Kirkwood has walled off its poorest neighborhood, Meacham Park, from the rest of the city. It has isolated this neighborhood by erecting physical barriers. These physical barriers prevent neighborhood residents from participating in our town's social, political, and economic activities. The inability of some residents to participate in these social, political, and economic activities, in… Continue reading Meacham Park is an Island: Part 1
This past weekend we got good news (about the North-South MetroLink expansion) that quickly turned into bad news. The good news is that the expansion is moving ahead: The Bi-State Development Board of Commissioners approved a resolution authorizing the BSD team to plan, design and develop the Jefferson alignment of the extension utilizing $7.4 million… Continue reading N-S MetroLink: Devil In The Details
Now that the dust has (finally) settled on the first round of voting in the St. Louis aldermanic primary, I want to take some time to advocate for a policy change that the City should implement but which the entire region would benefit from. That policy is the legalization of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) through… Continue reading To Unlock Promise of MetroLink, TOD is Key
Update 10/02/2023: New Renderings were made available in Monday's Architectural Review Board agenda: Additionally, in an interview with the St. Louis Business Journal, the developer stated that price ranges for non-penthouse condos would range from $750,000 to $1.5 million. That's a lot of dough, but if Kirkwood can stockpile 42 rich families on a single… Continue reading 42-Unit “Aria” Coming to Downtown
Update 01/27/2023: Good news! Kirkwood will, in fact, be pursuing Phase 1B in this year's call for STP grant proposals according to next week's City Council agenda. The proposal matches that which I outlined below, running from Fillmore to Leffingwell. The city is asking for $1,731,310 in Federal funding and will match that share, should… Continue reading Grant’s Trail: More Work to Do
Happy 2023 Kirkwood, thanks for another great year. In 2022 we: Approved 60 new homes and additional retail via the Kirkwood Apartments Began construction on another 152 homes and retail via The James Completed construction on The Hutton's 12 homes Finished 24 townhomes along Big Bend known as The Townes at Geyer Grove These were… Continue reading How To Adjust To The Remote Work Era
Update: 9/13/2023 The diet is happening and the plan is to follow all the established best urbanist practice save for the fact that the lanes should be 10-ft wide rather than 12, but we fight on! Here's Council Member Gibbons with the update: At the work session last week, the Council reviewed new plans for… Continue reading Getting Over the Line: A Road Diet Update
Update 09/13/2023: At the work session last week, the Council reviewed new plans for narrowing Kirkwood Road from Adams to Bodley. Based on lessons learned from the demonstration project, the new plans call for 12-foot, single lanes going north and south and a 14-foot, center, turning lane. There will be no parallel parking on either side of Kirkwood Road.  The proposal includes 6-foot sidewalks… Continue reading Kirkwood Rd Needs a Diet
Recently, I've been proposing ideas to add to Kirkwood's housing supply, including reforms to our minimum lot size requirements, and an overhaul of our ADU rules. Even more recently, I laid out a process by which we could make public transit a more useful asset in Kirkwood and curb the relationship between added density and… Continue reading A Denser Downtown Needs Better Parks
Last Thursday, as the seven city council members offered their thoughts on the Kirkwood Apartments project, something seemed to be afoot. The approval of the project was a forgone conclusion. The developers had crossed their t's and dotted their i's and had come up with a proposal in full compliance with the city's code. The… Continue reading So You Want Affordable Housing…
