A Potpourri of Upcoming Events Including Two for Tonight

Will He or Won’t He?
Will Paul McKee speak at today’s meeting of the MCU (Metropolitan Congregations United)? I suppose only Paul McKee knows for sure.  I have down 6:30pm at Holy Trinity in Hyde Park.  Some reports have him there, others say he won’t.  One way to find out…
A Different Type of Rails to Trails

Also today in North St. Louis is a public comment forum on the early stages of converting an old railroad trestle into an elevated bikeway.  From the P-D:

The Illinois Traction railroad, later called the Illinois Terminal system, built the trestle almost a century ago for its electric-powered commuter system, which carried passengers between the Metro East area and downtown until 1958. It winds through a 19th-century industrial district north of downtown, crossing Interstate 70 on a black-painted girder bridge and running alongside North Market Street at Produce Row.

The forum, sponsored by the Great Rivers Greenway District, will be held tonight at “Confluence Academy-Old North St. Louis Campus 3017 North 13th Street 63107” from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM.  More information from the flyer and media release.

Fall is upon us

Both the North City and Tower Grove Farmers’ Markets will be having final events this coming Saturday morning.   14th & St. Louis Ave and the center of Tower Grove Park, respectively.
An auction to benefit the Landmark’s Association of St. Louis

Sunday is the annual auction (silent and live) to benefit the Landmark’s Association of St. Louis.  Like last year, the event will be held in the incredibly beautiful Coronado Ballroom.

“Landmarks 2nd Annual Auction “Shaping the Future: Saving the Past” will be held on Sunday, October 28, from 3:00-6:30 p.m. at The Coronado, 3701 Lindell Boulevard.  $50 per person includes a lavish hors d’oeuvres buffet, wine, beer and soft drinks.  The silent auction cornucopia opens at 3:00 p.m. with tables closing in sequence before Mark Howald of Ivey-Selkirk begins the live auction at 5:00 p.m.”

A few tickets are still remaining.  It is worth it simply for the food, beverage and view.   More information at Landmarks’ new website at www.landmarks-stl.org.

A Fall themed fundraiser
The South City Open Studio and Gallery (SCOSAG) is holding Harvest for Art 2007 on Friday November 10th as a fundraiser to support their beneficial programs.  The event will be held at the awesome Lucas School House.  See www.scosag.org for more information.
And yet another auction

ArtFix 07 promises to be a fund event on Saturday November 11, a fundraiser benefiting Rebuilding Together-St. Louis:

Rebuilding Together – St. Louis is an affiliate of a national volunteer organization. It revitalizes neighborhoods in partnership with the community by rehabilitating the houses of low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and the disabled, so that they may continue to live independently in comfort and safety. Rebuilding Together – St. Louis also renews neighborhoods by rebuilding community centers, playgrounds and other community projects.

For more information on tickets, food, artists and other details visit ArtFix07.com.

Scooters Vs. Minis on 9th Street, October 2006

A year ago I took some video from a fun event held last October by Espresso Mod on 9th Street —- a scooter vs. mini contest.  I thought I’d use this video to test out some new video editing software (Apple’s iMovie ’08).  Enjoy:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=TZKbk28993E[/youtube]

I Scootered To A Working Farm Yesterday

Few people on small 49cc scooters make it out to rural farm country. While I did visit a farm yesterday, it wasn’t a long trip through the ring of sprawl to reach my destination . My Environmental Planning class at Saint Louis University visited the New Roots Urban Farm on St. Louis’ near north side.

New Roots is located on Hogan Street adjacent to the vacant but stunning St. Liborius church.

You can almost just pass right by — the quarter acre urban farm is very unassuming with the exception of the lively sign.

Rows of basil yet to be picked. Mmmmmm, pesto! Newer homes, set a suburban distance back from the street, complete the block and much of the street to the east.

Above, wire fencing guards the hen house.

Today was a day for members to pick up their weekly veggies. Above, a father and daughter make their way to the pickup area.

Co-founder/Farm & Program Manager Trish Grim was our instructor and guide. In the span of four years this cooperative group has gone from four vacant city lots to a working farm that feeds themselves and 25 shareholders per season. Their annual budget is now up to $50,000. Yes, a mere $50K annually. They have roughly 4 people that work full time as well as numerous volunteers and interns. Clearly they are not in this for the money.

Payments from members of the CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) make up roughly 25% of the budget, the balance coming from various grants. These members get “10-15 pounds of produce” each week during the growing season. There is a waiting list to be a member. New Roots has teamed with the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group on the North City Farmers’ Market which opened this season on 14th Street across from Crown Candy Kitchen. Saturday is the final day for that market this season — they are ending with a big “Hoe Down” with BBQ, games and music (9am-1pm).

New Roots also teamed up with St. Patrick’s Center and Gateway Greening on the City Seeds project at 22st & Pine. Where you say? The leftover/wasted land at the old 22nd Street interchange. Here the homeless are hired at minimum wage to work 3 days per week on this 2-1/2 acre farm. New Roots provides the expert knowledge on the project and another grant funds the wages for the workers. A couple of years ago I argued with developer Kevin McGowen about this project — I wanted the land to be reused in the future when the excess roadway was removed. I am correct in that in the future it will be hard to take back the land for development but I think Kevin was right — this is really a good project. Produce grown on this urban farm is sold at the North City market and the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market.

One of their goals is to be sustainable — environmentally and fiscally. So far, they are quite environmentally sustainable given their practices which includes transporting goods to the North Side Market via bicycle carts. Fiscally, however, they are not so sustainable yet. Trish referenced groups in other parts of the country —- one getting as much as 70% of their funding from sales of product.

Lest you think this is all some hippie festival, I happen to know at least one self proclaimed Republican that is a member.  In fact, the supporters tend to be more affluent types which allows New Roots to sell their produce at very fair prices to lower income folks at the local market (all are welcomed regardless of income).  To me there is something really neat about seeing our food being grown on a real working farm so close to downtown.

Be sure to check out their website at www.newrootsurbanfarm.org and especially their unique newsletter.

Petition Calls for 100% Smoke-Free Indoor Public Places and Workspaces in St. Louis City

A new online petition targeted at St. Louis’ decision makers (aldermen?) calls for smoke-free places:

Yes, I support having 100% smoke-free indoor public places and workplaces in St. Louis City, including bars and restaurants! I support protecting the citizens and workers in St. Louis City from the dangers of secondhand smoke, a Group A carcinogen known to cause cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses.

The goal is 1,000 signatures — I was #571. If you agree, you can sign here.

Update 10/23/07 @ 11:15pm — the group’s main website is smokefreestl.org.

More Sprawl Planned Adjacent to Soulard Neighborhood in 7th Ward

A Walgreen’s and attached strip center next to Bohemian Hill and across from City Hospital is not enough. Nor is the under construction strip center at 7th and Russell. The latest in Phyllis Young’s plan to surround Soulard with all the beauty of O’Fallon (Missouri or Illinois — they look the same) is on the former parking lot of Nooter, at Broadway and Park (map). Mere blocks from The Lasalle Park neighborhood, the rebirth of the Chouteau’s Landing area, Soulard Farmers’ Market and other establishments between this site and downtown.

Site is located to the right in the above image. On another day I’ll have to deal with the bike lane suddenly ending at Park with the Bike St. Louis sign pointing you to the left — like somehow you are supposed to get into the left turn lane, across two lanes of traffic, from the bike lane at the intersection.

Closer up you see the nearly four and a half acre parking lot which is to become this:

Is this the future of St. Louis? Filling in every vacant area with generic strip malls fronted by a sea of asphalt parking lots? While I hope not I am afraid this is the best we can hope for given our politically crippled planning department and inept leadership at city hall. Of course the sketches are pretty honest, they never show an ADA-compliant access route for pedestrians from the main public sidewalk. Bike racks, who needs those? Plenty of “free” auto parking? You bet!!! While the above image is from the sign posted in front of the property it could be anywhere in the region. There is nothing about this that says it is blocks from the river in one of the oldest areas of town.

For years cities had massive change forced upon them in the way of urban renewal — interstate highways ripped through established neighborhoods and high-rise public housing projects wiped out more neighborhoods. These areas really stood no chance of survival with such a large scale approach. Today we cannot afford to come in and reconnect areas on such an equally large scale — nor would we want to. The bigger the scale the more watered down the solution. What we need is to methodically and incrementally piece our city back together again.

While this incremental construction would take place over many years, on many parcels and via many different builders/developers the planning must be done upfront and on the bigger scale. This does not mean we design every building. No, what is means is that we set out a community vision — what will we expect of the building types once built. Will they be multi-story and built up to the street with any parking below or behind the structure? Cities such as Seattle, Portland and Denver are seeing great success through the use of districts-scaled plans with the power of zoning. The goal is not to control uses but forms of new buildings, relationships to the street and the disposition of parking. Slowly but surly the vision will come together — getting increasingly urban and dense with each passing project. Biking and walking from place to place will become better and friendlier over time. This approach takes the long view on rebuilding a walkable city that also happens to accommodate motorists along the way.

I have no problems with generic chain stores in this location. What I do have a problem with is the form in which they are proposed. Even smart suburban areas in the US aren’t allowing this sort of lowest common denominator of development anymore. Yes, this is probably better than a vacant parking lot but when we have no standards at all we get development that is a reflection of that lack of vision.

If you share my perspective on this the people you need to talk to are long-time 7th Ward Alderman Phyllis Young, “Planning” and [Sub]Urban Design Director Rollin Stanley and Deputy Mayor Barb Geisman via Mayor Slay.