Valet Video: New & Improved — Now Confrontation-Free!

My post from Tuesday evening with video of the owner of Copia received much attention and a fair amount of both praise and criticism. Curious if anything had changed I returned to Washington Avenue Thursday night with camera in hand. This time I did a couple of things differently — I did not talk to anyone, staying completely away from the valets and the restaurants themselves (Copia in the 11xx block and Lucas Park Grille in the 12xx block). The video is far less exciting than the confrontation on Tuesday evening but it is telling about the extent of the situation.

Every non-coned public parking space between 10th and 14th was taken last night when I was there after 9pm. The only empty spaces in this four block stretch were spaces coned off by a single valet company, Midwest Valet, while employed by Copia and Lucas Park.

The video and sound quality are a bit poor as my still camera’s video feature doesn’t do too well when moving at night. But, you’ll be able to get the idea. The first video is in the 11xx block of Washington Ave. I start at Tucker and walk toward 11th. I’m on the north side of the street looking over at the block containing Copia (it is the beautiful 2-story building with the 3 arched windows). Once the valet sees me he begins to make a few calls and eventually moves the cones from the street. Remember, the police were there just two nights ago and told them to move the cones.

The 11xx block of Washington Ave has a total of 10 marked parking spaces. Four are in front of Baseline which is to the east of Copia. The SUV parked in the far east end of the block is actually in a yellow no-parking zone. Moving to the west of the four spaces in front of Baseline we have a fire hydrant and then a single parking space directly in front of Copia. We then have another no-parking area for a buildings’ fire standpipe. Five additional spaces are on the western half of the block. The valets should be able to operate by taking the single space in front of the restaurant combined with the two non-parking spaces. I will return to measure this width to see what that would give them but it is greater than 60ft. This would leave 9 public spaces for patrons of Copia or other establishments (or friends of residents). Copia is in the 7th Ward.

In the next video I am in the 12xx block of Washington Ave where Lucas Park Grille is just as abusive by taking two sides of the street. We start off with a valet that just made a u-turn in the street to park a car across from the restaurant in a public space they had coned off. It should be noted, the Director of Streets Jim Suelmann has issued LPG a permit to have all these spaces but indicates they are only for the drop off and pickup of cars — that all cars should be moved to sites elsewhere. Clearly, that is not what is happening here. A couple of clubs are open and active in this block and several places are open late in the next block to the west. However, the only vacant spots are those coned off by the valet company for the use by LPG and the sushi place next door.

The point of all this is we do have things going on downtown and along Washington Ave but a few businesses are being overly aggressive in their use of the public street and public parking. We need balance. Lucas Park Grille is in the 5th Ward.

Currently nobody is taking any responsibility for the problem. The valets say they are doing their job. The restaurant owners say they (via the valet company) have a permit for this much space, the Treasurer’s office (which is responsible for parking revenues) has no policy, the aldermen won’t act on a complaint unless from a constituent, the Director of Streets says he doesn’t have the ability to enforce the permits he issues and in reality the police have much more important things to worry about. But the reality is we paid dearly for these streetscapes and much is riding on their long-term success. The demand for the spaces is there but they are reserved for a select few.

Urban Review Seeks Ward-Based “Advisors”

You know, I can’t track it all alone. There is simply too much out there to watch. So, I’d like your help in bringing information to the public — a real grassroots effort.

I’d like 28 advisors — one per ward. If we end up with more than one person per ward I may split up duties or ask someone to report on another ward if others are not covered. Ideally these persons would be open to using their names and submitting reports for their ward.

Here are some initial thoughts as to duties:
• Review ordinances introduced by your alderman, summarize development related ordinances.
• Seek out information on public meetings such as planning commission related to projects within the ward.
• Attend neighborhood meetings and/or ward meetings (any party) and report on projects being discussed.
• Provide written updates/reports/summaries for publication on Urban Review with respect to urban design and planning.
• Possibly branch out and develop a ward-based blog similar to that of Steve Wilke-Shapiro’s excellent 15thWardSTL site.

Email me at steve@urbanreviewstl.com if you are interested in serving in this capacity.

This will all serve as the foundation for creating a non-profit group and/or a political action committee to further an urban agenda in the City of St. Louis. We’ll start informally online, have some advisory meetings and then formalize with a legal entity(s) to act as a watchdog, to educate the public on urban planning issues, to push for changes to policy such as zoning and to seek out, recruit and train candidates to run for office (or focus on pushing the current person to be more urban minded).

What are your thoughts? Good idea? Crazy idea? Any suggestions?

Urban Review Wins RFT Readers’ Choice for Best Blog

Thank you! The RFT issue is out this week with their annual Best Of list. Last year Urban Review was selected by the editors as “Best Civic-Minded Blog” and this year they included “Best Blog” among the items to be selected by their readership. There was some great competition out there so I am honored to have been your choice.

It seems I was also selected by the RFT editors as Best Gadfly:

It was so simple. Fifteenth Ward Alderwoman Jennifer Florida backed a request from a McDonald’s on South Grand Boulevard that wanted to move a block north and across the street. Then serial blogger Steve Patterson got wind of the plan. Via his Web site, Urban Review, Patterson cast himself as the voice of opposition, criticizing the fast-food franchisee’s “suburban” design and warning that area property values would soon rival the price of a Value Meal. Signs were made, a protest was staged, and by May a cadre of activists was calling for Florida’s ouster. Florida dug in her heels and Patterson fought on, implying at one point that the alderwoman was responsible for an “attack” that caused a 90-minute meltdown of his Web site. How did the saga end? It hasn’t. Florida’s still in office, the McDonald’s is on track to move, and Patterson’s still blogging away.

gad·fly

1. A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.
2. One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad.

I’m sure those on the receiving end of my criticisms will go with definition #1 above but I’ll go with #2. And, talk is the McDonald’s deal is dead.

Please Vote in the RFT ‘Best of’ Poll

The Riverfront Times is conducting one of their ‘Best of’ polls and the first item on the list is ‘Best Blog.’ I was very honored last year when the RFT editors named Urban Review the ‘Best Civic-Minded Blog.’ This year they are opening up the category and asking for votes.

St. Louis is fortunate to have many talented bloggers creating original content on their sites. While this makes for heavy competition is also makes for a more enlightened city.

Here is why I think you should vote for Urban Review. This week Professor Charles Bohl from the University of Miami’s School of Architecture summed it up quite well:

You are providing what 99% of communities in the U.S. lack – a critical perspective that directly takes up community design. The layperson often can’t visualize or articulate the shortcomings until someone starts revealing them as you are doing.

Indeed my perspective is not necessarily the majority but it is sparking discussion about place, a worthwhile exercise in any community. Furthermore, your comments, now numbering over 5,000, show the level of interest in the topics covered by Urban Review. The number of readers, just under 20,000 unique visitors in August, also shows the widespread level of interest in subjects that many may have thought to be too specialized. All this interest & discussion makes an impression on decision makers from local elected officials to bureaucrats to real estate developers. Collectively we are creating change in the local mindset — something other blogs cannot claim.

Vote here.

Thank you! – Steve

Comments to be Fixed Soon

Some of you may have noticed some strange behavior on my site in the last day or so. Currently the comments area is returning error messages when you try to add a comment. My web guru Brian Marston is working on a fix to the problem so please be patient.

– Steve