Still Time For Candidates To File

Those sitting on the fence contemplating a run for the St Louis Board of Aldermen still have time to file for the office — the deadline is Friday January 2, 2009.  Fourteen odd-numbered wards are up this coming Spring.  In a democracy it is important to have choices come election day.

Your current elected alderman may be a nice person.  He or she may also have the best of intentions — or at least they did when first elected.  Some were first elected before many of you were born.

The Board of Aldermen has, in general, become a stagnant institution.  Fresh ideas about positioning St Louis to meet 21st century problems do not originate there.

Remember that in 2010 we will have a new census which means we’ll have redistricting of the ward boundaries in 2011.  The Aldermen from odd numbered wards will have a hand in these boundaries that will be in place through 2021.  All elections are important but this one is especially important.

So while you may like your current representation, ask yourself if they are doing the pro-active steps to manage our city.  Do you think you can do a better job?    Do you have a flexible schedule that would allow you to serve as an Alderman?

Change is coming to Washington D.C. in under a month.  We need change at city hall.

The first step is viable candidates.  That is where you come in.  Many have thought about it but few take that important step of filing for office. For me, running for office in 2005 was one of the most rewarding life experiences I’ve had.  I didn’t win the election but I won in other ways.Running for office changed who I am and who I hope to become.  Challenging an entrenched incumbent helped raise issues and expectations for the ward and city.

Registering to vote and voting is simply not enough.  We must all be more involved. Work on a campaign.  Organize a debate.  Engage your neighbors in discussions about the future of the city.  And get yourself down to the St Louis Board of Election Commissioners before 5pm on January 2, 2009.

If you are a current Alderman and have been in office for more than 8 years please consider stepping aside so that we can get some fresh thinking in City Hall.  Your time served is appreciated but really, step out of the way.  Granted your not running is not a guarantee of fresh thinking but your sticking around it is certain we won’t have new ideas for old and new problems facing the city.

I’ve run for office before so this is not just talk.  To continue to stay involved I’m putting the finishing touches on an online questionnaire for all candidates in the St Louis Spring 2009 election – instructions will be mailed to all candidates after the close of filing with answers being posted online in February 2009.  I’m also continually updating my 2009 Election page to help inform voters of the candidates seeking office.

We just need more of you to become candidates.

A New Car For Under $10K?

With the average MSRP of a new car now topping $30,000, a new car for a third of that price in 2009 seems downright cheap.  I remember the 1986 $4,995 Hyundai Excel, cute & basic.

Fast forward 23 years and look at the 2009 Nissan Versa sedan which starts at $9,990.

Nissan announced this basic version a few months ago before the bottom fell out of the economy.  Dealer advertisements on other vehicles now talk about discounts greater than the price of the base Versa.

My problem with this new car is that it is the 4-door sedan and not the more useful hatchback model.  I’m unsure if new basic cars like this will keep folks driving cars (vs say transit) or just provide more affordable options for those that’ll be driving anyway.  I do think the more spartan our vehicles are the less likely we are to tolerate a long commute.

Owning and driving a car is not cheap.  Gas is currently cheap but you still have depreciation, insurance and maintenance.  I hope we see more small, basic, cheap, efficient cars.

But can American car makers compete in this market?  Can they survive if they don’t?

Highway or Surface Streets?

Later this week I’m meeting a friend and her immediate family at a restaurant on Olive in the suburb of Creve Coeur.  I’ve never been to this place before but I knew approximately where it was.  I used the directions feature on their website to see how it suggests I get from my downtown loft to the location.

It used Yahoo Maps which must have realized I-64/Hwy 40 is closed for reconstruction as it directed me up to I-70 to I-170 to Olive — a long route I never would have come up with on my own.  It indicated the route was 20.51 miiles and would take 33 minutes.  Twenty miles!  To many of you 20 miles might not be a big deal but I tend to think more in terms of 20 blocks, not miiles.

So I open Google Maps and input my address and the address of the restaurant.  Ah, a much shorter route – 15.3 miles and 26 minutes.  Granted it is one that doesn’t work because of the closed highway.  But Google Maps has an option to “avoid highways” which I then checked.  This gave me the most direct route with the least distance (14.3 miles) but the greatest travel time (34 minutes) – using normal surface streets.

One of the three isn’t an option due to the closed highway so that leaves two choices.  One at 20.51 miles/33 minutes and one at 14.3 miles/34 minutes.  The highway option saves me a minute but is over 40% longer distance.  My gas mileage would be greater by using highway rather than city streets   Based on 35mpg highway & 25 mpg city, though, the surface street route is a wash (0.586 gallons highway vs. 0.572 gallons surface, each way).  But one adds many more miles to my car.  My Carolla, which I bought used in July, has over 100,000 miles already — I don’t want to rack up too many miles to quickly.  One could argue that the stopping & going on surface streets invites more wear on the vehicle than just cruising down the highway.

With surface streets I have numerous choices — I could take different streets there vs. coming back home.  I can see more interesting things along the drive rather than just billboards from the interstate.  I could possibly also take care of some errands along the surface street routes which is not an option for the longer highway route.

Here are the maps from all three routes:

I will end up taking a direct surface street route.  I may take Forest Park Parkway to I-170 to get to Olive but Delmar to Skinker to Olive is also a good option.

I’d like to see auto insurance rates be based on the number of miles driven — the less miles the less your bill is.  Ditto for vehicle plate renewal.  This would help incentivize a reduction in total miles driven.  Accidents may be more frequent on surface streets but interstate accidents are far more serious.

One thing is certain, with a good network of surface streets we have numerous route options and the miles driven may be less and the time spent not significantly more.  Next time you use Google Maps think about checking the “avoid highways” option or even using it to map out a walking route.

My First Post-Stroke Fall

Since my February 1st stroke I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve not fallen.  That record ended this past Wednesday evening.

I was at a pub with friends for dinner — we had just sat down at the table.  I was reaching to lean my cane against the chair on the opposite side of the table.  I was on the end of the table with one friend to my right and the aisle on my left.  My stroke had impacted my left side.  So I’m stretching to lean my cane against the chair and I didn’t have my left foot positioned as I should and I simply fell over into the aisle.  I’m sure this place has had plenty of people fall over but I was drinking my new favorite beverage, tap water.

Here is the cool thing.  My friends jumped up to assist me but I got up by myself — very instinctively, very normally and very fast.  In therapy we practiced getting up off the floor (hospital in April & out patient in October) but it was always a challenge for me.  This showed me how far I had come.

I met other friends later after dinner and had a beer to celebrate.  I even showed off by handing my cane to one friend and walking a bit without it.

When I came home at the end of April I was terrified about falling.  I’m glad to have it out of the way now.

Governor Out Of Control

Attention lately is on Illinois’ Governor Blagojevich.  He was not the first idiot Governor.  Long before Blago we had Governor William J. Lepetomane:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-cje17OGnQ[/youtube]

Just a little humor for your weekend.  Harumph!