St. Louis Prosecutor George Peach Charged 20 Years Ago Today

A year and a half after I moved to St. Louis a huge scandal broke — 20 years ago today:

The chief state prosecutor for the city of St. Louis, who has spent most of his 15 years in office crusading against obscenity, pornography and prostitution, was charged today with a misdemeanor offense of patronizing a prostitute.

[snip]

Since being elected as circuit attorney in 1976, Mr. Peach has led a fight to rid St. Louis of pornography and prostitution. In the 1980’s he was responsible for closing the city’s major pornographic book and video stores. Last June, he endorsed changes in city ordinances that would make jail mandatory for prostitutes, pimps and customers who are second-time offenders. (New York Times)

Peach was busted three days earlier, on Tuesday March 10, 1992, in a hotel in St. Louis County. In the days immediately following his arrest on the misdemeanor charge local officials were debating if he should resign or run for a 5th term as prosecutor.

A January 2004 story in the Post-Dispatch recounts many the sorted details including more criminal activity:

In an eight-month Post-Dispatch investigation in 1992, reporters disclosed that Peach financed his extracurricular activities with cash from a confidential city checking account he controlled. He also took money from a fund set up to aid crime victims. (Full story — highly recommended)

A number of years ago an independent hollywood company began raising money to produce a film about Peach’s downfall, myself and many others donated money to help get the film made:

Heart of the Beholder is a 2005 drama film that was written and directed by Ken Tipton. It is based on Tipton’s own experience as the owner of a chain of videocassette rental stores in the 1980s. Tipton and his family had opened the first videocassette rental stores in St. Louis in 1980. Their business was largely destroyed by a campaign of the National Federation for Decency, who objected to the chain’s carrying the film The Last Temptation of Christ for rental.

The film won “Best Feature Film” awards at several film festivals. Critic Ryan Cracknell summarized the film, “There’s no shortage of material for writer-director Ken Tipton to work with here. That alone makes Heart of the Beholder a film of interest. It is in many ways a politically charged film as it touches on issues of freedom of speech, religious beliefs and all out fanaticism. Still, I didn’t think it was charged with enough balance and I think a large part had to do with the film’s inconsistent pacing.” (Wikipedia)

As one of thousands of uncredited producers I got the film on DVD, but here’s the trailer:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onnQwK8DhA4

You can order the DVD here or you can watch the entire film online, view chapter 1, do not watch at work! The film is also available for instant streaming on Netflix.

I recall a video store on the south side of Olive between Compton & Grand, now part of Saint Louis University’s campus, that closed in the early 90s. I only visited the store once, not sure if it was one of Ken Tipton’s Video Library stores or not.

– Steve Patterson

The Last Public Housing Complex Tower in St. Louis

Decades ago many high rise public housing towers existed in numerous large scale public housing projects in St. Louis. The most infamous were the Wendell Oliver Pruitt and William L. Igoe Homes, better known simply as Pruitt-Igoe. Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the demolition of the first of its 33 buildings.

In the Fall it was announced the last of four towers at the former Blumeyer complex would be razed after new low-rise housing is built:

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded the city of St. Louis $7.8 million to help redevelop the area around the city’s last public housing tower for families. (St. Louis Public Radio)

The last tower was part of the Blumeyer complex.

By the time Blumeyer was built in 1967 problems were becoming clear at older public housing complexes such as Cochran Gardens and Pruitt-Igoe. The latter only had high rise towers but the former had  a mix of low-rise and high rise buildings. Blumeyer had just four towers, not grouped together.

Growing up in a largely white middle-class area of suburban Oklahoma City the closest I’d come to a high-rise public housing tower was watching Good Times (1974-79).I knew I had to see this last complex tower — completed the year I was born. The last tower is located at 3501 Franklin.

Management was unable to show me an apartment, they don’t have a display. I was able to talk a young man to show me the 2-bedroom apartment where he lives with his family. The apartment was small but clean, nothing fancy. Good storage. I wish I had written down his name to thank him for allowing me in his place.

A few other high rise public housing towers remain in the city but those weren’t part of larger complexes that have been rebuilt under the federal Hope VI program.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Should Driver’s Retake The Driving Test When They Get Older?

I have friends now dealing with elderly parents, including facing the difficult decision to take away their keys or at least convince them to not drive at night. My brothers and I were getting close to this dilemma after our our father had a few minor accidents, and one that totaled his car.  He bought a replacement car but shortly thereafter he became ill and passed away at age 78, saving us from what would have been a very difficult discussion. My father had expressed to me his fear of not being able to drive.

I also have close relatives & friends at or quickly approaching 65 years of age. With people living longer and Baby Boomers now turning 65 this become an increasing issue. Neither of my grandmothers drove — ever — but they were born in 1902 & 1905. Today’s seniors likely have been driving since they were teens.

Letters like the following letter to the editor in a Pennsylvania paper will be increasingly common:

Editor, the Record:

In regard to the article stating that older drivers are more to blame for auto acidents, it doesn’t sit too well with me and other senior citizens in the area.

First of all, we’re not in any hurry to get anywhere, so we don’t speed. We don’t gander, looking out the window while driving — we’ve already seen it all. Very few us us drive at night. So I don’t think the privilege of driving a car should be denied us. We don’t all have family members at our disposal to take us to the doctor, grocery shopping, etc.

And I’m sure you won’t find any bags of heroin or other illegal articles in our trunks.

I drive back and forth the the Loder Senior Center five days a week to have lunch and visit with other folks my age. Without my car, this wouldn’t be possible.

LAURA (mcwilliams) kappes

East Stroudsburg

But senior drivers are a cause for concern:

While traffic fatalities are down across the country, older drivers still account for a “disproportionately high share” of the casualties.

[snip]

Consider this: One in every five drivers will be 65 or older by the year 2025, the report found. (STLtoday.com)

The report mentioned above  was released this month from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials:

With the first wave of the Baby Boom Generation turning 65 in 2011, the number of older Americans and their share of the population will begin to grow significantly in the coming years. And as this generation continues to age and grow, it will demand a level of mobility and an active lifestyle that far outpaces any of America’s previous generations. This aging population will both create and face significant transportation challenges, including a transportation system that lacks many features that would accommodate the level of mobility and safety older Americans desire and expect. Transportation innovations to accommodate the Baby Boom Generation’s need for improved safety and mobility will benefit users of all ages. (Full report: Keeping Baby Boomers Mobile: Preserving Mobility and Safety for Older Americans)

Regular readers know I advocate making our regions more pedestrian & transit friendly, partly to help out our aging population. Regardless of that, many seniors will want to keep driving so the issue of testing comes up:

There was strong support for testing senior drivers, with 76% favoring drivers over the age of 75 to take a driving test every two years. A majority of American drivers also indicated they would support requiring expanded road testing of already licensed drivers. Nationwide, 56% said drivers should be required to take a road test every 10 years, and 76% said those who have their license suspended or revoked as the result of a moving violation should have to take a driving test to get it reinstated. (Source)

The poll this week asks your thoughts on retesting drivers. The poll is in the right sidebar — mobile users need to switch to the desktop layout to vote in the poll.

– Steve Patterson

Transit Union Seeks Input From Riders

Over the next two weeks The Transit Riders Union of St. Louis is hosting three “transit talks” to discuss with actual riders what we’d like to see done to improve local public transit. I’m on the steering committee. Here was our post:

In March we’re hosting a series of discussions focusing in the needs & issues of regular transit riders. Please come and tell us the areas you want your Transit Riders Union to work on improving.

We want everyone that uses Metro to join us so come as you are.

Monday March 12, 2012 (evening)

• 6:30pm-8pm @ Urban Eats Cafe
• 3301 Meramec Street STL MO 63111
• Food & beverage is available for purchase but we are under no obligation to purchase anything
• Transit: #70 Grand, #73 Carondelet, #40 Broadway + walk

Tuesday March 20, 2012 (lunch hour)

• Noon-1pm (Brown Bag Lunch) @ Landmarks Association of St. Louis
• 911 Washington, Suite 170 STL MO 63101
• A deli is across the hall where food & beverage can be purchased.
• Transit: #32 ML King Chouteau, #99 Downtown Trolley, MetroLink (Convention Center or 8th & Pine stations) + walk

Wednesday March 21, 2012 (evening)

• 7pm-8:30pm @ Julia Davis Public Library
• 4415 Natural Bridge Avenue
• Food & drink are not allowed in the library
• Transit: #4 Natural Bridge, #18 Taylor, #41 Lee + walk

Please plan to attend at least one of these discussions!

Everyone is welcome too attend and all are free. Again, we want to hear from actual transit riders.

– Steve Patterson

2617 Olive Older Than It Looks

The other day I noticed a nondescript little building I’d driven past hundreds of times but never payed attention to before. This day I was a pedestrian and it caught my eye.

The one story building at 2617 Olive is easy to overlook, halfway between Sam Light Loans and AT&T, it just disappears. From across Olive the storefront caught my eye.

Cast iron? At home I looked it up on city records and it says it was built in 1883! A 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows the building as being 3-stories in height and having a stone front, one of a group of eight such storefronts.

The point? None other than I found it interesting.

– Steve Patterson