06.14.2010 MONDAY M 1 ST.

LOUIS POST-DISPATCH A9

FROM A1

RIVERFRONT FROM A1 Replacements reap

Ditch 1.4-mile stretch of I-70 downtown for a tree-lined boulevard, group advises
launched an international competition to redesign the
91-acre Arch grounds by its 50th anniversary in 2015.
And there is the new Mississippi River bridge, set to
open in 2014, which could ease the traffic ow on I-70
downtown.
That makes now a great time to seriously rethink the
relationship between downtown and the riverfront, Ih-
nen said.
This is a big opportunity, he said. And we realized
no one else is talking about this.
While the three-block lid would be an improvement
over the current situation, the tunnel it requires would
be pricey, said Ihnen, and its impact would be small. City
to Rivers project would stretch 1.4 miles, lling in the
depressed lanes in the core of downtown and knocking
down the elevated highway that heads north from the
Edward Jones Dome and replacing both with a tree-
lined boulevard that would feed into I-70 by the new
bridge.
This sort of highway teardown has happened else-
where. In San Francisco, it created the bay-hugging Em-
barcadero. In Boston, a new greenway courses through
downtown. Here, it could give St. Louis a new front
door, City to River supporters say.
The project would essentially shift Memorial Drive to
the east, creating an additional 3.2 acres of prime down-
town real estate between the Poplar Street and Eads
bridges, with more land to the north.
Make it more attractive, more walkable, more oors
to build things on, said Bob Lewis, president of Devel-
opment Strategies. Given whats there now, you could
do quite a bit of development.
Today, nearly everyone agrees that cutting downtown
off from the river with an interstate 45 years ago was
a mistake. A disastrous decision, said Jeff Rainford,
chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay.
What do you do about it? he asked. Thats another
question.
While Rainford has met with members of City to River,
he said the mayors office was reluctant to take a position
on the idea, because of the ongoing Arch grounds com-
benet of strike at
VISION TO CHANGE I-70 DOWNTOWN car plant in China
A grass roots planning group called City to River is
urging MoDOT and city officials to fill in the depressed BY KEITH BRADSHER New York Times
lanes and knock down the elevated section of Interstate
70 downtown and replace it with a pedestrian-friendly ZHONGSHAN, CHINA Striking workers at a Honda auto
boulevard. The group says this would free up several parts factory in southeastern China have won higher wages
acres downtown for new development. but not necessarily for themselves.
Factory managers began hiring a steady stream of re-
placement workers on Sunday, and a signicant number
Cass
of strikers went back to work after increases in wages and
benets, even as many others remained on strike.
The 20 or so members of the factorys council of workers,
Area for new
chosen by the workers to represent them when the strike
development began on Wednesday, went into hiding over the weekend,
OFal
lon fearing retaliation by the authorities.
Renovated It is too early to tell whether the apparent resolution of
Memorial this strike somewhat higher wages but lost jobs for many
Biddl Drive
e of the strikers will set a pattern elsewhere as labor unrest
spreads. Workers in the industrial southeast of China and
St. Louis elsewhere have been turning a labor shortage to their ad-
vantage by demanding better pay and working conditions.
Cole But in Zhongshan, Honda has used the area job market
Carr to its advantage.
The Honda Lock parts factory in Zhongshan can run
Edward on lower-skilled, less-educated workers than the Honda
Jones transmission factory in Foshan, a two-hour drive to the
Dome
northwest. The Foshan strike brought the companys auto-
assembly operations in China to a temporary standstill
M.L. King B
ridge and the regular work force there was lured back to its jobs
with reportedly much larger wage increases than Honda is
Wash offering in Zhongshan.
ingto
n Replacement workers and returning employees in
Zhongshan are receiving 11 percent higher pay and a 33
Eads Br
idge percent rise in allowances for food and housing, as of Sun-
day. The combined increase in wages and benefits was
considerably less than the near doubling of wages alone
that the strikers had sought. Even so, the improved com-
pensation wages of $152 a month and an allowance of
Pine
$59 a month was enough to make the jobs attractive to
Mark replacement workers.
et The remaining strikers held a small rally outside the fac-
n
ulliva

petition. One goal of the redesign, he said, should be to Ches

tnut tory on Sunday morning but then went home and made no
better connect the Arch with its city, but he said its not effort to picket as operations resumed.
r K. S

City Halls place to tell world-class architects how to do Waln Arch

ut
Leno

that. Ihnen and fellow organizer Rick Bonasch said their

group has met with the nalists in the design competi-
tion. Mississippi
But the roadway itself is the domain of officials at the
Missouri Department of Transportation, and any deci-
sion to dig it up will ultimately belong to them.
Spru
ce
River
BOEING FROM A1

MoDOT spokesman Drew Gates said the agency is fa-
miliar with City to Rivers idea, and is open to it. Its main
concern is not with $1.1 billion in real estate investment
but with a different number: 50,000.
That is how many cars MoDOT projects will still use
the depressed section each day after the new bridge
opens. It is a key north-south artery for the St. Louis re-
gion, and they are not yet sure whether replacing it with
a narrower boulevard, with stoplights and pedestrians,
is workable.
Thats the long and the short of it, Gates said. If
their proposals can handle the traffic and we can see that
it works, then its a lot easier for us to say yes, thats a
good idea.
Ihnen said his group, which is all volunteers, hasnt yet
done any traffic studies. But he notes that Kingshighway
carries 50,000 cars a day in spots in the Central West
End. Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago carries
RACE FOR THE CURE
The 2010 Komen Race for the Cure set a record for
participants in the walk and race with 71,205 people. See a
photo slideshow and video from Saturdays Komen Race for
the Cure in St. Louis. stltoday.com
Local Machinists reject contract, OK
a strike; pension proposal is cited
Tom Gianino, a 27-year Boeing employee, said he voted
Popl to reject the contract and to strike, in part, because of the
ar St
reet
Brid
loss of pension benets for new employees.
ge Im not going to be here, but I want to leave a legacy
Post-Dispatch that we left this in better shape than when we found it,
said Gianino, a materials handler who participated in the
99-day strike the Machinists waged against McDonnell
Douglas in 1996.
nearly that many. Like many of those who attended Sundays meeting, he
It is still just an idea, or rather a new try at an old wore a T-shirt that read: A quality contract for a quality
one. But its starting to get taken more seriously by local workforce. The International Association of Machinists
decision-makers, Bonasch said. And the more numbers represents 2,533 workers in the St. Louis area.
they have to make their case, the better. In a statement, Boeing Co. officials expressed disap-
Were going to keep running with it, he said. pointment in Sundays vote.
The work we perform here in St. Louis is critically im-
portant to our country and the men and women of our
armed services, the company said. The fair and equi-
table contract we put forward recognizes the contributions
GET THE BIG NEWS made by our union employees in terms of enhanced salary,
FIRST ON YOUR PHONE benets and pension.
Last week, union aerospace workers began returning to
Text STLNEWS to 21321 for news alerts. work at Boeings C-17 assembly facility in Long Beach fol-
lowing a monthlong strike there. The contract included a
Text CARDS to 21321, BLUES to 21321 and similar contribution benet plan to the one St. Louis-area
RAMS to 21321 to get sports alerts. machinists object to, company officials said.
But King said the future of the C-17 military cargo jet
Text GOSTL to 21321 to get a daily best program is more precarious than the products built in St.
bet on things to do in St. Louis. Louis namely the F-15, F/A-18 Super Hornet and the
missiles plant. Local employees also do some work on the
C-17.
King said there will now be a seven-day cooling off pe-
riod. During that time, King can send a letter to Boeing

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alerting the company that workers will strike on midnight
of the seventh day after receipt of that letter.
King said he planned to contact Boeing officials Sunday
We have raised the level of service for to notify them of the strike vote and see whether they are
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