More of these please!

One of the best things about walkable neighborhoods is the way they open up possibilites beyond the front walk. Here is an example of a courtyard patio located in the back area of a popular restaurant. You access the courtyard either through the main building or via a gated entrance on the side street.

This patio features beautiful flowers and plants, terraces, cast iron tables and chairs, fish ponds, an iron fountain, multiple bar areas, a huge, shady covered section, lots of nice brick, and a full service food and bar menu.

Sidewalk cafes are great, but interior courtyards are my favorite. They bring a little bit of New Orleans to St. Louis. They are hidden jewels inside cool neighborhoods. There aren't very many in St. Louis. I can't think of one in the Central West End or Lafayette Square neighborhoods. The one pictured here is in Soulard. Are there others?

Sidewalk threat!

Last week we called attention to a dangerous fence lining "Ballpark Village" operated by the Cardinals (nothing's changed with the fence since last week).

Today, we feature a section of sidewalk that is poised to stub toes, trip dog walkers, and generally cause all kinds of trouble.

Lifted sidewalks are a fact of life when you have mature street trees. Some trees cause more sidewalk damage than others. I'll take the big trees, and live with the uneven sidewalks.

If the owner here is cited by the city to repair the sidewalk, there is a program available to help with the cost.

Arch contest not your grandmother's design competition

In the mid-1940s, when Eero Saarinen proposed his iconic Arch design, telephones had dials, St. Louis had almost 900,000 residents, engineers used slide rules, the first electronic computers were being developed, gasoline cost about 15 cents per gallon and the US had just come out of World War II.

Seventy years later, people use their phones as computers, gasoline costs nearly $3.00 per gallon, the population of St. Louis has dropped by 60 percent, the US lost in Viet Nam but won WW2 and the Cold War, and, we have the internet - the technology that is changing everything.

We live in a different world, one with a trend towards increasing transparency. How will the final five teams in the Arch design competition tailor their work to our current times? Will they take advantage of the internet to engage the public in the design process? Will they seek community input online? Would opening up their design work put them at a competitive disadvantage? Or would it make their proposal stronger?

One of the most interesting elements of the Arch design competition is that this effort is more about fixing broken connections between the Arch, riverfront and downtown, than doing anything with the Arch itself. Those bad connections are where the city of St. Louis meets the National Park.

With the close connection between the City of St. Louis and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, how should the public be engaged in the development of the design to reconnect the city to the riverfront and Arch grounds, if at all? The technology is in place to make the design process completely transparent and interactive.

For the Arch design competition, will average citizens get their first glimpse of the design team's plans just weeks before the winning team and design is chosen, or will the general public from both sides of the river be engaged in the process of helping determine the winning design that will set the tone and direction for the future of the Arch grounds, the riverfront, downtown St. Louis, and the region?

(Post edited with thanks to comment from reader "Jeem")

KFUO Sale

Over the past year, the possible sale of Classic 99 KFUO in St. Louis has been in the news. Classical music lovers are concerned about the sale because KFUO is the only classical music station in St. Louis.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod owns KFUO and a buyer plans to turn the station into a Christian Rock format. The FCC has approved the sale and it's supposed to close in a week.

Here's the part I find amazing: the price. The buyer is reportedly paying $18 million for the station plus another $8 million in interest. How is a small to mid-sized FM radio station in St. Louis possibly worth that much? From what I understand, the value is in the license. But $26 million?

Ad revenues are down in all traditional forms of media. Internet and satellite music options are growing. And a local radio station sells for over $20 million? How do the buyers plan to make any money or just break even?

USA Today covers City to River

Newsline:

"Downtowns go from gray to green"

"Cities from Los Angeles to Cincinnati are remaking concrete barriers into parks, open spaces."

Link to full story

Kids of city firefighters to get school choice?

A new bill pending in Jefferson City would end city residency requirements for firefighters after they've put in seven years of service. The bill mirrors a law passed a few years ago relieving veteran city police officers of city residency requirements. The stated purpose for the change is to give families of firefighters the freedom to move out of the city so their children have the opportunity to enroll in higher performing public school districts.

Does this mean that soon the state will follow the same logic and propose the end of residency requirements for all city employees? If the goal of the state is to offer city school-aged children better educational options, why should the effort be limited to children of city employees?

Aside from the irony that city employees are relieved of residency requirements to seek better public school options (while non-government employee city residents are given no special consideration), shouldn't the goal of the state be to ensure that all its residents have the best educational opportunities, regardless of where they live or for whom they work?

Rather than lift city residency requirements for city employees, what about changing the rules so that all city residents are allowed to enroll their children in schools outside the city? That single change to public policy would answer once and for all the decades old objection that "we'd love to live in the city except for the public schools".

For parents of city school children who enroll their kids in private schools (while paying taxes to fund the city schools), why not allow some or all of private elementary and high school tuition to be tax deductible for families living in school districts with underperforming public schools?

Occasional Planet on Highway Removal

Local writer Gloria Shur Bilchik writes about highway removal in front of the Arch at the Real Change, One Idea at a Time "Occasional Planet" website.

Heads Up!

"Heads Up!"

At youth baseball games, that's the cry you hear whenever a foul ball is headed to the stands, especially if it's on its way to a place where people might not see it coming.

Meanwhile, in the big leagues, next to Busch III, someone might want to warn passers by with the same familar call about the fence that lines the long- delayed Ballpark Village site. Pedestrians need to watch out that they don't accidentally hit their heads or end up with an eye injury thanks to the razor sharp top of the BP Village fence that is jutting into the sidewalk.

This wayward section of fence is right in the same location where lines of tourist buses park to pick up and drop off passengers attending Cardinal games. The sidewalk carries thousands of pedestrians on their way to and from ballgames.

Maybe this is the year the fence around Ballpark Village will come down? In the meantime, better keep your "heads up"!

Arch as Destination or Arch as Urban Fabric?

Or both?

For the past 40 + years, the Arch has been a destination. Unfortunately, in the way it is cut off from downtown by the highway, the Arch is not much a part of the urban fabric of St. Louis. Sponsors of the design competition compare the setting of the Arch to an island. Others have less charitable words to describe it.

Now we are entering an historic competition to determine the future of the Arch grounds and hopefully transform our downtown area, the Arch, the riverfront, and the connections between all of them.

This week the five finalist teams for the Arch design competition introduced themselves to St. Louis. They have a big job ahead of them. Estimates on the numbers of visitors to the Arch each year approach 3,000,000. Getting those visitors to stay longer in St. Louis after an Arch visit is a goal for our community and the competition.

Another goal of the competition, perhaps the most of all, is to "weave the Arch into the City". We will know in a few months what that looks like in the eyes of the design teams. If the plan succeeds, weaving the Arch into the city will help keep more Arch visitors in St. Louis, and that means increased economic activity for St. Louis and a healthier downtown and region.

The Arch is framed by barriers. The competition is called "Framing a Modern Masterpiece". Ironic? Maybe. The designers are challenged to overcome those barriers - principally the highway - "frame" the Arch, create an iconic setting worthy of the landmark (and St. Louis!), and connecting everything together with the riverfront.

At the "Meet the Design Teams" event, all the designers seemed intrigued by the challenge. This project isn't just about building one building, designing a park or memorial, reinvigorating a dead waterfront, or revitalizing a historic downtown, it's about all of that!

MoDOT to Arch Design Teams: "We are open to highway removal"

From a recent "Road Crew" Live Chat at STL Today comes the following Q and A with local highway officials including MoDOT Spokesperson, Linda Wilson:

Pat: "There has been a lot talk about possibly removing the section of Interstate 70 downtown when the new Mississippi River Bridge is finished. It could potentially revitalize a lot of the St. Louis riverfront with more pedestrian friendly areas and more commercial space if it was removed.

How opposed is MoDot to removing that section of I-70 in the future? I have heard reasons against the removal because people coming from 55 can't go to north st. louis and vice-versa (which makes sense). Has MoDot done or will they do any studies determining how much the removal of that section would affect drivers? Does MoDot take into account the possible benefits a removal could have for downtown St. Louis?"

Linda Wilson, Todd Waelterman and David Wrone: "Our district engineer is serving on the technical advisory committee for the Arch contest. Our position is that after we build the new Mississippi River bridge downtown, there will still be a demand of 50,000+ vehicles per day to drive the section of highway that runs in front of the Arch. Some of that traffic is north-south driving from north county to south county or vice versa. It does serve as an alternate north-south to I-270. The other significant portion of traffic is people who go to and from work in downtown St. Louis every day. We have told the groups that if they can develop a plan to accommomdate how these 50,000+ vehicles can get through, we are open to looking at it".

Linda Wilson, MoDOT

Blog Watch: STL Energized

A native Midwesterner has returned from a life in Northern California to raise a family in St. Louis and take part in our region's renewal.

He (or she?) is a practicing real estate attorney with some very positive ideas about the present and future of St. Louis. The person has started a blog called "STL Energized".

For its first post, STL Energized lays out a detailed proposal for how to revitalize the Arch grounds and reconnect the City to the River.

On a personal level, being another former Northern Californian, I hope to read more on this writer's views about relocating to St. Louis from the Golden State.

Best Alley Award

Living in a house with a garage sized more for smoking meat than parking cars makes me yearn for the day when we might have one that offers the service utility and alley charm as the one shown above.

This beauty is in Shaw and would be a welcome addition to most any home or alley.

If LRA properties were free, would you take one?

The city has a major budget deficit. It also holds title to a lot of abandoned real estate through the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA). The land owned by LRA costs the city money to maintain and does not generate any tax revenue. The city offers these properties for sale but still has a heavy cost burden maintaining the inventory.

What if these properties were offered to the public for free? Not all of them say, but starting with just the vacant lots? If you could acquire a vacant LRA lot for free, with a guaranteed tax bill of say $100 per year and requirements to keep the lot cut, would you want one? Two?

What would you do with the property? Assume it has a collapsed building buried under the ground. Cost to excavate and haul away the old building would likely run in the $10,000 - $15,000 range. If you left it there, the land wouldn't be good for much construction, and it would be hard to grow trees with all the brick and stone debris just a few feet below the surface.

Nonetheless, you'd own the ground - and everything in it. Over time, if development came your way, the land might be worth something. If you were a neighbor, you could fence the lot and expand your own yard. And you'd be saving the city money.

Free land. Would you take the offer?

Tokyo Meets St. Louis

I have never been to Tokyo, but from the images and stories you see on TV, it seems like a highly energetic place with lots of cool high tech gadgets and electronic stuff mixed into the environment. Now St. Louis has something like that right here.

At the corner of 8th and Olive, across the street from the Old Post Office and a block from the new Schnuck's Culinaria, there's an interactive video game installed in the storefront window of the Alexa Lofts building. I tried it. It works.

People on the sidewalk play the game by touching the windows and activating the flat screen panels. It's a flashy, high-tech production, and you can win prizes including value towards discounted air travel.

STL Tradition Needs Your Support

The news is reporting that InBev has started charging a $2,000 appearance fee for bringing the famed Budweiser Clydesdales to your community event. $2,000 is a low price to pay for one of the world's most recognized corporate symbols. It's downright cheap. For comparison, an inflatable jumpie rents for about $450.

The season for parish picnics, school parades, and block parties is right around the corner. Why not consider hiring the Budweiser Clydesdales to be a featured attraction? You would be doing your part to maintain a long time local tradition and your event would have bragging rights for years to come!

What economists say

Listening to NPR yesterday about the future of the US and world economy, one of the guests being interviewed said that an economy based on limitless growth is unsustainable. If a sprawl economy is based on constant growth, then does it follow that an economy which retrofits and maintains its older areas is more sustainable?

As we look to strengthen communities and our economy over the next 20-30 years, are there long term opporunities both in terms of jobs and economic growth by focusing on a program of community renewal? What would something like that look like? How would an economist measure the costs and benefits? We can use the St. Louis region as a case study.

Parts of the core of the St. Louis region have seen decades of dramatic disinvestment and decline. At the same time, the region has seen a nearly equal amount of sprawl based growth on the edges of the metropolitan area. Today, growth at the outer reaches of the region has slowed dramatically.

Housing developments in those areas have stalled, homebuilders have gone out of business, and property values are flat or decreasing. At the same time, values closer to the center of the region have been stable to slowly increasing. Are we better served working to maintain our established systems and built environment rather than constantly expanding them?

Are there opportunities to create a combination of more community gardens, farmer's markets, and expanded use of green building practices; increased school choice, expanded supply of affordable housing and more public transportation options; and support for small businesses, and retrofitting of commercial corridors to help position St. Louis as a region of choice for families and businesses over the next 30 years?

Neighborhood Commercial Corridors

St. Louis is filled with neighborhood commercial service areas. We have hundreds if not thousands of small commercial buildings suitable for small businesses. Many of these buildings front wide boulevards with multiple lanes of fast moving traffic.

Drivers in slower moving cars are more likley to notice and patronize neighborhood businesses. For wide streets like Natural Bridge, Page, Hampton, Gravois, S. Broadway, are there ways to accomodate traffic flows while making the areas more supportive to small business?

One option is to reduce the number of through lanes and create center turn lanes. There is an experiment underway doing just this along South Grand between Arsenal and Utah.

A little further south, on Gravois through the Bevo Mill area, a similar experiment was done a few years ago. There was a backlash of opposition to the lane restriping, so the city returned the street to its previous lane configuration.

Perhaps these experiences demonstrate that uniform planning policies are more difficult to accomplish than one might think? What are some strategies for St. Louis to improve the market and investment potential for neighborhood commercial districts?

New Sign of City-County Cooperation

There is a new highway sign up in the City of St. Louis on westbound I-44 just east of the Southwest Avenue exit. The sign directs drivers to "Historic Downtown Maplewood".

For years, there has been a similar sign at 44 and Elm about historic old town Webster Groves.

Southwest is one of the best streets in St. Louis, and now it's the preferred route to one of our region's coolest destinations! Congratulations to all who made this happen.

Boulevard Attractions

A landmark boulevard connecting downtown St. Louis assets and opening new land for development creates unique development opportunities. Some have suggested Apple stores. What about new tourist destinations? Is a downtown with more tourist attractions the kind of city we want to encourage?

Rare downtown alley

There used to be lots of alleys in downtown St. Louis. Now, not so much. This alley connects Olive and Locust between 7th and 8th Street.

What's wrong with this picture?

This view is taken from the corner of Washington Avenue and Memorial Drive. The corner is very much in the heart of downtown St. Louis.

Despite the fact that you're already there, signs on the roads are plastered everywhere to direct drivers into downtown St. Louis and Memorial Drive.

The heart of downtown St. Louis is so carved up by highways, we need signs directing people to get to where they already are. That can't be a good thing. Will the Arch design competition help solve problems like these?

Boulevard plan adds value to downtown, City to River says

Learn more at this event tonight: City Affair, 7:30 pm, Morgan Street Brewery, Laclede's Landing

Image courtesy City to River. Click for expanded view.

Parallel Arches

Form-based zoning - for pizzas!

When planning the perfect pizza, it is always important to put the big things under the little things.

Unrehabbable

Dear Anonymous...

To balance the good with the bad...


The building above is just a few blocks from the one in the "Open floor plan" photo below...

Most buildings fall somewhere between these two extremes and are the ones that really matter for the long term future of the neighborhood. Few buildings are saved like the one shown above. And too many wind up like the one in photo below.

How good a job we do preserving the ones in the middle is the challenge we really face. How do we meet that challenge? Anonymous, what do say about that?

"Open floor plan with lots of light"

Clever marketing can make the most bland product sound appealing. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything words can say to convince a would be homebuyer to take a second look at a place like this:


When it comes to demolition, clearing away urban debris like the building shown above can't happen fast enough. Bring on the bulldozers and dumpsters. Today maybe?

While the crews are out there, why not make it a two-fer and take down the one next door too?

Synchronizing Traffic Signals on a New Memorial Drive?

If I-55 and I-70 were connected through downtown via a new Memorial Drive, would synchronized traffic signals help keep traffic moving through the connection, reduce travel times, and conserve gasoline?

On YouTube:

Cities Try to Get Traffic Lights In Sync

Are Stars Aligning For Downtown?

Yesterday I joined City to River on its "Walking of Future Connections" tour. The tour went from Busch Stadium to Laclede's Landing, by way of Memorial Drive and the Arch grounds. There were stops along the way at key points of future connections.

The first stop was at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Spruce. Presently, the corner is a no-mans land. Even though this is the closest direct route between Busch Stadium and the riverfront, hardly anyone ever ventures in this direction. (Click on all images for a larger view).



The image below is the intersection with a new Memorial Drive at Spruce. Pedestrians would have a direct connection from Busch Stadium to the Arch grounds and riverfront. A possible arts, music and loft district at Chouteau's Landing would be directly connected through this new opening.



From Spruce and Memorial, we headed north towards the Old Cathedral. The walls of I-70 block views and the depressed lanes forms a brutal gateway to our riverfront and the Arch. (Note the deteriorating concrete on the underside of the bridge over the depressed lanes. Broken concrete exposes the rebar inside the bridge structure.)


A new boulevard changes the experience for drivers and pedestrians alike. Wide crosswalks and slower traffic make the area more visually interesting and attractive.


The tour traveled north on Memorial Drive to the area adjacent the new downtown Hyatt. Presently, there is no buffer between cars on Memorial Drive and the sidewalk. There is no on street parking. Street parking is good for local business and helps bring foot traffic to the Arch.

A new boulevard would have street parking on both sides of Memorial Drive, buffering the sidewalk from moving traffic and with parking meters adding revenue to local government. Connection to the riverfront is broken as much if not more by the elevevated lanes as the depressed lanes. Visitors staying at the Hyatt now have this view over to the Lumiere Casino and Laclede's Landing. (Notice the lack of street parking buffering the sidewalk from moving traffic):



The corner of Washington Avenue and Memorial Drive is the most historic entry point of St. Louis. The Eads Bridge is where travelers from the east crossed the Mississippi to the west. This is how the area looks today:


Pretty lousy tribute to our historic point of entry, isn't it? Removal of the elevated lanes and creation of a new Memorial Drive opens the area visually and adds value to the Eads Bridge and Arch grounds while creating potential for new development.

Laclede's Landing is a primary connection to the Arch grounds and riverfront. However, with I-70 cutting off Laclede's Landing from downtown, the connection looks like this:




Is 2010 the year stars align for downtown? There is reason for hope. A lot of positive developments are coming to our city at the same time including:

The New Mississippi River Bridge (scheduled for a February 2014 opening)

I-70 depressed lanes and elevated lanes approaching the end of their useful life

The rerouting of Interstate 70 north of Laclede's Landing (coinciding with the new Mississippi River bridge)

The City Arch River Design Competition (underway at this time with a September 2010 decision on the winning design)

The possibility of federal funding to help reconnect downtown to the Arch and riverfront (total cost estimated at $300 million by the National Park Service)

Local and National leaders all focused on reconnecting the city to the riverfront and the Arch grounds

Since the highway has long been known to be the main problem cutting off downtown from the riverfront, will highway removal and replacement with a new boulevard be a possible design solution under the design competition? The National Park Service has stated they strongly prefer highway removal.

The Park Service is also concerned that highway removal may not be feasible during the life of this new General Management Plan (20-25 years). However, the Park Service has stated that it would amend its General Management Plan to provide for highway removal if it could be completed sooner.

Whatever the outcome, the results of the design competition and subsequent investment of many tens of millions for connection improvements will be geared for the long term well beyond the life of the new General Management Plan. Decisions we make today will be around for the rest of our lives and the next few generations of St. Louisans. Now is the opportunity to make lasting, transformative change for our region and downtown - not 25 years from now.

Fifty years ago it was not very difficult to build an interstate highway through the heart of downtown. At the time it was the right thing to do. Are we saying today that it's too difficult to change it? Why wait another 25 years when we may never have a chance like this again? Other cities around the country are converting highways to boulevards to help revitalize and reconnect their downtown areas and waterfronts. Is St. Louis up to the task?

With the coming of the new bridge, the rerouting of I-70 away from the Arch grounds, and the major investments planned to implement the winning design of the design competition, shouldn't highway removal be considered at this time if ever?

(Architectural renderings courtesy City to River)

City + Arch + River on Twitter and Facebook

Design Competition organizers are on Twitter and Facebook.

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The River Des Peres Sea

Like the green hills of California seen only a few months of the year, views of the River Des Peres filled with water are a rare treat.

Wouldn't it be nice if it always looked this way? Perhaps a dam near the mouth of Mississippi is the way to do it. I wonder what it would smell like in summer...

Why wait for Sunday?

This weekend we visited Southern California for a family gathering. Over the years I've gained an increasing appreciation for the area. On this trip we stayed in the Glendale area near Pasadena and Burbank. The view above is from Forest Lawn Cemetary overlooking Glendale. It was Sunday morning.

The day before we met up with lots of family and new friends. It was a gathering of mostly Latin Americans and we filled up on serious Carne Asada, chicken, shrimp, and lots of homemade salsas. Here's Arturo working the grill (note the woman in the center-right of the photo, providing testimonial to the quality of the meal):


Since daylight savings time starts in the middle of the weekend, why not set clocks ahead on Friday night, adding an hour of daylight on Saturday night? Then in the fall, when clocks get set back, why not set them back on Sunday night, rather than Saturday, thereby adding an hour of sleep on Monday morning rather than Sunday, and preserving an hour of daylight Sunday evening?

That extra hour of daylight would have meant more time for Arturo's authentic Carne Asada, and that would have been a very good thing. Instead, we'll just have to figure out a way to get back out there sooner rather than later.

Eyes On the Street

Butter and Lemon go great with this:

Dungeness crab is a rare treat. You can get it fresh out on the west coast, or frozen here in St. Louis. If you steam the frozen ones, they still taste very good. Served with melted butter, garlic, lemon, white wine and french bread and you have a great meal. More and more regional delicacies can be found here in St. Louis. It's a nice add-on to our quality of life.

A Dungeness crab has a hard exterior and a soft, delicious interior. Eating crab takes a little skill. You have to work to get to the delicious tender meat inside. The photo above shows the first step in getting to the delectable crab meat: removing the main shell. Once cooked, it's pretty easy to pull off the body. When you do, you expose all the insides of the crab.

The result of removing an outer shell is also what is happening in the image below. Unfortunately, butter and lemon are no help here:


Here we see the remains of an abandoned building. Like the crab in the upper images, the hard exterior is gone, exposing the building's insides. Notice the interior stair, now on the outside of the remnant structure. Frame walls, plaster, all the guts of the building are revealed.

The problem is, when you get to the inside of an abandoned building, you don't get a sweet reward. What you get is a big mess for someone else to clean up. It takes a long time for a building to get to this point, and it can take many more years to clean this up.

If we are to avoid situations like the one in the lower picture, strategies need to be in place that intervene long before the outside walls of an abandoned building start coming down. The city's effort to create a vacant building registry is a step in that direction.

Arch Design Competition "Statements of Intent"

Design philosophies for the nine competing Stage Two design teams have been published on the City + Arch + River Competition website.

Statement of Intent PDFs

Can-do attitude

In the early part of the last century, St. Louis was growing rapidly. Lots of buildings were going up and streets were being widened. In downtown Dutchtown, property values were increasing and the area was thriving with activity.

One block south of Meremac, off an L-shaped alley on the west side of Virginia, there's a relic from those busy times. A family operated a tin shop up on Meramec.

For some reason, I believe connected to the growth of the area, the shop owners decided to move their business, building and all, a block south and to the rear of a lot, to be then accessed from the alley. Today, you can find the historic building in its relocated setting, most of its original features intact..

The image above is the former rear of the building, converted to an entrance, now facing the alley. The image below is the former front of the building, now in the rear yard of another property.

A reasonable facsimile of Baltimore

This snug row of buildings along Broadway, just a little southwest of the Off Broadway night club, has always been one of my favorites. The grade of the street and the turn in the road reminds of the style of architecture you see all around Baltimore.

Some say St. Louis is the "western-most eastern US city", and buildings like this show it. The historic collection is located in the Marine Villa neighborhood (or is it Benton Park?), near one of the city's historic fire houses.

With its historic charm, tavern feel, and roadhouse location, this spot reminds me of the places back east where you find neighborhood seafood restaurants, where the owners spread newspapers over the table, serve cold beer, steamed crabs, crackers, chowder, and good times.

Can you picture an establishment like that filling in the side by side permastone covered store front spaces?

Eiler view

STL Rising isn't the most tech savvy blog around. In fact, it's probably one of the least. So we are just now figuring out how to upload pictures from an old camera phone to the internet.

At the end of last week, a commenter on the River City post requested pics of the cool views we found there. So, the team here at STL Rising did some homework over the weekend and we are now able to provide our readers with visuals. Not great mind you. We will work to do better. These things take time...

With our new found, low-tech, photo capability, STL Rising has a long backlog of city landscapes to bring to readers. Stay tuned for a wide range of scenes from across St. Louis to appear at this site in the days and weeks ahead.

We begin at one of the many historic blocks in South St. Louis, featuring one of the city's finest examples of "bakery brick" masonry construction. It's a block where, before the age of texting, no doubt countless numbers of school-aged children communicated through open windows via tin cans and string across the street and over parked cars: the 600 block of Eiler. The twin steeples of St. Cecelia's Church can be seen through the bare trees at the end of the block.



Apologies in advance for the grainy image. And the reverse view. The staff is all-volunteer and still in training. Poor as the image quality may be, we have also updated the River City post below to show one of the old relics from the shipping industry days along the Mississippi River at Lemay, Missouri.

Views from River City impressive

With over $400 million invested, the new River City Casino in South County raises a lot of curiosity. To find out more about it, I ventured over there this morning for a look.

The location is rare in St. Louis: a true riverfront setting. Just south of the confluence...that is the confluence of the Mississippi River and River Des Peres, you find it: an entertainment oasis equal to or superior to anything of its kind anywhere in the midwest. In fact, as I was walking up to the shiny gold metal and sparkling glass entrance, the man walking next me had driven all the way from Michigan to check out the place.

It was early, so the place was pretty empty. Workers were busy on ladders makinig little fixes. The gaming floor had not yet opened. I only got a little glimpse of one area of the casino. But it was all very nice. If you're into the gaming lifestyle, this place will keep your interest.

For me, it was the outside areas that were the most interesting. The overall site is huge. It's got to be a couple hundred acres. And it sits right next to the Mississippi River. The water is less than 100 feet away. There are relics of historic shipping operations right across the street from the main casino entrances. One of them is an old round house structure that appears to have served as an old freight office. Hopefully these authentic riverfront effects will be preserved for the long term interest of the community.

From outside the casino you have panoramic views of the river on one side and the bluffs on the other. The historic convent adjacent Notre Dame High School is prominent on top of the bluff. Given its size and unique setting, it's amazing that this site was available for this project. I confess to not knowing the history. Perhaps it was once an industrial site with lots of contamination, thus abandoned for years?

Whatever it was before, there's little sign of any of that history today. Now it's a first class casino, situated right alongside the South St. Louis riverfront, offering locals and visitors alike a rare opportunity to get up close and personal to the Mississippi River.

The Art and Science of Demolition

With gentrification the topic of tonight's City Affair, here are some random things to consider...

St. Louis city population has dropped from 800,000 + persons to 350,000.

Our region has a stable population, with a 50 year history of people moving to the suburbs. The result is a lessening demand for our older housing stock, creating an inventory of vacant and abandoned buildings in the urban core.

In Clayton we see tear downs to build luxury homes in place of smaller historic housing. This translates to $500,000 historic tear downs for $1,000,000+ luxury townhomes. It's the free market at work.

In St. Ann Missouri, Northwest Plaza is a candidate for National Register listing - and a possible demolition candidate. What do the people of St. Ann want in its place?

Public safety concerns - most neighbors don't like having abandoned homes on their block.

Lack of investment - a man was killed last year while sitting on the front porch of the derelict building where he lived when the front wall of the building collapsed on top of him. Now the site is a vacant lot.

LRA inventory high cost maintenance - little to no demand, often leading to more demolition.

Gentrification requires reinvestment. St. Louis requires reinvestment.

Without more gentrification do we have more demolition? Maybe we're not gentrifying fast enough.

See you tonight at City Affair.

Anonymous commenters say the darnedest things...

Over at STL Today, there is continuing discussion on the editorial about planning for removal of the I-70 lanes through downtown. An anonymous commenter (posting under the pseudonym name "Renew STL") hits the nail on the head with this comment:

"Big Ups to the Post for supporting this idea. There is a great amount of positive energy working in STL right now, and it will lead to great things. If you support this idea, quietly go about the work of making it happen. Talk to people. Discuss reconnecting the city. Do what you can in your sphere of influence. Don’t wait for Gov.– it will never solve our problems, but enough engaged people can alter the landscape. This was once a great place; a confluence of ideas and cultures. Fear and ignorance split it apart, and those same forces will work to keep it that way. So… work humbly, dutifully and diligently to reconnect downtown to the river — it is symbolic of a greater reconnection. And don’t engage the fear and negativity, it only exists to slow the process down."

People often ask what they can do to help City to River's efforts to reconnect downtown to the Arch grounds and riverfront. Following this advice is a great place to start...

"...most heedless example of highway planning in the age of urban renewal."

St. Louis Post Dispatch on removal of I-70 lanes adjacent Arch, riverfront.

East Riverfront Improvements

While this blog has focused a lot of attention on the Missouri side of the river, the National Park Service has made plans to improve the east riverfront a focus of its new General Management Plan for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Just as St. Louis has spent years trying to figure out how to reconnect the city to the riverfront and Arch grounds, there has been a lot of attention spent on how to revitalize the East St. Louis riverfront. With views of the downtown St. Louis skyline and Arch, the east riverfront has a unique setting.

Those looking to improve the area must address many planning and development challenges including a long distressed local economy, a maze of interstates cutting through the area, railroad rights of way, an aging levee, a flood plain, a massive grain elevator, and a large casino operation.

With $300 million being the estimated cost for implementing the National Park Service's plans for improving the Arch grounds and east riverfront, there might be up to $150 million available for the east side. With such a budget, what would you like to see happen across the river from the Arch?

Riverfront Boulevard Plan Reconnects City to River

"City to River", a citizens group formed to advocate for improved connections between downtown St. Louis, the Arch grounds and the riverfront, has developed a plan to reconnect the city to its historic riverfront through the creation of a new Memorial Drive.

Check out the group's proposal at the new City to River website.

Two kinds of cities...

...those with symbols and those without. St. Louis has a symbol: the Fleur de Lis.

Can you think of any other cities with a symbol? Big cities? Does Denver have a symbol? What about Austin, Nashville, Portland, Seattle, LA or San Francisco? I don't think any of those places have a unique symbol. They all have flags, but are they recognized by a symbol?

What does it say about St. Louis that we have a recognized symbol and the other places that don't?

Just for grins, check out the flip side of the Oregon state flag on the link. Are they the only state with a different image on the front and back side of their state flag?

City Street Parties Coming in 2010

These promise to be fun and healthy unique city events.

Which is harder: Fix the Public Schools or Build a New Memorial Drive?

The debate over the city's public schools has gone on for a long time. Everyone wants to see them improve. Many people are working to make them better.

A new Memorial Drive is a dream for some of us. Like fixing the public schools, it's a complex challenge too.

So, which do you think is more doable? Fixing the schools or building a new Memorial Drive? Which do you think is more complicated?

One thing's for certain about St. Louis: there is more than enough to keep everyone busy!

Carondelet Impressions Rising

Twice now in the past 24 hours, I have heard the name, "Carondelet" on the radio. This is more than I can remember hearing it in the past 6 months. And this is only the beginning.

The new River City Casino is about to open, and advertisements on major radio stations are telling people to exit I-55 at the Carondelet or Germania exits.

Everytime you hear the name Carondelet or Germania, you are reminded of those south city landmarks. This is a good thing.

Casino activity will increase traffic into the area, and that will be good for local businesses.

City + Arch + River Design Competition Update

For Immediate Release:

ST. LOUIS -- Contest organizers today announced the names of nine design teams selected to advance to the next round of the competition to invigorate the park and city areas surrounding the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

The lead designers and design teams are:

Behnisch Architekten, Gehl Architects, Stephen Stimson Associates, Buro Happold, Transsolar, Applied Ecological Services, Limno-Tech, Herbert Dreiseitl, Arne Quinze, Peter MacKeith, Eric Mumford

FIT (Fully Integrated Thinking) Team – Arup, Doug Aitken Studio, HOK Planning Group, HOK

Michael Maltzan Architecture, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Richard Sommer, Buro Happold

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Steven Holl Architects, Greenberg Consultants, Uhlir Consulting, HR&A Advisors, Guy Nordenson and Associates, Arup, LimnoTech, Ann Hamilton Studio, James Carpenter Design Associates, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Project Projects

PWP Landscape Architecture, Foster + Partners, Civitas, Ned Kahn, Buro Happold

Quennell Rothschild and Partners and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Vishkan Chakrabarti, Buro Happold, Atelier Ten, and Nicholas Baume

Rogers Marvel Architects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Urban Strategies, Local Projects, Arup

SOM, BIG, Hargreaves Associates, Jaume Plensa, URS

Weiss/Manfredi, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Mark Dion

"The Jury had the challenge of evaluating portfolios that represented designers of international and national recognition, emerging designers and design teams comprised of individuals that provide great promise as collaborators,” said competition manager Don Stastny, of StastnyBrun Architects. “The lead designers and design teams invited to participate in Stage II represent individuals and firms that have local, national and international ties – and have the potential to come up with extraordinary solutions to the design challenges presented by the City, the Arch and the River."

The nine design leaders and teams now have five weeks to complete their teams and present full qualifications to the competition jury, Stastny said.

In addition, local contractors, minority, disadvantaged, or women-owned businesses and others are invited to meet Feb. 18 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Old Court House with representatives of the short-listed design groups for potential teaming opportunities.

“This will be an excellent opportunity for these businesses to learn about the project and to begin considering participating,” Stastny said. “We look forward to a strong turnout.”

The competition, launched Dec. 8, 2009, has three stages. Portfolio submissions in Stage I included a description of the design team, a statement of design intent and philosophy of the lead designer, a profile of the design team and examples of their work. Each team was required to include representatives of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, engineering and an artist.

Stage II involves the formation of the complete teams capable of executing the project, submission of required paperwork and a jury interview. This phase will culminate April 7, 2010, with the narrowing of the field to four or five teams.

The final stage, Stage III, to take place over the summer, will include a 90-day design concept competition to explore the finalists’ design approach and test their working methodology.

The competition’s goal is to create an iconic setting for the international icon, the Gateway Arch, honoring its immediate surroundings and weaving connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River, including the east bank in Illinois.

The public will be invited to two events this spring and summer. A “meet the designers night” will be held in late April. This summer, there will be a public exhibition of the designs. Details will be available soon.

The final jury pick will be announced on Sept. 24, 2010. The project is set to be constructed by Oct. 28, 2015.

The new design is called for in the National Park Service’s General Management Plan, which was developed with extensive public input over an 18-month period and approved Nov. 23, 2009.

The competition is sponsored by the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, which includes National Park Superintendent Tom Bradley, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, community leaders from Missouri and Illinois, academics, architects and national park advocates.

Financial contributions to the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation are being handled by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, a public charity with more than $140 million in charitable assets and representing more than 350 individual funds.

Donors to the competition include: Emerson, Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis (Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park), Peter Fischer, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Civic Progress, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Danforth Foundation, John F. McDonnell, Bryan Cave LLP, Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, National Park Foundation, Monsanto, Alison and John Ferring, Bank of America, David C. Farrell and others who choose to remain anonymous.

A full list of registrants for the competition, “Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015,” has also been released. It can be found with other competition information at www.cityarchrivercompetition.org.

PUBLIC NOTICE

WHAT: A Networking Session for local contractors and minority, disadvantaged, or women-owned businesses, and others, to meet competing Design Teams for possible teaming opportunities

WHERE: Old Courthouse
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, Mo.

WHEN: Thurs., Feb. 18, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

WHY: Lead Designers/Design Teams chosen for Stage II of “The City + The Arch + The River 2015” competition have until March 18, 2010, to form and present complete teams who are capable of executing project design and related construction administration services. Teams are vying for opportunity to develop designs that create an iconic setting for the international icon, the Gateway Arch, honoring its immediate surroundings and weaving connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River, including the east bank in Illinois. The competition is called for in the National Park Service’s General Management Plan.

FOR INFORMATION:
Janis Cooper, 314-259-2015, Janis.Cooper@CityArchRiverCompetition.org

# # #

"Speed Camera Enforced"

Could signs like these soon be rising in neighborhoods across St. Louis? STL Rising hopes so.

Reducing speeding traffic on residential streets has been a long time effort here at STL Rising. The host of this blog has served as a St. Louis regional contact for the Keep Kids Alive - Drive 25 program for almost ten years.

Just this week we received a telephone call from a nice lady in University City interested in bringing the KKA - Drive 25 program to her neighborhood. Like many other concerned citizens, she and her neighbors have grown weary of distracted drivers racing down their neighborhood streets.

When the issue of dealing with speeders gets down to the block level and the nitty gritty of what works and what doesn't to slow traffic, that's where talk of controlling speeding traffic goes from someone else's idealogical conversation to the din of noisy engines, squeeling tires, and frequent distress over cars racing past your front yard.

People think controlling speeding is easy. It's not. These are real problems that have plagued neighborhoods for decades. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: "All you have to do is put a police officer on the block for a month and the speeding will stop."

Besides the fact that once the officer leaves, the speeding goes back to the way it was before the cop sat on the block, I have this question for those who think cops should set up speed traps to catch speeders: Do we really want the limited resources of our police departments devoted to sitting in the cars ticketing speeders?

There is technology today that does this automatically. It works and it is not prohibited in the state of Missouri. The use of speed cameras can enforce speed limits in targeted areas 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There is no constitutional protection to violate the law. If our aim is to enforce speed limits, especially on neighborhood streets, why not use the most recent technology available?

Trucks on a new Memorial Drive

One of the biggest concerns about merging I-70 and Memorial Drive through downtown into one at grade boulevard is what would happen with the trucks? The answer is simple. Trucks would either be allowed on the new boulevard, which is the way it is now, or the road would prohibit through truck traffic.

Today, as I was driving on Memorial Drive, I was next to a full size, semi tractor-trailer rig. It really was no big deal. The truck did not slow traffic. It wasn't particularly loud, and it moved right through the area without any problem. I'm no trucking expert, but from years living about a half mile from a highway, I remember that you could hear the trucks going by at 60-70 miles per hour, but not the ones driving at 25-30 miles per hour through town.

Standing above the depressed lanes, or along the elevated lanes of I-70 next to Laclede's Landing, what you hear are those trucks zooming by at high speed. Moving truck traffic to a new Memorial Drive would possibly make the area quieter than it is now.

In terms of driving times and convenience, trucks should have no problem getting through the 1.5 mile stretch of a new boulevard the same way cars would. Maybe a 3 or 4 minute longer trip would be about it.

Trucks on a new Memorial Drive? Why not?

Urban Mining

There was a time when mining was common practice in St. Louis. Mostly, mining was done for clay to make bricks. And back then, people probably didn't think of it as "urban mining". In those days, there wasn't much if any focus on the difference between "urban" and "suburban". Pretty much everybody lived in the City. Or on a farm.

If anything, the difference was between "urban" or "rural". The suburbs really hadn't been born yet. That would come later, with the introduction of the interstate highway system, the GI bill, and baby boomers looking to move to new housing. The suburbs were appealing. Mid-century neighborhoods, places like "Dellwood" and "Crestwood", were popping up.

In the new suburbs, home buyers were finding modern conveniences like attached garages or carports, driveways, built-in appliances, non-maintenance aluminum windows, and energy efficient, eight-foot ceiling heights. People were moving out of the old neighborhoods.

They were getting away from older houses, faux drop ceilings, detached garages, ongoing window maintenance and tuckpointing, and sometimes things they didn't want for neighbors anymore, such as nearby factories. And when they left, they left behind empty houses. Or perhaps, they'd rent them out.

Over time, some of the old houses began to deteriorate. Maintenance budgets weren't keeping up with the needs of an aging home. And so deterioration might lead to vacancy, abandonment, and foreclosure (often for unpaid property taxes). The very end of the line for an old, unwanted house, would be demolition. St. Louis has seen lots of demolitions of vacant, abandoned houses. Thousands of them in fact. Thousands and thousands. Those demolition have left a legacy, buried under 12-18inches of non-engineered fill: the remains of beuatiful, historic homes.

Without much time or effort at all, some heavy equipment, and a collection of historic maps, there's a cottage industry waiting to be capitalized in St. Louis: mining the remnants of these demolished houses. When they tore the old places down, they pretty much just pushed everything into the basement. Buried in the walls of those basements are treasure troves of architectural artifacts of decades worth of solid St. Louis construction.

While young families were happily moving to those mid-century, modern neighborhoods, a couple of guys and bulldozer were uncermoniously imploding the historic architecture of St. Louis into the basements of once proud homes. They were probably talking about the St. Louis Cardinals or the hapless Browns, maybe the disappearance of the street car lines, and as they were doing so, with a cigarette hanging from their lips, they'd push the accellerator on the bulldozer, and knock down another wall or staircase. When they were through, you'd never know a house was there. They'd buried the whole thing in the ground; the remains left undisturbed for decades to come under a vacant lot.

Today, those remains await to be brought back to the surface. They might be salvaged as part of a redevelopment effort, but why not expedite the process by mining the valuable artifacts at these sites? Old bottles, marble, brick, slabs of solid granite, old brass fixtures, slate, tile, terra cotta, the sorts of things vandals and scappers might tear off of someone's property and try to sell in antique stores or salvage yards, are just waiting for some enterprising entreprenuer to bring back to the surface and salvage in a respectable enterprise.

While many see the vacant lots and years of demolitions as a scar on the St. Louis landscape, today, those remains also present an opportunity. After mining the sites for the valuable artifacts underground, the land could then be put to a productive use such as urban farming, solar installations, parks or open space, or new home or business development.

Urban St. Louis Forum Goes High Speed

One of St. Louis' best issues forum is now also one of her fastest. Urban St. Louis has always been filled with interesting discussions and information, but the site was so painfully slow that it was almost impossible to access.

Those problems have now been solved, with all the interesting discussions continuing at the site. STL Rising will permalink Urban St. Louis on our links section. In the meantime, we recommend you start your reading here...

Neighborhood Association Promotes Architectural Guidelines

With the help of an architectural student, the City of St. Louis, and a local urban planner, the Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association has established a set of recommended architectural guidelines to foster new development and existing building renovations, "The Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association's Suggested Architectural Guidelines for Exterior Facades".

Washington University architecture graudate Christopher Rehwoldt, St. Louis urban planner and SLU graduate Steve Patterson, and the City of St. Louis Planning and Urban Design Agency collaborated on the design project. Use of the guidelines is not mandatory but is intended to aid in the development of residential properties that are both aethestically pleasing and economically viable.

Strong and clear community design standards are an important resource for maintaining and improving the quality of our neighborhoods. Congratulations to all involved in taking this step toward guiding future community improvement efforts in the Southwest Garden neighborhood. It will be interesting to see if other neighborhoods follow similar efforts.

For additional information about the Southwest Garden neighborhood, visit the neighborhood's website or contact its executive director, Dana Gray, telephone (314) 772-6082.

Reality Programming - Arch Design Competiton Q and A

Organizers of the Arch design competition have recevied lots of questions from Stage One participants in the process. Here are highlights from the questions and answers received to date:

Q67: What role will the Casino play in the project?
January 19, 2010 – 2:28 pm

A67: Design and operational parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q66: Will river front access be provided within the project boundary along the eastern shore from the Eads Bridge to the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park? (It looks like this portion might be privately owned by the Casino.)
January 19, 2010 – 2:28 pm

A66: Design and operational parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q65: Are ridership volume statistics available for the Arch Lacledes Metrolink Station (just north of the site under the Eads Bridge)?
January 19, 2010 – 2:28 pm

A65: Necessary data will be provided to the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q64: Are the existing Rail Yards and Barge Docks along the eastern shore north of the Poplar Street Bridge to remain in operation within the park boundary?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A64: Design and operational parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q63: Are there statistics available on existing vehicular traffic flows for the Eads Bridge?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A63: Necessary data will be provided to the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q62: Is the Poplar Street Bridge Structure included within the limit of the project? (as opposed to simply representing the project boundary with no opportunities to annex or co-opt the structures programmatically).
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A62: Design parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing. Also refer to Q/A #57.

Q61: Is the Eads Bridge Structure included within the limit of the project?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A61: See Q/A #57.

Q60: Will there be “Air Rights” opportunities over the I-70 Expressway between the Market and Chestnut overpasses? Between Walnut and Pine?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A60: Design parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q59: Is the option of highway removal, especially the vacation of the depressed lanes, combined with some restoration the city’s original street grid to connect with the Arch grounds, a possibility for consideration in the design competition?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A59: Design parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q57: On page 9 the Manual outlines a broad set of design goals that serve as the Competition Program for a “complex urban situation.” Those 10 goals clearly will require reaching beyond the geographic area outlined on the companion map on page 8. Can we therefore assume that the competition and the work that follows with a winning scheme can venture beyond those site boundaries? Who owns the land in the area outlined on the map on page 8? Can an entry, in its design effort in stage three, suggest urban design or other improvements outside of the area designated as the Competition Site?
January 19, 2010 – 2:26 pm

A57: The land is currently held by a number of public and private owners. The boundaries of the project are shown in the Competition Manual and impact areas will be identified for Stage III of the Competition.

Q55: There is reference in item 4.4 on page 22 that “competition results will be used to solicit and allocate capital improvement funds, and construction may be phased as funds become available.” Has there been any determination of what level of funding might be required for the project, or what level of funding might be available from different sources? If so, what are these sources?
January 18, 2010 – 5:55 pm

A55: Funding is ongoing and is from a number of different federal, state, and local sources. Competitors will be apprised of the status of fundraising at the Stage III Briefing. See also Q/A #12.

Q48: Is this competition is open to other countries, and what is the procedure to attend the meeting, and individual professionals like designer, architect…etc are eligible?
January 18, 2010 – 5:50 pm

A48: Yes, refer to the Competition Regulations on page 17 of the Competition Manual for eligibility requirements. See also Q/A #6.

Q43: Will you be sharing the sign-in list [from the Pre-submittal Meeting] with attendees or on the website?
January 18, 2010 – 5:44 pm

A43: Yes, it will be posted to the Competition website.

Q42: Is identifying one or more artists to be on our team required for meeting the criteria of Phase 1, or can we postpone this decision until Phase 2.
January 18, 2010 – 5:44 pm

A42: The team must be composed as described in the Competition Manual. See also Q/A #18.

Q12: Have a budget and funding sources been identified for the project?
January 18, 2010 – 5:05 pm

A12: The complexity of the project is such that the competition seeks design solutions based on goals rather than a pre-defined program and so it is not possible to determine a budget at this time. A large consideration for budget purposes should be the goal to complete the project by October 2015. Fundraising has already begun.

Q4: How might I link up with a designer for this competition?
December 22, 2009 – 11:00 am

A4: A networking session will be held in St. Louis in the beginning of Stage II for the short-listed design firms to meet and explore potential teaming opportunities with other individuals and firms. The Competition Manager cannot provide recommendations or assistance in teaming.

A2: The Teams that are invited to participate in Stage III of this competition will receive an honorarium of $100,000. There is no compensation for Stage I and Stage II participants. Refer to page 17 of the Competition Manual.

Q1: What is the registration cost?
December 21, 2009 – 12:58 pm

A1: There is no fee for registration.

For the full list of questions and answers, visit the Arch Competition website link here: Design Competition Q and A

"Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Louis, Missouri

"Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition", a new reality show based in St. Louis, Missouri, begins production this month for airing in the spring of 2010. "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will showcase the efforts of the National Park Service and the City of St. Louis to revitalize the historic Mississippi Riverfront, the Gateway Arch, and downtown St. Louis. "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" creates a rare opportunity for the public from across the country to participate in this exciting project.

In 1965, the final section of Eero Saarinen's masterpiece, the Gateway Arch, was installed, creating a landmark commemorating the westward expansion of the United States. Saarinen, a relative unknown at the time, made his mark on St. Louis and the international scene with his modernist Arch design masterprice. Saarinen was the unlikely winner of an international design competition held to create a landmark monument for the St. Louis riverfront.

Nearly fifty years later, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" aims to renew that world-wide excitement by bringing forward the best possible ideas for reconnecting the historic St. Louis riverfront, the Arch, and downtown St. Louis. In an era where sustainable communities, valuing diversity, and a return to cities is becoming an increasingly popular lifestyle of choice, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will give viewers the opportunity to experience the process of community renewal first hand, while also maximizing public participation in the process.

A variety of interested governmental, non-profit, commercial and neighborhood groups are working together to remake the historic riverfront and Arch grounds. These efforts are being led by a collaboration of St. Louis and national leaders focused on a dramatic, transformative effort for the Arch, riverfront, and downtown St. Louis. "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will add major public relations and community participation dimensions to the process. Each week, show producers will highlight participants in the project and viewers will be able to text their votes for the teams and design ideas they like the best.

While focusing on the Arch design competition, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will also profile the St.Louis community, a city famous for its historic riverfront, jazz and blues music, great restaurant scene, and strong neighborhood traditions.

DISCLAIMER - So as to avoid similar confusion attributed to the RFT's parody story about project design at Ballpark Village, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" is not really going into production for airing this spring or anytime soon. We wish it was! Our aim is get more people talking about the exciting potential of the Arch Design Competition for transforming downtown St. Louis!

Arch Design Competition Begins Today

Efforts to reconnect the Arch, the Riverfront and Downtown St. Louis begin today. The chosen method begins with an international design competition. The design competition program will lead to a plan for repositioning the way the Arch connects to the region. That plan comes with the possibility of substantial federal funding to make the project reality.

Among the world's most famous landmarks, the Arch is on par with the best. Unfortunately, it is located in a horrible setting, walled off from the community it represents. The setting is not appropriate for such a world class monument. As the design competition begins, consider how these other iconic landmarks relate to their surroundings:

The Sydney Opera House:



The US Capitol and Washington Monument:



The Eiffel Tower:



What do these landmarks have in common with the Gateway Arch? Do they suggest possibilities we might pursue?

Some say creativity is not really about originality but rather the combining and reworking of good ideas already learned.

Will our efforts result in experiences on par with visits to the world's other top landmarks? What would such an outcome mean for St. Louis?

Open Letter to Participants in Arch Design Competition

Dear Design Community:

Welcome to St. Louis! The magnificent Arch you will soon be studying is the cherished icon of St. Louis. It is our landmark and logo to the world. Unfortunately, it is like a precious gem placed in an inferior setting. For the past couple of years, the National Park Service has led an effort to fix that problem and reconnect the Arch, the riverfront, and downtown into one vibrant area. The designs you create will set in motion a process to transform downtown St. Louis.

Early on in this effort, Senator John Danforth encouraged big thinking for the future of downtown and the riverfront. The design competition will be where those ideas emerge. As you shape your plans, look around and see the challenges we are addressing. What big ideas are possible? How can infrastructure leverage transformative change? If we succeed in this effort, the answers to those questions will be revealed for St. Louis.

Comments on this website are unmoderated. What would others add to this open letter to the individuals and firms embarking on this potentially transformative project for downtown St. Louis and the region?