In Lowertown, the humble Metro Transit bus stop that once stood in front of the River Park Lofts at 6th and Wacouta streets is set to return, on steroids, following a voyage that had it relocated for years about a block away.
Residents at the lofts are furious, and downtown advocate John Mannillo, City Council Member Dave Thune and art gallery owner Bill Hosko are taking their side, with at least a general nod of support from the mayor’s office. Now that’s just weird.
Mannillo, who chairs the Capitol River Council’s Development Review Committee, has planned a public meeting about the bus stop at 6 p.m. May 27 in the Skyway Level Conference Room of the US Bank Building, 101 5th St. E.
Mannillo took issue with “moving the bus stop from in front of Park Square Court to a block east, outside somebody’s window who lives there. … There’s a number of issues that are going to be coming up here.”
The new bus stop won’t be your typical boxy shelter. Metro Transit plans to extend the sidewalk at 6th and Wacouta a bit to create a bump-out that accommodates passengers, and install a modern new bus shelter with electronic message signs and other amenities ready for a future Bus Rapid Transit line, according to downtown insiders.
The Scoop is still confirming details with Metro Transit.
In a May 14 email to fellow tenants and supporters, ground-level River Park Lofts residents Barbara and Larry McMullen summarized the history of the bus stop saga as follows:
“As veterans of the Bus Stop Issue, having bought our first floor loft in 2005, moving into it in August of 2006, we have been living through the saga since the beginning of The River Park Lofts as a Lowertown residence. When this building was a commercial entity, rather than a secure multi-family residence, the bus stop in question was on our corner. When the loft project was created, the bus stop moved to the block in front of the Park Square Court building and the Railroad Building. At that time, there was no BULLDOG, no BARRIO and no BIN WINE BAR.
As these businesses began to move in to their present locations, the owners of those two buildings began pressuring the city and Metro Transit to move the bus stop back to our corner. The residents, with the support of Dave Thune, our City Council Representative; The Capitol River Council and other Lowertown residents organized letter-writing, phone calls and hearings to keep the bus stop and shelter where it was now located. We also had the support of Lee Bennett, who led the Metro Transit, now retired. It was decided that having the bus shelter at our corner was a bad idea for many reasons:
– the negative impact on our property, which was already suffering through a serious recession
– we live here 24/7 and 365 days a year, while the outdoor dining is just a few months of the year
– our building does not offer street access to the skyway, as exists in the two commercial buildings
– having traffic and walking traffic in motion is quite different from having it constantly in front of one’s only window
– decisions should be made with consideration for residents as well as businesses
– handicapped individuals have easy access to the services that are housed in those buildings and public transportation, while our building does not… When the City Council approved the widening of the sidewalk to create a promenade of sorts, we attended that meeting. There was no mention of moving the bus stop back here. In fact, one of the reasons for the widening was to have more room for the shelter, allowing it to be further away from the building entrance at the Park Square Court.
The letter dated May 8, and received by many of us in three or four identical mailings, allowed us less than a week before the bus stop is to be moved. No hearings have been held at all. The city gives us more than a month to react to noise easements and attend hearings for Mears Park events, for which most of us are in full support.”
Now, Metro Transit plans to move the bus stop back, which the McMullens describe as “bureaucratic amnesia.” Hosko, the art gallery owner, lays blame on the recent extension of the 6th Street sidewalk to accommodate outdoor restaurant seating.
Wrote Hosko, in a recent email exchange with River Park Lofts residents:
“Any statement from the city, Metro-Transit or the two property owners that may imply that ‘the new outdoor cafe area can no longer accommodate the bus shelter’… is not acceptable. The sidewalk – promenade was forced upon Lowertown, fine, but the bus shelter should go back to where it was promised – along the sidewalk that was widened. Any feelings that it, and the people waiting for the bus, will now clutter the view, should have been considered before the sidewalk was widened.”
Some downtown advocates — including the unlikely grouping of St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Thune — are wondering why the bus stop is needed in the first place. They point out that the stop in front of the Park Square Court building sits about half-a-block from a stop on Sibley Street. Both stops serve multiple bus routes.
Moving the stop from Park Square Court to 6th and Wacouta doesn’t add much distance between them.
“The question is, do we need shelters and stops within two blocks of each other, or not?” said Thune on Wednesday. “I’d be inclined to agree with the neighbors — right in front of street-level housing is not a good place to have people waiting. It was an issue once before.”
Thune also worries that loft owners may be assessed for Metro Transit’s planned sidewalk improvements, though he hasn’t gotten confirmation either way. “I’m trying to find out. Over the weekend, I kept getting all these emails about it. … Just judging from the number of emails, people are really worked up about it.”
Joe Spencer, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s arts and cultural attache, said the mayor’s office isn’t too enthused about having the bus stop there, either.
“We’re not really sure there needs to be a bus stop between Sibley and Wall anyway,” Spencer said. “Metro Transit insists on a bus stop, and feels moving it back to the Wacouta location (makes sense). The ridership numbers suggest a lot of people use that stop.”
Spencer noted that the stretch of 6th Street that is home to the Bin, Barrio and Bulldog restaurants and the newly-extended 6th Street sidewalk will soon be gaining a fourth restaurant in the Park Square Court building, and he recognizes that having a bus stop directly outside may get a bit crowded.
He takes issues with claims that the bus stop is being moved as a direct result of the sidewalk extension, which was a controversial addition to the Lowertown landscape with historic preservationists and traditionalists. He also rejects notions that a driver who recently led police on a high-speed chase off the interstate crashed into the Bulldog as a result of the sidewalk extension.
Thune is inclined to agree. He’d prefer to see a new bus stop closer to the new regional ballpark.
“I’m getting lots and lots of emails about it,” Thune said. “I’d stop short of blaming the sidewalk extension in front of the Bin, Barrio and Bulldog. I certainly wouldn’t blame that for the bus stop (relocation) or for the accident that happened. But we need to listen to people who live downtown. We certainly want to make it attractive and safe for them.”