Looking forward to another opportunity to talk about Porter Park

Some of us who are interested in Porter Park (a/k/a Ruth Porter Mall) saw one another at the open house about the proposed Loop Trolley project on July 8. The St. Vincent Greenway, which probably will run through Porter Park, needs to share space with the trolley on DeBaliviere Avenue, the street south of the park. If realized, the trolley running back and forth through the Loop to Forest Park at Missouri History Museum, would add another element of excitement.

To discuss Porter Park itself, you can attend a meeting sponsored by Better Family Life at 6 p.m. Monday, July 20, at Connect Care on Delmar at Belt, just east of DeBaliviere. The greenway's project manager and consulting engineer will combine to make a presentation, and the displays from the June 15 public forum also will be available again.

This meeting will be focused on the park alone, so the discussion after the presentation should be lively.

Met with Maple Block Unit

This is Nancy, the project manager at Great Rivers Greenway (GRG), the public organization that is thinking of including Porter Park in the St. Vincent Greenway.



Monday night I met with a block unit on Maple, just as I will be glad to meet with any organization or block unit that might want the opportunity to talk two-way about what is being proposed and considered. They had some excellent comments and concerns, especially about Etzel Avenue and whether other routes had been considered.



The answer is yes, we have thought about parts of Hodiamont, Plymouth, Cabanne, Metro's Hodiamont bus corridor, and other options to get us over to Porter Park from Wellston. However, Etzel is the best fit, we think, based on our own expertise and the two different consulting companies that have looked at the situation.

First, Etzel will allow us to include all of Porter Park in the greenway. My experience as a city planner suggests that if we only use part of the park, the greenway will not have the desired effect of taming the entire park and making it safe and family-friendly.

Second, Etzel has a traffic light at Skinker and is the only through street to the park where that is true. We plana to come along Etzel (cleaned up, rest assured) for a block in Wellston, so that will work out well.