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Even Fire Can’t Stop the Loop Trolley | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

April 27, 2023

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click to enlarge DANNY WICENTOWSKI The Delmar Loop Trolley is back…again.

The early morning blaze at Three Kings Public House that shut down a good chunk of the Loop to traffic yesterday will not delay the delay-prone Loop Trolley’s return to Delmar.

Patti Beck, communications director at Bi-State Development, confirmed that the trolley — which the RFT previously dubbed “unkillable” — will roll along as planned at 11 a.m. this morning, kicking off its warm-weather relaunch.

The trolley will run on the same schedule as it did when it reopened last time in August. You can hop on any time you want so long as it’s a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday between 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. (and so long as you have a burning desire to visit the Missouri History Museum). And yes, unlike the bus service that so many St. Louisans depend upon, it’s free.

Yet its return has not been greeted with cheers. The old-timey streetcar connecting the Loop to the History Museum has given new meaning to the phrase “trolley problem” since it started service in 2018.

Early in the trolley’s life it managed to regularly hit parked cars; in 2019 a car hit it, knocking it out of commission. Its tracks also proved dangerous to cyclists and to local businesses, which fled the route. (Many of the trolley’s trials and tribulations were memorialized in a t-shirt that same year.) Bigger problems included a failure to get enough cars on the track to provide regular service and a complete lack of interest among riders.

In February 2022, Bi-State Development took control of the trolley, because if the region just let the streetcar die they risked having to give some of the feds’ almost $50 million back. It sputtered along for a bit in the late summer and fall under Bi-State’s supervision before a planned winter hiatus.

When Bi-State announced the trolley’s return last month, critics (OK, it was us …. those critics were pretty much just us) questioned the wisdom of continuing to prop up the project — which, again, had already cost almost $50 million in federal funds — while Bi-State slashed its Call-a-Ride service for disabled St. Louisans. In a sad irony, we noted that unlike the trolley, Call-a-Ride is being imperiled by excessive demand.

click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Three Kings Public House after yesterday’s fire.
On Wednesday it seemed for a moment like the early morning three-alarm fire that started in the kitchen of Three Kings might imperil today’s ride, proving yet another setback in a five-year history already full of them. And some trolley critics wondered whether the streetcar’s wires may have somehow impeded fire trucks from battling the blaze.

University City Fire Department Chief Bill Hinson said there was no truth to those rumors.

“The Loop Trolley line wasn’t too much of a problem. We know it’s here. We train for it to be here,” said Hinson. “The Loop Trolley we were able to work through.”

Hinson added that one firefighter was injured fighting flames in the building when several trusses in the ceiling fell down on the first responder. Hinson described the injuries as minor and that the firefighter was “shook up, but okay.”

The cause of the blaze is being investigated, but at this point there is no reason to expect foul play, Hinson says.

While the fire at Three Kings really has nothing to do with the trolley, it does further prove a sad fact: St. Louis is stuck with this thing, and neither parked cars nor wounded cyclists nor three-alarm blazes can offer us a reprieve.

We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

7 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

7 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

7 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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