Checkmate Design

Charlie Brennan in the St Louis Business Journal wrote a great article on what St Louis could do if we were on top of our game.Here is part of it.
Like many readers — especially retired ones — I’ve recently traveled throughout the U.S. and abroad. St. Louis has many assets I miss elsewhere. At the same time, I’ve seen simple, mostly low-cost ideas other cities use that could work just as well here.
In Salt Lake City, pedestrians can donate to homeless services providers by putting spare change in repurposed parking meters located on downtown streets. These devices can be installed anywhere in the region, and may prove helpful in St. Louis, where the city bears a disproportionate share of the region’s homelessness.

Or consider Dublin, Ireland. Bus stops there feature electronic signs displaying arrival times, with vehicles monitored by GPS. Unlike in St. Louis, where users must use an app for such details, passengers know instantly whether the next bus will arrive in two minutes or 20.

Ireland also shows a better path to preventing drunk driving deaths. In Missouri, a driver can be arrested for having a blood alcohol content (BAC) measuring .08. In Ireland, the standard is stricter: Ordinary drivers are subject to fines and losing their licenses if their BAC measures .05.

Another international destination, Kyoto, Japan, has a better way to protect pedestrians – about five dozen of whom were killed here in 2024. In the Japanese city as well as in Salt Lake City, pedestrians crossing busy streets use bright orange flags to make themselves more visible to drivers. After crossing, the flags are returned to containers for reuse. The contrast matters: Brown, gray, and green clothing can easily blend into the urban landscape.

Parking is another daily concern in parts of St. Louis. In Naples, Florida, drivers on Fifth Avenue are directed in real time to open parking spots, thanks to LED signs mounted above intersections. The system reduces circling, congestion and frustration by letting motorists know exactly where spaces are available.

North Carolina’s highways are famously beautiful thanks to a wildflower program the state launched in 1985. The roadside plantings are so striking that transportation officials now ask motorists not to pick the flowers. The North Carolina Department of Transportation even publishes a booklet identifying highway wildflowers and offering guidance for property owners who want to establish their own displays. According to the agency, maintenance is minimal once the beds are established.
Some low-cost ideas also intersect with quality-of-life and human-dignity issues. In Arizona, highways are largely litter-free, in part because individuals convicted of nonviolent offenses can volunteer to clean roads and remove graffiti. Participants earn time outside confinement and contribute to the community. Similar programs exist in North Carolina and Buchanan County, Missouri.

In St. Louis city and county, where litter remains pervasive, incarcerated individuals have no comparable opportunity. Recent reports indicate county detainees spend as many as 23 hours per day in overcrowded cells, with no access to fresh air or sunlight.

We already see small civic experiments here. Free library boxes dot certain neighborhoods, but in Engelberg, Switzerland, book exchanges are housed in repurposed telephone booths, allowing for more space and clearer organization by category.

Some low-cost ideas also intersect with quality-

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Checkmate Design has given much needed improvements to some great historical sites, breathing new life into the community!