Five years ago today I bought a scooter — a red & white 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter (see post). I had witnessed the horror in New Orleans via CNN. Gas prices spiked.
In two and a half years I put over 6,000 miles on the scooter — what a blast. After my stroke I sold the scooter, no point keeping it around. I had hoped to get another scooter at some point, but that is not looking to be a possibility.
– Steve Patterson
Today at 10am a public hearing will be held in City Hall (Rm 208) regarding a citation from the city against the nightclub Lure, located at 1204 Washington Ave.
“In a letter to Lure dated July 28 the city accused Lure of having improper employees and blamed its patrons for three acts of violence occurring near Lure on Thursday nights or early Friday mornings dating back to last November. Those complaints include a June 11 report in which people in a nearby parking lot allegedly fired an assault rifle at police.” (RFT Blog)
I attended a meeting at Lure recently where members of the Trupiano family make their case about how they manage Lure.
I can’t make the hearing but I know I will get reports from people in attendance. Some will say downtown residents are just being NIMBY‘s while others will say they like nightlife but say other establishments are better neighbors.
– Steve Patterson
The following is a press release:
HUD OFFERS $110 MILLION IN GRANTS TO CLEAN UP LEAD HAZARDS
Funding to protect children from lead poisoning
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it is making approximately $110 million in grants available to help eliminate dangerous lead-based paint from lower income homes and to protect young children from lead poisoning. The grants to States and local governments are being offered through HUD’s Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control and Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Programs.
“These grants are critical for States, counties and cities who are on the front lines of protecting our children from dangerous lead hazards,” said Jon Gant, Director of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control. “While we have made remarkable progress toward eliminating lead poisoning in children nationwide, now is the time to focus on reaching the finish line. We look forward to communities applying for these grants so that they can help make older housing safer and healthier for children.”
HUD is providing an opportunity for applicants through its Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program. Prospective grantees will be able to apply for supplementary funding to promote and develop a local Healthy Housing initiative, building on their lead hazard control program, to address multiple housing-related health hazards in accordance with best practices HUD has identified. In addition, the Department will announce the availability of funds for four Healthy Homes and lead grant programs in the near future.
HUD requires prospective grantees to submit their applications electronically via www.grants.gov. Any changes to HUD-published funding notices will be made available to the public through a Federal Register publication and published on this government-wide portal. Applicants are urged to sign up for Grants.gov’s notification service to receive periodic updates or changes to this grant offering.
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Eugene Field’s father filed the lawsuit to win freedom for slave Dred Scott. Soon after (1850) his wife gave birth to a son, Eugene. He was born at the family home at 634 South Broadway, now the Eugene Field House & Toy Museum. Eugene Field went on to write children’s poetry in his short 45-year life.
The house has a lush green garden to the north and south (above) surrounded by a brick wall. Roswell Martin Field was an attorney so it is fitting they would live well. But looking at the house today gives you a false picture of South Broadway in 1850. But before I go back let’s start with the present conditions.
Of course the highways and ramps didn’t exist, nor did the acres of surface parking. But neither did the lush walled garden you see today!
I don’t know the exact conditions in 1908 but I’d guess not much different. City records indicate the house was built in 1845 – five years before Eugene Field was born. Very likely the area was all new at the time. By the time the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map was created in 1908 the house was 63 years old — equal to a house built in 1947 relative to today.
By 1958 all the other houses in the area had been replaced by industry and I-55 was built to the east.
By 1971 the industrial buildings were gone and highway 40 was now in place.
So much has changed in St. Louis over the decades it is important to peel back the layers to see how the city has evolved — devolved
– Steve Patterson
St. Louis’ Union Station opened to a massive crowd on September 1, 1894 – 116 years ago today. Twenty-five years ago Sunday, August 29, 1985, Union Station reopened as a “festival marketplace” after being closed since the last train pulled out seven years prior on October 31, 1978.
St. Louis had gotten so bad the 1981 film Escape From New York was filmed here, able to pass for 1997 New York – as a maximum security prison. A big fight scene took place in the Grand Hall of Union Station prior to the restoration you see above.
In 1985 I entered architecture school, Union Station’s reopening was widely studied. In the days when 100,000 passengers a day would pass through Union Station there was no shortage of activity. For the last 25 years the busiest spot has been the Fudgery:
When new Union Station was considered to be too far west of the central business district — the location is 8 blocks west of the station built under present-day Tucker in 1875. When I arrived in St. Louis 20 years ago there were many well-known stores in Union Station as well as St. Louis Centre, also downtown. In a few years a small mall just outside the city limits would expand and become the St. Louis Galleria — the shops quickly relocated.
– Steve Patterson