Rally St. Louis looks for grassroots ideas that improve the city [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 20--Watch where you walk at the Cotton Belt Rail Deport.

Broken glass covers the floor, that is where floorboards exist at all. Windows are busted, wiring stripped.

"Is it safe No, it's really not," said Mark Schulte, one of the property's owners. "But it's sound. And it could be something great." Located north of the Laclede's Landing, the property is surrounded by vacant lots and abandoned buildings. But come next year, thousands of commuters will see the Cotton Belt building as they travel over the new Mississippi River bridge. Schulte and a team of urban advocates would like to transform the eyesore into St. Louis' new welcome mat. They imagine a mural spanning the building's 750-foot-long facade, festival grounds, outdoor movies, maybe even an open-air art gallery.

"This bridge needs a celebration," said urban designer Jasmin Aber. "The bridge is the new entry to the city, and this strategic building should celebrate and showcase the creativity of St. Louis." The idea has the support of Rally St. Louis, the crowd-sourcing initiative to improve St. Louis. The Rally concept works like this: Any St. Louisan can submit an idea to Rally's website at rallystl.org; website visitors then vote online for their favorites. Every month, the top five ideas move on to the next round, where Rally organizers study the plans' feasibility. Some ideas, clearly, are not feasible. Moving the Missouri State Fair to St. Louis, for instance. That would take an act of the Missouri Legislature and millions of dollars.

But other proposals, like the Cotton Belt building, could be done without a lot of cash, paperwork or staff. Schulte is unsure how much the project would cost; similar large-scale projects cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"When you're just starting a project, you're looking for some quick wins, something that can realistically be accomplished pretty quickly," said Rally organizer Brian Cross. "That's what's good about a lot of these public art ideas; you don't have to spend millions of dollars." With 1,788 votes, the Cotton Belt building is among the first crop of Rally St. Louis ideas to move on to the funding stage. The other top vote-getters include a rooftop farm, outdoor basketball courts, a public soccer field and a national soccer hall of fame. Rally St. Louis will not directly fund any of these ideas; rather they help connect organizers to donors and supporters.

Cross and Aaron Perlut, both partners at a public relations agency Elasticity, launched Rally St. Louis in November. Rally's board includes top execs from the Civic Progress, the RCGA, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, A-B InBev, Commerce Bank and other businesses and civic institutions. So far about 250 ideas have been submitted.

"We are more a catalyst," said Cross. "We know people and can say, 'Hey, can you donate free space ' Or maybe we can put them in touch with someone with deeper pockets or some expertise. There are a lot of ways we hopefully can push some of these ideas across the finish line." Tom Nagel is spearheading the Cotton Belt Initiative with Aber. He works in East St. Louis at the Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House, but he likes to spend weekends at the Cotton Belt barbecuing with friends and watching the river.

"It's so peaceful being here so close to the river," said Nagel. "We as St. Louisans don't get enough opportunities to be connected to the river." The depot was built in 1911 and stopped functioning as a freight depot about 70 years ago. It is a favorite destination for urban explorers and graffiti artists. The annual Artica Festival draws thousands of artists to the site for dance and music performances. The site also attracted the homeless of "tent city," whose residents stripped the building of copper, fixtures, basically anything that could be pawned.

But now some city officials and developers are turning their attention to the northern edge of the riverfront. The Riverfront Trail is a block away, developer Craig Heller is planning an urban farm nearby and next door, the William Kerr Foundation transformed an old bath house into a modern green office building. Schulte envisions the Cotton Belt depot spurring north riverfront development just as the City Museum kickstarted downtown development. Indeed, the projects share a key player, real estate developer Tim Tucker who both co-owns the Cotton Belt and helped City Museum founder Bob Cassilly build his attraction.

"What we do know is that art has tremendous value," said Schulte. "You don't need someone to write a $30 million check for a CityGarden or the government to make it happen. It's best when it's done at the grassroots." More great ideas -- To re-create the iconic "Lindy Squared" mural downtown The "Lindy Squared" mural was up on the side of the Lion Gas building for only four years. Yet for many St. Louisans, the five-story painting of Charles Lindbergh was as beloved as the Kiel Opera House bears or the Stan Musial statue. St. Louisan Mark Leverenz would like to re-create that mural and see others like it on the exterior of buildings downtown.

"I remember when they built it down here. We loved it," said Leverenz, who lives downtown and helped launch the now shuttered City Grocers. "When this contest came about, I thought this is perfect." Rally St. Louis voters agree. The idea, which has 1,468 votes and counting, is a shoo-in to move onto the competition's funding stage.

"Lindy Squared" was painted in 1977 by the husband-wife team Robert Fishbone and Sarah Jean Linquist on the brick exterior of the Lion Gas Building at Ninth and Chestnut streets. To create the painting's pixelated effect, the couple painted 1,200 squares 72 shades of gray. But when the building came down in 1981, so did the mural.

Leverenz has identified about 10 downtown exterior walls perfect for a new "Lindy Squared" or other mural. He envisions a series of works that promote St. Louis history, art and culture. A QR code could offer more information online about the work and its subject.

"There are no shortages of good buildings," said Leverenz. "And there are no shortages of artists either." A fair number of the Rally St. Louis ideas propose painting stuff -- the Mississippi River flood wall, underpasses, bollards, street barricades. And for good reason -- for not much money, you get a lot of beauty. The city has supported similar projects in the past; last year it permitted a high school artist to paint Dumpsters; previously it commissioned sidewalk and fire hydrant art projects.

Artist Grace McCammond knows firsthand how murals can help define and enliven a neighborhood. She has painted 14 murals in the Grove, including the rocket-riding cowgirl, a dragon and Tour De Grove cyclists.

"The initial purpose was just to make the neighborhood less scary," said McCammond. "The thinking was if there were some colorful, fun murals maybe people might want to stop and walk around." McCammond will tell you, quite frankly, the less public input, the better. Art by committee is a lot like the proverbial broth prepared by too many cooks.

"By limiting it to the owner of the building and maybe a small committee, it's easier to get things done," said McCammond. "And that's why the murals all look so different from each other. Working with different owners means you get different ideas, so while not everything appeals to everybody, something appeals, hopefully, to everybody." That doesn't mean the public is not involved. Every Grovefest, the neighborhood's annual street festival, McCammond creates a paint-by-numbers mural that visitors are invited to complete.

"It's great when you see everyone working together," said McCammond. "I also think that's also part of the reason why there hasn't been any vandalism. The people in the Grove are very protective of them." Fishbone and Linquist, who died in 2010, painted about 200 murals around town in the 1970s and 1980s. Only a few still exist. Fishbone notes these sort of projects are more expensive and complicated than they seem. Is the wall's surface in good condition or does it need tuckpointing What about scaffolding and insurance And is there a maintenance budget All paints fade with the exception of Keim paint, which is made in Germany. That's what artist Richard Haas used to paint his famous trompe l'oeil mural on the Edison Brothers Building near Highway 40.

Still, he is a big booster of the plan.

"It's complicated but extremely doable," said Fishbone. "After all, we are talking about painting a wall." {a style="font-size: 16px;" href="http://www.rallystl.org/Ideas/Detail/56" target="_blank"}-- Microbrewery Trolley System{/a} Who doesn't love the Anheuser-Busch tour The bottling line, the Clydesdales, the free samples.

But these days, beer is about a lot more than Budweiser, says Jessica Baker of Brentwood. She proposes a trolley system that runs on a regular schedule among the many new microbreweries in St. Louis. Visitors could grab an oatmeal stout, for instance, at the Schlafly Tap Room, take the trolley to 4 Hands Brewing for an IPA and then hit Civil Life Brewing for an American Brown. The system would offer tourists a unique way to see a variety of neighborhoods and local beer lovers an easy way to sample the ever-changing beer lineups.

"Microbreweries are blowing up," said Baker, who works at the Webster Groves Llywelyn's, which does a huge craft beer business. "Each one of them has amazing beer and a great atmosphere." So far, the idea has received only 255 votes, but Patrick Hughes, the inaugural director for the St. Louis Brewers Guild, says the trolley concept has promise. He envisions a tour with an educational component. Perhaps brewers could lead a tasting or offer a behind-the-scenes tour.

"There are enough breweries to make it worthwhile," said Hughes. "You are getting a different experience at every brewhouse. Each has its own personality, with different styles and techniques." Composed of 20 local breweries, the Guild is devoted to promoting beer tourism. A trolley is one of the many ideas members have raised.

"It's certainly feasible," said Hughes. "Foremost you have to think about insurance and safety and other issues like the route and how often the trolley would make stops, but it's definitely worth investigating." Troika Brodsky of Schlafly Beer also has studied the concept and favors the Guild organizing a multibrewery beer tour.

"Ultimately, I think it only really works properly if it becomes part of what the St. Louis Brewers Guild is trying to do and falls under their umbrella, where it functions as part of a not-for-profit and therefore can operate in a way that highlights the highest quality tour with the biggest bang for your buck for both attendees and the breweries," said Brodsky. "There are beer bus businesses all over the country and there will be one in St. Louis at some point, but for it to be something that the local breweries can get behind and support, it has to be something they are directly plugged into and assisting to make great." Indeed many cities host beer buses that range from the pricey ($90 for the Bay Area Brewery Tours) to the cheap ($35 for for Banjo Billy's Bus Tours in Denver).

Baker, a beer connoisseur, is open to a little learning with her lager. Still, she favors a cheaper and more casual format.

"Just hop on, hop off," said Baker. "If there is a city that could pull it off, it's St. Louis." -- {a style="font-size: 16px;" href="http://www.rallystl.org/Ideas/Detail/5" target="_blank"}@stlouismoving{/a} The entire Rally St. Louis concept was born out of Perlut's 2011 Forbes article, "St. Louis Doesn't Suck." He proposed using social media, new technologies and unexpected advertising strategies to create a campaign as cool as St. Louis.

Mark Philip's @stlouismoving idea perfectly captures that spirit. He proposes creating small 3-D models of St. Louis landmarks and neighborhoods such as the Climatron, Union Station, the Central West End and dropping them in other cities. Curious passers-by would happen on the model and take a look.

"How cool would it be to have 3-D model of the City Museum with the bus hanging off the roof," said Philip. "We would then have a QR code or information on it that people could read. The idea is to take a closer look at the city." Philip envisions adding a social media element, where onlookers could tweet a picture of themselves with the model to enter a contest to win airfare to St. Louis.

"We have trouble getting our name out there in a creative and unique way," said Philip, who is creative director at Momentum Worldwide, an advertising and marketing agency. "I thought since St. Louis is on the move, let's literally move St. Louis to other cities and in a way that gets noticed for being creative but also cutting edge." Philip knows the models won't last long; either they will be trashed or moved or thrown away. But 3-D printing is so cheap, the models can be replaced easily.

"Anytime you do a guerrilla marketing, it is a leap," said Philip. "You get as much attention as you can get." ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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