Locust Street entry to the Central Library, with the Shell Building in the background
Today’s post is about a potentially interesting panel discussion, from the email I received:
St. Louis Public Library – Central Library Auditorium Wednesday, October 14, 2015 6:30–8 p.m.
In today’s media, rankings are everywhere—from best ballpark food to top 10 vacation spots to most loved Harry Potter character—they can be fun and eye-catching. Rankings also inform citizens, politicians, businesses, and the media. Rankings are used to direct investments, drive competition, affect perceptions, and build a local, regional, and national narrative.
How does the St. Louis region measure up according to the numbers? Does perception match reality? How should we use rankings to tell our story? Join us for the first of three conversations to explore these questions and share your perspective.
On October 14th, St. Louis journalists Andre Hepkins (KMOV), Maria Altman (St. Louis Public Radio), Deb Peterson (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), and Alex Ihnen (NextSTL) will consider how we talk about St. Louis and rankings from East-West Gateway Council of Government’s Where We Stand 7th Edition: The Strategic Assessment of the St. Louis Region.
Brought to you by East-West Gateway Council of Governments, FOCUS-St. Louis, UMSL School for Public Policy and Administration, and the St. Louis Public Library.
While I’ve ridden many MetroBus routes in the region, one I don’t recall is the #42 (Sarah). However, I’m familiar with it because other routes I ride, like the #10 (Gravois-Lindell), intersect with it. With the opening of the new IKEA St, Louis I noticed the #42 route makes a loop East past Sarah to Vandeventer. A new bus stop got my attention.
New bus stop right in front of IKEA
I always assumed it went North/South on Sarah, connecting with the Central West End MetroBus/MetroLink station via Forest Park. It does — but rather than turning there it uses Laclede to go East one block to Vandeventer.
If you use public transit in St. Louis you can easily get to IKEA. I use the #10 and just go down Vandeventer or Sarah from Lindell, but I could transfer to the #42 at Lindell & Sarah. Another option is the #32 from Manchester/Chouteau & Vandeventer. Many other MetroBus lines meet up with the #42 at the Central West End MetroLink light rail station.
I especially encourage the proponents of the North-South light rail to use this as an opportunity to actually familiarize themselves with MetroBus. The humble bus carries more people more places daily.
Over the years I’ve posted about new wheelchair ramps & steps into buildings completely choking off the sidewalk. Here’s another.
Last month I took this pic to show how almost no sidewalk was left after an ADA/wheelchair ramp was built to access the CET biotech startup buildingMore recently I was going the opposite direction but a bike was occupying the little bit of sidewalk hat remained.
So a person who uses a wheelchair and lives a block North in the universal design 6 North Apartments must deal with this daily to reach their job at a biotech startup, the new IKEA, or the future MetroLink light rail station? The problem, repeated too often, is people tasked with adding ramps/steps don’t think about all users of the public sidewalk.
In this example, the new ramp probably should’ve been the full width of the concrete portion of the sidewalk and two-saided, rather than one-sided. Or not have the brick tree-lawn & street tree at this point so the concrete sidewalk could go around the ramp. An inverted-U bike rack needs to installed in the tree lawn. Even an able-bodied person walking past this would be annoyed.
To be a pedestrian-friendly city we must stop placing obstacles in the way of pedestrians!
Big box stores with surface parking lots don’t fit in urban contexts — they’re sub-urban. For example, the Menard’s in O’Fallon IL I drove past on Saturday, a MetroBus stop is right out front but there’s no accessible pedestrian route to get to the entrance. See it on Google Street View here.
Decades ago the big boxes were the downtown department stores, but those days are long gone. However, a few big box retailers have taken over some of the vacant space left behind by shuttered department stores.
Taget in Chicago’s former Carson Pirie Scott department store designed by Louis Sullivan. February 2014. Click image to view the Wikipedia entry on the building
More often, big boxes have been trying to fit into walkable urban neighborhoods; they’ve been concealed by smaller liner storefronts, stacked, etc. The Target at Hampton & Chippewa is built over parking, but it still has surface parking facing Hampton & Bancroft, with docks & garage facing Chippewa. Inevitably someone says “it’s better than what was there” or “It’s better than the location in [insert any suburban municipality.” Sorry, but new development will be around for 20+ years, so standards should be higher than simply doing marginally better than awful suburban development or old derelict properties. Which brings me to IKEA St. Louis, located on the SW corner of Forest Park Ave & Vandeventer Ave.
IKEA’s blue & yellow big box set behind a surface parking lot at Forest Park & Vandeventer. View from the point where the two public sidewalks meet.
Opening day I ran into an acquaintance at IKEA — she also arrived via MetroBus — she hadn’t yet seen my post on the pedestrian access points. Upon arriving at the corner pictured above how would a pedestrian know where to find accessible routes to the entry? By big box standards, IKEA St. Louis did an excellent job providing pedestrian access routes from each go the three adjacent streets, but the massive setback from the sidewalks
The big question now is what will happen at development sites around IKEA St. Louis? Other buildings, old & new, within a block of the intersection are all urban — built up to the public sidewalk.
Two other corners contain urban buildings a historic firehouse and a new apartment complex built around a parking garageThe 3-story building on the NW corner was razed 4+ years ago. At right you can see the South end of the historic Gerhart Block that I posted about on Friday.
In July 2011 I posted about the building on this very same corner being razed. The Southeast corner, except for the firehouse, is to be retail.
The firehouse is supposed to remain, will help “hold” the corner. But how will everything else relate to the street & sidewalk?Behind the firehouse is largely an old industrial siteBut even the old industrial office is urban in formThe urban form continues across Spring AveAnd across Forest Park Ave more urban form. Will the new retail to the South respect the urban pattern?
One of the most critical development parcels is immediately to the West of IKEA, at 4052 Forest Park Ave.
Looking West from the IKEA property line. The other three sides are bounded by Forest Park Ave, Sarah Ave, and Duncan Ave. The former Ford plant in the background is now loftsLooking South across Forest Park. IKEA is to the left, just out of view. The development parcel straight ahead will ideally be of similar massing as the lofts on the right, with storefronts at sidewalk level.Looking East on Duncan Ave, from Sarah Ave. The CORTEX master plan wants Duncan to be a pedestrian-friendly spine through the district. The form of new building(s) on the parcel on the left will matter greatly.
This site could be developed similar to new apartments at Forest Park & Vandeventer — a parking garage concealed on all sides by habitable buildings. The difference here is it should have storefront spaces on the ground floor. A boutique hotel, like one of these chains, should occupy part of the upper floors.
Hopefully IKEA St. Louis will be the exception, not the rule.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
