ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A downtown St. Louis resident is pushing for changes to Clark Avenue.
Denis Beganovic, a St. Louis City resident, believes that because Clark connects Ballpark Village, Enterprise Center, Union Station and other popular site, it should be more presentable.
The road connecting Ballpark Village with Union Station isn't much to look at and isn't designed for high-volume foot traffic.
"When the city was laid out and when Clark was built, it was never meant to be this pedestrian walkway," said Beganovic. "It was always built as this back street connecting some of the buildings on Clark."
Beganovic tells Total Information A.M. he's pulled together representatives of major venues along Clark to start discussions about how to make the avenue more appealing.
"I wanted to get all the major stakeholders, from Ballpark Village, Enterprise Center, City SC, Union Station, Sports Commission and see what they had to say and what there priorities would be," said Beganovic. "I reached out to all of them and we all met on Feb. 12 to discuss what the existing conditions are of Clark Avenue and what are realistic things they want to see."
Beganovic thinks Clark Avenue could significantly improve with things like fixing the lights on the streets, repaving it, and basic streetscaping.
"When you drive in and walk it, it could use just a fresh coat of pavement," said Beganovic. "The biggest thing that is needed is lighting. There is a mismatch of lighting up and down the street. So getting that up to par is important."
Beganovic says the work to make Clark Avenue more appealing falls right up into his alley due to his previous experience as a complete streets manager with St. Louis City and serving four years as MoDOT asset manager for St. Louis' district.
"I definitely wasn't starting this from a zero-base knowledge," said Beganovic. "I had an idea on not just who to call, but where these things were and how they work. I was able to speak to the stakeholder intelligently about it and offer some credibility."
Beganovic says he has also reached out to city officials, with some officials like Alderman Rasheen Aldridge and Alderwoman Cara Spencer seemingly excited of Beganovic's work.
"They were excited of the effort," according to Beganovic.
Aldridge joined Total Information Wednesday to discuss the initial conversations he and Beganovic have had regarding Clark Avenue and thought the ideas that Beganovic put forth to him, Spencer and the businesses' on Clark were very good.
"(Beganovic) came up with this really good idea of a kind-of public/private partnership of beautification and traffic calming measures on Clark," said Aldridge. "I think more of these public-private partnership where some of these public dollars can be used and private dollars where people who have interest in our city can be used."
Aldridge says he and Spencer will absolutely continue planning to keep conversations going with Beganovic on a ways to improve the street and beautify it, especially since the street touches both Spencer's and Aldridge's wards.
