Who cares about ward boundaries?

The boundaries of St. Louis’ 28 wards change every 10 years, following the decennial census. The idea is each ward should have the same number of residents after redistricting.  But does anyone care about where the lines are drawn? Does anyone care if a business relocates from one ward to another within the city? The answer is yes, some aldermen obsess about the ward they represent to the point a property across the street from the ward doesn’t matter to them. This provincial way of thinking hurts the city as a whole.

In May Ald Kacie Starr Triplett tweeted the following from @KacieStarr:

“Patricia Stevens College is relocating to the 6th Ward. That’s approx 200-300 college students walking, visiting, shopping in downtown”. 6:53 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

Wow, 200-300 more people downtown!  Wait, where are they relocating from? Oh, from North 4th St, less than a mile away and also downtown.  They are leaving the current 7th ward and moving to the 6th ward, not really a gain.  Someone walking from the old location to the new location would pass through a bit of the 5th Ward on the way. Most of our aldermen are guilty of this.

I’m very pleased Stevens Institute rehabbed a building near me for their new facility, I just wish our aldermen weren’t so narrowly focused on their 3.6% of the city. We need elected officials who will view the city as a whole and work to improve 100% of the city.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: St Charles County is considering banning bikes from some state highways

The poll this week is about bicycling:

Q: St Charles County is considering banning bikes from some state highways

More info:

A bill that would ban bicyclists from using state highways in southwestern St. Charles County will be introduced during the St. Charles County Council’s meeting Monday night.

Councilman Joe Brazil, R-District 2, requested the bill.

“We spend millions of dollars a year on parks and trails,” Brazil said in a news release issued by the county. “The bicyclists need to stay on the trails that were made for bikes and off the roads in southwest St. Charles County.”

The proposed ordinance would prohibit bicycles on highways DD, D, F and Z and Highway 94 from its intersection with Highway 40 west to the county line. The ordinance would apply to highways that lack shoulders or bicycle lanes.  (Full story)

The poll is in the upper right hand corner.  Please vote and add any comments you have below.

– Steve Patterson

Many readers pleased with Judge Dierker’s ruling on the NorthSide TIF

Last week there were 314 votes in the weekly poll.
Q: How do you feel about Judge Dierker tossing out the $390m TIF for Paul McKee’s $8.1b NorthSide project?

1. Great, now voters need to toss out the Aldermen that voted in favor of the TIF 113 35.99%
2. Bad, the area needs redevelopment 56 17.83%
3. Mixed feelings 53 16.88%
4. Good, too much public subsidy 49 15.61%
5. Horrible, TIF is a good way for the public to partner in such a project 32 10.19%
6. Other answer… 8 2.55%
7. Unsure/no opinion 3 0.96%

Other Responses were:

1. the area needs the development but Mckee could have gotten a sum thru investors
2. The idea was a bold and positive one. The TIF was too large of an area, however.
3. Great, plan wasn’t concrete enough; not enough guarantee of financial succe
4. New ordinances needed
5. Paul McKee had not an ounce of good intentions for the area in question, greed.
6. Good – a new plan w/ more community-based redevelopment needs to be made.
7. We need the north side redevelope.
8. Good: Needs more details

So what to make of these votes? I personally fall into the “mixed feelings” group, although I wouldn’t mind seeing many of our elected officials replaced with some fresh faces. The city stopped setting a vision for much of the area in the large TIF boundary, something had to be done.  I share the feeling that the community should have input into the planning of such a large area of the city.  McKee says the project will move forward:

In his 51-page ruling, Dierker raised questions about the development’s economic projections, the city’s approval process, city officials’ reliance on market studies provided by the developer and McKee’s ability to pull off the project and deliver on his promises to transform 1,500 acres. McKee wants to partner with homebuilders and other developers to build up to 4.5 million square feet of office space, 1 million square feet of retail space, 2,200 new single-family homes and 7,800 apartments over the next two decades – a plan that Dierker said puts the “idea of rosy scenarios to shame.”  Full story: Paul McKee: ‘I’m too German and too Irish to walk away from it’ – St. Louis Business Journal

Stay tuned!

– Steve Patterson

Poll: new $11/month trash fee per unit

If you own property in the City of St. Louis you are probably aware of the new trash collection fee:

Mayor Francis Slay has signed a new $11-a-month fee for trash pick-up in the city.

This is the first time time residents will have to pay an additional fee for the service, which was previously funded with tax dollars from the city’s general revenue. But bulk pick-up and yard waste are included, as is single-stream recycling, a new service.

The fee, which will be included on water bills, is charged per unit. Opponents said it would hit elderly residents the hardest, especially those who may live in a two-family building they own. Water rates also went up 12 percent on July 1. (Source: St. Louis Public Radio)

Many are not pleased, others say it is a fair way to help offset a major budget shortfall.

The city struggled for a way to avoid charging for trash collection, said Barbara Geisman, executive director of development for the mayor’s office. But with the city facing a serious budget shortfall and with officials wanting to add a citywide recycling program, that wasn’t possible, she said.

In alleys, new blue containers for recyclables would join yard waste containers and containers for trash.

“You can put your cans and your paper and your glass all in that blue dumpster,” Geisman said.

The existing twice-a-week trash pickup, weekly yard waste pickup during spring, summer and fall and monthly bulk refuse pickup would continue.

The program would affect about 139,000 houses, apartments and condominiums. Buildings that now have private pickup would not be affected. (Source: Suburban Journals)

Condo associations, like mine, have always paid for private trash collection and recycling.  The poll this week is trying to get a sense of how you, the reader, feels about the issue.  The poll is located at the top of the sidebar to the right.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: thoughts on Judge Dierker’s ruling on the NorthSide TIF

You’ve probably heard the news by now:

“A St. Louis judge threw out a city ordinance Friday that authorized $390 million in tax increment financing — the largest in the city’s history — for Paul McKee Jr.’s $8.1 billion NorthSide redevelopment.”

Full story: Judge nixes $390M in financing for McKee’s NorthSide – St. Louis Business Journal