a Better Bubble™

Urban Review STL

Celebrating Blog’s 19th Anniversary

4 months 4 weeks ago
Nineteen year ago I started this blog as a distraction from my father’s heart attack and slow recovery. It was late 2004 and social media & video streaming apps didn’t exist yet — or at least not widely available to the general public. Blogs were the newest means of communication ...
Steve Patterson

Four Recent Books From Island Press

7 months 1 week ago
Book publisher Island Press always impresses me with thoughtful new books written by people working to solve current problems — the subjects are important ones for urbanists and policy makers to be familiar and actively discussing. These four books are presented in the order I received them. ‘Justice and the ...
Steve Patterson

New Siteman Cancer Center, Update on my Cancer

7 months 1 week ago
This post is about two indirectly related topics: the new Siteman Cancer Center building under construction on the Washington University School of Medicine/BJC campus and an update on my stage 4 kidney cancer. Let’s deal with the latter first. You may have noticed I’ve not posted in three months, this ...
Steve Patterson

Time To Rethink Aloe Plaza

10 months 2 weeks ago
Eighty-three years ago today a new urban plaza was opened across Market Street from Union Station. The decennial census taken the previous month would later show the city’s population had declined slightly. Carl Milles’ ‘Meeting of the Waters’ is the focal point of Aloe Plaza. 2011 St. Louisans of the ...
Steve Patterson

Racially Restrictive Covenants Ruled Unenforceable 75 Years Ago Today

10 months 3 weeks ago
At the beginning of the 20th century racism was thriving, though it took different forms in different places. The south had harsh ”Jim Crow” laws, lynchings, etc. Cities like St. Louis were less overt, but were still very racially segregated. In 1916, St. Louisans voted on a “reform” ordinance that ...
Steve Patterson

St. Louis Roots: Andy Cohen

10 months 3 weeks ago
This Friday, May 5th 2023, St. Louis native Andy Cohen will get a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame: The late-night TV talk show host and executive producer will be inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame at 5 p.m. Friday, May 5. A live ragtime band ...
Steve Patterson

April 2023 Election Results Sets New 14-Member Board of Aldermen

11 months 3 weeks ago
St. Louis voters have selected their candidates for our new 14 wards, cut in half from the 28 wards for more than a century. St. Louis City Hall Of the 28 the following aldermen didn’t run this year: Dwinderlin Evans (4th ward)Christine Ingrassia (6th ward)Jack Coatar (7th ward)Annie Rice (8th ...
Steve Patterson

BREAKING! New MLS Stadium Sponsor to be Announced Monday

11 months 3 weeks ago
Last year ST LOUIS CITY SC, the latest MLS expansion team, announced a stadium naming partner only to announce later that deal fell through. The downtown-based home of St. Louis CITY SC is now known as Centene Stadium, it was announced Tuesday. The expansion club, which will become Major League Soccer’s 29th ...
Steve Patterson

April 4th General Election Ballot

1 year ago
The St. Louis general election is just around the corner, Tuesday April 4, 2023. Early (no excuse absentee) voting is open now. I’ve voted absentee by mail. Vintage photo of the former offices of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners. From my collection In the March 7th primary we ...
Steve Patterson

My Zip Code Has the Lowest Average Credit Scores in the St. Louis Region

1 year ago
A new database uses average credit scores as a measure of a community’s financial wellbeing: The Financial Wellness Index dashboard and mapping – created in partnership with Experian – provides a unique snapshot of a community’s financial health as measured by the average credit scores of its residents. Credit scores are ...
Steve Patterson

Four Recent Books From Island Press

1 year 2 months ago
Trying to get caught up on posts, so rather than four individual posts these four books from 2022 are grouped together. — Steve ‘City Forward: How Innovation Districts Can Embrace Risk and Strengthen Community’ by Matt Enstice with Mike Gluck To me it seems like nearly every new development project is ...
Steve Patterson

From Dated to State of the Art: 100 North Broadway

1 year 2 months ago
Buildings are expensive to construct, so frequently renovation makes more sense than razing & replacing. If the structure is sound changing the finishes, fenestration (windows & doors), technology, etc is cost-effective and green. The office tower at 100 North Broadway is a good example. Most was good, very little was ...
Steve Patterson

Old-ish Blogger Learning New WordPress Editor

1 year 2 months ago
If you’ve noticed the number of posts dropped in 2022 compared to prior years this is for two reasons: living with cancer is a full-time job and the latest update to my self-hosted WordPress blog no longer has the editor I’ve used for 17 years. The ”classic” editor has been ...
Steve Patterson

What Should Replace the 1960s 7th Street Parking Garage?

1 year 4 months ago
In 1961 the former Stix, Baer & Fuller department store began building a 900-car parking garage, attached to its downtown location via a skywalk over 7th Street. Six plus decades later the old Stix store contains apartments, hotel, a museum, and restaurants. The garage is now surrounded on 3 sides ...
Steve Patterson