Poll: What, If Anything, Should St. Louis Do About the Homeless Camps on the North Riverfront?

 

St. Louis, like so many other cities has homeless camps, ours are located along the Mississippi riverfront just north of Laclede’s Landing.

St. Louis streets are home to more than 1,300 people on any given day. Just north of the Gateway Arch are a number of people, huddled in tents, adding to those numbers.

Littered with tents, just west of the flood wall, separating the Mississippi from the city, sits a group of people who prefer living on the streets over housing. (KSDK)

Yesterday I visited the largest of the three, Hopeville, with about 50 residents. Sparta and Dignity Harbor each have about 20. All three camps occupy a stretch of land just west of the flood wall between Mullanphy and Dickson (aerial).

Recently one camp resident was stabbed by another:

In response to the killing, city officials hinted that the camps might be eliminated by the end of summer. A few days after the stabbing, three aldermen representing parts of downtown sent Mayor Francis Slay a letter arguing that a “take it or leave it” plan might exacerbate the problems. They urged him to include elected officials, community and business leaders and the homeless in the city’s search for solutions to camps of homeless people on the riverfront. (St. Louis Beacon)

The victim was the camp’s leader, he got involved when one resident was being aggresive with another. I spent over two hours at Hopeville, sitting and talking with residents, including the new leader Moe.

Here is the poll question and the answers I’ve provided:

Q: What, if anything, should St. Louis do about the homeless camps on the north riverfront?

• Nothing
• Force them to leave immediately
• Provide services to make them more comfortable there
• Provide alternate land to use that has running water,power, restrooms and some shelters (ie: campground)
• Arrest them for trespassing
• Put them on a bus to somewhere else
• Fund more emergency / transitional housing
• House them in safe supportive apartments
• Allow them to remain but charge for trash service and cite for maintenance violations
• Offer them annual lease option from City of St. Louis. Lease would require sub-leases with all residents. Rent would be paid with required volunteer service

These answers are presented in a random order on the poll, located in the upper right corner.  Thanks to Jay Swaboda, Kathleeen Wilder and Brian Matthews for their feedback on the poll wording. Check back on Wednesday June 22nd for the poll results and for my thoughts.

– Steve Patterson

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Readers: Expand the Zoo-Museum District

More than half the readers that voted in the poll last week said the five Zoo-Museum Institutions (Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, and Botanical Gardens) should not offer discounts as proposed by one member of the ZMD Board:

Q: Should Zoo-Museum Institutions Offer Discounts to City & County Residents?

1. No, more of the region should fund these institutions so we all pay a lower rate. 41 [32.03%]
2. No, leave it as is. 30 [23.44%]
3. Yes they should offer something, but not free parking 19 [14.84%]
4. Yes they should offer something, especially free parking 16 [12.5%]
5. Maybe, let each institution how to thank city & county residents 13 [10.16%]
6. Other answer… 5 [3.91%]
7. No, reducing the tax rate would be better 2 [1.56%]
8. Unsure/no opinion 2 [1.56%]

I think expanding the size of the district so more of the region shares in the costs is a good idea. Of course those of us already paying wouldn’t see a rate reduction, does that ever happen? Still I could see counties such as Jefferson and St. Charles paying something, just not the same as St. Louis City & County. But the more of the region paying in then there will be those who think some or all of the institutions should leave the city.  I suppose there are already institutions in the region that could be added?

Here are the other answers that were provided:

1. erect big signs thanking STL/CO citizen funding to make freeloaders feel guilty
2. Yes. City/County residents should get basic member discounts.
3. County residents should get a discount; they subsidize City residents.
4. Perhaps free parking for out-of-state cars to encourage local usage of other tra
5. expand the district

I thought #3 was interesting.  The city has about 25% of the combined population of the city & county and it only contributes 15% of the tax revenue, so one could twist that into the county subsidizing the city. Of course the city foots the bill for police & fire services to these institutions.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Should Zoo-Museum Institutions Offer Discounts to City & County Residents?

Interesting story in the paper last week:

Property owners in St. Louis and St. Louis County paid more than $70 million last year for the region’s premier arts and culture attractions. But when it comes time to visit institutions funded through the zoo-museum tax district, they’re often treated the same as people who didn’t pay a dime.

Now, a member of the public board that supervises the 40-year-old tax district is asking whether that’s fair.

Gloria Wessels recently suggested that four of the five institutions funded by the zoo-museum district offer discounts on parking, concessions and special exhibits to visitors who live in the taxing district. If necessary, those discounts could be funded through price increases for visitors who live outside the district, she said. (STLToday)

Gloria Wessels is the wife of long 26-year alderman Fred Wessels (D-13). Should those of us who pay taxes to fund these attractions get a little something others don’t? The Missouri Botanical Garden already allows city & county resident in for free on Wednesday & Saturday mornings.  The article points out the logistical nightmare of trying to verify who would qualify for free parking.  Besides the last thing we need is to encourage is more cars trying to get to the zoo & museum.

During its thirty-seven years of operation the District’s annual tax revenue has increased from $3.9 million dollars in 1972 to more than $72 million dollars in 2009. In recent years, approximately 85% of the tax revenues come from the County taxpayers while City residents provide 15% of the District’s tax revenues.

The expansion of the number of Subdistricts from three to five is indicative of the success and vitality of the original concept of a tax supported cultural district. Today, the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District is, perhaps, the largest tax supported cultural district in this country. It is a model that other cities have often attempted to emulate. (mzdstl.org)

The five subdistricts are the Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis Zoological Park, Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis Science Center and Missouri History Museum.

The poll this week asks you to weigh in on this issue. The poll is in the upper right of the blog.

– Steve Patterson

Readers Not Too Interested In Gov. Nixon’s Actions on Controversial Bills

Only 54 readers voted in the poll last week, the lowest response I’ve ever had for a weekly poll:

Q: Gov. Nixon signed ‘compromise’ bills on puppy mills & vetoed workplace discrimination bill, thoughts?

1. Nixon should have vetoed both 22 [40.74%]
2. Nixon got it right 15 [27.78%]
3. Nixon should have vetoed the puppy bills but signed the workplace discrimination bill 12 22.22%
4. Nixon should have signed both 4 7.41%
5. unsure/no opinion 1 1.85%

Glad to see that 40% thought Nixon should have vetoed both.

– Steve Patterson

Guest Opinion: The Free State of St. Louis

Guest opinion by Chris Andoe

In the event you’re not familiar with the allegory of the frog in boiling water I’ll share it with you. Drop a frog in a pot of boiling water and it’ll immediately jump out. Drop it in a pot of cool water, slowly heat until boiling, and it will just sit there and die.

The St. Louis region is the frog and the pot of boiling water is Missouri.

St. Louis has always had an uncomfortable relationship with outstate Missouri, leading to byzantine arrangements like the state controlling our police department. There’s a general understanding that nobody from St. Louis could go on to be governor, and we can’t even agree with our rural neighbors on how to pronounce the state name.

The temperature has been turned up a degree or two at a time for well over a hundred years and with recent events we find it at a rolling boil. Still, many don’t see a need to jump.

The perverse new congressional map guts representation in the St. Louis region, the economic engine of the state, shifting even more power to the rural areas.  Outrageously some of our region’s own “leaders” collaborated with the GOP to allow this to happen, including Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, who said she was not concerned about the Democratic Party’s objections to the eliminating of one of the region’s congressional seats, or that 75% of Missourians now find themselves in gerrymandered districts that are solidly Republican. No, as long as the new map preserved Congressman Clay’s seat she’d back it. “I’m black before I’m a Democrat” Nasheed infamously said.

Can you imagine the delight of Republican strategists upon hearing her divisive, inflammatory, racially charged statement? Not only did she give them what they wanted with the new map, she gave them an outstanding tool in their efforts to get the votes of white Independents and Democrats. As the television infomercials say, “But wait! There’s more!” The self-serving Nasheed also helped Republicans to gut Prop B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act which passed by large margins in her St. Louis district.

State leaders were more concerned about upsetting the puppy mill lobby than the people of St. Louis and Kansas City. Because of pitiful leadership St. Louis gets one less congressional seat, puppy mill dogs get less humane conditions, and Nasheed gets a coveted third floor office in Jefferson City.

Time and again the St. Louis region winds up infighting over the crumbs after the bloated Jefferson City eats its fill. St. Louis pays the bills in the state with only meager representation, and some of the region’s own representatives are merely the lapdogs of outstate Republicans.

If there were ever a time for radical thinking, this is it. In a world economy built on innovation, the Missouri state motto “Show Me” doesn’t cut it. It’s time for the St. Louis region to lead. I also think it’s time for the region to secede from Missouri.

There’s legal precedent for the separation of a portion of an existing state from the original state in order to form a new one. In 1820, Maine split off from Massachusetts and was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state. At this moment there’s an aggressive movement in Pima County, Arizona to form a new state. Hugh Holub, the founder of this movement, explains “If the original American Revolution was triggered by the colonial people feeling they didn’t have a say in the government from London….the movement to create Baja Arizona is another in a long history of people wanting not to have their lives run by people with very different values and agendas who live somewhere else.”

A similar movement has begun in South Florida.

Think of all we’re giving to a state that values backwoods puppy mill operators more than the citizens of their mightiest city. Everything from tax dollars to electoral votes. It doesn’t make sense.

I’m asking the people of this region to shake the “show me” mentality and participate in innovative discussions about the future. Research what’s going on in Pima County, brainstorm about what’s possible. Even if secession doesn’t happen maybe the discussions will serve to wake the sleeping giant that is St. Louis, leading to a revolt against the tyranny of Jefferson City.

– Chris Andoe

Chris Andoe is a writer and community organizer who has divided his time between St. Louis and San Francisco for the past decade. He earned the moniker “The Emperor of St. Louis” as the crown wearing Master of Ceremonies for the zany Metrolink Prom, where hundreds of transit supporters pack the train for the city’s biggest mobile party. Andoe writes for St. Louis’ Vital Voice.