Please Note: I should have linked to this Webster Kirkwood Times article on the rail spur that much of this proposal is based off of. It is interesting and informative, and great local journalism. But I did not because, like an idiot, I did not read it until after I finished writing this post. It… Continue reading Grant’s Trail Extension: A Silver Bullet
Update 08/19/2021 After receiving first reading approval on a 5-2 vote, Altus used up almost all of their year-long window to submit their final plans. That wait is finally over. At tonight's Planning & Zoning meeting, they will present the fruits of that process, and pending a pro-forma second reading approval by City Council, begin… Continue reading The James (formerly the Kirkwood Flats)
This is part one of a three part series on housing. In this post I seek to quantify and contextualize the extent of Kirkwood housing situation, and explain its importance. In the accompanying companion pieces I will first examine the current politics of the issue within Kirkwood and offer suggestions for reform. In the third… Continue reading Housing in Kirkwood Explained
There's a case to be made that the hallmark of a place being legitimately urban is not tall buildings, a subway system or a perfectly intact street grid but rather the presence of alleys. And even if there's not a case to be made, I'm about to try and make one! Just because alleys are… Continue reading The Great Alley Revival
Two years ago today I published my first blog post on this website. That post was Kirkwood Road Re-imagined, an analysis of the street that is the heart and soul of downtown and the city as a whole. This time I want to look at what is perhaps Kirkwood's most underrated street: Jefferson Ave. Context… Continue reading Jefferson Ave Re-imagined: 8 Steps to Making a Better Street
The title of this article could've been, maybe should have been, "If young Metro don't trust you...[something about bus service in Kirkwood]," but my grandparents (my only loyal readers) wouldn't have gotten the reference and if somehow any young person came across it, they'd probably just assume I'm a huge dork and stopped reading. So… Continue reading Metro Bus in Kirkwood: Change is Coming.
Update (12/7/19) As the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center moves towards completion, (scheduled for May) exciting news regarding traffic calming infrastructure at its intersection emerges. Generic rendering of a raised intersection! First brought to my attention via the Safer Streets for Kirkwood facebook page and corroborated by the city's website, a raised intersection is coming to… Continue reading Performing Arts Center: Is this Acting?
I recently read a couple articles that have been weighing heavily on me. The first was one outlining what actions climate scientists are undertaking to reduce their own personal impact on climate change in light of what they know. Some of the scientists featured in the article have stopped flying or have switched to a… Continue reading Election 2020: For all the Marbles
I've traveled the seven seas; I've traversed the eight continents; I've been to the Great Wall of China. I have seen the pyramids of Egypt. And now, now I will provide for you: the reader; the curious; the Kirkophile; the definitive power ranking of the best Kirkwoods the world has to offer. Stuttgart, Germany's sidewalk… Continue reading Long Lost Sister: A Search for Kirkwood’s Sibling City
Background The Open Streets project is an initiative to return the 30-35% of cities that are composed of streets to the people that live there to use as they please. The international open streets concept is not new to St. Louis: on June 2nd 2018 a fourteen block stretch of South Compton from Cherokee to… Continue reading Sundays in the Streets
