U City Mayor Talks Community Center; Loop Trolley Changes

Editor's Note: The following are excerpts from the personal blog of University City Mayor Shelley Welsch.

POSTED December 6, 2011
Mayor Welsch talks about a possible venue change for the UCPD Focus Group:

Once a month throughout the year, the University City Police Department hosts a Focus Group. This is a time when people from around the community can come together to talk about general concerns in their neighborhoods; ask for help with specific problems; and share ideas with their neighbors. There are always City staff members to collect information on items that need attention.

The Focus Group has been meeting for years, usually on the fourth Tuesday of the month. This monthly citizen’s forum has been held at the, but that may change in the new year since the Community Center will be closed from Monday-Thursday, as a budget-saving measure.  (The Center will still be available for rental on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.) Over the years, most of the active members have been from the northern part of our community, but the Focus Group is open to ALL University City residents.  It’s a good place to meet U City neighbors whose paths you might never cross, and to talk with U City staff – police and otherwise – in a relaxed environment.

I encourage you to attend a Focus Group – at least once to get a sense of what it’s all about, and maybe on a regular basis. To be added to the Focus Group mailing/announcement list, please contact the University City Police Department’s Captain Carol Jackson at cjackson@ucitymo.org or 314-505-8654.

Mayor Shelley Welsch

POSTED December 2, 2011
Mayor Welsch gives update on Loop Trolley:

This morning (Friday, Dec. 2) we had a board meeting for the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District. As part of the meeting we received an update on the Loop Trolley project. Some key points:

• The Loop Trolley Company has decided to go with heritage cars, instead of the previously-considered hybrid cars.  They will be reusing old trolley cars, from the 1920s-1950s, which will be retrofitted with air conditioning and lifts to make them fully- accessible.  This is a sustainable approach, in that older cars will be reused.  And these will be about one-third the cost of the newer hybrid cars.  This approach, though, will require electric lines along the entire route. I was told that progress has been made in making such lines less visually obtrusive than they have been in the past.  This may mean that there could be double-track along the full route from the U City Lion (and tiger) Gate to the Missouri Historical Society, which is believed will cause less negative impact on car traffic along the route.
• The engineering firm for the project will be chosen by the middle of this month.  It’s expected there will be a signed contract with the chosen firm by early-to-mid January.
• Groundbreaking for the trolley line is scheduled for fall of 2012.  It’s estimated the line could be up and running by the summer of 2013.  No word yet on whether construction would start in U City, in the City of St. Louis, or simultaneously in both communities.
• The Loop Trolley Company hopes to purchase seven heritage cars, in various colors.
• Great Rivers Greenway is in the process of purchasing the building at what would be the northeast corner of Delmar and DeBaliviere (if DeBaliviere continued north past Delmar.)  That building will be torn down.  (I am not sure of the future plans for this site.)

The next meeting of the Board of Directors of the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District will be in late January or early February.  I will keep you updated.

Mayor Shelley Welsch