January 9, 2023Books, Featured, ParksComments Off on Recent Book — “Tower Grove Park: Common Ground & Grateful Shade” by Amanda E Doyle
St. Louis has some wonderful parks, built at different times for different reasons. One of the more unique is Tower Grove Park. It wasn’t constructed by the city like so many of our parks — it was gifted to the city. It has always had a board to oversee the park — it’s not just one of many under the Park Dept. A recent hardcover book takes a deep dive into the park.
Cover of recent hardcover coffee table book by Amanda Doyle.
Following the success of his Missouri Botanical Garden, English transplant and enthusiastic philanthropist Henry Shaw turned his attention in the late 1860s to creating the first large park in St. Louis, a Victorian showplace full of verdant trees, shading pavilions, and music and cultural amenities. Above all, Tower Grove Park was “not created for the benefit of any particular class, but for the enjoyment of all classes—for the use of the city population in the aggregate.” Such a tranquil oasis served to uplift, refine, and refresh human beings whose lives were becoming increasingly mechanized, crowded, and complicated . . . and 150 years after its founding, Tower Grove Park continues to fill that role in the lives of St. Louisans and the rest of the region.
Step into the past with this richly illustrated history of the park, including descriptions of the people and pavilions that created its unique architectural identity; appreciations of its lush tree canopy and vast biodiversity in the heart of an urban setting; and stories of the many individuals, groups, organizations, and events that have brought recreation and renewal within its acres. And follow along to the thoroughly modern uses and future plans that keep this park for all seasons more relevant now than ever, a necessity for the health, hope, and well-being of St. Louis. — Reedy Press
Author Amanda Doyle, a friend for over two decades, has lived near the park as long as I’ve known her. This coffee table book is well illustrated and informative. The “grateful shade” part of the subtitle is very true, many parks helped provide relief from the hear in the days prior to air conditioning.
Back cover
Like many of you I’ve biked through, attended events at a pavilion, and shopped at the Tower Grove Farmers Market. Doyle has been holding many book signing events, she’d probably love it if you bought your copy directly from her.
— Steve ———————————————————————— St. Louis urban planning, policy, and politics @ UrbanReviewSTL since October 31, 2004. For additional content please consider following on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, and/or X (Twitter).
The 2023 spring municipal elections in St. Louis will be very different than any of us have every experienced. There’ll still be a March primary and an April general — but the primary will be non-partisan, both will begin the change from 28 wards to 14. The primary is 8 weeks from tomorrow.
The St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners is on the first floor at 300 N. Tucker (@ Olive)
We’ve had the nonpartisan primary for one or two elections, but with 28 total wards. This being the first election downsizing to 14 there are no incumbents — all 14 seats are new and up for election. Seven will be elected to an initial 2-year term, the other 7 to a 4-year term. This will make future elections staggered, with only half the seats up for election every two odd years.
Until changed, races with only 1-2 candidates will be the same for primary & general elections — rather silly. Races with 3+ primary candidates will have the top 2 primary finishers on our general election ballots.
Remember— nearly everyone in the city has a new ward number. The March 7th & April 4th elections are both important — at least wards with 3 or more candidates in the primary.
Okay, let’s look at each race. The number in parentheses is the number of candidates in the primary, the areas listed are some/all of the neighborhoods in this ward. The President and ward headings are all links to relevant maps.
Incumbent Megan Ellyia Green only recently won a challenged special election to finish the term of disgraced Lewis Reed, so it’s no surprise she’s not challenged now. I suspect this will not be the case in 2027.
This southwest ward has three candidates — one of several races pitting current aldermen against each other: – Bret Narayan, current 24th ward alderman – Joseph (Joe) Vaccaro, current 23rd ward alderman – Casey Otto
This south ward has only two candidates, so both will appear on the March & April ballots: – Joseph (Joe) Vollmer, current 10th ward alderman – Helen Petty
This central corridor ward has three candidates, including 2 current aldermen: – Tina (Sweet-T) Pihl, current 17th ward alderman – Michael Browning – Michael J. Gras, current 28th ward alderman
Pihl and Browning live in the 63110 zip code, Gras in 63108.
This north central ward has only two candidates: – Laura Keys, recently elected 21st ward alderman, finishing term of John Collins-Muhammad. – Carla (Coffee) Wright
At five, this north ward has the most candidates of any! Seven filed, but one didn’t meet the signature obligation and the other withdrew. The remaining five on the ballot are: – Darron M. Collins-Bey – Tishara T. Earl – Yolanda (Glass) Brown – Walter Rush – Sharon Tyus, currently the 1st ward alderman
Collins-Bey, Brown, and Rush live in the 63115 zip code, Earl in 63147, Tyus in 63113.
This far north ward has three candidates — all three currently serving on the Board of Aldermen: – Norma J. Walker, recently elected 22nd ward alderman, finishing term of Jeffrey Boyd – Pamela Boyd, current 27th ward alderman – Lisa Middlebrook, current 2nd ward alderman
Walker lives in the 63120 zip code, Boyd in 63136, Middlebrook in 63147.
This north ward is my ward, I’ll have four candidates to choose from in the primary: – James Page, currently serving as 5th ward alderman – Brandon Bosley, currently serving as 3rd ward alderman – Rasheen Aldridge, currently serving as 78th district state representative – Ebony M. Washington
James Page lives in the 63103 zip code, Bosley and Aldridge in 63107, Washington in 63106.
Current aldermen not running in 2023
The following ten aldermen are not candidates (current ward): – Dwinderlin Evans (4th) – Christine Ingrassia (6th) – Jack Coatar (7th) – Annie Rice (8th) – Dan Guenther (9th) – James Lappe (11th) – Bill Stephens (12th) – Carol Howard (14th) – Jesse Todd (18th) – Marlene Davis (19th)
Additional thoughts
All this means at least fifteen of the current 27 (there’s one vacancy) ward Board of Aldermen will end their service in a few months. Given that 28 wards are being cut in half to 14 this isn’t a surprise. As many as 25 of the current 27 could be out of office after the general election in April — that number is shocking!
Two former aldermen, Florida & Ortmann, are hoping to return to the board. Both previously lost a reelection bid to a challenger in a democratic primary. Again, city elections are now nonpartisan. Florida will face the same person in the primary and general, Ortmann is in a 3-way race that includes a current alderman so his immediate goal is to finish in the top two in the March 7th primary so he can try to win the April 4th general.
Voter information
I want to leave you with helpful resources to help make your decision and voting easier. I’m very curious if we’ll see any significant change in voter turnout. Analysis will be a challenge since we can’t compare the 14 new apples to apples, but we can see citywide as well as compare old vs new in the same part of town.
— Steve ———————————————————————— St. Louis urban planning, policy, and politics @ UrbanReviewSTL since October 31, 2004. For additional content please consider following on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, and/or X (Twitter).
January 6, 2023Featured, Site InfoComments Off on Old-ish Blogger Learning New WordPress Editor
If you’ve noticed the number of posts dropped in 2022 compared to prior years this is for two reasons: living with cancer is a full-time job and the latest update to my self-hosted WordPress blog no longer has the editor I’ve used for 17 years. The ”classic” editor has been completely replaced, so this old dog is forced to learn new tricks. The last few posts have been via the new editor, but not by choice — just trying to get something simple published.
Steve Patterson in 2009
When I started this blog on Halloween day 2004 I was using software from Apple. I quickly joined other pioneer St. Louis bloggers using TypePad (I think that was the software). In January 2006 I went solo with my own online server with a self-hosted WordPress installation. Over the years the programmers behind WordPress have continually made changes, improvements. These were very gradual.
The new ”block editor” has been around a few years now, apparently, but I’d always been able to use what I was familiar with — until recently.
Now we’re in a new year and the holiday season is behind us, so I’ve been reviewing tutorials and excited by the ”easy“ new formatting options included, no plug-in required. I’m using this post to try out how this editor works. This practice will allow me to work on regular posts including my annual look at Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, candidates for the Board of Aldermen, recent books, new electric vehicles, etc.
My goal this year is to resume regular posting, move the blog to a shared server, and get a new template. Moving the blog to another server is so this blog will be available after cancer has gotten the best of me, the new template is for a fresh new look. Sorry, not interested in allowing comments again — too time-consuming to moderate.
I’m not old, I’m old-ISH.
— Steve ———————————————————————— St. Louis urban planning, policy, and politics @ UrbanReviewSTL since October 31, 2004. For additional content please consider following on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, and/or X (Twitter).
In 1961 the former Stix, Baer & Fuller department store began building a 900-car parking garage, attached to its downtown location via a skywalk over 7th Street. Six plus decades later the old Stix store contains apartments, hotel, a museum, and restaurants. The garage is now surrounded on 3 sides by the convention center. The skyway connecting the two has been sealed for years. See 701 North 7th Street on Google Maps.
The dome can be seen un the background in this August 2010 image
Recently the city was able to purchase it. There’s no funds in the current convention center expansion project, AC Next Gen, to replace the garage. It was inspected, condemned for use, and now being razed.
With ongoing demolition the circular ramp was visible from the street, November 11, 2022
It had a lot of open/unused area in the center, with a circular ramp popular at the time. The 2nd floor of the 1993 convention center expansion connected to a level in the back. A new garage would certainly be designed very different. Prior to the early 90s the garage occupied an entire city block (#166), surrounded by 7th, Convention Plaza (aka Delmar, Morgan), 8th. The soon to be vacant site has 196 feet of frontage along 7th Street, it is 270 feet deep.
3D view of the garage from Apple Maps
Aerial view, the skywalk was visible in the lower right. Apple Maps
Before the city rushes to fund & build a conventional new garage to fill the site I think it makes sense to explore alternative options. We are talking about a full city block, though closed on 3 sides.
Doing nothing, holding for the future, is always an option. Another is a modern conventional parking garage. Beyond that it’s possible some of the back of the site might be useful to the convention center. At the street it would be nice to see some active uses, perhaps a restaurant(s) on the upper. A rooftop patio, balconies, etc are all worth considering to enliven the street. Residential and/or office space probably wouldn’t work, though I’m always looking for places for more low-income accessible units.
I’d love to see any parking be automated. These take half as much land as a conventional garage with ramps & drive aisles consuming a lot of space. They do cost more per space, but depending on the design of using half the block for active uses other than parking static vehicles for hours at a time could make it worth the investment. Various designs and costs/benefits need to be reviewed — before a commitment is made!
Big benefits include no need for mechanical ventilation or 24/7 lighting interior, but fire suppression is still necessary. Vehicles would be secured against theft or break in, the roof could hold solar panels. My only reservation is how automated parking would do with large events, such as an XFL game at the dome. Not sure if EV charging is possible.
My point is this city blocked-sized parcel needs to be examined from today’s perspective looking forward 50 years (2023-2073).
November 11, 2022Books, Featured, ZoningComments Off on Recent Book — “Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It” by M. Nolan Gray
Over a century ago a new idea called “zoning” began, intended to guide cities to grow in a less chaotic manner than they had until then. Reality, however, was very different. It’s time to let go, change.
A recently published book explains the why & how.
What if scrapping one flawed policy could bring US cities closer to addressing debilitating housing shortages, stunted growth and innovation, persistent racial and economic segregation, and car-dependent development?
It’s time for America to move beyond zoning, argues city planner M. Nolan Gray in Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It. With lively explanations and stories, Gray shows why zoning abolition is a necessary—if not sufficient—condition for building more affordable, vibrant, equitable, and sustainable cities.
The arbitrary lines of zoning maps across the country have come to dictate where Americans may live and work, forcing cities into a pattern of growth that is segregated and sprawling.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Reform is in the air, with cities and states across the country critically reevaluating zoning. In cities as diverse as Minneapolis, Fayetteville, and Hartford, the key pillars of zoning are under fire, with apartment bans being scrapped, minimum lot sizes dropping, and off-street parking requirements disappearing altogether. Some American cities—including Houston, America’s fourth-largest city—already make land-use planning work without zoning.
In Arbitrary Lines, Gray lays the groundwork for this ambitious cause by clearing up common confusions and myths about how American cities regulate growth and examining the major contemporary critiques of zoning. Gray sets out some of the efforts currently underway to reform zoning and charts how land-use regulation might work in the post-zoning American city.
Despite mounting interest, no single book has pulled these threads together for a popular audience. In Arbitrary Lines, Gray fills this gap by showing how zoning has failed to address even our most basic concerns about urban growth over the past century, and how we can think about a new way of planning a more affordable, prosperous, equitable, and sustainable American city. (Island Press)
St. Louis’ first city planner, Harland Bartholomew, a civil engineer, was big on zoning. His planning firm unfortunately helped hundreds of municipalities adopt zoning laws — including in St. Louis. This form of zoning is known now as used-based zoning based on how it separates everything into separate pods. No longer can a business owner build a new building with their apartment over their store — these uses must be separate. No longer can a 2-family residential building be near single-family detached houses — these must be separate.
The latter ended up being a way of keeping immigrant/people of color communities separated from white folks — because whites shouldn’t be subjected to living near anyone different than themselves. Idyllic new suburbs, in their mind, meant all white — except for servants, of course. This attitude wasn’t limited to just the Jim Crow south, northern cities joined in this more subtle form of housing discrimination.
The St. Louis region is a prime example — it’s one reason why we have so many tiny municipalities. Going forward we must change the status quo, otherwise the entire region will continue to suffer.
Gray’s book will help you understand the problems & solutions.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
