Pretty, But Not Functional? 11.10.2006 | 0 Comment(s)

I cut through Forest Park each morning on my way to Clayton thinking it's a shortcut, but my commute has been getting longer and longer thanks to all the roadblocks being thrown up in my path.

A constant annoyance has been the short drive in front of the St. Louis Art Museum. The pavers are always being repaired, tinkered with, whatever. Every other month or so, there is a week or 2 that my shortcut to Clayton is reduced to one lane so a few guys can cut pavers, replace pavers, look at pavers, kiss & caress pavers...it's getting ridiculous. Ever since the area in front of the museum was redone, the repair men seem to have become as permanent a fixture at the museum as the statue of Saint Louis, King Louis IX of France.

How much is all this repair work costing, and why wasn't it done correctly the first, second, third, tenth time? Are the materials not strong enough to resist the pressures from daily traffic? Is there something going on beneath the pavers that was unforeseen when they were installed? It all seems like a big money pit to me.