Posted by seeninstl on Jul 31, 2008
We finally sold our new car as a commitment to a carfree lifestyle, and while we can’t wait for the new Schucks to open up in the downstairs of our building, we decided we should go to the Schucks a couple miles away up Olive toward St. Louis University after D.J. got off work today.
We rode a bus, the same bus I will be taking every day to law school!
But we had no way of getting the groceries home, so we had to buy a personal shopping cart, which I had to put together outside of Schucks.
I was very proud to walk our groceries home from the bus-stop. Everyone will be living a carfree lifestyle eventually, as the cities become the place that the well-off financially live, and the urban poor are pushed to the suburbs.
Posted by seeninstl on Jul 12, 2008
We went to the free concert a couple blocks away from our place last night. It used to be called Live On The Levee, and was down by the Gateway Arch, but this year due to the flooding of the Mississippi, the concert was moved to around Soldier’s Memorial. The bands were Umphrey’s McGee and Sound Tribe Sector 9, and it all had a very hippie feel.
The last picture is of D.J.’s old friend Darla, who pleasantly surprised us by stopping by with her husband and 4 year old son right before we went to meet up with other friends at the concert. It is our friend Tim’s Hula Hoop; he is in the left of the photo.
Posted by seeninstl on Jul 1, 2008
One thing that is an adjustment for us moving to St. Louis is how many of the people you talk to on the street might be carrying a concealed firearm. This is heavy NRA country, and people imagine that carrying a gun will help prevent violence. We are constantly reminded of how many people might have guns on them by all these signs we see in doorways and windows: “No Firearms Allowed.” This is one of my favorites, on the window of one of our favorite watering holes in Laclede’s Landing, The Feisty Bulldog.
Posted by seeninstl on Jun 25, 2008
Since today is D.J.’s birthday, we decided not to watch the entire movie in the parking lot next to our building and are going out in a bit for revels and celebrating. (We also just came in a while ago from an ice cream social in the lounge of our building for the Downtown St. Louis Resident’s Association. We met some nice folks and joined up, and I bet that our building won the cocktail party that is awarded to the building that has the most people show up.)
Even though we didn’t stay for the whole movie, here is a picture from outside our corner window. Looks like fun, but Fool’s Gold just wasn’t the right vibe for us tonight.
Posted by seeninstl on Jun 23, 2008
The other night we had a late one at Jack Patricks across the street. This is taken from inside looking out at the Syndicate, like at 1am, amidst much Bacchanalian revels, and I like the reflection of the inside neon on the window. We have plans to flashmob the place at some point, so stay tuned 
Posted by seeninstl on Jun 19, 2008
It is officially announced by the Downtown St. Louis Partnership: Left Bank Books will be opening a second location across from our building this coming October. Left Bank Books is the only full-service independent bookseller left in St. Louis, and we’re thrilled that its second location will be so close.
(Yay for independent publishers and booksellers feeling the squeeze from folks like Borders—sincere kudos to Left Bank Books and the city for making this happen with an independent.)
Between the new bookstore and the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Express Branch on 815 Olive (next door to our building on the other side) we will have no excuse not to be well-read. Well, maybe we do have an excuse: a large minority of people in the U.S. did not read a single book of any kind last year, so at least we’d have lots of company, according to best-selling author and public intellectual Susan Jacoby in the Washington Post. (She works at the same place D.J. does, and if you want to hear them discussing these kinds of issues, check out Point of Inquiry for last week.)
It will be incredible if the second location of Left Bank Books has regular book-signings and author readings and book clubs and poetry. Downtown is so the place to live!
Posted by seeninstl on Jun 19, 2008
D.J. and I disagree about this: I think these kind of signs only encourage people to persist in their belief that downtown is a dangerous place to spend your time. (So many of D.J.’s old friends in St. Louis have made jokes since we have moved here about not wanting to visit us because they don’t want their car broken into.) D.J. thinks its prudent for the city to warn people, since he thinks most people lack common sense. What do you think?
Posted by seeninstl on Jun 16, 2008
CNN has a article up tonight discussing the recent trends in new urbanism, downtown revitalization, and the popularity of walkable communities; and coupling these with both high gas prices and the subprime mortgage crisis in predicting the soon demise of suburbia. Of note, the article projects that within 10 to 15 years the inner city poor will be priced out of America’s downtown communities and be relegated to rundown McMansions, empty plazas, and fields of unused parking lots. Apparently this is already happening in some communities where the subprime crisis has transformed whole subdivisions from well kept single family homes and into low income rental slums.
More at CNN
Posted by seeninstl on Jun 8, 2008
The Syndicate, a hub of downtown St. Louis activity, scored a perfect 100 on walkscore.com, a rating service that gauges the “walkability” of a neighborhood. They consider it considered a “walker’s paradise.” From walkscore’s website, walkable neighborhoods have:
- A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it’s a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
- Density: The neighborhood is dense enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to be cost effective.
- Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
- Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
- Accessibility: The neighborhood is accessible to everyone and has wheelchair access, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
- Well connected, speed controlled streets: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination. Streets are narrow to control speed, and shaded by trees to protect pedestrians.
- Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
- Close schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their home
Because such a “walker’s paradise” means that “most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car,” we have decided to sell ours, despite that it is only a couple years old and was paid off last year. Thomas argues its part of our commitment to an ethical lifestyle, so who can disagree
