Don't fly here...

Its not that bad Jay. The arch can be pretty creepy at night though,
due to the number of trees that line every walking path. After 5pm
downtown St. Louis pretty much "shuts down" unless there's a sporting
event going on. We're just not a downtown sort of city. The
activities all are happening further west in the suburbs or Clayton.

There has been a recent push (last 5-7 years or so) to develop pocket
sort of communities to attract people to downtown again (Washington Ave
Loft district, Laclede's landing, etc) with differing levels of
success.

There has been a recent push (last 5-7 years or so) to develop pocket
sort of communities to attract people to downtown again (Washington Ave
Loft district, Laclede's landing, etc) with differing levels of
success.

Yeah, most larger cities are trying this approach, with varying degrees of
success.

Even Iowa City is developing an area into an "old-fashioned" neighborhood,
with the houses close to the street, front porches, and no garages allowed
to be facing the street. Very 1940s-ish. The zoning is very strict, and --
so far -- the concept has proven to be fairly unpopular.

I think most commentators have missed the REAL reason people have "fled" to
the suburbs. It has less to do with crime, and more to do with wanting a
little land. Personally, I look at these beautiful, newly developed homes
and think "nice house -- where's the back yard"?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Interesting, there is a similar thing being developed right at the
left downwind to base corner for 27 at 3SQ (St. Charles, a suburb of
St. Louis) Called New Town. The concept is to create a "neighborhood"
with shops, etc so that you can walk from your house to a restaraunt
etc. Mix of home styles all together, a lake, etc.

You also pay a premium for living there (about 10-15% more than for
similarly sized homes "down the street"), in addition to the zoning
rules, etc. It always seemed to me that it would be like living on the
backlot of a movie set or Disney World. Especially considering the
land it sits on is well separated from any other housing developments,
etc. It was a sod farm in its previous incantation. And underwater in
'94.

A picture can be found at
http://www.newurbannews.com/NewTownInsideJul05.html

When they started putting it in, I assumed if it was successful that it
would be the death of the airport. Supposedly it has been successful,
with Phase II being developed. Although the airport is still kicking.

In my opinion its not crime that causes urban centers to decay,
especially not in St. Louis. It's that the vast majority of jobs are
outside the city center. Living downtown when your job was downtown
made a certain amount of sense (especially if you could get the
niceties of life, food, cultural events, sporting events, etc.) But
why commute OUT of a city center just to say you live there?

Most of the urban revitilazation is targeting the well-off young crowd
(just out of college), the gay community, and the empty-nester retired
community. The feeling is that they will be the most likely to move
in, which will then allow a population to draw further business
development (grocery stores for instance).

Brian
Archer N9093K

In article . com,
"bdl" wrote:

Interesting, there is a similar thing being developed right at the
left downwind to base corner for 27 at 3SQ (St. Charles, a suburb of
St. Louis) Called New Town. The concept is to create a "neighborhood"
with shops, etc so that you can walk from your house to a restaraunt
etc. Mix of home styles all together, a lake, etc.

You also pay a premium for living there (about 10-15% more than for
similarly sized homes "down the street"), in addition to the zoning
rules, etc. It always seemed to me that it would be like living on the
backlot of a movie set or Disney World. Especially considering the
land it sits on is well separated from any other housing developments,
etc. It was a sod farm in its previous incantation. And underwater in
'94.

A picture can be found at
http://www.newurbannews.com/NewTownInsideJul05.html

When they started putting it in, I assumed if it was successful that it
would be the death of the airport. Supposedly it has been successful,
with Phase II being developed. Although the airport is still kicking.

The concept is called "New Urbanism." The major flaw in the concept is
that people choose their shops, based on quality, style and service, not
immediate convenience.

If the restaurants are either greasy spoons that would gag a buzzard or
charge ripoff prices or have lousy service, they will die, regardless of
how close to everybody's house they are. The development COULD even be
an asset to the airport, if pilots find the place attractive and
convenient.

--
Remve "_" from email to reply to me personally.