From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
After nearly 50 years of operating the same way, the Arch is opening up a suggestion box.
The National Park Service announced Thursday it will accept public input for improvements to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, taking advice on how to make the park more enjoyable and easier to get to.
Read the full article
© 2008 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Republished with permission.
The National Park Service (NPS) today announced the initiation of a General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP/EIS) process for Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (commonly referred to as the Gateway Arch).
Read the full press release
Last summer, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay asked us to offer our counsel about how St. Louis can transform its Riverfront into a world-class destination for the people of our region and visitors. We were guided by these principles:
- Preserve and protect the Gateway Arch as one of the world’s greatest monuments;
- View the Riverfront, the Arch grounds and what are currently the depressed lanes of Interstate-70 as one integrated project area;
- Maximize the use and impact of St. Louis’ two greatest physical assets, — the Gateway Arch and the Mississippi River — for the long-term benefit and enjoyment of area residents and tourists;
- Ensure that the future of the project area is guided by individuals with a long- term vision for St. Louis and accountability to the public.
Read the full press release
The Danforth Foundation is pleased that the National Park Service is initiating a public planning process that will consider improvements to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. We appreciate the Park Service’s responsiveness toward our report of last August and its hard work in moving the issue to this stage.
As we said last August, we believe we are wasting our region’s two most valuable physical assets – the Gateway Arch and our position on the Mississippi River. There is little to do on the riverfront, and the Gateway Arch stands in splendid isolation amidst 91 acres devoted strictly to “passive use.” The riverfront and Arch grounds are cut off from downtown by six lanes of Memorial Drive and four lanes of Interstate 70. Small wonder that visitorship is declining and that the Arch grounds and riverfront are often nearly empty.
Read the full press release
From the St. Louis Business Journal:
The Danforth Foundation’s proposal for unlocking the potential of the St. Louis downtown riverfront as a destination for St. Louisans and tourists alike is one of the most exciting ideas to be broached in this region for many years.
Read the full article
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Last week former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo, and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay proposed asking the U.S. Congress to return the 91 acres of the Gateway Arch grounds to local control and that the Arch grounds be integrated with downtown St. Louis via a three-block “lid” over the depressed lanes of Interstate 70. On Friday, Mr. Danforth elaborated on the proposal in an interview with Kevin Horrigan of the Editorial Page staff.
Read the full article
© 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Republished with permission.
From the Planetizen:
In a bid to revive the city’s downtown and riverfront, some St. Louis officials want to reclaim some of the 91 pastoral acres now dedicated for the Gateway Arch National Park.
Read the full article
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Sixty years ago, when a 37-year-old Finnish-born architect named Eero Saarinen entered an international competition to design a monument in St. Louis to America’s western expansion, he asked a young landscape architect named Dan Kiley to help design the monument’s grounds.
Read the full article
© 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Republished with permission.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
When a group of prominent St. Louisans persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to convert 37 blocks of riverfront real estate into a national park, it was a coup that embodied the spirit of the New Deal Era.
Read the full article
© 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Republished with permission.
From STLConstruct.net:
An article in the October 6 New York Times, “From Empty Lots To Bustling Waterfront,” praised the way in which the city of Boston has developed a plan for 1,000 acres of dormant industrial land around its harbor. “A lot of folks had hopes for 25 years,” said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. “That dream has become a reality.”
Read the full article
