Steve Patterson, Man of Urban Influence - Part 2

Steve didn’t have any engagements immediately after this, so he agreed to show us around St. Louis. Naturally, he showed us the Arch and the Old St. Louis Courthouse. Apparently, a park used to extend 20 blocks west from the arch, but some of the land had been converted into office buildings, which Steve described as “hideous”.


To the south, we saw the outline of Busch Stadium. We asked if it was more convenient to have the stadium close to downtown, he told us it was actually kind of a nuisance since the stadium put in as much parking as it would in the ‘burbs, and it created congestion without contributing much to the neighborhood. We turned northward, passing a group of back to back parking lots. Steve was concerned about how bland the exteriors of the parking lots were, and talked about how St. Louis’s zoning was stuck in the 1940s.


One block to the north was 1920s era building with an elegant façade, which Steve praised. We passed an abandoned shopping mall, which Steve told us was St. Louis’s great hope of downtown revival in the 1980s. It was only partially new at the time; abandoned skyscrapers nearby had been built in an older style, and were converted into department stores and linked to the newer mall building with glass-encased overhead walkways. The whole complex was closed now, except for a Macy’s in one of the older buildings and the parking structure across the street. Apparently, there had been a Rite-Aid in the ground floor of the structure, but that had closed and had since been converted into more parking.

We turned left onto Washington St., and Steve told us a bit about the history of each of the buildings we passed. There was an office complex which had demolished and old theater to build an open plaza which eventually became more parking, and a newly built entry to St. Louis’s convention center. He then took us by the American Institute of Architects, whose headquarters were in a hotel nearby. He knew everyone who worked there, and introduced us. When they heard we were going to the inauguration, they were excited for us, and also worried for our safety. We assured them we’d be okay. The lobby was filled with books about the St. Louis area, and since Anheuser-Busch was headquartered in St. Louis (prior to its acquisition by InBev), there were pictures of the Budweiser Clydesdales in one of the books I was browsing through. The woman behind the desk assured me that they were enormous, and scary to stand next to.

We left and continued west with Steve; he showed us a building with gargoyles that sprayed steam, which we all found fascinating. We walked into the former garment district, although there wasn’t as much in the way of garment production happening nearby anymore. Instead, many of the old factories had been converted into lofts, and there were stores and restaurants on the ground floors. The street had actually been made narrower; a lane was subtracted in each direction and the sidewalk was widened. Since this was the garment district, the double-yellow divider in the street was replaced by tiles placed to resemble a closed zipper. Steve was generally happy with these changes, but he was unhappy that some of the side streets had also been closed. Most of the lofts appeared to be doing well, but some of the loft conversions had unceremoniously been scrapped. One of the loft companies had gone out of business right before a conversion was scheduled to happen, and signs advertising loft living had been left up in a still abandoned building.


Steve took us past the St. Louis City Museum, which he said was a must see. It was certainly unique; it looked as if Rube Goldberg was left to make a machine using only materials he found in a junkyard. Slides connected the heads of life size dinosaurs, and school buses teetered from the top of a nearby building. We didn’t really have time to go in, but it was certainly interesting to look at.


Steve was kind enough to take us to the rooftop of his own loft building. The clouds had lifted somewhat, and the view was great in both directions. We took a few pictures of the skyline, as well as a few with him in the foreground (see previous post). He had to get going at that point, so we parted ways. He said he would be looking to our blog for more on the inauguration. We'll do our best to keep you posted, Steve.

We walked back, stopping by the St. Louis Library on the way. St. Louis ain't half bad, and we'll do our best to go back soon.

Steve Patterson, Man of Urban Influence - Part 1

Steven Patterson is a realtor in central St. Louis. He is also an influential blogger, writing at Urban Review STL. He agreed to meet with us at a Panera in Downtown St. Louis. We were a bit late, but Steve was understanding. My associate and I both ordered bacon sandwiches, which were tasty.

Obamathon Man: Thanks for agreeing to meet. First, tell us about real estate in St. Louis. Do you have clients in both Missouri and Illinois, or do you need a separate license for that?

Steve Patterson: I only handle clients in Missouri. There are a few agents who handle both states, but in my case getting the extra license wouldn’t have been worth it. St. Louis is divided into St. Louis City and St. Louis County, which is actually a separate county. Most of my work is within the city of St. Louis, but I do leave the city sometimes.

OM: Do you handle mostly condos, or other properties as well?

SP: Yeah, mostly condos. The city of St. Louis used to have a lot more people than it does now; in 1950, the population was around 800,000. It shrunk to 300,000 by 2000, but there are indications now that it’s leveled off.

OM: But did the St. Louis metro area gain population during that time?

SP: Yeah, many of the people in St. Louis just moved out of the city and into the county.

OM: Are people moving back in now?

SP: Well, more than they have in the past. I’ve been seeing better sales in recent years.

OM: Have you seen less business because of the bad economy?

SP: I actually couldn’t do much work this fall, on account of my stroke. From what I heard, sales did go down. But sales are generally less during the holidays anyway, since no one wants to have to deal with moving in the middle of Christmas. But, actually, sales do seem to be rebounding.

OM: Oh really? That’s good news.

SP: Yeah, I hope the trend continues.

OM: So tell us about politics in St. Louis.

SP: Well, of course it’s very different than the rest of the state. If you go down to places like Springfield, it’s very Republican. But in the last election, we were almost able to push this state into the Obama column. And we actually did elect a Democratic governor, which I was very happy about. Of course that was partly because the incumbent Republican was involved in an email scandal. But it was pretty satisfying, since in previous elections the former governor was dismissive of people from St. Louis.

OM: Did you go to Obama’s big speech under the arch?

SP: I couldn’t make it, but may of my friends did. Obama didn’t really have to give that speech, since it only really reached the people of St. Louis who were going to vote for him anyway. But the symbolic value of him standing under the arch was priceless. I think Obama will be good for the country, because for the first time in many years we’ll have an urban president who understands issues that affect cities.

OM: Is there anything you’re hoping Obama will do for St. Louis?

SP: Well, there’s something I’m really hoping will happen in downtown St. Louis, and perhaps Obama’s proposed stimulus might help get it done. The roadway between the arch and the rest of St. Louis carries both a surface level access road and a below ground freeway, and it’s a drain on life in downtown. Some people have proposed covering the open areas with parks, but that would require all kinds of ventilation retrofitting without yielding much park space. What I’m really hoping will happen is for the interstate to be rerouted over the Mississippi, and the road to be narrowed and converted to a street similar to Market St. in San Francisco, with trolleys and buses.

OM: Would that be part of the current train system in St. Louis?

SP: The MetroLink actually provides good service to the outlying areas, but in the city it’s problematic because the train runs entirely underground. No one sees trains underground, and many people won’t ever consider taking the train if they don’t see them at street level and know that they exist.

OM: Are there currently any plans to expand the MetroLink?

SP: Unfortunately, no. There was a ballot measure in November which would have extended the MetroLink, but it didn’t pass since it needed votes from St. Louis County, and people out there didn’t feel they would get their money’s worth from the measure. Since it failed, now train service will have to be cut off at 8 PM. Some people are hoping to create a special transit district, so that people farther out in the county don’t have to pay taxes on something that isn’t useful to them.

OM: Do you ride the train often?

SP: I was actually car free, until I had a stroke and not having a car became a bit too difficult.

OM: Yeah, I actually have a book about being car free, written by someone from St. Louis.

SP: You’re talking about Living Well without a Car? I know the author. He actually moved out to LA recently for some kind of film deal.

OM: Tell us a bit about your blog.

SP: I started blogging in October 2004, and I mostly cover urban planning issues. Of course, I couldn’t write immediately after my stroke. But the blog’s been pretty successful. Recently, St. Louis Magazine named me the 50th most powerful person in the city.

OM: Impressive. What did you do to earn such a rating?

SP: Well, for instance, I reported on a curbside ramp that had been poorly designed. It was intended to help people in wheelchairs or in carts. But the area in front of the ramp had been marked to allow parking directly in front of the ramp. I did a write up on it, and the city actually fixed it in a matter of days.

OM: Do they always respond that fast?

SP: No, but it’s nice when they do.

OM: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

Continued, click here.

American Brandenburg

At the end of a bustling thoroughfare near a city park in Berlin lies the Brandenburg Gate. Completed in 1791, it stands as a stylistic testament to its own era, and originally functioned as a gate to the center of town. But through the course of history, the gate assumed a greater significance. As the cold war enveloped Berlin, the gate came to symbolize the boundary between the East and the West, in Europe and the rest of the world. At that time, the gate became the site of some of the most memorable speeches of American presidents, including Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, and Reagan's "Tear down this wall" speech. Last year, Obama notably and somewhat controversially gave a campaign speech in the nearby Tiergarten park, in which he echoed the call to tear down walls, this time metaphorical ones.

Here in St. Louis, we rode to the center of town to look at the famous Gateway Arch. Aesthetically, the arch bears little similarity to the Brandenburg; it's simplistic rather than ornate. And in true American style, it's larger than life, and bears a striking resemblance to a recognizable corporate logo. It's loud in a quiet way, while Brandenburg is quiet in a loud way, a fitting summation of the contrast between our two continents. But the two gates, the Brandenburg Gate and the Gateway Arch, both compel their visitors to reflect on the differences between life on either sides of them. The Brandenburg represents more of a cultural divide; the continent spans dozens of languages and disparate traditions. The arch represents the vast geographical disparity between eastern and western North America, an acknowledgment that even though English is spoken from the Pacific to the Atlantic, people's lives are dramatically different from city to city or state to state. Yet, with the demise of the Berlin wall, and numerous bridges spanning the Mississippi, the two gates serve the opposite function of traditional gates. They don't divide, they unite.

As my associate and I cross over from West to East, we reflected on this. And we both are hopeful that our next president will make good on the pledge made hypocritically by our last president; that he will be a uniter, not a divider.

The Road to Change 1/11: Rollin' on the Roadway

We awoke in Warrensburg, Missouri, a bit later than I had hoped due to the time change (grrr). We had arrived at night, and I must say, Warrensburg is a bit prettier at night. At least there's nice college nearby. When I went to check out from the hotel, the clerk thought I was with a group of fraternity brothers. To her dismay, I wasn't.

Next stop was Sedalia, an otherwise unremarkable town except for its amazingly well-preserved main street, which in this case was named Ohio Street. Sedalia was the early home of ragtime legend Scott Joplin, before he moved to St. Louis and later New York. The Scott Joplin Foundation occupies the ground floor of the ornate Bothwell Hotel, reminding visitors of Sedalia's little slice of history in the midst of grain silos and Wal-Marts.


After driving for what felt like three hours, we realized we had been driving for an hour and were in Columbia, just in time to admire the historic buildings and the fact that every store's title bore some reference to University of Missouri's mascot, the Tigers. They're great!


We had a pleasant chat with employees at the city's premiere independent movie theater, then we ate a burger and left. On the way to St. Louis, we passed Fulton, the site of Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, as well as more empty space. The increasing frequency of Wal-Marts signaled the approach of St. Louis, and landing airplanes on the horizon indicated the location of our discount motel. Time to park the wheels and take to the heels, the Gateway Arch beckons.