A project from the city of Berkley, its Downtown Development Authority and the Berkley School District to turn land near Berkley High School into a plaza has faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seen here is a conceptual design for the plaza from August 2020.
File conceptual design provided by city of Berkley
Construction costs delay Berkley’s plaza project near high school
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BERKLEY In 2020, the city of Berkley, its Downtown Development Authority and school district formed a partnership to turn a plot of land into a plaza.
The vacant land sits next to Berkley High School on Coolidge Highway between Catalpa Drive and Sunnyknoll Avenue. It formerly served as a space for the school’s community garden and also was the home to a storefront and housing property.
Berkley resumes evaluation of Coolidge Highway restriping project
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BERKLEY In 2019, the city of Berkley began a restriping and lane reduction project on Coolidge Highway.
The project reduced the number of lanes on the roadway from four to two and added a middle turn lane, bike lanes and additional on-street parking. The aim of the restriping was to improve traffic, bring more attention to the downtown and decrease accidents.
The original plan for Berkley was to conduct a 24-month research process to evaluate whether the road diet achieved its desired effect. After a year, the city was going to determine, from the data it collected, whether it would continue on for another year or revert the road back to its original design.
Gateway Region YMCA
Gateway Region YMCA camp counselor Sydney King lines up with her campers in July. The local YMCA has not stopped offering afterschool care during the pandemic, instilling safety measures such as mandatory mask wearing, maintaining social distancing and keeping activity group sizes small.
Summer break is around the corner for many children, and St. Louis-area summer camp operators are again deciding whether to run in-person programs or keep them virtual.
The Gateway Region YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis will hold in-person summer camp programs once again. Others, such as St. Louis University’s summer programs for K-12 students, will be held entirely online.
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Heather Vogt tries her best every day to keep her eyes on her work and at least one ear on her younger child’s lessons. But that still leaves her older son.
“I can t work and split my ears both ways,” she said. “I m splitting it one way with a kindergartener.”
The kindergartner is Jack, and Vogt’s older son, a third grader, is Benjamin. Both are enrolled in the Francis Howell School District, though they’ve been doing school completely from their St. Charles County home since last March.
It has been nearly a year since the pandemic first forced schools in Missouri to close. And, like Jack and Benjamin, tens of thousands of children have yet to return to the classroom. For many, the long absence is starting to drag down grades and drain their love of school.
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Schools have not fully reopened, nearly a year after the pandemic first closed them. Virtual school is going smoother, but it s still a drag for many students.
Heather Vogt tries her best every day to keep her eyes on her work and at least one ear on her younger child’s lessons. But that still leaves her older son.
“I can t work and split my ears both ways,” she said. “I m splitting it one way with a kindergartener.”
The kindergartner is Jack, and Vogt’s older son, a third grader, is Benjamin. Both are enrolled in the Francis Howell School District, though they’ve been doing school completely from their St. Charles County home since last March.