Poll: Should schools be forced to take students from unaccredited districts?

The poll this week is an exact duplicate of a poll run by the St. Louis Business Journal in June:

Should schools be forced to take students from unaccredited districts?

• Yes, education is that important
• No, it isn’t fair to taxpayers and students

I couldn’t come up with any better phrasing, so it’ll have to do.

Unaccredited schools are now paying overcrowded schools to accept transfer students. The transfer process was chaotic. Is this really the best we can do as a region?

The poll is in the right sidebar for a week.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Have you, a family member, or friends, experienced at least a month of “Food Insecurity” in the last 5 years?

Food security/insecurity may be terms you’re not familiar with, this may help:

Food security refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. The USDA estimates that nearly 9 out of 10 U.S households were food secure throughout 2005. It is a measure of resilience to future disruption or unavailability of critical food supply due to various risk factors including droughts, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, wars, etc. Food security assessment is divided into the self-sufficiency rate (S) and external dependency rate (1-S) as this divides the largest set of risk factors. Although countries may desire a high self-sufficiency rate to avoid transport risks, this may be difficult to achieve especially for wealthy countries, generally due to higher regional production costs. Conversely, high self-sufficiency without economic means leaves countries vulnerable to production risks.

The World Health Organization defines three facets of food security: food availability, food access, and food use. Food availability is having available sufficient quantities of food on a consistent basis. Food access is having sufficient resources, both economic and physical, to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. Food use is the appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation. The FAO adds a fourth facet: the stability of the first three dimensions of food security over time. (Wikipedia)

Congress is currently debating cuts to the nation’s food stamp program — properly known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):

SNAP offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities. SNAP is the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net. The Food and Nutrition Service works with State agencies, nutrition educators, and neighborhood and faith-based organizations to ensure that those eligible for nutrition assistance can make informed decisions about applying for the program and can access benefits. FNS also works with State partners and the retail community to improve program administration and ensure program integrity.

The poll this week asks if you, your family, or your friends, have had at least a month of food insecurity in the last 5 years. I’ll share my personal views on the topic, and share my own food insecurity experience, with the poll results on Wednesday, October 9th. The poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

Update On Participatory Budgeting St. Louis From 6th Ward Ald Christine Ingrassia

Guest post from 6th Ward Ald Christine Ingrassia

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. Participatory Budgeting Saint Louis (PB STL) seeks to empower residents via direct participation in the allocation of public monies in order to expand civic and political participation of citizens; and increase government transparency, with a focus on inclusion of historically disenfranchised or uninvolved populations. While PB is a fairly new concept in the United States, it is already being implemented in Chicago, New York City and Vallejo. ??During St. Louis City’s 2013 municipal primary, Michelle Witthaus and I, both candidates in the 6th Ward’s Aldermanic race, learned there was an interest on the part of residents to feel more connected to the political process and to see greater governmental transparency and accountability. After a training MORE’s (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment) Zach Chasnoff received and reported on, Michelle thought PB could address this interest. After the election, we decided to form a Steering Committee, which first met in May 2013, to bring PB to St. Louis City. I set aside $50,000 this year and will do the same next year, so that $100,000 of 6th ward capital improvement funds for fiscal year 2015 will go towards a pilot project to introduce St. Louis to this new endeavor.

From May through September the PB STL Steering Committee worked on rules for implementation, created a fundraising plan and canvassed in low voter turnout areas of the 6th ward. We are now ready to host Neighborhood Assemblies in October. Residents will learn how PB STL will work in its inaugural year and will have the opportunity to volunteer to plan projects the rest of the 6th Ward will vote on.

Trainings for budget delegates (volunteers planning projects) will occur in November and over the winter they will work with the Steering Committee and me to create project proposals. In March 2014 Project Expos will held. At these expos presentations of proposals will be made to the 6th Ward and changes can be made to them, as needed. ??Voting will occur in several different forms over the course of 1 – 2 weeks in April and will hopefully include an online option. In May 2014 winning projects will be provided to the City’s Board of Public Service to be included in the fiscal year 2015 budget. In June 2014 we will undertake evaluation of our first year’s efforts and the projects we voted on will begin to be implemented in July.

I’m hoping this project will increase community participation, act as an agent of government accountability and will spark an interest on the part of residents regarding how the budget process works.

Here is a listing of our upcoming assemblies; PB STL would love to see you at one.

1. Monday, October 7th
   Jefferson Warehouse
   2501 S Jefferson Ave
   Koken Art Factory (location change as of 9/29)
   2500 Ohio Ave.
   6:30pm-8:30pm
2. Wednesday, October 9th
   Barr Branch Library
   1701 S Jefferson Ave
   12:00pm-2:00pm
3. Monday, October 14th
   Stray Dog Theater
   2348 Tennessee Ave
   6:30pm-8:30pm
4. Wednesday, October 16th
   Lafayette Park United Methodist Church
   2300 Lafayette Ave
   6:30pm-8:30pm
5. Saturday, October 19th
   Barr Branch Library
   1701 S Jefferson Ave
   10:00am-12:00pm

Readers: City & County Should Reconcile

More than ninety percent of readers that voted in the poll last week favor some form of reconciliation between the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County.  Voting was nearly double the usual.

Q: Should St. Louis City & St. Louis County Reconcile? If So, How?

1. St. Louis City should rejoin St. Louis County as the 91st municipally 65 [36.31%]
2. St. Louis City & St. Louis County (and all its municipalities, schools districts, fire districts, etc) should become one government body 52 [29.05%]
3. St. Louis City & St. Louis County (and all its municipalities) should become one government body 45 [25.14%]
4. St. Louis City & St. Louis County should remain separate, but partner more 12 [6.7%]
5. St. Louis City & St. Louis County should remain completely separate (no change) 5 [2.79%]
6. Unsure/No Opinion 0 [0%]

More than 54% favor some form of consolidated government, not just becoming the 91st municipality. If St. Louis became the 91st municipality it would be the largest in terms of population and 2nd largest in land area, Wildwood is slightly larger in area.

For years I’ve favored a super consolidation  — all municipalities, school districts, fire districts, etc being made into one. But I recognize this wouldn’t be a magic bullet to solve issues of poverty, unemployment, stagnant/declining population, in the city & county. Some regional problems would be solved, but others would be created in the process — unintended consequences tend to pop up.

What needs to take place isn’t a discussion of solutions, but a discussion of problems facing the region. From there we can work toward a collective solution(s). Our history has been a group or individual has pushed a change in governance out of selfish interests. There’s been some mild effort to give the appearance of a grassroots movement rather than what it is.

I want change, I think the region needs change.  But we must learn from the consequences of other city-county consolidations.We shouldn’t do this so one person can get his wish to end income taxes and fund government largely through sales taxes. As a low-income person I know the burden sales taxes place on the poor. I’m not willing to suffer so millionaires can reduce their obligation to society.

Here are some groups currently working on consolidation/merger:

• Greater Gateway Alliance
• St. Louis is a World Class City
• Missouri Council for a Better Economy

Right now I’m still research each to see if they’re legit, or just a front. Part of that includes reading from a variety of sources, for example:

If the city’s current system of having “county” offices that operate independently of the city is an absurd waste of resources and duplication of services, then what is to be said of a county that has 43 fire districts and more than 60 police departments? Compared outright to St. Louis County, St. Louis city is a model of economy and streamlined public services. It may be ridiculous that the city has a comptroller, treasurer, collector of revenue and license collector, but for many of its square miles the county is nothing – governmentally speaking – more than a speed trap that feeds money into one strip mall city hall or another. (St. Louis American)

I believe we can have a better government structure that makes us competitive with other regions, bettering the lives of everyone, not just a few.  It’ll take open dialog to get there.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Should St. Louis City & St. Louis County Reconcile? If So, How?

For decades now there have been efforts to nullify the “Great Divorce of 1876“, when the City of St. Louis removed itself from St. Louis County, becoming an independent city with municipal & county offices. All have failed.

Past failure, however, doesn’t deter some from pushing the idea again. An editorial from last month: Time to go public on mediation talks for the Great Reconciliation. A perfect subject for a poll.

Here are the  options, in order from no change to big change:

1. St. Louis City & St. Louis County should remain completely separate (no change)
2. St. Louis City & St. Louis County should remain separate, but partner more
3. St. Louis City should rejoin St. Louis County as the 91st municipally
4. St. Louis City & St. Louis County (and all its municipalities) should become one government body
5. St. Louis City & St. Louis County (and all its municipalities, schools districts, fire districts, etc) should become one government body

The answers will be presented in random order in the poll, located in the right sidebar. Interestingly, any change would require a statewide vote since the state constitution would need to be amended.

— Steve Patterson