In case you aren't one of the 125 or so privileged "invitees" via Facebook, CityArchRiver has announced that they're going to tell you what they're going to do via a meeting at the convention center January 25.

Also, if you've been following the CityArchRiver home page for this news, well, yeah, it's there -- in the Twitter feed. (Yes, that's right, the same Twitter feed that says that CityArchRiver was so forward looking that it managed to Tweet in 1998.)

It's also somewhat informative to go to the "News Releases Archive" page and note that CityArchRiver issued precisely one press release in 2011, for exactly the same event that's being held next week (and for which, it appears, CityArchRiver has not yet issued a press release),

It's open to the public, just like the last one. But the local media needs to actually, you know, provide this information to the public...not just report on it after it happens.

I went to the last one, but can't make it to this one. A few comments from the Buck family (Joe via pre-taped message) and a very succinct rundown of the plan (which at that point had changed a lot from the initially-chosen design). And of course -- as is the m.o. of C+A+R -- no opportunity for public questions/comments.

I'm looking forward to some thorough post-conference coverage/conversation on here. Frankly, I'm worried about what we will (and won't) see at the presentation.

Kevin B wrote:It's open to the public, just like the last one. But the local media needs to actually, you know, provide this information to the public...not just report on it after it happens.

FWIW KMOX is telling people about the presentation in its news breaks.

quincunx wrote:

Kevin B wrote:It's open to the public, just like the last one. But the local media needs to actually, you know, provide this information to the public...not just report on it after it happens.

FWIW KMOX is telling people about the presentation in its news breaks.

Yeah, I saw that KMOX was talking about it. I'd like to think my tweet request last night to @KMOXnews and @KMOV had something to do with it...but I'm guessing it was already on their break schedule.

The fact that it was in the newspaper over the weekend also might have had a little to do with the broadcast outlets ripping and reading, er, picking it up.

It sounded terrible following the Twitter feed. #archupdate

To whom can we go to air our concerns on all this?

This plan makes me want to yawn and cry at the same time. It's so safe and will likely do very little to meet the objectives of improved connectivity and increased activity. This planning process, like so many others in St. Louis, did not do a great job of engaging the public and considered "NO" public input. MODOT, which is a joke in itself, will do absolutely nothing to enhance the arch experience nor promote urban redevelopment. The leaders completely dropped the ball on this one. We can no longer wonder why people leave the region, when the region is so hard on to change; unless that change is destructive and outdated.

No big changes from previous info on this site. It is clear they have done a lot of detailed design work, and hopefully they'll post the new slides.

But I didn't hear much about funding. All I heard was that they got 20 million in the Tiger grant for the lid, and matched that with 10 million. And Great Rivers Greenway came up with 15 million to raise Lenore K. Sullivan boulevard 2.5 feet. The only other thing I heard about funding was that they were hoping to get another Tiger grant next year. It sounds like MoDOT isn't offering any funding other than what it got in the Tiger Grant.

They also said the overall cost would come down by $25 million, to $500 million or so. So how will they fund the other $450 million? I didn't hear of any funding yet for Kiener Plaza, the museum expansion, the elimination of the Arch parking garage and adjacent Washington Avenue and replacement with a sloping land toward Laclede's Landing. Also tree replacement, ADA compliance, and improved reflecting ponds.

It sounded like they have pretty much conceded that the East Side and Gondolas won't be there by 2015, but are still in the plans. MoDOT seemed confident they could do the lid by 2015, but Walter Metcalfe seemed to be hedging on dong the rest by 2015 at the end.

quincunx wrote:It sounded terrible following the Twitter feed. #archupdate

To whom can we go to air our concerns on all this?

@STLonAir is taking tweets for a conversation tomorrow. Moreso from people at the actual presentation though. (but really NextSTL, PRO, GatewayStreets et al. did such a great job, I felt like I was there).

This presentation was very frustrating. Most of the "upgrades" are poorly designed on a city-sensitive scale and are OBVIOUSLY destructive and disconnective if given even a cursory critical review. The worrisome part is that most of these components are big enough and expensive enough that there will be no possible way to switch them out or change them up for another couple of decades.

I think NextSTL could very well get foundational support for the City to River plan...or at least portions of it. It looks to me like C+A+R is having trouble raising monetary support for THEIR plan. They'll have to start playing ball sooner or later (okay, we all know they won't...).

RobbyD wrote:This is an important project for many reasons...that some real money has been found is encouraging...rather than venomous evil over missing personal lofty expectations for this project I feel good that at least the theoretical train is still on the track...hopefully the theory becomes more and more reality...

Significant upgrades to an iconic national park can only be a net gain for the City and downtown more directly...

Finally some positive feedback on this project. Yes there a countless negatives and yes communication is lacking quite a bit. BUT in no way will this be a negative for the city. Certainly it could be more but the economy sucks and we need to spend 2012 looking at few of the possitives.

^ I wouldn't go as far as "venomous," RobbyD, but I think there's definitely some justifiable indignation going around.

It's a $500 million (likely more) project positioned as a way to create better connections and better experiences in the City and the JNEM. For that much money, people are obviously upset that it's focusing so much on a single lid and highway expansion -- both of which actually limit connections as a whole. It isn't too much to expect a group of our city's civic leaders to actually envision a redesign that does more than funnel visitors to and through a heavily-landscaped central spine, while simultaneously removing almost every other alternate connection.

Could this whole plan, touted to be a game changer for the Arch Grounds and the whole region, ultimately boil down to nothing more than a lid over I-70? That's about all they currently have money for.

I'd happily wait until 2020-2025 to ensure we have the funding to make actual, positive, pedestrian friendly changes to the Arch Grounds. Its OK for them to admit they come with an overly ambitious plan in one of the worst economies the US has ever seen.

Instead, they're getting ready to serve up a big ole' turd on this deal

Really disappointed that the plans call for eliminating Pine and Washington Avenue.

So what happens at the intersection of Washington and Memorial? I assume people will still get to the Arch from here, and they'll still have to walk underneath the highway which creates a trash filled, kind of scary at night tunnel to downtown's newest huge lawn that will be used once or twice a year.

I'm also curious what traffic is going to be like downtown with the closure of Memorial and re-routing everything onto 4th street. Memorial is really busy during both rush hours. People trying to get to the "pedestrian heaven" that is the lid at rush hour are going to have to deal with a lot of traffic to get there.

I think the money being used for the lid could be better spent improving existing connections. (the pedestrian lights at Memorial and Washington have been out for over 3 years!!! I've seen so many tourists just standing at the light, not knowing when to cross the street)

As ttricamo said above, if we can't do it right, let's just wait until we can.

Just another stupid idea from stupid people. Man....I wish that this whole design competition could be started over. This time with public input from downtown residents and business. St. Louis will continue to be a failure until we get some bottom-up approaches to how we spend public money and plan our city.

I don't think the entire process needs to be started over. It just needs to be a transparent process. I think the design team is a good one. People working on the project I'm sure are well experienced.

The problem is the incredible lack of communication with the public and no acknowledgement at all of our concerns.

The brush off the legitimate concerns citizens have about I-70 and connections to the north and south as unfounded or the ignore them all together is a huge disservice to the community.

gary kreie wrote:It sounds like MoDOT isn't offering any funding other than what it got in the Tiger Grant.

This is what I wrote earlier, but that's not correct. The Post Dispatch report today shows MoDOT is spending $25 million.

"Metcalfe said the project already has money committed to build the pedestrian lid, reroute Memorial Drive and redo the intersection of Memorial and Washington Avenue at the entrance to the Eads Bridge. He said the Missouri Department of Transportation will do the street work and lid structure, which CityArchRiver will landscape. Those tasks will cost $57 million.

Metcalfe said committed money includes $22 million in federal grants, $25 million from the Missouri highway department and $10 million in private donations to CityArchRiver. He said the foundation will continue raising private donations and seeking funding from government agencies."

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... z1kaICg83L

Also,
"The Metro East improvements would cost about $180 million of that total."

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... z1kaIiCrKg

I'm not sure how much GRG is providing -- I thought I heard $15 million and I thought that would be used to raise LKS Boulevard by 2.5 feet, but I don't see that in the committed funds total. If it is committed, that would leave $300 million still to be raised, not counting East Side changes.

^ in other words, they're no where near the dollar amount needed to successfully redevelop the Arch Grounds.

Let's say it takes another year to gather "private donations", is it possible the other funds could become de-obligated?

Most privately held companies are cash cows right now. Until the current or new (federal and state) administrations figure out how to get some of this money via taxes, there is no money to spend on this thing. I mean, MO is cutting $50M in funding to the University of MO system as we speak. WE'RE BROKE!

I want this re-development to be extremely successful yet I'm failing to see how we make that happen in the current economic environment, especially considering the 2015 deadline.