This is my eighth annual look at St. Louis’ Dr. Martin Luther King Drive on the holiday that celebrates the civil rights leader. Let’s begin at Tucker and head west.
So some progress is being made but so much work remains to be done. The potential exists but I don’t know that we have the ability to realize it.
– Steve Patterson
Nationally the battle for the GOP presidential nomination is ongoing but locally we will soon see a fight for the county-level office of treasurer. Monday last week I blogged that Larry Williams Should Not Seek Another Term as Treasurer. Williams has been in office over 30 years and so far he’s said he is going to run again.
This election can potentially have a big impact on the future of St. Louis. The candidates will be debating parking policy, related urban policy, financial management and possibly the idea of changing the city’s charter.
The poll question this week asks who should be elected treasurer in 2012. I’ve listed Williams and the three candidates that have announced so far: Ald Fred Wessels, City Democrat head Brian Wahby and State Rep Tishaura Jones. I’ve also included a choice for an “undeclared candidate.”
– Steve Patterson
Earlier in the week I attended a meeting in the former board room of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, now part of the common areas at the Park Pacific Apartments.
The view from the 22nd floor is stunning. It’s nice at times to view St. Louis from a different vantage point than I do day to day.
– Steve Patterson
Construction isn’t complete where the realigned  Tucker Blvd intersects with Cass Ave and I already see the sidewalks are not going to be great for pedestrians. Tucker is being realigned with the new Mississippi River Bridge that will open in 2014.
Pedestrians walking east & west along Cass Ave get no trees or pedestrian scaled lighting. Nothing to separate them from passing traffic.
The situation along Tucker will be very different, with nice lighting and future street trees. Why so different? The lighting and street trees along Tucker are there for motorists to see and get warm feelings, the benefit to the pedestrian is a secondary concern.
On Cass they don’t care if motorists feel good about the area. The only motorists that count are those coming off the new bridge. It’s a shame too because it wouldn’t have taken much effort to make Cass equally attractive for motorists  & pedestrians.
– Steve Patterson
Two days ago I posted about the false story that an urban Fiat dealership was going to open in an existing downtown building. That prompted me to finally get around to doing a post on the last auto dealership in downtown St. Louis.
The FBI’s St. Louis office now occupies the 6.7 acre site of the former Boulevard Mercedes-Benz at 2222 Market St. The Mercedes-Benz dealership is visible in a 1971 image on HistoricAerials.com, but I’m unsure when it originally opened, my guess would be late 1960s. The dealership closed in 1995 with the franchise license moving to suburban Ellisville MO and becoming Tri-Star Mercedes-Benz.
On December 1, 1997 an application to raze the former dealership was made and the demolition was completed the following month per city records at Geo St. Louis. The old dealership was suburban and the FBI is not much of an improvement.
– Steve Patterson