Improving The Walk From Transit To Mall

Recently I went to the St. Louis Galleria, two days in a row.  Both days I took MetroLink light rail to arrive, the mall is only a short distance from the station.

But the short distance seems long because of the physical design of the space along Galleria Parkway.  The sidewalk needs to be 2-3 times as wide to handle the steady flow of people coming and going.  I snapped the above in one of the moments between an arriving train full of shoppers.

The solution I propose is for the property owner on the right to create a 2-story structure with street-level storefronts facing a new tree-lined sidewalk.   Add on-street parking to serve the storefronts and to narrow the excessive width of the roadway. The new structure would create a better feel on the now-isolated sidewalk.

Later this month I will look specifically at access to the Galleria.

– Steve Patterson

Readers OK With Kiel Opera House Becoming Peabody Opera House

Last week, the readers that voted in the poll showed their support for the Peabody name displacing the Kiel name on the old opera house.

Q: Kiel Auditorium is now the Scottrade Center on the south and the Peabody Opera House on the north. Your thoughts on renaming this building?

1. The money to make the project happen is more important than retaining an old name: 92 [57.14%]
2. Henry Kiel was mayor, it is disrespectful to rename the building: 17 [10.56%]
3. The original name was Municipal Auditorium, the Kiel name was added later and was around long enough: 14 [8.7%]
4. Other answer… 12 [7.45%]
5. Renaming is fine, just not a coal company: 11 [6.83%]
6. Unsure/ no opinion: 10 [6.21%]
7. Mayor Henry Kiel has been dead nearly 70 years, he won’t know: 5 [3.11%]

The “Other” responses were:

1. Kiel is what it was when I lived there and knew it. Kiel it ought stay.
2. Maybe people will mistake it for the famous Peabody Conservatory of Music!
3. seriously? who cares!
4. This is money Peabody isn’t using on anti-environmental advertising.
5. Naming civic spaces after corporate sponsors is icky.
6. Sell the name to the highest bidder
7. How about Bosley? He has done more for this town than any Mayor in STL history.
8. I’m not opposed to renaming most buildings, but it should be for better rea
9. Doesn’t matter; people will still call it the Kiel Opera House.
10. The Kiel name is still preserved
11. Changing the name every 5 years destroys “history” or at least a tradi
12. As I-64 is still Hwy 40, Peabody will always be Kiel in the minds of STLers

I’m of the belief that we shouldn’t rename structures after the fact.

– Steve Patterson

Maintaining Infrastructure in Sparsely Populated Areas

At 61.9 square miles of land area, St. Louis is a relatively small city.  But many parts of this area are sparsely populated and sidewalks are few.  The above sidewalk at North Florissant Ave at North Market St. was passable, I saw worse between here and the new sidewalks on two blocks of North 14th (Warren to St. Louis Ave.)

Which comes first? New residents or new sidewalks? The residents aren’t going to arrive until conditions improve and conditions won’t improve until there is more residents to help justify the capital expenditure on the infrastructure.

A future light rail line has been studied for North Florissant so improvements to the entire right of way would presumably come with that investment.  Population, it is expected, would follow.   A hundred years ago develop happened along new transit lines lines.  More recently, development happened along investment in highways. So I’d say the new sidewalks need to come first.  Of course, buildings and population aren’t going to just appear because some new sidewalks have been installed in a few places.  Someone has to put together a vision for how, in this case, this corridor, might look.

Maintenance, clearly, just isn’t done.  And really, minimal maintenance is probably just a waste of money.  So much is needed here to populate the area.

– Steve Patterson

Walk-up ATM, But Not Roll-up ATM

I like walk-up ATM machines.  Too often only drive-thru ATM’s are available.

When I’m out using my wheelchair it helps to be able to roll up and use the ATM.  But the above ATM presented a few of problems for me:

1. The curb at the base prevented me from pulling up close enough.
2. The height & angle of screen & buttons was too great to have used the ATM even if the curb wasn’t there.
3. At other machines I tend to pull up with the machine on my right side, rather than straight in.  But the ramp into the entrance prevent that as well.

I could have pulled up and stood long enough to have done my transaction, but not everyone can do that. This credit union needs to add this ATM & entrance to a list of future improvements. I’d like to see these be improved within a year.  I will send my request to them.

– Steve Patterson

Missouri didn’t support the Tour of Missouri for 2010

The task of the Missouri Division of Tourism is to attract tourists to visit Missouri  — and leave behind some of their money in the process.

Without $1 million dollars from the state, the organizers had to cancel the 2010 Tour of Missouri. The tourism budget is roughly $13 million.  The poll this week seeks your opinion on the canceling of the Tour of Missouri.  The poll is in the upper right corner.

– Steve Patterson