that the biggest barrier to those connections is the existence of I-70.

All five finalist design teams acknowledge the problem with the highway barrier and many of them stated that highway removal is the ultimate solution to reconnecting downtown to the riverfront and Arch grounds.

Replacing a highway with a boulevard means that truck traffic will be using the city street grid. It also means there will be more traffic on the streets of downtown. This means more people and commerce in the city instead of bypassing it.

A plan to replace a highway with an urban street is going to create questions and opposition. The two main objections to the plan for highway removal have been: 1) increasing truck traffic on city streets and, 2) increasing traffic congestion on city streets, causing delays.

Isn't it ironic that the ultimate urban design solution to reconnecting downtown to the riverfront is opposed due to reasons of increasing urban vitality?

Ballpark Village or Grand Opportunity

by Megan Beebe

We’ve all heard about that area by the Cardinals stadium, you know the one deemed “Ballpark Village,” the place that’s going to change all our lives. But after years of ups and downs shouldn’t we finally decide what to put there? Clearly the original idea has taken some beatings, so maybe we ought to think of something else, something even more useful that will put St. Louis back on the map.

Ballpark Village is a great idea. The thought of glittering restaurants and shops, complete with scenic lofts on top sounds perfect. And to builders and real estate agents it’s simply mouthwatering. But maybe not now; not during a recession when no one is willing to take risks. So what can we do instead? Lots of things! It’s the land of opportunity!

To be innovative is to be green these days. So why not be the first to build vertical farms? A vertical farm is just that: an indoor greenhouse that can be built on several levels, towering 30 stories into the sky. This new idea created by Dickson Despommier, an environmental professor, would eventually lead to new employment opportunities, fewer abandoned lots, cleaner air and much more. And if its aesthetic s you’re worried about, don’t be. Because the buildings need to let sunlight in, they will be just as shiny and brilliant as we had hoped the original BPV would have been. Plus, Japan has already successfully integrated farms into their urban cities, so let’s jump on the bandwagon and start a new craze in the US!

Or we could take sustainable living to the extreme. The site could be turned into self-sustainable restaurants. Sort of strange for something in the center of downtown, but several other cities have already had a go at it, and it works. Sustainable restaurants grown their own food and try to rely on nothing but what is around them. Of course, sometimes they’ll bring in food from other local farms, but mostly they support themselves. It’s hard to do but it’s something we’ll be seeing more of.

On the other hand, maybe we should take a look at the local universities. Are there any that seem to be overflowing? Why not build a center at the proposed Ballpark Village site where students can flock to during the day. Downtown university buildings are great for cities. They bring in loads of students who are bound to provide lots of business. They’re going to want food, entertainment and space. Perfect!

If nothing else, why can’t we at least make it a little less desolate for the time being? The softball field is a definite step up from the tiring brown dirt. And it’s nice enough to have a brand new parking lot, but when you look to the side and find an empty space, it leaves you wondering what could have been. In the words of Tim Gunn, make it work St. Louis!

About the author -

Megan Beebe is a recent graduate and has recently accepted the position of webmaster for Hermann London Real Estate. Megan researches all about St. Louis restaurants, communities and services and writes about them. Thanks to Megan for submitting her article.

Interested in writing a guest post for STL Rising? Submissions welcome. Please contact the moderator at rbonasch@sbcglobal.net.

8th Street Countdown

8th Street between Washington Avenue and Locust has been closed for over two years with the construction of Roberts Tower. Now the Tower is looking complete, although there is surely much more work to do on the inside.

8th Street is an important downtown artery, connecting the Convention Center to the Gateway Mall and Old Post Office district. Is there an estimate for when the street reopens? If crane work is complete on the skyscraper, does that mean the street can be reopened?

Waterfront redevelopment and highway removal

Rx for regional competitiveness?

Trenton makes the case.