Readers: Preservation Review Should be Citywide!

Readers who voted in the poll last week clearly support making preservation review citywide rather than allow some aldermen to exclude their wards:

Q: Should Preservation Review be Citywide or Continue Ward-by-Ward?

1. Citywide! 84 [87.5%]
2. Unsure/no opinion 4 [4.17%]
3. We shouldn’t have any preservation review districts 4 [4.17%]
4. Aldermen know what is best for their ward 2 [2.08%]
5. Other answer… 2 [2.08%]

Our aldermen, however, have a custom known as “aldermanic courtesy” where the interests of the city as a whole take backseat to the ruler of the ward. As a result I don’t expect this group of 28 to make a change for the better.

The two “other” answers were:

1. It should be regional.
2. It doesnt really matter, they will do what they want to anyway

True, they will what they want.

– Steve Patterson

Speed Bump Bill Hits a Bump in the Political Road

Recently the humble speed bump was elevated to a political issue, from MayorSlay.com:

“Today, I vetoed an odd little bill that would have paid for the installation of speed bumps in one of the city’s 105 parks. The bill’s sponsor ignored the testimony of the Streets Department that there were better and more effective ways to slow traffic and the opinion of the city counselor that such constructions are legally questionable under state and Federal law.

At my direction, the city’s operations director will work with the directors of the Parks and Streets Departments, the city’s chief engineer, the park’s users, and the bill’s sponsor to find appropriate, effective, and legal measures to calm traffic along that stretch of park road. If the issue is safety, not aldermanic courtesy, that will solve the problem.”

The sponsor was 21st ward alderman, Antonio French, a personal friend of many years. The bill was BB43.

I visited O’Fallon Park to check out the places where French wanted speed bumps, namely two points where the newish jogging trail crossing the main internal road in the park. I can certainly see why he wanted something to slow traffic, neither crossing point is marked other than two faint crosswalk lines.

The phrase “speed bump” doesn’t really apply in the case of O’Fallon Park, speed hump is better:

Speed humps are rounded raised areas placed across the roadway. They are generally 10 to 14 feet long (in the direction of travel), making them distinct from the shorter “speed bumps” found in many parking lots, and are 3 to 4 inches high. The profile of a speed hump can be circular, parabolic, or sinusoidal. They are often tapered as they reach the curb on each end to allow unimpeded drainage.

They are both inexpensive and effective.  But the mayor questioned the legality in his blog post on the veto:

The mayor is referring to the recommendation he received from the city counselor’s office, which told him in a statement, “since speed bumps are not explicitly permitted in [Missouri Statutes section] 304.120, they logically fall under the category of prohibited obstructions in [section] 229.030.” The counselor’s office goes on to state that the speed bumps would create additional legal liability for the City. (RFT)

At the request of the Post-Dispatch, the local [MoDOT] office researched state law on the issue, and found no reference whatsoever to speed “bumps,” which are in parking lots, or “humps,” which are in streets, said Traffic Operations Engineer Brian Umfleet.

And the law, Umfleet said today, typically spells out what is illegal. Roundabouts, for instance, aren’t in state law either. Nor are some of the newer, fancier traffic-control methods, such as the “Diverging Diamond,” at Dorsett Road and Interstate 270 – yet MoDOT builds those, too. (STLtoday.com)

How could these crossings have only two narrow crosswalk lines and no signs at all? I wondered if this was the norm so at first I visited O’Fallon’s south side counterpart, Carondelet Park.

The crosswalks in Carondelet Park are significantly more visible than the standard crosswalk markings in O’Fallon Park.

I personally prefer the Zebra or Ladder styles of crosswalk markings.

It would appear the city skimped on pedestrian safety when the jogging path was completed in O’Fallon Park, relative to Carondelet Park at least.  Forest Park uses textured pavement near such crossings to slow traffic, in addition to warning signs. It amazes me French had to introduce a bill and have the mayor veto the bill over something that should have been included with the original installation of the jogging path.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Missouri Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday a Good Idea?

New Hyde Park Homes Never Occupied

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I made the connection: tacky faux-historic new house in ruins with numerous ties to realtor & developer Mary “One” Johnson.

St. Louis is littered with half-finished developments started by one of Johnson’s numerous companies.  Johnson is also the vice chair of St. Louis’ Preservation Board.

Hopefully the economy has stopped the proliferation of these sad little boxes. We have enough nice buildings that are vacant & boarded, we don’t need these adding to the problem.

– Steve Patterson

Can St. Louis Learn From Newark NJ & Cory Booker?

I’ve seen Cory Booker  on TV and in the news. Booker is the young mayor of Newark NJ. To some of you, 42 may not be young, but anything younger than me (44) is young in my book.

I’ve been to Newark once.  More accurately, I saw the highway exit as I was driving to Rhode Island in January 2008. I wanted to stop and visit, but my schedule didn’t permit.

Troubled cities are attractive to me for some reason, perhaps the challenge of reversing negative trends? Newark, like Detroit and St. Louis, has serious issues.  I knew in 2008 that Newark had this new mayor, 37 when he was elected mayor. Booker’s lost to 4-term incumbent Sharpe James in 2002 but when James didn’t seek a 6th term in 2006 Booker won the non-partisan election.

As I watched Street Fight, the documentary of the 2002 race, I couldn’t help think of parallels to St. Louis:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8jtAASYdLw

Old urban city with a large African-American population, poor performing public schools, poverty & high crime, entrenched machine politics and the dirty tricks that go along with that to discourage challengers.

Famed urban engineer Harland Bartholomew worked for Newark before coming to St. Louis.  We’d have been better off had he stayed there.

Newark does have some differences from St. Louis. Their elections are non-partisan, their municipal council has only 9 members – five from wards and four at-large. Corruption in Newark is so bad “where every mayor since 1962 (except the current one, Cory Booker) has been indicted for crimes committed while in office.” (Newsweek)

I plan to learn more about Newark’s efforts to reduce violent crime, improve schools and attract jobs. I’ve started watching episodes of Sundance Channel’s Brick City series.

– Steve Patterson