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PostJan 31, 2018#1876

dylank wrote:
Jan 20, 2018
I believe three will be finished:
--80+ apartments Level on Locust
--12+ apartments above Hotel STL
--Monogram units

Plus continued expansion in Laclede Bldg. Possibly Laclede's Landing apartments...?
Sounds like they do plan for this year so if all four did open that wouldn't be too bad.. 300+

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PostFeb 12, 2018#1877

eCab downtown?
Somehow our ancestors were able to get around a bustling downtown without it. Maybe work on why people don't want to walk downtown?

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PostFeb 12, 2018#1878

quincunx wrote:
Feb 12, 2018
eCab downtown?
Somehow our ancestors were able to get around a bustling downtown without it. Maybe work on why people don't want to walk downtown?
Orlando: free downtown bus circulator
Nashville: free downtown bus circulator
KC: free downtown streetcar
STL: $1 downtown circulator in the single worst shape possible and a free app thing.

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PostFeb 13, 2018#1879

At first, I was optimistic about this. Now knowing the details of service, I cant help but feel annoyed that $135k is being blown on this.

3 vehicles at all times
10am - 2pm weekdays.
5-10pm weekdays and weekends.

This coming from an organization who fired dozens of the most friendly and welcome people... for additional officers, that I’ve never seen.


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PostFeb 13, 2018#1880

Come June this will be the replacement for the downtown trolley bus, that thing costs $1m a year to run

One thing I don’t like about this is it stops at 18th and minus a lot of biz and residents between 18th and Jefferson, it’s running within the downtown CID boarders but they could have asked the LBD CID to pitch in

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PostFeb 13, 2018#1881

It does seem like a waste.

But then again I'd rather walk 15 minutes than wait seven minutes then ride seven minutes. I doubt there's much time savings here for the average user, given the dimensions of the coverage area.

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PostFeb 13, 2018#1882

But the downtown trolley COULD transport 150-180 riders per hour and operates 122 hours per week. (18,300 - 21,960 max weekly ridership)

To match that capacity, operating 122 hours per week, we’d need 30-35 of these running around downtown. Which, based on the cost reported, would put these at well over a million in capital and operations.

Sure, the trolley isn’t carrying anything near the capacity, but is the solution to that problem a different service entirely (a service that at this time will NOT encourage a single downtown resident or worker to go car free). The solution, as aprice has said, sits in improved circulation and frequency. Not just the circulator, but all routes serving downtown.


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PostFeb 13, 2018#1883

If it is a replacement for the #99, does that mean the CID would be absorbing the cost from Metro, just like it absorbed the cost of policing from the City? Or are rumors of taking over the trolley just speculation?

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PostFeb 13, 2018#1884

Seems like another symptom of dedensifying downtown with parking lots, garages, and highways.

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PostFeb 19, 2018#1885

Has anyone else tried the e-taxi app for the new circulator? The Android version could use some work, lots and lots of work.

This rainy stretch provides a good time to test the e-taxi out, but the app is not making things easy.

It doesn't seem to be able to tell you when the thing is running (10-2 M-F, 5-10 M-Sat). Everything looks the same on there whether it's noon or midnight. I guess you have to either know the hours (or maybe it errors out after you waste a minute inputting origin and destination).

The SMS verification apparently doesn't actually send an SMS (other Google reviews say that).

It's preset to come up with a bunch of Austin, Texas, addresses at the top of the list whenever you start typing anything, as the company mainly operates in Austin.

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PostFeb 19, 2018#1886

BellaVilla wrote:
Feb 17, 2018
An issue in downtown that persists seems to be that parking lots/garages can often generate more income than other types of development, correct?
Correct.
BellaVilla wrote:
Feb 17, 2018
Could the city create a tax (maybe a new property tax) that specifically targets stand alone garages and lots- not linked to a corresponding development? IS something like this feasible and would it there be too many negative externalities for it to be worth it?
The City currently has a 5% parking tax for "parking" businesses.

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PostFeb 19, 2018#1887

stlien wrote:
BellaVilla wrote:
Feb 17, 2018
Could the city create a tax (maybe a new property tax) that specifically targets stand alone garages and lots- not linked to a corresponding development? IS something like this feasible and would it there be too many negative externalities for it to be worth it?
The City currently has a 5% parking tax for "parking" businesses.
I believe you get back to the fundamental issue driving downtown. Their is not enough demand at the moment to make the property valuable enough to build on vs. the parking revenue without significant tax incentives.. It is going to be slow difficult process but the answer isn't more taxation on parking lots IMO.

What is difficult for the city is where you draw a line on incentives. It was noted on one of the blogs that the city signed off on 20 years of tax abatements for the proposed 300 Broadway residential tower where as the same group that built 212 Meramac in Clayton CBD settled for less incentives with some push back. Obviously Clayton CBD has more value based on commercial lease & vacancy rates and frankly less land. But it would sure be nice if downtown would get to the point that some pushback on incentives could happen.

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PostMar 01, 2018#1888

The state of downtown is Olive is a torn up mess and work is going on here, there and everywhere.

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PostMar 02, 2018#1889

^True that! My word are there a lot of torn up streets.

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PostMar 02, 2018#1890


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PostMar 02, 2018#1891

Club related


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PostMar 03, 2018#1892

^So?

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PostMar 03, 2018#1893

Channel 5 had a article about this shooting that said "mere blocks away from City Museum" :lol: i guess being a stones throw away from the POLICE HEADQUARTERS (literally you can hit the PD HQ with a baseball from the crime sense) but i guess that wouldnt have scared away county people as much. for the record CM is about 6-7 blocks away

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PostMar 03, 2018#1894

Its sad that no one can't go anywhere anymore without someone having a weapon America is a mess with this entire gun situation. The state of downtown is that its caught in the middle between good & bad! The streets are a train wreck and sadly the city is on the hook for repaving the streets that Ameren & Spire keep tearing up.. I know that they're doing their job however i feel if you tear them up then you need to fix them..

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PostMar 15, 2018#1895

Good news for region as a whole but these jobs I'm assuming to be along customer service positions seem to allude downtown and its plentiful, cheap office space whether it be Class A or B. Can certainly understand why these specific jobs might not end up in Clayton's CBD low vacancy/higher lease rates. Just scratch my head to try to understand what is being looked at, what is not and why

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... e-500.html

Mortgage servicer Cenlar FSB is opening an O'Fallon, Missouri, location and creating 500 jobs by the end of the year.

Have to edit myself as Stltoday has story without paywall. Understand better on the choose selection as it is tied to citigroup. Wonder if these are truly new jobs or essentially Cenlar FSB is rehiring citigroup employees without jobs and a convenient tax break.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 6e761.html

Cenlar FSB, a mortgage subservicer with headquarters in New Jersey, plans on adding 500 jobs in O’Fallon, Mo., as it effectively takes over the mortgage servicing operations of Citigroup.

The jobs are tied to a shift in strategy at Citi, which has its CitiMortgage unit based in O’Fallon and last year began to focus more on making mortgage loans rather than servicing them.

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PostMar 15, 2018#1896

Per db it looks like Downtown + Downtown West population surpassed 10,000 by the end of 2017.
Last decade it added approximately 4,650 people, winding up with 7,661 for the 2010 Census. So it looks like we're a bit behind the pace from last decade... to add that same amount of 4,650, the 2020 population would have to get to 12,312; we'd have to add 2,000-ish in 2.5 years when we seem to have been only adding about 350-400/yr. so far this decade.

Things do seem to be picking up and there's quite a bit of units in the development pipeline so it's possible to match the naughts, but I think it'll be a challenge.

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PostMar 26, 2018#1897

Not sure what the policy is on here with event promotion, you don't see it a whole lot but I'll do it any way.

The Downtown Neighborhood Association's Urban Spaces Committee is hosting a public input session tonight at 6:00 at Covo (4th and Pine). As usual, anyone and everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Especially if you live downtown or know of anyone who lives downtown and is interested in improving aesthetics, walkability, building usage, etc. The committee focuses on everything from parking meters, manhole covers, street trees, and planters to the Gateway Mall master plan and the downtown Form-Based Code efforts.

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PostApr 17, 2018#1898

Just a random observation:

I work on the northern edge of downtown. In previous years, big events like Arch Madness would bring a lot of life to the area. This year, it was nearly impossible to tell that Arch Madness, the SEC tournament, the NCAA wrestling tournament, etc. were in town. Even when there's a Cardinals day game, downtown restaurants don't seem to be as crowded as they once were. I presume that this is because of Ballpark Village? People seem to make their way to Sugarfire, but that's about it.

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PostApr 17, 2018#1899

During arch madness and sec I walked by the range and rooster and both had very long times outside. Same for red oak at Washington and 14th. Blondies was packed the one time I went during breakfast during sec tournament.

This past week(12-14th) brought in 450 men’s and women’s ncaa club volleyball teams(well over 10,000 people) to downtown from around the country and it was definitely noticeable. I spend a lot of time walking around downtown, so I’m pretty good at judging what a downtown baseline night is vs events

Will say this about bpv, it’s a monster. Even during the off season- January to March the ballpark cid had more taxable sales than south grand cid and the grove cid

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PostApr 17, 2018#1900

dbInSouthCity wrote:
Apr 17, 2018
During arch madness and sec I walked by the range and rooster and both had very long times outside. Same for red oak at Washington and 14th. Blondies was packed the one time I went during breakfast during sec tournament.

This past week(12-14th) brought in 450 men’s and women’s ncaa club volleyball teams(well over 10,000 people) to downtown from around the country and it was definitely noticeable. I spend a lot of time walking around downtown, so I’m pretty good at judging what a downtown baseline night is vs events

Will say this about bpv, it’s a monster. Even during the off season- January to March the ballpark cid had more taxable sales than south grand cid and the grove cid
I walked around last week and was in shock at how full BPV is for lunch. It's not even good food in my opinion.

For some reason, people just really love that brand and the experience. It's perplexing when there are so many other incredible restaurants just north of it. Do people really not value their money?

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