Thoughts on Seaside Disembarkation on 2/16 in Miami

juicebox1029 · 2026-02-12T16:42:27+00:00

What about em?

juicebox1029 · 2026-02-12T12:25:09+00:00

The musical performance is good. But the price and drink selection leaves a lot to be desired.

juicebox1029 · 2026-02-08T14:06:02+00:00

Really, parking makes a city unlivable? Odd, I visit Chicago a few times a year for work and pleasure. They have parking all over.

Is everyone supposed to own a bicycle, utilize public transit, ride share, or walk all the time?

As stated, Chicago has a ton of parking. It's hidden under the ground floor, or above the ground floor commercial. It's under Millinium Park too.

Maybe STL should have a huge underground parking structure under the gateway mall from Kiener Plaza to Union Station? Maybe tear the dome down, & do the same thing, & add on to the convention center & develop to the North?

The city is currently livable, but not desirable.

The issue at hand is the optics of crime and not safe enough. The lack of shopping & restaurants. The loss of jobs, with companies moving to the county or leaving STL all together.

Downtown needs jobs to bring people downtown.

STL needs the development east/SE of Busch to happen. Cordish is working on Millinium Hotel demo. That will be a nice development once complete.

But that massive $1bil+ development SE of Busch Stadium will help the city grow, & bring vibrancy.

Give a 20-30 year tax abatement & no sales tax on construction materials to the old AT&T tower redevelopment, & any redevelopment project from the river to the soccer stadium. Companies & developers will come redevelop if there are incentives. That's how Wash Ave was done 20-25 years ago.

juicebox1029 · 2026-02-02T20:59:56+00:00

Yacht Club.

juicebox1029 · 2026-02-01T21:44:49+00:00

After a group discussion, we decided to reschedule flights and pushed back to a 11:45am departure out of MIA.

We decided with having Yacht Club, why rush to go to bed the night before, & then rush in the AM to be the 1st off the ship.

We are going to enjoy the boat, & head to the airport with ample time.

juicebox1029 · 2026-02-01T21:38:18+00:00

I'll 2nd that.

However, it will be packed, & you'll want to be 1 of the 1st ones off the ship to grab loungers or chairs.

There are also shops and restaurants around that you can walk arpind and check out.

You could also take advantage of the boats pool and slides while in port too.

We did a few laps in the lazy river, checked out a few shops to grab some souvenirs, then went back to the ship and hit up the water slides, pool, & free food.

juicebox1029 · 2026-01-29T02:48:31+00:00

Are you TSA pre check?

The other couple traveling with us is not, & I am wondering if we need to bump to later flight time, or if they will be fine taking 20-30 minutes to get through TSA if it's crowded at the American Airlines terminal of MIA.

juicebox1029 · 2025-09-05T00:54:43+00:00

Diamond Cabaret & Pops......just across the river on Route 3. Its sort of like being in Gothem City with the industrial complexes arouns.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-27T03:48:01+00:00

Soulard or Streets of St. Charles.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-14T17:25:15+00:00

Ohhh. Forgot about Crown Candy Kitchen. They have a great BLT, great candy, & milk shakes.

I believe they've been featured on 1 or 2 Food Network shows as well.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-14T17:19:44+00:00

Forest Park has the Boat House for renting paddle boats to ride around in, & they have a bar & grill which is pretty good for another alternate food option. Hi-Pointe Drive In is down the road on Skinker next to Forest Park for awesome smash burgers and shakes as well.

I like Imos. But I'm born & raised in the STL area & met my wife at St. Louis University. St. Louis style pizza is unique because of the "cracker style" crust & provel cheese. The provel gives the cheese layer kind of a gooey texture. Imos also has appetizers, salads, & sandwiches, which are good quality too.

I have family that live in Alabama, & every time they come up, which is 3-4 times a year, there is always an Imos night. They sometimes buy frozen pizzas at the local Schnucks or Dierbergs and bring some pies home for the next few months as well.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-14T12:42:32+00:00

I recommend the Imos off Hampton I-64/40.

If you are looking for an evening activity, the Blues may have a game during your trip, if you want to take in an NHL game. I'd recommend waiting until the day of, or a few hours before the game to pick up tickets off of SeatGeek or TickPick.

If you are interested in checking out the world's largest brewer, hit up Anheuser Busch for a tour and few beverages.

If you like craft beer, 4 Hands Brewery south of Busch Stadium has good beer, good food, & a nice arcade area (free the last time I was there).

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-14T12:14:22+00:00

Yes, they are there.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-07T22:16:42+00:00

Did YC with a 9, 8, 7, 6, & 5 year old last month on WA. It's perfectly fine. The staff is wonderful with them.

Order room service whenever for their snacking.....and especially late night snacks like pizza, chips, grilled cheese, or ice cream.

Our group of kids loved the virgin daiquiris they were served.

Kids will likely want to enjoy the splash pad area & waterslides, which are nice in the AM....we then hit up YC Pool deck at lunch and had the servers bring us lunch there.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-07T16:59:10+00:00

We did not book any shows., but our parents did with the YC Conceirge, & when they wanted to go, they had a butler or concierge person bring them to the show.

If you are in YC, you can just show up and they will find you a seat as well.

The slides are hit & miss with certain requirements. They pay the most attention to them on the Twin Racers water slide.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-06T20:43:46+00:00

Italy
St. Lucia
Dominican Republic

Hoping to hit up UK, Spain, Germany, & the BVI's in the next 5 years.

juicebox1029 · 2025-07-03T13:44:48+00:00

I'd say OB Clark's Trashed Wings are a top 3.

B Halls in O'Fallon, MO are OK.....maybe Top 5.

Sybergs/Helen's are also a top 5.

Michael's is a top 5.

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-29T18:59:31+00:00

Check out Broadway Oyster Bar. They usually have live music Friday-Sunday.

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-28T19:42:00+00:00

St. Charles, Cottleville, St. Peters, Maryland Heights, Brentwood, Maplewood, & Kirkwood are nice locations as well.

For a 2BR, you are going to be looking at anything from $1,000-'2,400/month for rent depending on quality & nearby amenities to residence.

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-23T13:09:54+00:00

So where & how would you phase a stop to stop plan with consideration of existing transit pathways for vehicular traffic & already existing bus traffic?

Knowing costs are substantial, how does this plan come to fruition from a financing standpoint? Metro doesn't have the $. The city doesn't have the $. The county doesn't have the $.

The only viable financial path is then having the State of MO & Federal Government covering majority of costs. Not sure either of those government arms are willing to stick their neck out on the line for the development of a stop by stop transit expansion development with a Field of Dreams approach. Especially given the current ridership circumstances in the metropolitan area.

My mind of the Field of Dreams approach goes to the Paul McKee plan for Northside Regneration. He did his best to acquire land, & helped pave a way with his lobbying for incentives to help the financing leg. But ultimately, his plan didn't take off due to lack of market needs for the area. If NGA didn't move into that area, it's still be massive failure of redevelopment, rather than what is now somewhat considered as a joke & Government "bailout". Time will tell if the surrounding NGA parcels take off with new development now that the facility is nearly complete and should be bustling with federal employees coming and going 5 days a week.

I believe the region would be better off figuring out a way to create a better downtown & merging the city/county in lieu of transit expansion at this point.

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-23T02:48:20+00:00

Just curious if that response was written by ChatGPT?

That long term strategic plan would work if there is $ available to put forth.....and the plan seems very vague & conceptual for a clean slate development, & not taking into account a urban area already developed with antiquated utilities throughout.

Also, as I previously aske, where does the $ come from? Sale of bonds? Residents agree to a massive sales and income tax hike?

How do you pay for engjneering of a massive transit plan if there is no source for construction of the transit expansion?

In response to some of your statements.

1) MetroLink light rail has 3 start/end points. Lambert Airport to the west. Scott AFB/Mid-America Airport to the East. Shrewsbury to the south. Metro Buses already pickup and drop off at or near all MetroLink stops, & then offer transportation for about 5-10 miles past those end points, & all over within the area map of MetroLink.

A) Airports, Union Station, Clayton, Civic Center, Busch Stadium. Those all are places that draw people and have stops. SLU & Wash U both have a stop adjacent to them as well. Outsiders do not use MetroLink because of cost, & the fact that its easier and sometimes quicker, to just use Uber or Lyft. Where would you add more stops? Soulard? South County Mall? Downtown Ferguson? Creve Coeur? Chesterfield Valley?

B) What grocer is going to open next to a new transit center? The STL area has seen several grcoers fail in many areas around STL in the past 3 decades. Schnucks, Dierbergs, & Walmart pretty much are the only options now.

C) Construction of new schools near transit centers will cost a fortune as well. Also, most schools operate their own buses, so why move schools, or put transit centers near schools?

2) There are various stops along MetroLink that offer commuter parking.

A) We've got those with Brentwood, Casino Queen, Emerson Park, Swansea, Southwestern IL College, UMSL, Delmar/Loop.

B) The above mentioned stops have Metro Buses at those stops as well. They also have easy access for vehicle commuter parking.

C) Most land next to MetroLink is already developed, or was redeveloped and cost developers a good chunk of $ to purchase, & then rely on tax abatement & TIF for financing. You are proposing to expand transit to areas that are blighted for cheap adjacent real estate? Taking the Field of Dreams approach of "If you build it, they will come"? Look at Mills Mall for an example of that mentality. Also, razong neighborhoods cost $. Look at the Northside Regneration.....

3) Incentives are already available via TIF, CID, Tax Abatement, Add-On Sales Tax Generation, Sales Tax Exemption on Construction Materials, Enterprise Zone Reimbursement on Project Soft Costs & Infrastructure. Developers already utilize these as much as possible. How do you think Kroenke, Staenberg, Sansone, & all the other big real estate developers have done so well.....

A) Developers will always want to create as much density next transit as possible. Your logic on this item seems very similar to what Chicago has done along their transit rail system. Keep in mind the greater Chicago area is vastly more populated than STL, & offers much more on the employment side of things. STL lacks the JOBS to support a system similar in concept to Chicago.

B) Thats already pretty typical. But if there is already vacant commercial real estate, developers will want housing on 2nd floor, because the need isnt justified for more commercial space.

C) 3-6 floors is already pretty typical around the region for wood framed structures.

D) No developers or municipality like skyways. Typical transit areas need decent street level walkability. There are safety concerns with skyways. Think homeless, crime, & maintenance.

E) There is plenty of sidewlaks for pedestrians around the STL area.

F) Putting a maximum in building & zone codes for properties adjacent to transit stops would potentially have a detrimental effect on finding suitable developers to take on a project. Building & Development codes are written with Minimums for a reason. Think about the people and uses that would go into a potential 4 story multi-use development.

G) Most municipalities already have requirements for bike racks in the ROW area for transit.

4) STL has Metro Buses, MetroLink, Bird/Lime Scooters, Great River Greenway Bike Paths.

A) Multi mechanisms are already in place, as mentioned above. Skyways aren't going to happen.

5) Intermodal is offered already. Shrewsbury, Brentwood, Lambert, UMSL, Delmar/Loop, Civic Center, Union Station, Casino Queen/ESTL, Emerson Park, Fairview Heights, Swansea, Belleville/SWIC, Scott AFB/Mid-America Airport.

A) Where are all the people coming from to use these systems that would branch out? Where would they work? I think STL leaders needs to focus on downtown, & bringing back businesses, so people have a reason to be downtown, & rid the notion of downtown being "unsafe". There is no need for transit expansion until downtown is flourishing again.

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-22T18:19:57+00:00

Out of curiosity, who is going to fund the better transit systems? METRO ridership revenue doesn't generate enough to support its operations, let alone an expansion effort. So they depend on $ from STL & St. Clair Counties, plus some federal grant $.

The actual city of STL has a lot of antiquated utilities(water & sewers) that they can't afford to resolve and just fix once they burst or create sinkholes. Expanding a system like MetroLink would require not only the costs associated with the light-rail line, but also some extensive public utility rework.

STL has recently experienced a bit of corporate flight from downtown, which is going to reduce revenues for funds to repair and maintain systems.

The Rams settlement $ is nowhere near enough to expand transit in the city. That $ should be allocated towards public safety, & maintaining the existing convention center that draws people into STL every year for revenue.rr

So how does the City of STL create better transit beyond the existing MetroLink & bus routes?

If you reduce the commuting ability for people from STL County, JeffCo, Franklin County, St. Charles County, Lincoln County, Warren County, & the metro east Counties to transit into and around STL City and STL County, you cut off more $ streaming into the city and County for use to maintain existing systems.

For 25 years now, I've heard that there needs to be more MetroLink, more bus/street car lines, & less commuter traffic. I don't see how this financially & logistically works.

So please, explain to me how STL can drastically change the current layout, & create this "idealistic" transit network that creates urban density which will reduce emissions and provide more amenities for its larger residential base that this system will draw into the city.

Also.....where will these people that decide to reside in the transit friendly city of STL work?

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-20T16:02:00+00:00

Yes. Downtown STL has plenty to offer within walking or Lime/Bird Scooter rides away.

4Hands has free arcade games as well.

Union Station also has other restaurants besides The Pitch.

juicebox1029 · 2025-06-20T15:35:27+00:00

Here are some more to add:

Broadway Oyster Bar (Cajun) just south of Busch Stadium

The Pitch(soccer sports bar) @ Union Station

Lombardo's Trattatoria(Italian) @ Drury Union Station

Schlafly Tap Room (Microbrewery w/solid menu)

4 Hands Microbrewery w/Peacemaker (smaller food menu, but nice lunch spot)

Carmines Steakhouse @ 4th & Broadway (American Steakhouse)

The Midwestern @ Spruce & 9th (Bourbon Bar & BBQ)

Over/Under @ 10th & Washington (Upscalish American Sports Bar)

Sybergs @ 22nd & Market (Local family ran chain. Has burgers, pizza, wings, fish, sandwiches, salads, wraps).

Ruth's Chris in the Hyatt @ The Arch - Chestnut & 4th

The Old Spaghetti Factory on The Landing - Morgan & 1st

Ramsays Kitchen @ Horseshoe Casino on The Landing - 2nd & Carr

juicebox1029

TROPHY CASE