Soulard Market to Become a Park
Don’t worry, the city has no plans to do away with the market.
However a bill (BB41) before the Board Of Aldermen would make the market part of the “Soulard Playground” park which shifts control from the Director of Public Utilities to the Parks Director. Maybe this is a good thing? Maybe it is a power play to increase the Parks Dept budget?
Given the issue of citizens getting to vote on any leasing or selling of park land I wonder how the long-term leasing of vendor stalls would be impacted?
I don’t think it would be affected – the use of stalls/interior space is already part of the market’s established business behavior, and leasing a stall to someone doesn’t permanently change the structure of the park the way Barnes-Jewish building at forest park does.
Brian
Soon it will not not be Barnes Jewish at Forest Park but Barnes Jewish in Forest Park.
Forest Park has been on the ceremonial auction block for decades in StL. First highway 40 was built to take most of the southern section and now the eastern area is signed over to BJC. MOdot not a major problem? Or should we just blame Mother Nature for not speaking out in time?
This will win me zero friends, I’m sure, but I think having the highway run right next to the park is perhaps the greatest feature that western St. Louis city can put forward – it’s a huge park, full of very sturdy trees right next to the highway to absorb the pollutants (probably the only thing that would be better than those oaks and maples would be some Princeton Elms), and it provides a wonderful view of the oldest public park west of the mississippi.
That BJC deal still steams me something good, though – it’s not as if the hospital doesn’t have the money to build a building in an existing parking lot and build a garage underneath it.
Ugh, completely off topic comments. OK, I admit I’ve been guilty of that in the past.
The whole Soulard Market area is a complex mix of city responsibilities, and I think this is an attempt to partly simplify that. See, the market itself is part of the Department of Public Utilities, which means that (until Dave Visintainer retired as the dual position of DPU Director/ Water Commissioner), Sandra Zak (Market Master) reported to him. At one time, there was a full-fledged Division of Public Markets within DPU, decades ago, when Union Market, Biddle Market, South Public Market, etc. were still around. But Soulard is the only one remaining today.
However, the 2nd floor of Soulard Market — the gym — is part of the Recreation Division, and the playground out front is part of the Parks Division. Those are both part of the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, so placing the market within that department makes some sense. I’m hoping maybe that will also make the market eligible for a few dollars from the Metro Parks sales tax or the capital improvements sales tax.
Of course, you’ll still have the Street Department maintaining the streets around the market, which are essentially part of the market grounds, and the Treasurer’s Office the metered parking just to the north. But that’s probably not as big a problem as the current status where two different departments maintain parts of the same building.
what was the original purpose of all those public markets, and is there still a need for them today? is steve suggesting that the other ones go back to serving a public market purpose?
the broadway market appears to be in business, as a privately run grocery store. do they lease from the city?
union market is now a Drury, and biddle market sounds like someplace north, or near north…or is it the place of vector control…that does look like an old public market.
public markets, like public bath, harken back to a different time. like privies and cold water flats.
those old st. louis days are better set for the history books, along with segregated drinking fountains, and deed restrictions against blacks moving to certain neighborhoods.
is there some racial component to the history of the public markets? knowing that this is st. louis, there must be…
maybe black domestics shopped their for their white business class employers?