The Pledge of Allegiance

steve July 4th, 2008

We recited the pledge as children in school and occasionally as adults. It has meaning but it has also changed over the years since first written in 1892. The pledge did not become officially recognized by the U.S. government until June 1942 (wiki).

Comedian Red Skelton was in his late 20s by this time but he still had recited the pledge in school. He recalled the pledge on his show in January 1969:

When Skelton was in school our nation only had 48 states.

The words “under God” originated with the Knights of Columbus in NYC in 1951 and by 1954 they became official. Personally I think the pledge, originally written by a minister, was better without reference to a deity. Recent court cases have challenged the “under god” phrasing. At least one bill has been introduced in a prior session of congress that would have forbidden the Supreme Court from ruling on challenges the the wording or mandating of the pledge. Of course Congress can’t pass a law prohibiting the Supreme Court from ruling on constitutional matters.
Happy Independence Day!

The St Louis Region Over The Next 50 Years

steve July 3rd, 2008

The last 50 years saw our region (and most regions nationally) flee the inner city, and eventually inner ring ’streetcar’ suburbs for the newly developing auto-centric sprawl of suburbia. The coming 50 years will be radically different. The following are my thoughts on the changes we’ll see by the close of the first half of the 21st Century.

We already know that by 2050 the U.S. is expected to grow by a third, going from 300 million to 400 million. We have no reason to believe the desires and values of the 1950s will be the same in the 2050s, the 1950s were certainly different than the 1850s.

The decision makers in 1950 were likely born around 1900. The cities of their youth were a polluted places. Many cities in the first half of the 20th century could be as dark as night due to think smoke from coal fired furnaces. Cities were literally dirty places. All the jobs & retail were in the city so one had little choice but to go to the city.  That generation changed everything to get themselves away from the city center.
The American dream of the single family detached home surrounded by a lush lawn and two cars in the garage will cease to be the dream for most Americans by 2050. The further we get into the period of high energy costs the more people will realize the folly of hoping in the car to head 3 miles to a big box supermarket, or anywhere for that matter. Of course in the future that big box supermarket may not exist.

Agribusiness, I believe, will collapse as the cost to produce and ship food great distances will cripple their business plan. Food will become more local out of fiscal necessity.

As we transition from a world a cheap energy to one where energy is very costly much will change.  Wal-Mart too will collapse as they struggle to offer consumers cheap goods shipped from halfway around the world.  Their vast parking lots in suburbia will be increasingly empty, just like their shelves.

Alternatively I think by 2050 we’ll see the 200,000sf Wal-Mart Supercenter break up and be replaced with the Wal-Mart main street. One walkable street connected to adjacent residential and lined with a number of Wal-Mart specialty stores such as pharmacy, grocery, clothing, electronics and so on.    This won’t happen in some corn field but along an arterial currently lined with fast food shacks and cinder block & dryvit strip centers.   Municipalities will see this as the only way to create main street type retail to serve their residents.  It may be Wal-Mart or it might be whatever retailers come along after they crash & burn.
Rolling blackouts to deal with demand for electricity will shape generations being born now.  They will also be shaped by the high price of gas.  Just as the generation from 1900 looked with envy at the wealthy who had large homes in places just outside the city like Webster Groves the generation being born now but raised in car required sprawl will be envious of those with the option to walk a few blocks to work, or to get daily goods & services.  Indeed it will be the wealthy who will first place themselves in the new emerging urban enclaves.
Over the next half century manufacturing will return to the U.S. As transportation costs mount we will begin to see that the cheap item made in China or the head of lettuce grown in Southern California will be more costly than the same thing made or grown closer to home.

As a future Urban Planner this is an exciting time. The next decade or so will be rough but beyond that we’ll see the re-urbanization of the St Louis region and in regions across the country. I’m not suggesting the entire population of the region will live & work with the boundaries of the City of St Louis. What I am suggesting is that in addition to the city our inner-ring suburbs and a few after that will add population and will take on new forms to reflect the market demand for “walkable urbanism.” The single-family detached homes may remain but the commercial arterial roads, now littered with fast food joints, will get mixed-use urban form buildings.

The large vinyl-clad McMansions of suburbia may get reconfigured to house more than one single family.  Lawns will become vegetable gardens.  Those places farthest away from a main street and/or transit (ie: requiring a drive to get there) will be unwanted.   Children raised in these conditions will long for urbanism when they seek places on their own.
The municipality of Dardene Prairie in St Charles County is already taking the right steps to stay relevant.  They are in the process of creating a walkable downtown on vacant commercial land between existing cul-de-sac subdivisions.  When built out in say 20 years that will serve to connect now disconnected subdivisions.  Creve Coeur is also working on a downtown plan.  Much of what Urban Planners will be doing over the next few decades is retrofitting sprawl with mass transit and walkable urbanism.  These places won’t have 10+ story buildings for blocks but they will have 2-5 story buildings opening directly to the street.
Future road projects will not center on how much traffic volume can be accommodated but how to make stretches of road more hospitable to pedestrians and cyclists, the opposite of today’s big projects like I-64.

In 2050 I will turn 83 years old.  Thus I may only see the start of this transformation.  Hopefully I will play a role in the process from suburbia to urbanism.  In 2050 my great-niece will be 52 and her younger brother will be 46.  Their adult lives won’t be about driving everywhere.   They may never need a car.

The problem is that today’s leadership is stuck on fulfilling the dreams of their grandparents generation, only making it bigger and more sprawling.  The mounting energy crisis is going to test everyone’s idea of the ideal built environment.  Those municipalities that embrace the increasing demand for urbanism will fare better than those that don’t.  As a region our growth will depend upon the actions within tons of small municipalities on both sides of the river.  How we are perceived by those outside our region will become important as we try to get manufacturing jobs that return stateside.

The City of St Louis divorced itself from St Louis County in 1876 and in the coming decades that may prove to benefit the city.  If, in the coming decades, we rebuild much of our now-vacant areas in a dense urban model we can repopulate the city and attract great new jobs.   Not being part of a county will give the city the freedom to go its own direction while ignoring potential sprawl holdouts in the balance of the region.  Of course I’m afraid the pro-sprawl holdouts may still be in charge in city government.

As we face an uncertain future regarding energy I’m nonetheless optimistic about the future and the role I may play in shaping cities over the next 40 years or so.

I Drove My Car Today

steve July 2nd, 2008

For most people driving a car is no big deal, millions do it everyday. For me, five months to the day after being rushed to the hospital following my stroke, it was a very big deal.

A year ago I was so excited to not own a car, using my 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter to get around town and to meet with clients. The stroke took out the use of my left limbs. I’ve got decent use of the left leg at this point, but my left arm/hand is still functionally limited. So a couple of weeks ago I sold the scooter (post) and last week bought a used car — a Toyota Corolla.

For obvious reasons I bought one with an automatic transmission — no extra hand to shift with (while keeping the other on the wheel) nor a reliable leg to activate a clutch. I also wanted a vehicle with power windows because trying to use my right hand to roll down the driver’s window would not be easy. The Corolla has an outstanding reliability record and excellent fuel economy. This Corolla, like most, was assembled in the joint venture Toyota/GM plant known as NUMMI in Fremont, CA, located not far from my brother’s office.

Don’t think that I’m just out on the road living it up without any equipment or training. I had a driving evaluator (a licensed occupational therapist) come and give me vision & cognitive testing as well as on on-road driving test. So last week, at age 41 and after driving for 25 years, I was back in driver’s ed.

We drove on the streets and the interstate. He recommended the two vehicle modifications which were the two I had already assumed:

The spinner knob on the steering wheel at 2 O’clock helps me safely turn the wheel with only one hand. The lever you see behind the wheel to the right is a turn signal crossover, helping me use turn signals with my right hand. The spinner knob is illegal for use on the road unless you’ve be determined to need it. Both devices work great.

So now my trick will be to see how seldom I can drive the car. I feel like a failed environmentalist selling the scooter and getting a car. As I start to buy gas I know I will quickly be reminded of just how efficient the scooter was. I’ll still use the wheelchair to get around downtown. I’ll also continue to work on my walking so that some day I’ll be able to stop using the wheelchair, the cane and leg brace.

In the meantime the car will allow me to get to my office on South Kingshighway without having to bum rides from others. This also permits me to once again have the ability to meet clients at properties that are for sale. A paycheck would be nice.

The car will permit me to stop by Local Harvest grocery and various farmers’ markets to get locally grown food. And finally it will allow me to get and and see projects as they are happening so that I can review them here.

To me the car is an important park of my mobility but I’m not going to let it rule my life.

The Kindness of Strangers

steve July 1st, 2008

In the two months I’ve been home from the hospital following my stroke I’ve been many places in my wheelchair and more with rides from friends. While I appreciate help (holding doors) I also like to try to do for myself. So close friends will stand there as I get myself through doors, knowing that if I want assistance I’ll ask. And at times I do ask. I’ve gotten pretty good at getting most places I need to go without help.

But Saturday morning, on the way to the Union Station MetroLink station, I hit a particularly rough ADA curb cut at 17th & Pine:

Continuing on 17th something didn’t sound right. I look down and see that my front right tire was knocked off the wheel:

Great, I’m three blocks from home and my wheelchair is now as disabled as I am.

Before I could formulate a plan a man gets out of a vehicle on 17th and offers to help, he had seen me coming down the sidewalk with the tire off the wheel. I had no idea who he was or if he could help but I was certainly in no position to refuse. I hobbled out of the chair to an adjacent brick retaining wall and sat down while this man grabs a toolbox out of his vehicle. He proceeds to unbolt the front wheel and then using a flat screwdriver and hammer gets the non-air type tire back on the wheel. Within 10 minutes he had it fixed and I was ready to go. I offered to pay him something for his time but he refused. I thanked him profusely and continued toward MetroLink.  It’s not like I could have called AAA.

There are many bad people in cities but the majority are decent, caring and upstanding citizens. It is cities that you come in close proximity to strangers. Sometimes that is not a good thing but often it is. Many times it might just be a smile and “Hello” to someone walking on the sidewalk. That chance encounter & connection with someone you don’t know. That just doesn’t happen in the same way at the mall or the Wal-Mart parking lot.

My Top Ten Videos on YouTube

steve June 30th, 2008

I’ve posted over 60 videos on YouTube over the last couple of years. This pales in comparison to my friend Antonio French over at pubdef.net but still not bad. So, in looking at the number of viewings of each I decided to do a lame top ten list:

#10 Gateway Cup 2007: 723 viewings — a compilation from four days of bike racing last Labor Day weekend:

#9 valet cones in bike lane: 758 viewings — one establishment on Olive decides their valet service is more important than the bike lane:

#8 Poor Pedestrian Signals: 768 viewings — SLU and the city make crossing Vandeventer on foot a challenge:

#7 smart card tech 923 viewings— Metro engineer explains smart card technology, note audio is note in sync with the video:

#6 St Louis Arches: 1,029 viewings —talented youth riding unicycles and performing other stunts:

#5 Arriving Brentwood station: 1,215 viewings — from the opening of the Shrewsbury MetroLink line in 2006:

#4 Arriving Shrewsbury 1,225 viewings — also from the opening of the Shrewsbury MetroLink line in 2006

#3 Ballpark Village Announcement: 1,303 viewings - The announcement about Ballpark Village and the unveiling of a fancy model:

#3 Shrewsbury Station: 1,503 viewings — New MetroLink light rail trains being pushed into the Shrewsbury Station before the line opened:

#2 Hamilton Blocks Sidewalk: 1,623 viewings — Insider at City Hall parks on the sidewalk with ‘official business’ placard on dash, denies blocking sidewalk when caught on camera (original post):

#1 Cardinals World Series Champs: 14,188 viewings — the fireworks and excitement following the Cardinals victory:

St. Louis to Replace ‘Fuctionally Obsolete’ Arch with New Monument/Parking Garage

steve June 28th, 2008

“It’s just too short,” says St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, “It’s holding back our skyline.“. Slay cited monuments in other cities that a considerably taller such as Paris’ much older Eifel Tower, Seattle’s Space Needle and Toronto’s CN Tower. Not as tall but able to accommodate more people is the London Eye.

One concept floated in the cigar filled backrooms of city hall is to recreate a 19th century riverfront, complete with a walkable compact street grid and cast iron storefront buildings. “It would be so retro,” exclaims Barbara Geisman, Slay’s Deputy Director of Development, making reference to the 40 city block of warehouses the city tossed aside in the 1940’s.

Geisman continued, “We have simply run out of historic structures to demolish. The Arch was next on our list.”

Alderman Phyllis Young is not to keen on the walkable grid idea, “I drive a hybrid Prius so why would I walk anywhere. What the area needs is more drive-thrus like a Starbuck’s and a Walgreen’s.” The St Louis Development Corporation has already awarded the project to Steve Stogel. When SLDC director Rodney Crim was asked if an RFP (Request for Proposals) had been issued he simply responded with, “Oops, we forgot. Too late now.”

Stogel’s concept is for the world’s tallest parking garage with a McDonalds on the top level. “Take away one Arch,” Stogel said, “and replace it with two arches and parking for 2,000 cars. Imagine driving right into the monument and enjoying Chicken McNuggets while watching East St Louis flood!”
Obviously I’m having a bit of satirical fun, the Arch isn’t going anywhere. However the second of two public meetings on the future of the Arch Grounds will be held Tuesday July 1st, starting at 3pm at the Old Courthouse.

From the Post-Dispatch:

The National Park Service will hold the second of two open houses Tuesday to gather input on proposed improvements to the Arch grounds.

The open house will run from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at the Old Courthouse, 11 North Fourth Street. Ideas range from better connections to the surrounding city to a major new museum.

St. Louis Cardinals Need to fix ADA Violations Along Clark St

steve June 27th, 2008

The new Busch Stadium has been open for two years now. Clark Street has also been reopened along the North side of the stadium between Broadway & 8th for the same two years. To the North of Clark is the site of the former Busch stadium (1966-2006) and the site of the long delayed Ballpark Village.

Wednesday I discovered an issue that makes the sidewalk along the North side of the street non-compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ada.org).

Heading from city hall to the Hilton at the Ballpark (Broadway & Market) for the Downtown Partnership Annual Meeting & Lunch I decided to take Clark. The problem you can see above, the design of the sidewalk doesn’t allow me to just use the sidewalk for East-West travel.

Twice along the same stretch I encountered the same issue. Both times I took the ramp for crossing Clark and road in the street to the similar ramp on the other side. They made plenty of provisions for heading to a game but just not for getting from A to B using Clark Street.

Of course when they built the street & sidewalk they were still working on plans for the Ballpark Village. They unveiled plans for Ballpark Village in October 2006 (see post w/video) so they probably though by now that sidewalk would have changed based on the final construction. I know many of us, including the Mayor, thought we’d see something there by now. So I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that the sidewalk was temporary. Still as a temporary sidewalk it was not properly accessible and after two years, it is not temporary! Either build your village or fix this sidewalk.

Any lawyer out there want to represent me in suing the Cardinals for violating my civil rights due to their non-compliance with the ADA?

ADA Curb Cut No Longer Compliant After Street Resurfaced

steve June 26th, 2008

The city has been resurfacing several streets downtown. Initially they were grinding up the old asphalt in the evenings, forgetting people live downtown. After people complained they shifted the schedule so the noisy grinding work was done during daylight and the new asphalt laid after 5pm.

With the top most layer of asphalt missing for a few days it presented some challenges for me & my wheelchair. The biggest issue was avoiding the man hole covers that were now suddenly sticking up but still in the crosswalk. But it was temporary and I managed by changing my route or picking crosswalks that were less problematic.

One of the streets that was resurfaced was 11th. A few corners along 11th still lack an ADA ramp. For example the city has the top two floors at the building at 1015 Locust which is on the NE corner of 11th & Locust. The same corner lacks an ADA curb cut. The other three corners have cuts but that doesn’t help when the direction you want to go doesn’t.

BTW, corner ramps suck! They were basically a cheap way for cities to comply with the ADA — building one ramp to serve two directions rather than building two ramps at each corner — one per side per crosswalk. It did allow more curb cuts to be built with limited funds so that is a good thing. The trouble is now getting people to stop insisting the curb cut must be pushed to the very corner.

The problem with the curb cut at the very corner is that is it not in the natural line of travel down the sidewalk. All the time now I’m having to continually maneuver to the outside corners of the sidewalk. Not so bad when the sidewalks are empty but when others are around it often means I’m crossing in front of them or having to stop to cross behind them.

But these are also dangerous on streets with no curb lane. With traffic driving in the outside lane near the curb and these corner ramps means those of us in wheelchairs are being forced out near or, in some cases, in the travel lane of moving traffic.  Talk about a sitting target!  But this post is supposed to be about a single ramp that got worse after the street was repaved so let me get on with the main topic.

Above is the corner curb cut at the SE corner of 11th & Washington Ave.   As you can see the street now casts a shadow as it dips down to meet the ramp.  It didn’t do this before.  The ADA has guidelines on the slope of both the ramp and of the adjacent street.  The street can of course go downhill as needed but I’m talking about the “crown” ot the street — how high it is at the middle and how much does it angle off to the curbs.

Excessive slopes present a number of issues.  Those using manual chairs can have a harder time getting up the slope.  In the case above the slope is steep and sudden. In my power chair I feel like I’m going to tip backwards, the slope is that steep. Manual chairs often have anti-tippers to prevent falling backwards (little extra wheels at the back that prevent tipping back) but electric chairs have no such devices.  So with anti-tippers in the above situation a person may find as they try to cross that curb cut because as they go up the slope their anti-tippers may catch on the backside. This point is also now more prone to hold water.
My guess is the crew just put down too much asphalt in this section and didn’t realize the implications of their actions.

I Made the A-List

steve June 25th, 2008

The July 2008 issue of St Louis magazine is out on newsstands featuring “115 picks for the best in…” Well they have all the usual categories such as various best of areas in dining and shopping. This year the editors named me “Best Blogger.” They wrote:

No one but urban gadfly Steve Patterson could write 50-plus blog posts about the McDonald’s on Grand, much less make said posts so completely compelling that we’ve clicked through them for hours on end (in our spare time, of course). The real-estate guru of Urban Review STL has written volumes about everything from farmers’ markets to building permits, scooters to city politics, averaging 28 posts per month across his blog’s 56 categories — and scarcely slowing down to acknowledge his disabling stroke this February. Honestly, we’re in awe.

Thanks guys!

Since starting the blog on October 31st of 2004 I’ve posted over 1,500 posts. Some have been guest posts. The guest commentaries always bring a new perspective to the discussion. When I was in the hospital my friend, Architect Dustin Bopp, was able to keep the blog going with updates on my condition and to post a number of guest posts. Thanks to Dustin, Margie, Jim and others for your contributions.

The blog has reached a milestone of over 15,000 reader comments. That is a lot of discussion! I see my role as putting the topic out there and taking a position and then letting others share their thoughts.

So thank you to all the readers out there and thank you to St Louis magazine for the recognition of my work.

OK, a little house keeping. Regular readers have likely noticed the missing right sidebar. I was trying to add in a graphic for the very cool walkscore.com site and something went very wrong that caused the entire sidebar to disappear. Of course I had a backup of the sidebar code but the software is not accepting it. I’m getting a programmer on the job as soon as they become available.

Something has also happened to my anti-spam code word plug-in for comments. As a result I’m getting hit with lots of spam. To combat this I’ve set it up so that any comment that has a link in it will be held for moderation. The good news is that I’m now able to read & approve comments from my iPhone.

I’ve got some interesting posts planned for the coming weeks and months. As I resume the Master of Arts in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development program at SLU this Fall I’ll bring you some of what we are discussing and learning. I’ve got a stack of books to read & review and a growing list of additional books that I want for my library.

Now is an exciting time to study cities and to write about urbanity.

Update 6/27/2008 @ 12:15pm:

I made a big omission in my thanks yous above.  My friend, Seattle Architect Rich Kenney not only contributed blog material during my absence (and before) but he also flew to St Louis within days of me being hospitalized.  Although I was sedated so I don’t remember him being here.  The missing beer & wine from my fridge and his picture of me in ICU is enough proof.  We’ve been friends for twenty years now and will be for another 20.     Thanks Rich!

Public Realm Attacked in SW St Louis City

steve June 24th, 2008

A Guest Editorial by Jim Zavist, AIA

The attacks continue . . .

On the public realm, that is . . . Watson Road in SW City is not downtown or the CWE. It’s an older four-lane arterial lined with residences, both single and multi-family, churches, banks and small business. It bisects some very walkable neighborhoods and has a well-developed and well-maintained sidewalk system on both sides, mostly with a small tree lawn/planting strip (example below).

Patio dining is something many diners like, and vote for with their feet and credit cards. I like patio and sidewalk dining, especially on weekends like this past one (Saturday night, at Chava’s, for instance), so I’m not a NIMBY. I’m even coming around to the concept of sharing the sidewalks with tables and chairs, as is done by many places on Washington. Where I draw the line is when permanent encroachments are made into the public right-of-way, especially when other alternatives exist.

In response to this demand, more and more restaurants are creating outdoor spaces. In my area/along Watson and Chippewa, both El Paisano and Aya Sophia have recently completed outdoor spaces, and both seem to be doing well. We’re also home to that St. Louis icon, Ted Drewes (013 jpg), and as we all know, they’re heavy users of the public sidewalk.

El Paisano:

Aya Sophia:

Ted Drewes:

It now looks like one of our old-line places, Pietro’s, wants to join the crowd.

This week, the public sidewalk was ripped out and concrete foundations were poured, exactly for what, I’m not quite sure, yet.

My best guess is that we’re getting a permanent deck (on the circular concrete footings) enclosed with a brick wall (on the rectangular footings with the rebar sticking out). I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s covered, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes enclosed, when cooler weather hits. And since it sits smack dab in the middle of the existing pedestrian path, guess what, pedestrians will now be taking a permanent detour.

I guess I’d be more sympathetic and less upset if there were “no other options”. This simply isn’t the case here. The restaurant abuts the public sidewalk (a good thing) on the north and the east. It’s also surrounded by a generous parking lot on the west and south. Why not use the parking lot? I can guess the answer, it’s simple - “We don’t want to/can’t afford to lose any parking.”

Who’s to blame? The owner, for wanting to use what they see as either an extension of their property and/or wanting to put the the public right-of-way to “better use”, as in “Nobody walks there, anyway”, plus “We’re leaving 4′-5′ to squeeze by”? Their architect/designer/contractor for drawings up the owner’s plans and asking the city (been there, done that - sometimes you gotta push the envelope”, plus you’re getting paid to ask, beg and/or plead the owner’s case)? The city for saying yes? Ding, ding, ding! Ultimately, it’s the city’s responsibility to just say no, you’re simply going too far. It won’t make you popular, but it’s your job! Whether it’s the planning department or the public works department or the alderman, somebody (everybody?) needs to be doing their job (better?) and looking at the bigger picture. We have rules for a reason, to protect the public, and there’s no valid reason for making any exceptions here.

I don’t care if you’ve been in the neighborhood for nearly fifty years. I don’t care if you have new competitors and you’re losing a few customers. I don’t care if you’d lose a few parking spaces - your competitors have made that choice. What’s happening here is permanent. It’s not like a few chairs and tables blocking the sidewalk (and can be moved). This will degrade the pedestrian experience in an area and a city that should be encouraging more walking, and it’s another hit on our fragile urban fabric. And, unfortunately, it’s most likely a done deal and won’t/can’t be changed . . .

Local Architect Jim Zavist was born in upstate New York, raised in Louisville KY, spent 30 years in Denver Colorado and relocated to St. Louis in 2005.

Update 6/26/2008 2:20pm:

Steve here, thanks Jim for bringing this to everyone’s attention.   Some of the comments reflect the attitude that they likely have a permit so all must be well.  One such example of work having a permit was the construction of an ADA ramp into a renovated building on Olive (see post).  In this case the ramp was allowed to encroach on the public sidewalk in order to provide an accessible entrance for the building.  The problem is the ramp was being constructed too far into the right of way.  So far that someone in a chair trying to reach this entrance would not have been able to do so.  By posting about it midway it gave everyone a chance to review the situation and make corrections before it was too far along.  Wednesday morning I had a nice face to face meeting with the new Commissioner on the Disabled, David Newburger.  He will be looking into this situation on Watson.  As we discussed sometimes projects are allowed to encroach on the public space.  The task is to ensure the minimum clearance is protected.  But the minimum is just that, minimum.  To create walkable neighborhoods we need to strive for more than the minimum.

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