urbanSTL

DeBaliviere wrote:I think an aquarium would be pretty cool, but I've always heard that they're huge money losers, which might keep it from ever happening.

Aren't all museums/gardens/zoos money losers?

That's a good question, but one thing to think about is the fact that so many STL attractions have free admission.

trent wrote:That's a good question, but one thing to think about is the fact that so many STL attractions have free admission.

true, but I sure would like to see St. Charles, Jefferson County and Metro East join STL City/County and help us support these REGIONAL attractions!

1. Put a chair lift across the Mississippi River below the Arch going to the Casino and Fountain Side. Let people really experience the river by hovering over it. My daugher and I rode one up a mountain sightseeing lift in Gatlinburg this spring and she really enjoyed hovering over trees, etc.



2. Open all the Towers in town for exercise. In Europe, it seems like every town has a tower (old or new) that can be climbed for free or cheaply. Even Notre Dame Cathedral and York Minster allow you to walk all the way to the very top. What a great way to get exercise if you could cllimb the Union Station Tower, and the 3 Water Towers in town. I took a tour of the Old Courthouse one time where we got to go up into the layers between the inner and outer domes, and then out onto the little outdoor circle at the top. What a view.



I think Americans are afraid to open towers ever since that guy in Austen took a gun up one and started shooting back in the 70s. But I think there are ways to provide security. Let people apply for a passcard that lets them through a turnstile like the one at my work. That would be enough to screen some spontaneous hothead with a gun. They don't allow guns in Europe, and hence enjoy freedoms we would like to enjoy.

Gary Kreie wrote: Put a chair lift across the Mississippi River

YIKES! That sounds scarey as hell! I love it!

Sounds fun to me, but I like living on the edge.

Or it could be an aerial tram, similar to that in NYC beside the Queensboro bridge to Roosevelt Island. Maybe run the sky-tram just north of the MLK, connecting the near-north landing (Casino/Bottle District/riverfront trail head) to future East Riverfront development (MLS Stadium?). Or it could be a tram suspended below the MLK similar to that to Mud Island in Memphis.



However, anything near the Eads bridge could somewhat compete with MetroLink, which already has stations on each side of the river. And the NYC aerial tram, btw, was just in the news for stopping mid-operations and trapping people for hours until rescued, but no fatalities or serious injuries. But does anyone remember when the sky barrel ride hung by wires out at Six Flags that crashed to the ground some 20 years ago? Unfortunately, some did die in that accident.

Gary Kreie wrote:2. Open all the Towers in town for exercise. ....[snip]... What a great way to get exercise if you could cllimb the Union Station Tower, and the 3 Water Towers in town.

They did a feature on KETC's Living St Louis where the reporter got a "behind the scenes" tour of Union Station, including climbing the tower. He was totally disappointed to find out that it's not a look-out tower at all -- just a clock tower. There aren't any real windows at the top. Plus the climb itself was fairly scary-looking through old storage areas. Not real "touristy."



But the water towers would be a good idea. Don't they open the Compton Heights tower a few times a year?

For the 1984 Worlds Fair, New Orleans had a gondola ride over the Mississippi. Always wondered why they took it down after the fair.

I rode that gondola at the World's Fair. Between Eads and the Arch, I think we're covered on the "see the river from above" front.



Funny Gary should mention towers... the Compton Hill tower will be open for tours this weekend, 10-5 both days.

Street vendors! There are only one or two, and they operate on private property (i.e. on the parking lot across from the downtown Famous Bar, right near Curry In A Hurry). A friend of mine looked into trying to get a license for operating a hot dog cart downtown, but the city told him that they do not issue street vendor permits.

^I agree. I love street venders. When I went to New York a few years ago, I made a point to buy some hotdogs from a "real live street vender". Sounds corny, I know, but it gave me a real sense of The Big City.

My guy from NYC, he short-changed me, when I asked him about it he threatened to call the cops for bothering him....it wasn't to pleasent.



My Idea:



Tear down those stupid vinyl adds that hang from the side of Mike Shannon's...tacky, tacky, tacky.

The problem was I had 20 years on the kid, the vendor was at most 14 years old!!!



How can you get a permit being that old?

The same rules that apply to us here dont always apply on the coasts - its all about wages and costs - a 14 year old is willing to work for next to nothing.

(probably)

Does anybody else find it a little troubling now---you cant' really go 360 around the new stadium, if you want to go around the stadium via the side facing the highway, you have to march around the the highway, cross a ditch, cross 2 streets, and then head back up eighth street....anyway, it just seems a hassle to me, maybe I've just been spoiled by 20 other parks in the MLB.



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Back on topic:



The Great Awsome New Idea for St. Louis from my mouth is: stop tearing down Modernist buildings.

I just got back from a trip to beijing China, and if St. Louis need a model of a growing city they need to look at Beijing. What i saw i can hardly describe. There must have been a million cranes with 200+ apartment buildings and office towers being built.

St. Louis Texan wrote:I just got back from a trip to beijing China, and if St. Louis need a model of a growing city they need to look at Beijing. What i saw i can hardly describe. There must have been a million cranes with 200+ apartment buildings and office towers being built.

I heard that 1 out of every 2 construction cranes in the world is located in China right now.

China is a far different place than Europe/US/Canada/Australia. Some have wondered if they are creating highrise ghettos and have tower sprawl without urban necessities like parks, sewers, electricity, decent plumbing, subway/elevated rail, etc...



Different league

Mass Transit.