Readers Think The Tour Of Missouri Was A Good Use Of Tourism Dollars

Last week 181 people voted in the poll:

Q: The 2010 Tour of Missouri has been canceled due to zero funding from the state, which of the following best describes your thoughts:

1. The Tour of Missouri has been a great event, bringing money into the state economy each year — a good use of tax money 97 [53.59%]
2. The Tour of Missouri has been a victim of fighting between Republicans and Democrats 36 [19.89%]
3. The Tour of Missouri has been a money pit, costing more than it made — a good decision to cancel 22 [12.15%]
4. Other answer… 14 [7.73%]
5. Unsure/no opinion 12 [6.63%]

The (14) other answers were:

1. If it’s so successful, they should plan for it’s financial viability.
2. screw the bicyclists. when do I get my own lane to drive in?
3. Killed by Nixon for a petty political vendetta. Politics at its worst.
4. Sad…
5. Even the Tour de France commentators said its a shame it got canceled
6. What a shame. Where was the money spent instead? What was the return?
7. This happened MONTHS ago. Why are you only addressing it now?
8. Jay Nixon needs to go for this! What a joke!
9. B and C
10. Not sure why this can’t be privately funded, the state gave it a good start
11. The Tour of MO should be able to fund itself by corporate donations and sponsors
12. Tourism should have cut back to $500K or so.
13. Not necessarily the best way to spend state money.
14. When the economy is bad, nonessentials get cut.

– Steve Patterson

The (former) Pedestrian Malls of Illinois

A year ago. I was starting my Capstone (thesis) for a masters in urban planning & real estate development at Saint Louis University. My focus, I decided, would be on pedestrian malls – once open streets permanently closed to vehicular traffic.

Last fall I documented roughly 160 such malls built in North America between 1959-1984. Documenting the year removed, if so, proved far more difficult than I thought. The Capstone remains unfinished.

On Friday, while driving to Chicago, I realized I should narrow my focus to the ten former pedestrian malls in the state of Illinois. A manageable number where I could collect and examine data.

So far I’ve visited Chicago (State Street), Elgin, Freeport, Rockford, Danville, Champaign, and Decatur. Last night stayed in Springfield and I’m checking out their former pedestrian mall this morning. I skipped Oak Park (inner ring Chicago suburb) because I visited there l last year. That leaves only Centrallia left to visit after today.

In visiting each of these I was amazed at how different each town is today. Big & small, college & industrial, rich & poor. Besides the failed pedestrian mall experiment, each town looks to have been repeatedly raped by urban planners, civil engineers and architects.

– Steve Patterson

[Note: This post was written on my iPad with a photo from my iPhone. Not all editing features are easily available, but I hope to produce more posts this way.]

Missouri didn’t support the Tour of Missouri for 2010

The task of the Missouri Division of Tourism is to attract tourists to visit Missouri  — and leave behind some of their money in the process.

Without $1 million dollars from the state, the organizers had to cancel the 2010 Tour of Missouri. The tourism budget is roughly $13 million.  The poll this week seeks your opinion on the canceling of the Tour of Missouri.  The poll is in the upper right corner.

– Steve Patterson

Four “county” offices up for election in 2010, only one challenged

A week from today is the Missouri primary.  In some races for State Rep and Congress there are more than a single candidate for each political party, but of the four “county” offices in the City of St. Louis this year only one of the four is challenged, and none will be challenged in the November general election.  The other three will skate through this primary and the November general without an opponent.

The three that will automatically have another four years in office are Collector of Revenue Gregory F.X. Daly, License Collector Michael McMillan, and Recorder of Deeds Sharon Quigley Carpenter.  Clerk of the Circuit Court Mariano V. Favazza is being challenged by attorney Jane Schweitzer.

The domain marianofavazza.com, registered via GoDaddy on 10/14/2008, links to unflattering articles about the incumbent Circuit Clerk.   I’ve not met challenger Jane Schweitzer but I suggest you read her issues page and see what you think.  I did not find a candidate website for Mariano Favazza. Please be sure to vote next week.  For voters in the City of St. Louis you can see sample ballots for each party at the St. Louis Board of Elections.

– Steve Patterson

Readers happy about new single stream recycling

The weekly poll last week was about the city’s new trash collection fee:

Q: St. Louis has just started a trash fee of $11 per month per unit. Which of the following two best describes your reaction:

1. Glad single-stream recycling was added 75 [37.69%]
2. The fee is fair for the service provided 39 [19.6%]
3. Other taxes being collected to the city should cover trash collection 20 [10.05%]
4. I don’t mind the fee as long as they continue picking up twice per week 17 [8.54%]
5. I live outside the city and pay for my trash collection. 15 [7.54%]
6. Multi-family buildings should pay a lower fee per unit than single family houses 11 [5.53%]
7. I pay for private trash collection through my condo fee (or similar) 8 [4.02%]
8. The city went to once per week collection for a bit just so $11/month for twice a week wouldn’t seem so bad. 7 [3.52%]
9. Unsure/no opinion 4 [2.01%]
10. Other answer… 3 [1.51%]

Voters were allowed to vote for two answers.  No matter their view on the fee, they liked the recycling.  Had the recycling not been added I think we would have seen a revolt.

The three other answers were:

1. I MAYBE trash 1 bag/2 weeks. Everything else is composted/recycled.
2. I think the whole thing is crap.
3. If we would work on increasing the population

Share your thoughts on the fee below.

– Steve Patterson