central west end
The construction process at Washington University Medical Center probably isn’t over by any means, but it has reached an important juncture with the completion of two 12-story inpatient towers located across from one another on Parkview Place, just east of Kingshighway. With the additions—which cost approximately $1 billion—BJC HealthCare aims to enhance the care and comfort of patients at BarnesJewish Hospital, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Siteman Cancer Center. Patient care areas are being readied, and transition to the new spaces will occur over the next two months. Patients and their families will have access to private rooms—many with views of Forest Park—and rooftop gardens. So, what else is new?
>>Parkview Tower, a 558,000-square-foot expansion of Barnes-Jewish, consolidates and modernizes labor and delivery facilities in the Women & Infants Center. The tower also expands inpatient care for Siteman patients with complex cases.
>>A 222,000-square-foot expansion of Children’s Hospital enlarges the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and connects via a skywalk to labor and delivery in Parkview Tower. There’s also space for other pediatric services, including intensive care and bone-marrow transplantation. More than 750 patients, physicians, nurses, nonclinical staff members and others offered ideas during the design phase. Noteworthy design elements of Parkview Tower and the Children’s Hospital expansion include:
>>Private rooms designed for patient comfort, including accommodations for family
>>Layout and orientation of patient rooms optimizing views of the park. Designers evaluated how bed placement, light exposure and color would enhance patient comfort and the work environment of doctors, nurses and other caregivers.
>>Dedicated corridors for patients and medical and hospital staff designed to reduce distractions and noise that can interfere with rest and recuperation
>>Rooftop gardens—two at Parkview Tower and one in the Children’s Hospital expansion Construction of the towers was spotlighted over many months by flashing lights atop cranes. Not only did they ensure safety for aircraft at night, their sequence pattern was striking and more eyecatching than a spotlight beam announcing a film premiere. From Kingshighway, the additions are obvious: Parkview includes a round skyscraper that could be described as a high-tech, 21st-century silo.
downtown
Well, who would have expected the Central Library could hold him? Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson is booked as a featured speaker for Black History Month, but response has been so great that the free event was moved from the library to nearby Christ Church Cathedral at 1210 Locust St. Rev. Jackson will present at the cathedral twice for an hour each, but at this writing, only a few dozen tickets remained for the second ‘show’ at 3:15 p.m. … they’re sure to be gone by the time you read this. There with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the beginning, and present in Memphis when King was assassinated, Jackson is especially qualified to reflect on how things have changed—and how so much, regretfully, remains the same so close to the 60th anniversary of King’s death on April 4, 1968. But Jackson remains a figure of some controversy. During the civil rights struggle, King was impressed by his drive and organizational abilities and gave Jackson a role in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), though he was concerned about Jackson’s apparent ambition and quest for attention. Jackson was photographed with King at almost the exact spot where King was gunned down, on the balcony outside a room at the Lorraine Motel, one of the few lodgings available for blacks. When King was shot, Jackson was in the parking lot below. But Jackson told reporters he was the last person to speak to King, and that the civil rights leader died in his arms—an account that several King aides disputed. Jackson became embroiled in SCLC leadership disputes following King’s death. He twice ran for president in the 1980s, allegedly embellished how well he performed, and remains a lightning rod for many. He was caught by a live mic dissing Barack Obama when the former president was still a U.S. senator from Illinois.
tower grove east
The cement spheres at all four corners of the Shenandoah-Compton intersection in the Tower Grove East neighborhood are called ‘traffic-calming balls’ … but residents are none too fond of them, nor are the drivers who used to zip through the fourway stop barely tapping their brakes. Most actually have to make legal stops nowadays. Aesthetically speaking, the intersection has the appearance, if none of the appeal, of a pool table right after the cue ball breaks the triangle of the multicolored balls and scatters them every which way. Some of them may drop into pockets, but these 16-odd traffic-calming balls would have nowhere to drop, if they could roll at all. Maybe they’ve calmed traffic somewhat and made the neighborhood safer for the many cyclists heading this way, that or the other. They were among the intensely focused laptoppers at Kitchen House, the corner coffee shop where cyclists get 15 percent off, and where a creative crocheter dreamed big and fashioned a green and red beanie for one of the balls last month. It was all the buzz on social media, as well as the subject of a feature and photo in our esteemed metro daily. Having no faith in human nature, we suspected the huge, whimsical hat would soon disappear, and it did. When we visited Kitchen House last week, all of the balls were beaniefree. A barista was still having none of it: “Who the hell needed a hat that big?” she exclaimed. Nobody. It’s as useless to a thief as the FedEx-ed box of Pottery Barn kitchen towels that some slimeball plucks off the front porch while you’re at work. It’s vandalism, pure and simple. One would have to be generous of spirit to imagine the hat thief was a disadvantaged dog lover who needed it as a bed for his or her Doberman.
forest park
You can get there from here once again. A rebuilt Liberal Arts Bridge—located between the Boathouse and The Muny in Forest Park—reopened late last month. But it had only been out for three months or so. (See, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?) The much narrower bridge was demolished in September as part of a park improvement project funded by donations to Forest Park Forever and managed by the City of St. Louis. Now it’s wide enough, practically, to drive two tanks across it side by side. That’s plenty of room for four vehicles—well, two autos and two bicycles—to negotiate it simultaneously without impeding one another, or pedestrians, on the wider sidewalks. The project’s key goals: construction of a new, safer bridge featuring updated sidewalks, new crossings and a new connection to Forest Park’s path system. Natural enhancements to the surrounding meadow and waterway beneath the bridge include several flattopped stone crossings perfect for when the brook begins to babble again and the meadow springs back to life. While the bridge is now safely open to walkers, cyclists and motorists, restoration work will continue through the spring, and landscaping into the summer.
wildwood
In the negotiations between Wildwood and Peak Resorts, owner of the Hidden Valley ski area, one party had to blink—and it appears they both have. In a world seemingly short on compromise, everybody seems to have given a little to get a lot to benefit the metro and beyond. A month or so ago, Wildwood’s city council had nixed much of Peak’s proposal to add a zipline operation, whereupon the company threatened to shut down Hidden Valley completely. The city had concerned neighbors to contend with, and Peak Resorts worried about long-term viability if requirements for a zipline operation were not carefully considered. Ski season is short in these parts. This year, there’s been plenty of cold weather for snowmaking, whereas opportunities for skiing during the two previous warm winters were pretty rocky. Literally. After first voting overwhelmingly against Peak’s proposal, city officials kicked the concept to a subcommittee, which recommended going forward … with a number of significant changes, including closing at sunset and no public-address system. You can’t please everyone, of course, and a few council members still sided with neighbors who fear a reduction in property value. The closest any of the four ziplines will be to residences, however, is about 1,000 feet. Let’s hope hooliganism is limited to hootin’ and hollerin’. (Skiers can be enthusiastically loud too, but at least not year-round.)