I love old city maps, they can be so informative:
But when it comes to mapping out my route in the present no printed map will do, I love online maps. I used to buy a laminated map when visiting other cities, with maps on my phone those are no longer necessary for me.
The poll this week asks which online map service you use most often. In the comments below share your thoughts on the passing of the folded map.
– Steve Patterson
Earlier this month the idea of airport sleeping rooms caught my attention in the news:
Tiny airport sleeping rooms — similar to the cubicles that Asian travelers use to catch a snooze in between flights — have arrived in America.Atlanta, the world’s largest airport, opened five Minute Suites this month where tired passengers can doze for $30 an hour. The rooms — 7 feet by 8 feet, or about the size of two office cubicles put together — are equipped with a daybed sofa, pillows (with disposable covers), fresh blankets, a small desk, Internet access and a flat-screen 32-inch monitor with DirecTV and flight information. They have systems to mask noise. (full story: USA Today)
Hopefully airport administrators across the country will be watching Atlanta to see how well this idea works in the states. Creative thinking to serve the needs of travelers could help the airport get more flights.
– Steve Patterson
My brother’s subdivision, located in a far sprawling area within Oklahoma City’s huge city limits, is a curiosity to me. No doubt we have similar subdivisions in the St. Louis region. Every region in the US likely has a similar situation.
The subdivision is gated. Not just to outsiders but from one part to another – wouldn’t want the Riff Raff from 3 blocks away in our part of the same subdivision.
The sidewalks don’t leave the subdivision because the major roads outside the subdivision lack sidewalks. I can see the grocery store from his front walk but to get there requires a car trip.
Although they have plenty of room between the curbs & sidewalks, they have zero street trees. Apparently tree-lined streets are a bad thing? The one decorative tree in each front lawn is kept back so it can’t won’t shade the sidewalk.
The streets are not public but are privately owned & maintained by the home owners. All houses have 3-car garages – the minimum allowed. You can leave a non-commercial vehicle on your driveway but don’t think of leaving your car on the too wide subdivision streets overnight. Commercial vehicles (company SUV with name on the side, for example) must be kept in the garage.
The logic goes that parked cars on the street overnight is low class and tacky. To protect their home values, the streets must be free of vehicles. They live in an environment where the car is a must but they don’t want to see the cars at night.
I don’t get the logic at all.
To me the narrower tree-lined streets in older areas or New Urbanist areas like New Town at St. Charles (above) are so much more appealing, visually & functionally.
The 3-car wide driveways and the series of garage doors is much more an issue for me. Narrow streets with parked cars help slow traffic.
Are people selecting the suburban subdivision because they is what they want or are people buying in them because they are the current perception of the ideal living environment? Has anyone given it much thought?
Clearly the developers, in writing the rules for subdivisions, have set out guidelines that are counter to my way of thinking. It is not like buyers have any real choice — all the new development follows the same formula – except for the New Urbanist developments which are hard to build because zoning mandates the suburban/sprawl ideal.
I’d love to buy a house in such a subdivision and plant street trees after removing the original lawn ornament tree. I wouldn’t want to live there, just challenge their view of an ideal place to call home. But seriously, we’ve got a major sticking issue if people don’t want cars on the street overnight.
– Steve Patterson
It opened 8 days before my 7th birthday. Crossroads Mall was a very big deal at the time. All the malls in Oklahoma City were on the other side of town. Now we’d have a mall less than 2 miles from home. I may have been in one of the other malls in town prior to the opening of Crossroads but I doubt it.
When Crossroads Mall opened in 1975 it was the 9th largest shopping mall in the United States, and the largest in Oklahoma. It is still the second largest mall in Oklahoma at 1.3 million square feet. (source)
West County Center in the St. Louis region, rebuilt and greatly expanded in 2002, is still smaller than Crossroads Mall.
When the mall opened in 1974 my parents were in their early 40s, as I am today. They saw downtown and retail districts die as new suburban malls took over. They did not shed a tear, they embraced the change.
Likewise as shopping patterns I don’t mourn the death of Crossroads mall. I should clarify that it is not totally dead – yet.
But when all four of your anchors are closed the diagnosis is not positive. The sign, above, lists four anchors as you enter — AMC (which is in its own building outside the mall),  Waldenbooks, Bath & Body Works and Chick-fil-A. Yes, Chick-fil-A is now listed on signage that used to list stores like Macy’s, Dillard’s, JC Penny, and Montgomery Ward. Yeah, good luck with Chick-fil-A as an draw.
On the directory they have severed off the four vacant anchor spaces as if they didn’t exist. I’m sure they wish they didn’t exist.
But from outside and inside it is obvious to the casual observer. The above space was Montgomery Wards, which closed in 2001. The East coast chain Steve & Barry’s opened in this space until they went Bankrupt in January 2009.
One by one the remaining long-term anchors all closed – JC Penny in 2007, Macy’s in March 2008, Dillard’s in December 2008. (source).
It appears all four anchor stores are owned separately from the mall as I spotted for sale signs with different real estate companies. If so that makes it harder to create a solution unless the mall owner sinks more money and buys all four anchor spaces. Then what? Raze it all?
Crossroads was so named for being at the crossroads of two interstates – I-35 and I-240. Retail centers have now developed along both so that rebuilding retail on this massive site would be a risky proposition.
Little has changed inside save for additional interior lighting. With the exception of the Chick-fil-A, the only remaining long-term tenant may be Spencer’s Gifts:
The location is exactly where it was in 1974. Although curious, I didn’t go inside. I hadn’t been in that store in 30 years.
In January the mall was in foreclosure:
Officials say Crossroads Mall could be put up for bids in about 60 days and stores in the mall will remain open for now.
Price Edwards & Co. is now managing the mall and senior vice president Jim Parrack says he hopes to find a buyer who will keep the property as a mall, but some analysts say it could be taken over by a government agency, a school or a medical organization. (source)
I’m not sure where it stands, not sure I care. In my lifetime I’ve seen the birth & death of this mall. Right now it is the roadside wreck you can’t help look at. It is time to call in Dr. Kevorkian, or a demolition crew, to finish it off.
As people return to the center and flock to newer strip centers this future of this mall as a mall is long over. Strip centers around the mall built in the last two decades are already housing offices for things like the state Department of Human Services. A Best Buy and the Toys R Us where I worked for 5 years are hanging on.
Like my parents I will not shed a tear at the loss of the old way of doing retail.
– Steve Patterson
Yesterday morning I stopped at a QuikTrip location in Tulsa to use their restroom and get a snack for the road. I did not park in the disabled parking spot because it was further away from the entrance (but close to the wheelchair ramp). From my car I could see a problem at the entrance:
The extra space next to the door was packed full of merchandise. Once through that door the problem was clear:
T0 comply with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act you need 18″ clear to the handle side of a door you are pulling toward you and 12″ to the side of a door you are pushing away. As I am realizing this is not just for those in wheelchairs but for all of us that have some physical challenges. The store was designed fine but their placement of xtra stock has made the above entry non-compliant.
Heading back to the men’s room more stuff is stacked in the way. A wheelchair would never pass through here and with a cane it is now too narrow. It gets worse. Around the wall to the left is an emergency exit:
And in front of the emergency exit is a power washer.
I didn’t buy anything nor did I say anything at the time – I was too angry. A couple of hours later, at my brother’s house in Oklahoma City I look up the phone number for the QuikTrip at 15th & Denver in Tulsa. I get a manager on the line and complain about the ADA access and the emergency exit. He is not concerned. I asked if it will still be cleared a week later when I pass through again. He said, “probably not.” I filed a complaint on the QuikTrip website.
Folks, the ADA guidelines exist for a reason. Placing your crap in our way is very disrespectful. Blocking emergency exits is criminal.
– Steve Patterson