u/DowntownDB1226

1122 Washington

I saw this private jet this morning and thought it was flying VERY low….and if you do the math;

1684 barometric feet

-470 STL elevation

= 1214 feet

@GatewayArchSTL is 630

So it flew less than 600 feet above the Arch as it approached the downtown airport across the river

The five food travel destinations every pizza fan should put on their list are Naples, Italy; Palermo, Italy; New York; Chicago; and St. Louis

https://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/living/travel/article315742704.html#storylink=cpy

Before we spend another $10 million studying BRT instead of the voter-approved Metrolink expansion, we need to first align on the actual purpose of this investment.

If the goal is simply to move people from one part of the city to another, especially between South City, Downtown, and NGA in north city, then the reality is the ridership demand likely does not justify spending $400 million on a new BRT corridor at all. Even optimistic assumptions about daily commuters to NGA probably do not materially change that equation.

But if the real goal is to spur long-term investment and redevelopment along the corridor, then we should be honest about what infrastructure actually creates that confidence. Fixed rail does.

Developers, lenders, employers, and investors know light rail is permanent. They know it will still be there in 10, 20, or 30 years. That permanence influences where housing, retail, offices, and mixed-use projects get built.

BRT, at the end of the day, is still a bus route with enhancements. Routes can be changed, reduced, rerouted, or eliminated entirely based on future budgets or political priorities. That uncertainty makes it far harder for private investment to confidently orient itself around the corridor.

So before moving forward, the city needs to decide whether this is truly a transportation project or an economic development project. If it is the latter, then replacing Metrolink with BRT risks becoming a performative exercise that spends hundreds of millions of dollars without generating the transformational private investment. 

Look at building investment by neighborhood from 2000-2025, top 4 are in the existing metrolink corridor and where any population growth has happened in the city

Not much has changed on the ground, there is a brick recovery operations that’s going on

(Add ,000 to all numbers above)

GDP data by Missouri’s three largest MSAs and their counties from 2020 to 2024. The 2025 data is expected to be released in early December of this year.

All figures are inflation-adjusted and reported in chained 2017 dollars, methodology used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

These 3 now represent 74% of Missouris economy (excluding the Illinois and Kansas counties)

Violent crime in St. Louis had been declining long before the state takeover board. Instead of maintaining local control and continuing the progress that included officer pay raises of 12% and 7% in the two years before the board took over, we are now stuck with a dysfunctional situation where the state board sued the City and the City sued the board. This is exactly the type of outcome many warned about from the beginning. It did not have to be this way.

We also already have a real-world example showing board control does not solve these problems. Before St. Louis, there was only one other city in Missouri, and one of the only examples in the country, operating under this model: Kansas City. Yet Kansas City’s violent crime has increased in five of the last six years. It faces the same recruiting challenges, has fewer officers per square mile, and fewer officers per 100,000 residents than St. Louis. If board control were the answer, we would see evidence of success elsewhere. We do not.

Instead, St. Louis lost local accountability while politicians outside the city forced this experiment onto residents. Trump ass kissing State Rep Brad Christ pushed this on the city while living comfortably in West County. Many city or county residents may not be able to vote in his district, but they can financially support the candidate running to defeat him this November. Christ is backed by every PAC imaginable.

Support Matt Vitale. https://www.vitaleformo.com/

With some renewed discussions about riverfront improvements, I think there’s really only one viable option. The solution is to create a platform that is flush with the current street level and extends out to the edge of the riverfront pavers, but sits on piles. That way, when the river rises, the water can still naturally flow underneath and continue up the pavers to the wall along LKS Boulevard, just as it always has.

The platform itself could be as wide as needed and extend from the Eads Bridge down to the Poplar Street Bridge and around the area where cruise ships dock today. You could incorporate docks with pedestrian bridges extending out to the riverboats, while the platform itself could support restaurants, cafes, shops, and public spaces built with flood-resistant or modular materials like containers or temporary structures. I really think this is the only realistic way to create something larger and more active along the riverfront

All figures in thousands of chained 2017 dollars and inflation adjusted. 2025 data will be out December 2nd, 2026.

For those that didn’t exist at 1960 census, the next subsequent census after formation is used

You won’t see this in the news but these 2 items will have a long term positive impact. I just don’t know why we are getting them in 2026.

BB22 Combined2.pdf

It’s backed by the Mayor Spencer, Board President Green, Greater STL Inc, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and the Community Builders Network. The spending is the same that i posted about last week.

MO Senate has passed HB3231/2531, this includes various incentives to spur development in downtowns across state, provisions to expands MODESA incentives for BPV/Millennium sites. City has to make some changes but this should greatly spur downtown development

summary in images

https://www.archpark.org/events/rollin-on-the-river

https://www.stlmag.com/news/st-louis-city-second-chance-prisons/

Great story about good things happening when you give someone a second chance.