urbanSTL

I'd like the see them build the boulevard, and then put one or two interesting pedestrian bidges over it to draw people to try the bridge and go to the Arch. I was looking for an example of good pedestrian bridges and found lots of over-the-top cable and arch pedestrian bridges, along with the winding pedestrian bridge at Millenium Park in Chicago.

But here is the bridge I'd like to visit someday in China. Can we get them to build this over the The Boulevard along with the spectacular scenary?



Or how about another one of these:


St. Louis, MO City Museum The Boys in MonstroCity by army.arch, on Flickr

Arched pedestrian bridges to compliment the Arch? Good idea!

Legislature paves the way for voter approval on tax.

Has there been any attempt to use this as a kick start for Chouteau Lake and green way? I honestly think that the lake and green way would do more for St. Louis than the Arch grounds.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... f6878.html

^ Agree, three project that I would rather see local tax dollars spent on and what would eventually tie back to Arch Grounds but better serve the community are

1 - Chouteau Greenway, Personally, I would drop the lakes portion, stick with the trail and go with playing field for downtown residents/or skate park and perhaps Purina would want to sponsor dog park where the current surface parking lot is located. You should spend money somewhere else before you go out and buy a railyard from Union Pacific at a premium.

2 - North Trestle, talk about a great north side connector

3 - Tie in North & South riverfront, Chouteau Greenway trails along the water front if you want money spent within or near the Arch Grounds.

bonus, tear down the Arch Grounds parking garage!

Or another way to put it, tear down and tear up parking and spend the money on the trail system that ties it all together.

zun1026 wrote:

pat wrote:^It did.

I thought Don Marsh asked some good, prodding questions.

I actually came to see MoDOT in a somewhat better light after the interview. I forget her name, but the MoDOT representative made it sound like MoDOT isn't necessarily against removal of the highway (theikr client is). She made it sound like they would be willing (even though they know it is a lengthy and cumbersome process) to do it if the powers that be called for it. Its kind of out of their hands.

So like you said, this lack of interest in removing I-70 is more CityArchRiver than anyone else. Which is a shame considering they are supposed to be running a transformative project.

I don't get why CityArchRiver has so much power. They don't own the Highway or Memorial drive correct?

CityArchRiver has the power because it's Senator Danforth's project. He wants a buffalo and a lid and that's what he'll damn well get.

He has connections and answers to no one. Meanwhile, everyone else points fingers. It's not what they taught us in Civics class but it's how government works.

Alex Ihnen wrote:CityArchRiver isn't Senator Danforth's project.

Guess who sparked the idea and helped form CityArchRiver2015? Yes, Senator Danforth. And who's leading the project? His law partner at Bryan Cave, Walter Metcalfe. A little intuition shows that Danforth has Metcalfe as a proxy and is likely involved behind the scenes.

Ref: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... e9074.html

Alex Ihnen wrote:At least the Danforth Foundation walked away from it in frustration a decade ago. The lid was their idea, but their conclusion regarding a one-block lid is damning - it's expensive and doesn't fix anything. The current effort is headed up by Walter Metcalf.

You're right, the lid was Danforth's idea. What a coincidence that Walter Metcalfe thinks it's such a grand idea as well. I wonder how Metcalfe was placed as the head of CAR2015 and what connections he has with Danforth? hint hint...

Alex Ihnen wrote:That story is about how he thinks the effort's great, but that he won't be putting any money into it. Anyway, I guess there's no way to truly know which individuals are involved since it's a closed process. One can play one-degree of separation with STL civic leaders, so no doubt there are connections.

That's not why I posted the story. I posted it to show that Senator Danforth sparked the idea, helped form CityArchRiver2015 (CAR2015), and that his crony Metcalfe leads the project. Do you really think it's just a coincidence that Danforth's law partner was chosen to lead? Metcalfe even sits on Danforth's board at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. I mean, it's obviously not a coincidence.

No matter what the NPS or CAR2015 says, this is a closed process -- a process very likely steered by Senator Danforth. In this issue, MoDoT already stated that it defers to CAR2015. And we know that Metcalfe answers to Danforth. Metcalfe is just a facilitator of Danforth's plan. Nothing more, nothing less.

All I'm saying is that if you want change, Danforth's the man that can bring it. He may have pulled much of his money from the project, but not his attention. This is his legacy he's working on...

Alex Ihnen wrote:^ Well, I just disagree. Perhaps Metcalf was the puppet master behind Danforth all along? Metcalf got the EJ Dome built and brought the Rams to town - he's a civic leader in his own right and regarding any coincidence, like I said, the civic leadership in St. Louis is small. In the end, I don't prescribe to the omnipotence of Senator Danforth. Then again, you could be right.

I'm neither saying that Danforth is omnipotent nor that Metcalfe is a slouch. But they have strong ties, Danforth has worked diligently in bringing the project to fruition, and his friend and law partner was placed as the lead of CAR2015. You may disagree, but I believe that the driving force behind CAR2015 is Danforth.

IMHO, if Danforth opens up to the Boulevard, everything will magically fall into place.

So who is engaging Danforth to open him up a bit to the idea?

Charlene Prost from the St. Louis Beacon interview with Maggie Hales, executive director of the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation.

“Our goal” Hales said, “is to finish all the Missouri components by October 2015.”

https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/25 ... les_070912

Hales' quote from the article....

"We want people to participate to give us feedback about programing and other ideas, and we want to include a broad group of people. They can participate on our new website, on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. We just hired a community engagement coordinator, and we have a list of speakers going out to talk about the project.

My priorities, in summary, are to engage and inform the public, and finish all the Missouri components by 2015 with a high-quality project that is safe and accessible and welcoming to everyone."


What is CitytoRiver to her then? They have a lot of work to do on the "engaging the public" side of things...

They will get a coalition to force this thing down are throats and we will be left with a very expensive, beautiful, state of the art renovation that nobody uses, because the fundamentals, like connectivity and lack of development in Chouteau and Lacledes Landing, will not have been addressed.

rather than us complaining, why don't be send an invite to her to debate us on THIS forum???

Meanwhile, MODOT seems full speed ahead. They have been busy this week installing new signs near the 55/44 interchanges near Soulard. Multiple signs now have a new 'blank' spot, my assumption is that underneath are '44 East' signs

jakektu wrote:Meanwhile, MODOT seems full speed ahead. They have been busy this week installing new signs near the 55/44 interchanges near Soulard. Multiple signs now have a new 'blank' spot, my assumption is that underneath are '44 East' signs

That steel plate covering up whatever it may be has been up there for months now - not a new addition...

There are multiple signs, that photo was just an example. I saw them put two similar signs up along Gravois this week.

obistl wrote:Charlene Prost from the St. Louis Beacon interview with Maggie Hales, executive director of the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation.

“Our goal” Hales said, “is to finish all the Missouri components by October 2015.”

https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/25 ... les_070912

Another interesting quote from the article:

Regarding the potential sales tax initiative, we support it, and we are confident that voters will agree and will continue to support our regional and local parks, and this project. If not, however, the balance of the project will still go forward.

While this local funding is important, it is one piece of a larger funding plan, which includes federal and state funds and a substantial private fundraising goal of more than $200 million. Remember, a large segment of the project is already funded. The first phase, including the new park over the highway, improvements to the Luther Ely Smith Square park and surrounding street improvements are funded and will be under construction in the fall of 2013.