Yesterday’s post was about an interesting parking garage in Chicago, today is the story of why I went up to the top of the garage.
A long block was a prairie with native grades & flowers, it looked well kept because a wide border was mowed. A concrete curb separates the natives from the tidy lawn.From the top of the adjacent parking garage you can see fenced-in prairie. Click image for map link.
My assumption is this is a way of land banking until Northwestern decides to build on the land. The block held a large zig-zag 1940s/50s building, razed sometime within the last decade. The block is fenced, it isn’t used as a park. Land here, between Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue, is much too valuable to sit vacant. The campus map doesn’t identify it.
The result is a very neat looking, but easy to maintain, block.
Earlier this month I noticed an interesting parking garage in the block east of where we were staying on a weekend in Chicago, it was both landscaped and musical…
The Erie Ontario Parking Garage occupies the western half of a long city block in Chicago, located within the Northwestern University Chicago campus.The garage includes an entrance for CTA busesThe back of the planters on the top level, 12. Major brackets secure the planters to the structure.In the center we see more greenery.The 12th floor is also known as the ‘Yellow Submarine’ levelIn the elevator & stair lobby you hear a brief clip of ‘Yellow Submarine’ by the Beetles Beatles, on a constant loopEach level features a song clip related to the color assignedThe directory on the ground floor lists all ten songs for levels 3-12
Here’s a list of the songs for each level (links to Wikipedia):
If you’ve ever returned to a garage and forgotten where you parked your car, you’ll appreciate the songs. You just might have Purple People Eater in your head all day.
Please vote in the poll, located in the right sidebar
More than a week ago a young man lost his life, shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson:
His mother, Lesley McSpadden, said the shooting took place as her son was walking to his grandmother’s residence.
Piaget Crenshaw, 19, said she was waiting for a ride to work when she saw a police officer attempting to place Brown in the squad car.
She then said she saw the teen, hands in the air, attempt to flee. Several shots hit Brown as he ran, Crenshaw said. She complied with a request that she give photos of the scene to authorities. (stltoday)
In selecting this subject for the poll this week my hope is to gauge reader sentiment.
The first question this week is:
Which of the following do you think happened in Ferguson MO on Saturday Aug 9th?
Michael Brown, an innocent unarmed teenager; was murdered by Ferguson PO Darren Wilson.
Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, forcefully stole cigars from a convenience store a half mile away; was killed by Ferguson PO Darren Wilson who used excessive force
Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, forcefully stole cigars from a convenience store a half mile away; was killed by Ferguson PO Darren Wilson who used appropriate force
Unsure/No Opinion
Note that the above will be presented in random order in the poll in the upper right sidebar on the desktop layout.
The second question is: Which two of the following officials has displayed the BEST leadership regarding Ferguson? (PICK 2) See poll for list, they’ll also be presented in a random order.
Just a few years ago the future of the Sun Theater in Grand Center was uncertain, it was crumbling and nobody had a plan to save it. Enter the Grand Center Arts Academy, a charter school located to the east in the former Carter Carburetor headquarters building & parking garage. In 2010-11 the building and garage were renovated into classrooms & other space for the school. The new school, however, lacked an auditorium. With dance, music, and theater being core parts of the school’s curriculum they new the Sun Theater would be their next project. It reopened earlier this year.
The Sun Theater, June 2011The Sun Theater, August 2014. The recessed section on the right is a new addition containing stairs and an elevator.The restored interior, August 2011
The new elevator allowed me to reach the upper level seating area. It felt great entering and seeing the interior for the very first time, I wish I had seen the ‘before’ in person, but I can still appreciate the transformation based on the before images.
When Missouri last increased the state fuel tax, in 1996, from 15-cents to 17-cents, the US average total price of a gallon of gasoline was roughly $1.084. The oldest records I could find for Missouri go back to 2003, but our are always less than the national average.
Assuming $1.07 per gallon in 1996, the 17-cent Missouri tax represents 15.89% of the price paid at the pump. In July 2008 Missouri gas prices peaked at $3.96, the state fuel tax representing only 4.29% of the total price paid. Recently Missouri’s average was $3.28/gallon, the fuel tax representing 5.18% of the total price per gallon.
How much would gas cost today if Missouri’s fuel tax was 15.89% of the total? To answer this we must do a series of calculations:
$3.28 – $0.17 = $3.11 (cost before Missouri tax)
1 – 0.1589 = .8411 (cost before Missouri tax = 84.11 % of total)
$3.11 / 0.8411 = $3.6975 or $3.70 (current cost if Missouri tax is 15.89% of total)
$3.70 – $3.11 = $0.59 (Missouri gas tax if 15.89% of total)
So there you have it, a gallon would cost $3.70 and the Missouri tax would be 59-cents. At 17-cents we’re only collecting 28.8% of the funding we did in 1996, relative to the total cost of a gallon of gas. To get to 59-cents we’d need to raise the tax 42-cents, or 347%! I’m not advocating we raise the state fuel tax this much, doing so would make ours the highest in the country. The purpose of this exercise is to show that relative to 1996 our revenue is about a third of what it was the last time our fuel tax was increased. A third!
In 1996 the average fuel economy of a new car was 28.5 mpg. Driven 15,000 miles per year the driver would buy 526.3 gallons of gas for a total cost, ignoring fluctuations in price, of $568.40. Of this, Missouri would’ve received $89.47. The average fuel economy for a 2013 model car is 36 mpg, a substantial improvement. Driven 15,000 miles per year the driver would buy 416.7 gallons of gas for a total cost, ignoring fluctuations in price, of $1,366.78. Of this, Missouri would’ve received $70.84. Eighteen years later the driver spends 140% more on fuel, but Missouri receives less. Of course, with inflation the cost to maintain roads & bridges is higher nearly two decades later.
As I’ve said previously, if we’d continue to raise the fuel tax 2-cents ever two years, like we did 1992-1996, we’d now be at 34-cents. Our bridges & roads would’ve been funded and maintained all along.
If our state tax was suddenly doubled from 17-cents to 34-cents the total price of a gallon would be $3.45, instead of the current $3.28. The 34-cent tax would be 9.855% of the total cost of a gallon. Not as much as in 1996, but much better than today. Diesel fuel taxes need to be raised in a similar manner.
In the same example as above the driver of the 2013 car would still need 416.7 gallons, but now the total cost would be $1,437.62. Missouri would receive $141.68 from this motorist to maintain the bridges & highways.
The question now is how quickly can/should we raise the fuel taxes?
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Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
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a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
