urbanSTL

^ ok. i wasn't trying to invalidate or win anything but whatever. just being realistic. the fact is that it is often worse in St. Louis. it needs to be acknowledged and proportional action needs to be taken. people don't want to live around this sh*t.

Someone mentioned it elsewhere, but actually enforcing traffic laws would really lead to a downturn of other crime being committed. Finding illegal weapons and drugs during traffic stops can get criminals off the streets before the commit worse offenses. Police don't want to do this, however, because traffic stops are statistically the most danger part of the job.

Even starting with completely unregistered vehicles would help. The amount of cars I see without any sort of plates has seemed to skyrocket as of late. There's no reason why any vehicle with literally no plates isn't being pulled over.

I'm sure the fact that the City Police are short about 100 officers doesn't help. Hopefully the elimination of the residency requirement will help them fill the vacant positions. 

newstl2020 wrote: ↑

Aug 19, 2020

Someone mentioned it elsewhere, but actually enforcing traffic laws would really lead to a downturn of other crime being committed. Finding illegal weapons and drugs during traffic stops can get criminals off the streets before the commit worse offenses. Police don't want to do this, however, because traffic stops are statistically the most danger part of the job.

Even starting with completely unregistered vehicles would help. The amount of cars I see without any sort of plates has seemed to skyrocket as of late. There's no reason why any vehicle with literally no plates isn't being pulled over.

Yes there is. The no-chase policy. 

People know the police won't chase them anymore for non-violent offenses like invalid plates, speeding, blowing through stop signs, etc., so why would they stop? And obviously, if they have stolen plates or temp tags, or no plates at all, then there are no repercussions for them. 

No repercussions that is, until they kill or maim someone (assuming they can't drive or run away from the scene). The irony of course is that the killing or maiming of bystanders was the justification for the no-chase policy in the first place.

framer wrote: ↑

Aug 20, 2020

I'm sure the fact that the City Police are short about 100 officers doesn't help. Hopefully the elimination of the residency requirement will help them fill the vacant positions. 

the City isnt 100 officers short.   i cant believe people are buying that  
they have a 100 FTE available, they've ALWAYS had that and its used for OT.   so all shifts are fully staffed.  we have more officers per resident and per SQ than literally all but like 2-3 cities in the US.   

^Thanks for clarifying. That's good to know. 

framer wrote: ↑

Aug 20, 2020

^Thanks for clarifying. That's good to know. 

to further clarify,  sure it would be good to have another 100 so that officers arent working 12-16 hour shifts and are fresh but they want to work those shifts and the union would NEVER give up that gravy boat.  Look at the salary database that STL today puts togehter, some of these officers are making like 70%-100% over their base salary  in OT 

But . . . how do the businesses feel about it? 

Please become permanent. Please become permanent.
Get down there and show them this is better! Bikes and people!

framer wrote: ↑

Aug 20, 2020

But . . . how do the businesses feel about it? 

They should love it, especially restaurants. Use all that new space for outdoor seating. The parking was mostly residents, they can park elsewhere.

I would assume most businesses will like this, especially restaurants and retail,

Make it permanent and look towards the Denver 16th street mall for how to activate it appropriately. 

This weekend should be interesting.  Hope there's plenty of police presence DT on Friday and Saturday.  Street closures, parking lot shutdowns and overall enforcement might just stir up a hornets nest with the large cruising and racing crowd.  Will the crowds disperse or just spread out to the other streets?  Recent history would indicate the activity will find a new gathering spot.  I could see Broadway, south of Park as the next jump off point.  Straight long pavement?  Check.  Large parking lots adjacent?  Check.    

They've dropped chicanes on 4th as well. Was driving through to take my grandmother on an outing. 4th is closed down to a single lane at Market, maybe Olive, and Washington or so. And you have to weave lanes. It's never the same lane open twice. Personally, I think make the thing bidirectional with one lane each way and a center left turn lane that's interrupted with lots of islands and textured pavers and so forth. And sure, make people weave around some. And can someone please plant a bunch of trees down the middle of some of these streets? Big ones. Just narrow 'em all down. None of it is any more than local traffic anymore anyway.

They added a chicane on market street as well. It is in front of soldiers memorial.

This is a godsend for the businesses with little to no outdoor seating. I hope they can scramble up some programming over the weekend to get people downtown to enjoy the streets. Even a little stage with some live music would go a long way.

Eads Bridge now blocked with bollards


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pattimagee wrote: ↑

Aug 21, 2020

Wash Ave should get some really beautiful gates installed on either side of this stretch. That way they can close off the streets on a schedule during dinner time, holidays, weekend brunch, etc. That would give those businesses some time to plan and invest in taking advantage of the extra space.

Well...  I'm not sure I'd call them "really beautiful gates", but they are getting a fresh coat of white paint      ...More info: https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/st-lo ... -violence/

any type of gate installed would be destroyed in no time, so probably not a great idea to install expensive decorative gates. i think some decent-looking retractable or removable bollards would be fine. they should be installed all over the place, actually.

this perpetually recurring garbage is yet more justification for aerial surveillance, as well. but wouldn't want to hypothetically intrude on anyone's privacy since people are just getting killed and stuff.