midtown
How about ‘Ozzie Smith’ as a name for the district that is a half-mile square of Midtown bordered by Laclede and Chouteau avenues, Grand Boulevard, and Vandeventer and Spring avenues? That name —although perhaps wildly popular in Cardinals Nation—would be pretty dumb … not to mention irrelevant. Well, we didn’t give you much time, but neither did the St. Louis Midtown Redevelopment Corp., which sent us a news release March 1. It challenged folks like you and me, but especially anyone affiliated with SLU and SSM Health St. Louis, to come up with a name for the burgeoning district that connects SLU’s north and south campuses. (The deadline was two days ago on March 12. Not to worry. Somebody else’s fantastic, clever name for the district will be announced March 20. The next day, in our March 21 issue, we’ll let everyone know.) For the university and its medical center, one of the most important developments is the new, $550 million SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital and outpatient care center, set to open in 2020. (Strangely, that’s south of the area in question …) A hospital spokeswoman says it’s not clear what will be the eventual use for an area at 39th and Park, the southwest corner of the hospital property. It could be a parking lot. It could be green space. But it will look really cool. Two archways left standing from a demolished building (pictured) indicate it will be architecturally interesting. Meanwhile, back within the ‘official’ borders, two new residence halls recently were completed at SLU. Several other projects already are under development for the as-yet- unnamed district, including the City Foundry STL, Element by Westin Hotel and revitalization of the historic Armory building.
st. louis
Are you one of those tax-addled people madly scrambling to pull everything together at the last minute … or even later? Relax. (I know, right?) During tax season, AARP and VITA* are offering free tax assistance at various St. Louis Public Library locations during the week. You’ll even have through April 16 to find help at the Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays only. Important: You’ll need to make an appointment at Carpenter, as well as at most other branches administered by AARP, by calling 314.525.1660. (As you may know, the nation’s tax deadline is April 17 this year, so you’ll have two additional days to file.) Only VITA handles the tax-bewildered on a first-come, first-served basis: A.) on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through April 13 at the Barr Branch, 1701 S. Jefferson Ave., and B.) on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through April 14 at the Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave. Although these services are not administered by SLPL, state and federal tax forms are available online and can be printed at any SLPL location. *The UMSL VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program provides free tax preparation for low-income, disabled and elderly residents of the city, county and St. Charles County.
frontenac
If all goes according to plan, and a developer receives the City of Frontenac’s blessing, a Ladue School District property that has languished for nearly a decade will be the site of 31 luxury villas. (Frontenac’s zoning allows for no more than 3.5 units per acre of land.) The erstwhile Ladue Early Childhood Center now occupies the 9-acre parcel at 10601 and 10635 Clayton Road. Its last year in service was the 2009-10 school year, after which it moved to 10890 Ladue Road, adjacent to the district’s Fifth Grade Center … which itself formerly was home to Westminster Christian Academy. A school district RFP last September garnered six purchase offers, none of which was satisfactory at first. But further negotiations with McBride Berra Land Co. culminated in an offer accepted by the school board. Pending the city’s approval, the district anticipates the sale will close by the end of August. The school district was loath to disclose the purchase price until all the financial Is are dotted and Ts crossed.
bridgeton
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! You’re close, kind of. Because it is super! Evoking images of clouds, a flock of birds or a squadron of futuristic aircraft, the sculpture suspended from the ceiling of Terminal 2 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport may be stationary, but it could start moving as soon as you look away. At least, it feels like that. It took 10 days for the undulating structure, Spectroplexus, to be installed last June by a team of eight Wash U. architecture grad students. (Geez, we hope they each got an ‘A.’) If you haven’t flown Southwest Airlines in the past nine months, you’ve missed it so far. And if you’re not in that terminal before December, you may miss it entirely: The airport’s original plan was to keep the 100-foot-long contraption—made of 1,800 carbon-fiber frames and 1,200 polycarbonate panels—up for only 18 months. As lightweight as it appears, the installation weighs 410 pounds. You can’t miss it. It’s in the ticketing lobby, the first thing you see coming up the escalator from baggage claim. So, what in heaven’s name are you gonna do the next time you’re stuck in Terminal 1 because your flight keeps getting delayed? (We hear that happens from time to time.) We recommend taking the free shuttle to Terminal 2. Viewing the sculpture might lift your spirits.
clayton
If all that state and federal legislators can manage after a mass shooting is to send out ‘thoughts and prayers,’ at least corporations are getting things done by standing up to the NRA with the ‘Never Again’ spirit of the high-schoolers who survived the massacre in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day. Enterprise Holdings of Clayton was among companies in the travel, financial services and cybersecurity industries that curtailed or eliminated discounts for NRA members. Enterprise, headquartered in Clayton, runs the Enterprise, Alamo and National car rental groups, and on March 26, will end the discount deal it has with the NRA. A clerk in the Dick’s Sporting Goods firearms department at West County Center in Des Peres says it’s pretty much business as usual since company management made several policy changes in response to Parkland. The only obvious change at his store, he pointed out, were the new signs posted discreetly to alert customers that the minimum age is 21 for firearms or ammunition purchases. Handguns aren’t sold in the store. (Under federal law, a person must be at least 21 to buy a handgun from a firearms dealer. Federal law stipulates that 18-year-olds can buy semiautomatic rifles and other firearms.) In any event, the decision by Dick’s—and then by Walmart, the nation’s largest firearms retailer—was among the most significant actions corporate America has taken on guns … recently. After the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook, Dick’s dropped assault-type rifles from its inventory. Today, Dick’s is going further, calling on elected officials to pass ‘common sense gun reform’: raising the minimum age to buy guns or ammo to 21, banning assault-type weapons and bump stocks, and conducting broader background checks that include mental health information and previous interactions with law enforcement. This is in line with what student activists want. Research shows that most Americans want significant changes to gun laws. Now, for those who insist the only way anyone can take their guns away is to ‘pry them from their cold, dead hands,’ it’s time to get real. Some of my favorite law-abiding citizens own guns—for self-defense, hunting, recreational shooting and so on. An AR-15 is probably big fun to fire at the range, too, but it’s a military weapon, invented to kill people, and fast. This has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, adopted in 1791 when firearms were primitive, and danger from foreign enemies imminent. Firearms choices were limited to a musket or flintlock pistol; both took some time to reload, and neither was accurate. England would remain a threat for years to come, e.g., the War of 1812. But the NRA, a lobbying group with very deep pockets, is nothing like the organization founded in 1871, just a decade after the rifle itself was developed. Dana Loesch, a present-day spokesperson, is downright sinister. Technology continues to transform firearms into much more deadly weapons than anything the drafters of the Second Amendment could possibly have intended or imagined 200 years ago.
