Collaboration in Motion

On Monday, July 20th, Better Family Life hosted a public forum at St. Louis Connect Care in order to elicit feedback from West End residents on their ideas for a new and revitalized Porter Park. For reference, Better Family Life is a not-for-profit, community development corporation dedicated to the growth and prosperity of the American family, and is highly active in the West End Neighborhood. St. Louis Connect Care is the St. Louis region's largest community health center.

Monday's meeting was hosted by LaDonna Parker of Better Family Life, and opening remarks were made by Better Family Life's President, Malik Ahmed. Mr. Ahmed provided some inspiring words highlighting this burgeoning collaboration, and noted that it has always been a community goal to connect Porter Park to internationally-reknowned Forest Park as a health initiative. The St. Vincent Greenway is therefore a physical realization of this goal.

Following Mr. Ahmed's remarks, St. Vincent Greenway Project Director Nancy Thompson took the floor to introduce Great Rivers Greenway District ("GRG") and its suggestions for Porter Park. It was made clear once again that GRG has only laid out tentative recommendations for the park and that it is still largely up to the community to decide what upgrades it would like to see. Beyond GRG's usual park improvements--i.e. building the greenway, adding interpretative signage and providing engineering--no other tangible plans have been made. The project is still largely a "blank slate" for the community to direct.

Subsequent to Nancy's introduction, Tim Page of CH2M Hill--the consulting firm contracted by GRG to perform engineering in Porter Park--walked the audience through some recommendations on how to make Porter Park a safer and more inviting place. First and foremost was the issue of safety, which can be increased by improving sight lines into the park, establishing a park monitoring system through help from nearby neighbors and increased usage of the park. In order to improve sight lines, CH2M Hill and West End residents (at previous forums) have recommended that the structures at the South end of the park be removed and replaced with artwork or a fountain. In addition, it was suggested by LaDonna Parker that there be an increased focus on placing a community garden at the North end of the park by Etzel. Encouraging community gardening and cultivation of crops could potentially lead to a monthly or quarterly farmer's market that could yield substantial benefits to the West End neighborhood. It was also communicated that St. Louis Police Officers have advised against the addition of the following items: playgrounds, BBQ pits or basketball/handball courts.

Sylvester Idleburg, currently a Postman and long-time West End neighborhood resident, brought up several vital points that will be taken into consideration by GRG and CH2M Hill. One point was that speed bumps along the roads throughout Porter Park would encourage people to erratically drive over them to try and get "air," as opposed to slowing traffic down. Furthermore, Sylvester cautioned that the streetlights in the park be hard to disable, as criminals could do so to be able to continue their operations under the cover of darkness. Sylvester's comments exemplify how important the community's suggestions will be in making Porter Park a more successful place to gather and recreate.

The final part of Tim's presentation touched on the section of the St. Vincent Greenway that is to travel along DeBaliviere toward Forest Park. This stretch is also along the route of the proposed Loop Trolley, which will move traffic entirely to the West side of DeBaliviere. The greenway would be 20-25 feet wide and travel alongside the East side of the trolley.

Monday's public forum concluded with questions from attendees, including St. Louis Urban Corps founder and director Evan Weiss and Justin Idleburg of the Independence Center, which were addressed by Nancy and Tim. Evan mentioned the possibility of including interpretative artwork or signage in order to better link the various neighborhoods along the greenway and "tell a story." Justin, an ardent student of history, questioned how far back the interpretative signage and artwork would go back in telling the story of the West End community? Nancy and Tim responded that these questions are still open-ended, and that the ultimate decisions will need to be made amongst the community. GRG will make improvements to Porter Park to the extent that its budget can pay for them, but the creative components to the park's revitalization that will redefine its identity will result from the efforts of further collaboration between neighborhood stakeholders.

Stay posted for further dialogue on Porter Park, and continue to post your ideas right here!

--
Craig Myers
St. Louis Urban Corps

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.

Porter Park Clean-Up a Success

On Saturday, June 20, Better Family Life sponsored a clean-up at Ruth Porter Park. The terrific employees and some young people from a probation and parole program made swift work of picking up the litter and sweeping up the broken glass in the park. Overall, the park looked great when we finished.

However, we couldn't help commenting and reflecting on the poor condition of the facilities in the park. Seating areas near Delmar are becoming a serious hazard.

Public forum on Porter Park June 15

The community is invited to attend a public forum about Porter Park, as well as the other segments of the St. Vincent Greenway that will be located in the City of St. Louis. The forum will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 15, at West End Mount Carmel Community Outreach Center, 5935 Horton Place. The design consulting firm, CH2M Hill, will make a short presentation, and then citizens will be able to interact with the planners to talk about desirable features.

While it is true that Great Rivers Greenway will concentrate on providing the features that are placed alongside any other regional trail, such as benches, GRG intends to respect prior neighborhood surveys and planning efforts undertaken by Saint Louis University studio classes.

This year GRG will complete only preliminary design, but it hopes to finish that work by about August 15. Cost estimates then can be prepared so that the project can be considered as budgeting for 2010 occurs. The earliest construction could begin is sometime in 2010.

After the forum the project manager, Nancy Thompson at GRG, has indicated she would try to be available to neighborhood groups wishing to talk with her in greater detail about the project. You may contact her at 314-436-7009 extension 104.

Ruth Porter Park: Defining a Vision

Ruth Porter Park (officially named Ruth Porter Mall), is a linear park spanning nine blocks north from Delmar Blvd. to Etzel Ave., and one block west from Debaliviere to Goodfellow Ave. The movement to revitalize the park stems from a desire to make it a more inviting and interactive place for neighborhood residents as well as bicyclists and walkers traveling along on the St. Vincent Greenway Trail, which will soon pass through the heart of Porter Park on its way from St. Vincent Park in North County to its end at Forest Park.

In March of 2009, a connection was forged between Great Rivers Greenway District, the government entity leading the design and construction of the St. Vincent Greenway, and the St. Louis Urban Corps, an organization comprised of local students and young professionals interested in the betterment of St. Louis through member-driven civic projects. Together, Great Rivers, the Urban Corps, and members of the West End and Cabanne neighborhoods have joined forces to find out from the community what they would like to see done in Porter Park.

Currently, Great Rivers has only a plan to build a trail through Porter Park along the existing pathway there. Beyond this, the project is a blank slate. In order to gain a better sense of how neighbors and community members want to fill this blank slate, Great Rivers and Urban Corps have created this blog.

Anyone interested in the revitalization of Porter Park should leave their ideas below, such that they may be considered by the engineers drawing up plans for the park's improvement.