Seen in St. Louis

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.

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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

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St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, who is one of the leading forces for the revival of downtown St. Louis, attended the Syndicate’s ribbon-cutting yesterday afternoon. Many other St. Louis big whigs also came out for it, including Jim Cloar, Craig Heller, the developer George Sherman, etc. etc.

Highlights of the various talks include George Sherman’s celebration of the fact that living in the Syndicate means you can live carfree, and suggested that this is just the beginning; he just returned from a vacation in Europe where gas is something like $12 a gallon and people drive very little, out of necessity. It was also good to hear about all the new awards St. Louis and the Syndicate are getting nationally, and the announcement by Craig Heller that within the one block around the Syndicate, something like 50,000 square feet of new retail space is opening up within the next year, including the new Schnucks, a bookstore, a sports bar, a chocolate bar, and a music venue.

The Mayor was all aglow during his speech about why downtown revitalization is working and how the Syndicate building is one of the centers of downtown’s success.

One impressive and telling thing about the event was when the blow-up picture of the city fell over during Jim Cloar’s talk (it was just leaning on the podium) and the Mayor jumped in and started trying to right it. I imagine lots of other city executives in other cities would find that sort of thing beneath them. It was nice to see the Mayor’s humility and servant leadership right after his rousing talk about the great future of St. Louis

I would estimate that 100 people attended the event, but they were asked to remain inside the foyer for the ribbon-cutting since it was drizzling outside. I snuck out anyway with my dinky camera, and took pictures along with two busy and legit photogs. Pictured are the Mayor Francis Slay, Alderwoman Phyllis Young, Loftwork’s president Craig Heller, Minneapolis developer George Sherman, Deputy Mayor Barb Geisman, Downtown St. Louis Partnership’s Jim Cloar, etc. etc.

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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:

1. A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it’s a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
2. Density: The neighborhood is dense enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to be cost effective.
3. 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.
4. Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
5. Accessibility: The neighborhood is accessible to everyone and has wheelchair access, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
6. 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.
7. Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
8. 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

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We drove straight through from Buffalo from about 8pm on Thursday, and arrived about 9am on Friday morning. (Our movers won’t arrive until tomorrow.) We took this shot at around 6am as we were starting the last stretch. Something about the picture fills us with optimism.

Though not unique to the midwestern United States, this humongous cross on teh side of the highway seemed like a harbinger of things to come.

We arrived around 9am, drove through Laclede’s Landing, and got to our new home, the Syndicate Building.

The Syndicate Building, still somewhat under construction, is our new building. More on this amazing place in future posts.

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