Watch Out For the Aldermanic Motorcade
Thumbing through this week’s RFT I read the brief story titled A Cherry on Top: VIP motorcades are no big deal — they’re just illegal. The story talks about events between an Anheuser-Busch party and the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball at City Hall on February 24th. Among the guests of the A-B party were several aldermen:
So was Dave Drebes, editor and publisher of the local political tabloid Arch City Chronicle. Drebes, who also writes a weekly column for the St. Louis Business Journal, referenced the soirée in the March 3 Business Journal. Noting that pomp reigns as power wanes among city lawmakers, Drebes described “whizzing through stoplights” with three (unnamed) aldermen in a motorcade from the hotel to city hall as sirens and flashing red lights attached to the caravan’s lead car helped clear a path through traffic.
Gregali, Florida and Kirner say the February 24 motorcade was orchestrated and led by the private security firm Special Services Inc. The aldermen and Drebes followed in Gregali’s Mercury minivan, with Gregali behind the wheel. The aldermen say they don’t know who else was in the procession.
Nice. Our aldermen are so special they are part of a caravan of people going a short distance in such a hurry that can’t wait for the traffic signals. If the signals are such an issue perhaps they should work a little harder to get the signals timed correctly.
What I find great about this topic was Drebes’ editorial in the St. Louis Business Journal where the subject first came up. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Drebes be so frank about local politicians:
It was three levels lower than stupid. A handful of aldermen were receiving an escort from the Grand Renaissance over to City Hall, a total distance of probably seven blocks. The siren and flashing lights were shaving a half-minute or so off the commute.
Perhaps in a world of diminishing power, such tiny perks as breezing through downtown once in a while is an acceptable pay-off for the looming proposition of irrelevance.
Power shifts, even when the actual structure of government hasn’t. Aldermen used to really be something in the city of St. Louis, but today they’re are small potatoes and getting smaller. At this rate, they’ll be nuggets soon.
Dave Drebes offers a lot more commentary on the diminishing power of aldermen in the full article. It is a must read, hitting home points about the role of aldermen is basically to answer citizen complaints about stop signs and dumpsters or hand out shrinking Federal Block Grant funds. Good job Dave!!!
Florida, Kirner and Gregali are certainly in the top 5 of my list of aldermen that need to be replaced. Not at all surprising they were among the group being wined and dined by A-B and then part of an illegal motorcade. Gregali is up for re-election in March 2007 but we are stuck with Florida and Kirner until 2009. Well, 2009 unless the recall Florida talk over Drive-ThruGate or her unbalanced campaign finance reports moves up the date.
In the meantime watch out for the aldermanic motorcade.
– Steve
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Those motorcade cruisin’ aldermen get the final say.
Hard to think of them as tin horn dictators, when they are the kingpins of their wards.
Count all 29 of them as supporters of this demoliton.
I think that the Opus condo building, St. Aloysius Gonzaga demolition and McDonald’s projects show that aldermanic power is alive and well no matter how much we wish it weren’t the case.
Anyone who has tried to buy a building from the Land Reutilization Authority or has sought a zoning variance knows that the aldermen are still the boss on development matters. If people need further proof, check the campaign donations from developers that aldermen get — developers know where the power lies, too.
Who are your other 2 that need to be replaced?
[REPLY I knew someone would pick up on that. I wasn’t prepared to say those three were my top three. I can say that Florida is #1 on my list. I’d go ahead and add Vollmer to the list as well due to the St. Aloysius issue. Frankly I would not be overly upset of we replaced every last one of them. Time for change rather than more of the same mentality that got us where we are today. – SLP]
I’m curious as to why Gregali is on your list.
I’m not saying I disagree, mind you. I’m just saying I’m curious.
I love this excerpt from the RFT article. Could Dotty sound any more inarticualate and old school?
“Kirner, who says she has availed herself of the Special Services escort to the Mayor’s Ball for the past four years, dismisses the perk as “no big deal.” Recounts Kirner: “[Drebes] got scared to death. I’m going: ‘What’s the matter with you?’ He goes: ‘We’re running red lights.’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘We’re gonna get killed!’ And I just looked at him and I go, ‘Oh, come on.’
“If [the public doesn’t] want us to do it again,” Kirner adds, “put that in writing, and we won’t.”
As a matter of fact, it has been put in writing.”
I wish I could have seen Dave squirm while Dorothy giggled at him. Sometimes My Lady, you just don’t know when to keep your mouth shut. Keep talking to the press, Honey. We all get all get a kick out of it.
HECK ALDERMAN GREGALI HAD NOT EVEN PLED GUILTY OR APPEARED IN COURT(butler county,Mo) check courts undrer Gregalimissouricasenet to check his on appearnace in JAn 07 also)DURING THIS ESCAPADE to plead guilty to his traffic (state )violation HE DID THAT2 DAYS AFTER HIS UNOPPOSED ELECTION in the 14th WARD March 08,2007 and he is on Probation one year beacuse of points? WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL CHARGE THE STATE TROOPERS ISSUED????GREGALI also lost his Local 2 Union goomba job Jan 31, 2007 and has been drinking and on probation every since. Call the Prosceutors in Butler County as you paid for it his city tax payer job all he has to play with now.