Chicken Coop Tour this Saturday May 15th

Take the free tour!
Hosted by my fabulous neighbor and erstwhile contractor, Gary Pey or Gray Pet as I inadvertently typo his name.

"Don't forget to mark your calendars for the Couped Up chicken coop tour! It's May 15th, 10:00 AM . We'll meet at the GOH Center at Juniata and Bent. I could really use some more hosts. So far including myself, I only have three. One is in Webster Groves, but he is an architect and might have an interesting looking coop"

Poster designed by Tyler Pey.

Digging a Foundation

Located in TGS, this hole was created last week. Click on the title to see the plans.

Some of the soil slipped during yesterday's rain storm:

Gas Tank remediation on Morgan Ford

A few days ago I noticed the gas tanks at Morgan Ford and Oleatha were being removed. I stopped to talk with some of the worker's who told me the removal was 'financed by Obama's stimulus package.'

An environmental scientist was on site and said his job was to test the soil
for contamination. The huge hole was about 15 feet deep. Every few feet of digging the work would stop and he'd take a sample from the bucket. He'd put it in a zip lock bag and let it sit to let any gas evaporate. Then he inserted a probe for a reading. When the soil stops testing clean they stop digging and removed the soil to be taken off site to be 'cleaned'.
The probe:

The hole is filling filled with the white gravel on the right side.

Leaves

These photos are from last fall.
I arrived at the garage door where I found my neighbor's kids on leaf disposal duty.

Jumping on the leaves packs the dumpster.

Aleisha with leaves in her hair.

Ice Storm

These photos are from 12/1/2006


Morgan Ford and Juniata

Sky Dome on Morgan Ford

I found this photo on FaceBook.
It was located on the north east corner of Hartford and MGF, right across the street from my grandfather's bicycle shop.
Th Skydome

Brick hot line UPDATE

As requested: the before photo sent via email by the astonishing Lynn Josse:

Brick hot line

My neighbor Mel called today with a hot tip about hearing a huge KABOOM. A building on her block lost the outer wythe of brick at the top.


In this photo you can see a previous repointing job that can only be tagged hoosier rehabbing.

I'm thinking this was a combination of less than amateur tuck pointing combined with the recent freeze/thaw. There had to be water behind the brick that froze, expanded, then blew the course out.

Remains on MGF is your Saturday Destination!

Remains is located at 3340 Morgan Ford Road just south of the Marti Frumhoff Memorial Garden* at Utah and Fyler here in TGS. They are open to the public on Wednesday and Saturdays from 8-4. Cash only. What's available? Scroll down to the price list and photos below.

Where to go:

Drive back about fifty feet, this open door is on the left. There's a friendly dog on the premises name Pal.

Rag refers to any article of discarded clothing or textile and Remains is a rag company in the business of post-consumer textiles. It's mega Green!

I've been fascinated with this industry since I first heard the term 'rag company' from my grandfather when I was a teenager. I had been reading the Post and noticed fibers in the paper. He explained that newsprint has a high rag content (as does paper money) and the rag industry developed in large cities with a side business of selling rag for pulp. The pulp gets mixed in huge vats but that's another post.

A rag company contracts for textiles from thrift stores (They also use donation boxes). They buy and resell it by the pound. It's a huge and vital industry with dozens of related businesses. Owner Kelly Stewart recently started a related business: Arch Paper http://www.archpaper.net/servlet/StoreFront

After arriving at Remains the textiles are sorted and graded. The clothing in excellent condition is baled and purchased by brokers then shipped to Canada (for another sort) and third world countries where it's sold for the third of fourth time.

The history of rag companies is, as I mentioned, fascinating. It's directly linked to paper production and the history of public schools. Prior to paper (a rag product) being mass produced, formal education was only for the wealthy who could afford tutors for their children since the ability to mass publish texts and primers didn't exist. Paper also allowed students to develop linear thinking by writing a series of numbers and learning basic math.

My thanks to Kelly and the staff of Remains who graciously allowed a tour of the business and answered my relentless questions.

Textiles are delivered by fork lift then fed by a worked onto the conveyor belt:

The conveyor belt where clothing and textiles get sorted then head up the line to be baled:

A worker on the sorting line:

The baler where clothing is compressed:

Baled textiles:

Price list and photos of the sales floor:


Photos of the 'sales floor'.

All garments are hung and the place is hyper neat.


I saw many pairs of never worn fleece and flannel lined slippers:

Long johns, union suits, and bibs.



* As a fundraiser for Marti's garden I am talking with Remains about accepting donations of shoes and clothing. More info will follow.

Legs

There's photos elsewhere of the attendees and events at the Morgan Ford in Motion fest and this was the view from under my table:

Gustine & Utah - Tower Grove South

Over a month ago mystifying work began at Gustine and Utah here in TGS. That's Susie G. in the hat on the left hand side:
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At a recent TGS neighborhood meeting I asked J-FLo about the work and she explained it was designed to make the intersection 'pedestrian friendly' and that the ADA ramps cost 4,000.00 each.

The site was the subject of conversation over dinner this weekend with a few of my neighbors and continued on our neighborhood list serve where it developed into a raucous brawl.

I lived a block away from the intersection as a child and crossed it daily as a teenager. I never had a problem on the walk to high school and have always enjoyed the street scape when I wasn't spying on bricks.

I'm a preservationist so this New and Improved intersection gave me the willies:

Then I read Kevin Neill's post:

I think the intersection looks much better than before, for a number of reasons: the pedestrian crosswalks are clearly identifiable with the pseudo-brick paving; the curb ramps have been modified to meet ADA standards; the planters separate the pedestrian crossing from the u-turn traffic on Utah and the through lanes on Gustine, while also provide an additional level of psychological safety for those crossing Utah on the east side of Gustine - a crossing that is over 100 feet from curb to curb; and there is opportunity for collision between pedestrians and traffic southbound Gustine traffic turning left on Utah. And when the planters are filled, I bet it will look a lot better.

I've looked around on the city's website to see what funds are being used for
this project. While I couldn't find the intersection listed specifically, my
guess is that this is stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act. $2,575,000 has been procured for "overlay and pedestrian improvements."
These projects are used for:

- overlay of new sidewalk/street pavement;
- reconstruction of curb ramps;
- improvements compliant with ADA standards;

and to "enhance safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles."

Considering the time constraints involved with this funding source, I'm glad to see the city was able to get some of this highly competitive ARRA money to implement projects like this, which improve pedestrian conditions and create infrastructure that is accessible people of all abilities. If Saint Louis couldn't have identified shovel ready projects like this as quickly enough as they did, the funding would've gone to the next city in line.

(Reprinted with permission)

I'm still ambivalent but was impressed with his research and feel for the site.

Josh Heisler commented:

The project, according to my alderwoman, cost $40,000. I don't know what qualifies as informed so I'll render my informed / uninformed opinion. I may be mistaken, but the intersection already had ramp access so, in my opinion, the ADA argument is not a valid reason for the upgrade. Also, beautification has been proposed as a reason or at least a result of the upgrade but the beautification has happened on a block that is one of the most, if not the most expensive in the neighborhood and arguably one of the prettiest, so while I agree that neighborhood beautification is commendable the result, when compared to other options, may not have yielded the best value for users and the community.

Finally, as to "slap[ping] some paint on it"; In my experience, the painted crosswalk, a la Abbey Road album cover, is a far more urban indicator of a crosswalk than a planter and some textured concrete or pavers. I'm not saying that the pavers, curbs and planters don't do the job it just seems very suburban to me. If the motivation for the project was to rectify the "problems" that some pedestrians had at the intersection there may have been more economical options.

I agree with Josh, it does have suburb styling. Tower Grove Heights is a historic district. I guess it doesn't include the streets.

It's interesting to me that this corner is also the site of the several unsold Capistrano condos.




Turn around and 'brick' walk: