Poll: Would you support a municipal/county ban on pet stores selling dogs from puppy mills?

As I read news headlines I often save articles because I think the topic deserves discussion in the St. Louis region, such was the case last month:

In curbing retail dog sales, San Diego joins Los Angeles, Albuquerque, N.M., Austin, Texas, and more than two dozen municipalities across the country. The bans, all of which have taken effect in the past three years, are evidence of a rapidly growing movement to put an end to so-called puppy mills, a term used by opponents to describe high-volume commercial dog breeders. Animal-rights groups say such facilities, which can move more than 2,000 dogs a week, supply the vast majority of pet-shop dogs. Unsurprisingly, the San Diego ordinance and others like it have attracted fierce criticism from breeders and pet-shop owners who say the anti-pet-shop movement is just plain rabid. (source)

To kick off the discussion, I thought this would be a good subject for the weekly poll. The poll is in the right sidebar. Results on Wednesday the 13th.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: St. Louis Shouldn’t Sign Veoila Water Consulting Contract, Veolia Withdraws From Consideration

Those who voted in the poll last week don’t think St. Louis should enter into a contract with Veolia. Here’s the final tally:

Q: Should St. Louis Sign The Water Consulting Contract With Veoila?

1. No 46 [68.66%]
2. Yes 11 [16.42%]
3. Unsure/no opinion 10 [14.93%]

I agree we shouldn’t sign this contract. I do think we need a transparent process to take a critical look at the operations of our water utility. We own it and continuing to own it means decisions are based on what’s best for the citizens, not stockholders of a private corporation. Others shouldn’t profit on our water.

You can politely give comptroller Darlene Green support for refusing to sign the contract so far by using the email form here.

Yesterday morning an alderman posted to Facebook that a “representative from the Mayor’s office read a statement this morning informing the Ways and Means committee that Veolia has withdrawn its proposal to do business with St. Louis’ Water Division.”

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Assuming on-street parking rates will increase, what are your two preferred methods of payment?

For decades the individual parking meter was pretty simple:

The world’s first installed parking meter was in Oklahoma City on July 16, 1935.[3][4][5]
Industrial production started in 1936 and expanded until the mid-1980s. The first models were based on a coin acceptor, a dial to engage the mechanism and a visible pointer and flag to indicate expiration of paid period. This configuration lasted for more than 40 years, with only a few changes in the exterior design, like the double-headed version and the incorporation of new materials and production techniques.[6] (Wikipedia)

I included the references because they’re interesting, number 6 especially. The following image is from that source.

Today there are many ways to pay for on-street parking:

• Coins
• Bills
• Debit/Credit
• Cell Phone (example)

For the poll question this week I’m asking “Assuming on-street parking rates will increase, what are your two preferred methods of payment?” If all goes well, the four options will be ranked. This poll is unscientific, but it lets us see how the readership is thinking. The poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: We’re Calling It The “Poplar Street Bridge” Regardless of the Official Name

Nicknames tend to stick, for better or worse. The I-64/Hwy 40/I-55 span across the Mississippi River was first known officially as the  Bernard F. Dickman Bridge and was recently officially renamed the Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge.

In the unscientific poll last week readers made it clear they’ll  continue to call it the Poplar Street Bridge, after the street that was once at that location.

Q: In the future, what do you plan to call the I-55/I-64 span over the Mississippi River?

1. Poplar Street Bridge 99 [89.19%]
2. PSB 9 [8.11%]
3. Bernard F. Dickman Bridge 2 [1.8%]
4. Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge 1 [0.9%]
5. Other 0 [0%]

I’m one of the 8% that calls it the PSB. Poplar Street still exists in a few places under the bridge, like at Broadway. Maybe in 45 years it’ll be officially renamed the Francis G. Slay Bridge.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Should St. Louis Sign The Water Consulting Contract With Veoila?

Next year St. Louis will turn 250 years old. In those early years St. Louis didn’t have a municipal water system, but for the last 178 years we have.

1764: The City of St. Louis is founded.
1831: The City of St. Louis contracts with Abraham Fox and John Wilson to build a waterworks.
1835: The City of St. Louis buys out the bankrupt Fox and Wilson, becoming sole owner of the St. Louis Waterworks. (St. Louis Water history)

With that long history comes old infrastructure. To get advice St. Louis issued a request for proposals to provide a “Operational Efficiency and Value Creation Analysis”:

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:
The objective of the St. Louis Water Division is to retain a Consultant or Consultants with expertise in water system operations that can provide insight and new ideas, programs and approaches on ways to increase the Water Division’s efficiency and/or revenues in order to postpone or lessen future water rate increases and to improve customer satisfaction. The Cityand the Water Division for the most part would like to identify the ideas, have them bedeveloped into projects or programs and be implemented through Performance Contracting such that the City has no additional initial outlay of funds for capital projects or procurement of equipment or services. There will be some Non-Performance Contracting efforts that will result in delivery of a report with recommendations and a detailed implementation plan that can be executed by the SLWD or others

Sounds like a proactive step, but the winner of the bidding process, French firm Veolia, is viewed by some as a company that specializes in the privatization of public water systems. So the fear is a short-term consulting contract is the gateway to handing over a valuable city asset.

Mayor Slay is saying Comptroller Green has a duty to sign the $250,000 contract since it went through the bidding process. Meanwhile, Lewis Reed, President of the Board of Aldermen, is calling for hearings over the handling of the contract.

For months a grass-roots organization Dump Veolia has fought the contract at every step:

We are a group of concerned residents who want St. Louis to reject a proposed water consultancy contract with the French multinational corporation Veolia, the largest water privatization company in the world.? Learn what the campaign is about, who is mobilizing against Veolia, and why.???

The poll question this week is “Should St. Louis Sign The Water Consulting Contract With Veoila?” The poll is in the right sidebar, results to be posted on Wednesday October 20th.

— Steve Patterson