Food Trucks Now Welcomed By Downtown Organization

For years the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis opposed food carts/trucks, saying they were unfair competition to brick & mortar restaurants.

I’m glad to see they’re finally on board with mobile food. Here’s the info from Tuesday:

Lunchtime Live!
What: Lunchtime Live! Concert Series

Where: Old Post Office Plaza (8th & Locust)

When: Every Tuesday, May – September (11:30 am – 1:30 pm)

More Information: 314-436-6500 ext. 237 or lvanquaethem@downtownstl.org

The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis is scheduled to present Lunchtime Live!, a concert series at the Old Post Office Plaza, occurring every Tuesday, May – September. The Old Post Office Plaza is a unique 30,000 square-foot open space that is surrounded by restaurants, hotels, office and residential buildings, right in the heart of Downtown.

Each week, a different band will perform and an assortment of Food Trucks will be featured. This week (6/10) we invite you to listen to the musical stylings of the Trixie Delighter and enjoy delicious food from Bombay Food Junkies, Guerilla, My Big Fat Greek Truck and Sweet Divine! (source)

Given that no food establishments face their Old Post Office Plaza the options for food are limited. Brick & mortar restaurants aren’t going to prepare food, set up tents, during the lunch rush hour to sell to a smallish crowd.  I think more activities and more food trucks will attract more people, benefitting everyone. I’m glad to see they’ve changed their policy.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Change of Summer Festivals in Downtown St. Louis a Bad Move

Over 63% of readers that voted in the non-scientific poll last week said the move to push out the locally-produced  Taste of St. Louis & Bluesweek festivals in favor of concerts from ICM/Summer Rocks is a bad move, 16% thought it was a wash, and just over 20% think it is a good move. Here’s the breakdown:

Q: ICM/Summer Rocks pushed Bluesweek & Taste of St. Louis out of downtown on two holiday weekends. Good move for downtown & city?

1. Very bad move! 30 [40.54%]
2. Sorta bad 17 [22.97%]
3. Meh, no big deal 12 [16.22%]
4. Slightly good 9 [12.16%]
5. Excellent! 6 [8.11%]

I tend to agree, I think next year we’ll see just how inexperienced ICM is at producing a festival, especially in a complicated setting like the area around Soldiers Memorial.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching the Taste of St. Louis grown over the years, starting out where Citygarden is now, later at Soldiers Memorial. Each year they learned from past mistakes.  We’ll see how this goes, hopefully it’ll be a positive overall.

— Steve Patterson

Articulated Buses Now Operating On #70 MetroBus Route

Yesterday Metro began operating rebuilt buses they recently purchased:

For the first time in more than 20 years, a new kind of Metro public transit vehicle will be put into service in St. Louis. Beginning Monday, June 9, 60-foot articulated buses that pivot or bend in the middle will serve the #70 Grand Line, which is the region’s busiest bus route. These rebuilt buses are the most cost effective way to ease overcrowding by adding more passenger capacity. (Metro via email)

Metro allowed the media to take a peak at the first of these articulated buses back in March. In a poll in April readers were supportive on Metro’s decision to buy rebuilt equipment, see Readers: Metro’s Decision to Buy 15 Reconditioned Articulated Buses Green & Frugal

I didn’t get to Grand yesterday to ride one, but I hope to soon. In the past I avoided the #70 (Grand) route because it was always so crowded. Note that not all buses on the #70 are articulated, once all 15 are delivered to Metro then all on Grand will be articulated.

Any of you ride or see these yesterday? Initial thoughts?

— Steve Patterson

Chesterfield Valley May Add Shelters At Inaccessible MetroBus Stops

I applaud Chesterfield’s continued support of pubic transportation. Last week I read about more potentially good news:

Chesterfield’s City Council on Monday night gave initial approval an cooperation agreement between the city, Metro, and the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District for of bus stop shelters in Chesterfield valley and in other areas of the city in which there are Metro bus routes. A final vote on the legislation is set for June 16. (stltoday)

Bus shelters are an improvement, but what about getting to/from the shelters?

I took these images in October when I checked out the area in a rental car. My conclusion was Chesterfield Valley is an ADA nightmare, taking MetroBus to shop wouldn’t be possible in a wheelchair. Given that everything was built since the big flood of 1993, it should be ADA-compliant.  I checked Chesterfield’s ADA Transition Plan, there’s no mention of their responsibility in the public right-of-way.

I’d love to meet former Chesterfield Mayor & Metro President John Nations and current mayor Bob Nation at one of these MetroBus stops to have them see the challenges the transit-using public, including the able-bodied, face in navigating this area on foot.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: When Do You Think Same-Sex Marriage Will Be Recognized In All 50 States?

In May 2004 the first same-sex marriages in the United States began in Massachusetts, the result of a court ruling. That year many states, including Missouri, passed constitutional bans against recognizing same-sex marriages. Other states approved same-sex marriage.

A year ago the Supreme Court determined part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. Since then states like Illinois & Hawaii has approved same-sex marriage through their legislatures while courts have found more than a dozen state bans are unconstitutional, including Wisconsin on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb struck down the ban, making Wisconsin the 27th state where same-sex couples can marry under law or where a judge has ruled they ought to be allowed to wed.

Every remaining state ban is now challenged in court.

Same-sex marriages in Illinois were to begin on June 1st but a court ruled in February there was no reason to wait. Some counties like Cook (Chicago) and St. Clair County have been issuing licenses since then. However, St. Clair County wasn’t issuing licenses to out of state couples that live in states with a ban. But on Wednesday of last week St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly determined they could issue licenses to couples from Missouri and other states, as Cook County had been doing.

The poll question this week asks when you think same-sex marriage will be recognized in all 50 states. The poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

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