Downtown Pedestrian Signals Dangerously Inadequate

The sidewalks in downtown St. Louis are as busy as I’ve seen them since my arrival in August 1990.  The sidewalks are increasingly busy with downtown residents, workers and visitors going about their lives and going to long-time favorites like the Arch and to newer destinations like City Museum & Citygarden. As time passes I expect we will see this upward trend continue.

But downtown’s crosswalks are a mixed bag.  Some are quite good with countdown timers in addition to push to cross buttons:

But the bulk of the intersections lack these.  In fact, throughout the City of St. Louis our pedestrian crossings are sub-standard.  I’m just focusing on downtown for this post.

If the signals don’t work or the intersection has changed it is common to simply covered over the pedestrian signals  (above &  below):

In other cases the crossing lacks a pedestrian signal all together, below:

We do not need another tragedy like the one on March 21, 2002:

ST. LOUIS — A Washington state woman who was one of the country’s top experts on bicycle and pedestrian safety was killed yesterday morning when she was struck by a tour bus while crossing a downtown intersection here.

Susie Stephens, 36, of Winthrop, Wash., was struck shortly after 8:30 a.m.  (Source)

In addition to consistent and improved signals we need to reduce the distances to cross many streets.  Reducing the crosswalk width to just the through lanes will help considerably.

I timed the pedestrian signal crossing 14th Street along the North side of Washington Ave.   Took 21 seconds until the walk sign began to flash to not walk.  Total time allowed was 36 seconds.  Different story crossing the considerably wider Tucker Blvd (aka 12th, map link).  There the walk sign went to flashing don’t walk in less than 4 seconds and you have 30 seconds total to cross.  Wider street but less time.

Now that we have more pedestrians we’ve got to work harder to ensure the street crossings work for people using them.

– Steve Patterson

A Shift to Smaller Grocery Stores?

The new Culinaria grocery store downtown is a delight.  It is stocked with everything one needs all in 20,000SF of space — a third the size of a typical new suburban big box grocery store.  But it has been the big box suburban store we’ve been getting in urban neighborhoods in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County.  These chains knew only one thing — bigger is better.

Finally, a different model, a smaller new store.  I’ve enjoyed smaller stores for years: Straub’s, Aldi’s, Trader Joe’s, Wild Oats/Whole Foods, Local Harvest, City Grocers, etc.  Some of these are now approaching the size of the big box stores while others are still too small to get everything you need.

The trick is being big enough to have all the items for a meal but without an motor oil, clothing or patio furniture.  The fact is the race to have the biggest store in town didn’t always mean the best place to shop for groceries.  With everything inside a third the size of a big box has me wondering if we’ll see a return to the well stocked smaller store?

Schnuck’s, family owned & privately held, got it’s start in the City of St. Louis:

Founded in north St. Louis in 1939, the family-owned grocery company has grown to include more than 100 stores in seven states: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee and Mississippi.  (Source: Schnuck’s)

The early stores were the traditional corner store that was common in walkable urban neighborhoods.  But as people left walkable urban areas to driveable suburban areas the concept of a market changed.  Refrigeration made it possible to keep food longer.

In my hometown of Oklahoma City the dominate grocery chain is now Walmart Neighborhood Market.  I’m not talking about a giant Walmart with a grocery section but a dedicated grocery store selling groceries.  These stores, at 40,000SF, are between the typical new Schnuck’s (60,000+SF) and Culinaria (20,000SF).  These Walmart markets are everywhere.

I’m a foodie.  My Facebook friends can confirm the many pictures I’ve posted of meals out as well as meals I’ve prepared at home.  If you’ve seen Julie & Julia you know Julia Child’s love of eating got her interested in cooking.  As someone that enjoys cooking, I’ve visited many grocery stores in many cities.

Bring out the “foodie” in you!

Culinaria is using the term foodie in their marketing.  With a growing emphasis on fresh and local I think we will see a shift away from the massive stores pushing groceries for a month.  I like going to the grocery store but I don’t like walking through unnecessarily large stores.  With a few exceptions, since my stroke a year and a half ago, I have avoided big box grocers.

Loblaws is a big chain in Toronto.  The store above is located in their suburbs along their subway line.  You exit the subway and the grocery store is right there so you can pick up items for dinner on your way home.

A right sized market, such as the above Whole Foods, can be located in older buildings.  You need high density to eliminate the need for parking.

In New York City wasted space under the 59th Street/Queensboro Bridge was put to use for a nice market.

The above market was in new construction in a new walkable dense area of Vancouver.  I do not recall seeing any parking although it may have had a garage.  I was a pedestrian.

These stores don’t have their own parking.  But I’ve been to plenty that do — a Whole Foods in San Diego with parking on the roof to Safeway & Trader Joe’s in Seattle with structured garage parking just for their store – in neighborhoods — not just downtown.  The idea of driving into a parking garage to go grocery shopping is not that odd.  I’d like to see it become commonplace in the core of our region.

Many of Culinara’s customers will walk there.  Others will use MetroLink which is only 2 blocks away (8th & Pine).  Many, however, will drive from within downtown or from nearby neighborhoods.  Those that do will get 1 or 2 hours of free parking, depending upon the day & time of the visit.

I’ll have to drive there one day to see how it works.  The unmetered 15-minute parking on 9th Street seems like it will become an issue with cars parked longer than 15 minutes.  Doesn’t seem right that this business would get free street parking for it’s customers.  I say put in meters and make the limit 30 minutes.

The new Culinaria is the grocery store we need not just downtown but throughout the core of the region.  A smaller footprint store for walkable neighborhoods where a big box and surface parking are out of character.  Hopefully we will see more of Culinaria here and in the other states where Schnuck’s has stores.

The above was written Tuesday after the grand opening of Culinaria.  Yesterday (Wednesday) I made a second visit.  This time I drove my car  – I wanted to see how the whole parking garage experience worked. They have a few issues to address.

Parking starts on level 3 of the garage. It seems like the first parking you get to is reserved for monthly parking permit holders who are assigned a numbered space.  When I got to 5 I crossed the middle point and headed downward to find disabled parking near the elevator.  I’m still not clear how far up the able bodied would need to go to find non-reserved parking.  I’m not sure how people will feel, on the weekend say,  about passing 2-5 levels of empty reserved parking before reaching spaces where they can park.

After I bought my 3 items I discovered the other problem, the shopping carts can’t leave the store.  So even if you drive to the store it is purchase what you can carry.  An associate got another associate to carry my canvas bag for me.  I had only 3 items but it weighed 7 pounds — 5 lb bag of flour plus two pound bags of dried beans.  It was too much for me.  I can understand not allowing the carts out onto the sidewalk but they really need to allow the carts into the garage.

The customer base for a store this size is larger than downtown dwellers & office workers.  Residents from nearby neighborhoods will be driving here to stock up.  And with the huge selection of items it would be very easy to purchase more than you can carry.  The carts have the sensor that locks a wheel if it goes too far.  They need to move the sensor to the outside door so that someone can get to the elevators.

When the associate and I got off the elevator at level 3 I realized that floor doubles as the employee smoking lounge.  Two employees were smoking in the semi-enclosed area off the elevators while three more were smoking adjacent to the disabled spaces.

When I left I handed the parking attendant the ticket I got when I entered the garage as well as the voucher portion from my receipt.  The $2 fee was covered by Culinaria.

As has been pointed out on other posts, this Culinaria store has been heavily subsidized.  It does not represent the free market at work.  What I hope will happen is that it will perform well to the point the Schnuck’s family will question the logic of building bigger & bigger suburban box stores.  We need more frequent stores that are easier to walk to and through.

– Steve Patterson

9th Street Is Open to Traffic, Sorta

Since construction began on Citygarden the Northbound block of 9th Street between Market & Chestnut has been closed.  When the two block sculpture garden opened earlier this summer 9th Street remained blocked to traffic.  This block of 9th was designed to be opened to traffic but due to the enormous crowds it remained barricaded.  But once again 9th Street is open to traffic — at least from 10pm to 10am.

Hopefully this is a first step toward 9th Street being open 24/7. The open sometimes, closed others might actually prove more confusing.  The important thing to do is look before crossing what looks like a street.

I want to reopen the street grid where it has been closed along the Gateway Mall — 6th & 16th.  19th Street is OK closed because Union Station prevents a through street and the sculpture & fountain is stunning.

Restoring our street grid will help disperse traffic on all streets.  This is superior to concentrating traffic onto a fewer number of streets.

– Steve Patterson

Larger Downtown Grocery Store Opens Today

Today a grocery store 3 times the size of the one we’ve had for the last 5 years opens.  Culinaria opens at 9th & Olive in the ground floor of the 9th Street Garage on the site of the historic marble-clad Century Building.

Culinaria is a small format store by local chain Schnuck’s.  A typical new Schnuck’s is 63,000 square feet whereas Culinaria is a third that size at 20,000SF.  Still that is a far cry larger than the 6,500SF City Grocers that opened in October 2004.  We all owe developer Craig Heller thanks for stepping into grocery business when nobody, including Schnuck’s, would locate downtown.

The shelves are stocked and tables are set up on the sidewalk. 15 minute parking is allowed on 9th in front of the store – no meters yet.  Additional parking is available in the garage which is entered from Olive.

I’ve not been inside yet but from the outside I have some complaints.

A new “dish rack” bike rack has been added to the public sidewalk.  The worst possible rack choice.  Once used the bikes will project into the walking path of the sidewalk.  As I’ve mentioned before, with this type of rack you can only secure one wheel but not the frame.  With so many bikes having quick release hubs it is easy for a thief to leave the wheel and take the rest of the bike.  I doubt this rack will get much use — a good thing because the sidewalk won’t be blocked. The rack type that should have been selected is the inverted-U:

This type of rack places bikes parallel, rather than perpendicular to, pedestrians on the sidewalk.   The rack that was installed on 9th should never have gotten city approval.

The store entrance is not very appealing.  This door takes you to the elevators to go up into the parking garage.  Past the elevators is an automatic door for entering Culinaria.  The problem for me in my wheelchair and for parents pushing strollers is the door lacks an electric assist.  The button-activated door at City Grocers has been very handy.  I’ll need to hug the ash tray to get where I can open this door.  Hopefully they will add an opener to this door soon.

Store hours are to be 6am to 10pm daily.  I just hope they don’t cut back on those hours in the future. I’ll appreciate the extra hour in the evening — City Grocers has always closed at 9pm.

City Grocers, at 10th & Olive, is retooling and becoming City Gourmet.

– Steve Patterson

City of St. Louis Back in St. Louis County

I don’t quite understand it, in last weeks poll 45% of you felt the most important non-project for St. Louis was to rejoin St. Louis County as the 92nd municipality.  Most assumptions about the city rejoining the county have the city limits unchanged.  What changes is the boundaries of St. Louis County.

The main advantage for the city & county would be the elimination of duplicate “county” offices.  Although I’m not sure St. Louis County’s systems & personnel could handle the addition of the city so the duplication could not fully be eliminated. With separate courts, property records and marriage licenses since 1876 merging these into one would be a major task.  Counties throughout the country often have more than one judicial center so I could see both remaining in operation.

The option I didn’t give you in the poll would be better and even more unlikely — a single unified city-county merger.  All the 91 municipalities in St. Louis County would get wrapped together in a single unit of government along with the City of St. Louis and currently unincorporated areas of St. Louis County.  93 government entities would become one.

Economically depressed Wellston might like the idea but well to do Ladue would never go for it.  But one unit of government for the area known as the City of St. Louis & St. Louis County makes the most sense.

Perhaps getting the city back into the county is the first step?  Studying the various ways these mergers have been accomplished is of course an important step.  There is no single way to “merge” the city back into the county. Each will have a long list of pros & cons.  Just being one of too many county municipalities doesn’t appeal to me.

– Steve Patterson