St. Louis needs a parking meter upgrade

The collection of change from city parking meters is a full-time job, I must see this happening here on Locust Ave at least once per week.  One person walks to each meter while a van follows.  Recently increased parking rates requires $2 for two hours of time.  That is a lot of change.

The better way is a couple of meters per block that accept bills and credit cards.

The city did a brief test on these meters on South Grand in 2006.  The Treasurer’s office that controls parking revenue in St. Louis quickly ruled these a failure.  I personally love them.

– Steve Patterson

Readers have mixed views on local control of St. Louis Police

One of the biggest current issues is the push for local control of the St. Louis Police. This was the topic of the poll last week:

Q: The STL police has been controlled by Missouri since the civil war. How would local control impact police corruption?

1. Hard to say but corruption should be addressed here rather than in Jefferson City: 73 [50%]
2. Would be more corrupt under local control: 33 [22%]
3. Would be just as corrupt under local control: 24 [16%]
4. Would be less corrupt under local control: 7 [4%]
5. Unsure: 5 [3%]
6. Other answer… 2 [1%]

Half were unsure if corruption would be more or less under local control but it should be addresses locally rather than at the Missouri capital in Jefferson City. If you ask the man on the street if citizens should have control over their own police force most would agree.  So what is the holdup?  The police themselves don’t want a new boss.  The following in the full statement of the Saint Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA):

ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICER’S ASSOCIATION IS AGAINST

SB675, SB 643 AND HB1601

(LOCAL CONTROL OF THE ST. LOUIS POLICE DEPARTMENT)

Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis City politicians are not genuine in their attempt to gain control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD). They cite that the Police Department will be more accountable to the City of St. Louis, and that the City will be more financially sound, if the City takes control of the Police Department. However, the slanderous campaign organized by Mayor Slay, his political allies and his supporters is misleading and its purpose is to create a false sense of panic among the citizens that live and visit St. Louis, and sway STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES.

– The Mayor is an Ex-Officio member of the Board of Police Commissioners. The mayor has input into every decision made. The remaining four members are prominent St. Louis City residents.

· St. Louis City government has direct fiscal oversight of the SLMPD; it sets the Police Department’s budget. In fact the City of St. Louis reduced the Police Department’s budget last year, which directly forced the Police Department to reduce manpower by over 100 officers.

· The hidden agenda of Mayor Slay, his political allies and his supporters is to gain control of the SLMPD Pension System. They claim the pension system, along with the Fire Department and Civil Service pension systems, will bankrupt the city. They claim that city employees do not contribute to the pension systems. While this is true for the Civil Service system, Firemen contribute 8% and Police Officers contribute 7% of their salaries. WE DO CONTRIBUTE. In fact it is quite apparent with the recent ballot initiatives filed, in essence by Mayor Slay, that their true intention is to obtain control of our pension system.

· Mayor Slay, his political allies and his supporters cannot answer our one simple question: “How will City control make the SLMPD a better department”? The fact is crime was reduced this past year and has decreased each of the last three years. St. Louis City politics will interfere with the day-to-day operation of the Police Department. The mayor, 28 alderpersons, and other appointed and elected officials, will have direct influence on the daily workings of the Police Officers.

· The structure of St. Louis City government has not adapted to the decrease in population of the City. The structure, which has been in place for over 100 years, continues to mandate the same number of Alderpersons today with roughly 350,000 residents as opposed to when this government was first formed with twice the population.

· St. Louis City government has grossly mismanaged most, if not all, departments under its control, as determined by State Auditor Susan Montee. The audits of The Department of Public Safety, The Streets Department, and Lambert International Airport, to name a few, all have serious monetary discrepancies and procedural inefficiencies.

· A financial analysis of the City of St. Louis conducted by PolicePay.net demonstrates the financial constraints of the City of St. Louis are caused by the poor fiscal management of Mayor Slay and City Politicians and not influenced by the SLMPD. The audit clearly shows that police protection for the City of St. Louis is not a priority of the Mayor. The audit cites:

“Police Expenditures, per capita, are up 12.45% during the last 13 years when adjusted for inflation. Total expenditures per capita have increased 52.91% over the last 13 years. Most of this growth is by design. It is not being caused by uncontrollable forces.”

“This is very rare, most cities since the 1990’s have spent more in terms of growth on public safety and police then all expenditures as a whole. St. Louis is the total opposite as all expenditures have increased at over 4 times the growth rate then Police expenditures. It is clear that the City of St. Louis has many other main priorities then Police Protection.”

· Local control of the St. Louis Police Department and the Police Retirement System will negatively impact the City’s ability to recruit and retain quality police personnel, as well as other City staff.

The members of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, and its retirees, ask that you please oppose any legislation relating to control of the Police Department or the Police Retirement System.

So what do we do? Nothing? I support both local control as well as protecting the officers’ pension.  I fully agree with one of their observations above; “The structure of St. Louis City government has not adapted to the decrease in population of the City. The structure, which has been in place for over 100 years, continues to mandate the same number of Alderpersons today with roughly 350,000 residents as opposed to when this government was first formed with twice the population.” I don’t think the structure is over 100 years old but their point is valid.  They don’t want to be managed by the current city government.  Any bills before the state legislature to return control of the police to St. Louis should be tied to charter reform.  We need to do both — revise our outmoded municipal government and control the police from within our city limits.

– Steve Patterson

Would local control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police reduce corruption?

When St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was sworn into his third term last year he mentioned local control of the St. Louis Police as a priority. For those readers not aware of the back story, during the Civil War pro-Confederate Missouri took control of the police in pro-Union St. Louis.  The state has yet to return control of the police to the local citizens. Four out of five police commissioners are appointed by the governor, the 5th is the current mayor.

Last week we learned that Police commissioner Vince Bommarito made a phone call and his nephew was released from police custody after he was arrested.

On Thursday Democrat Jamilah Nasheed asked Governor Jay Nixon to take the action following news that Bommarito used his influence to have his nephew freed from jail Saturday following an arrest on suspicion of drunk driving.Nasheed is sponsoring a bill that would return the St. Louis police department to local control after a century and a half of state oversight.  (KWMU: State Rep. wants police board member removed)

I support local control of the St. Louis Police but I don’t think it will lesson any potential corruption. It may, in fact, increase it.  But problems big or small need to be handled from within, by the people we elect to represent us.  Yes, the Missouri governor represents us, but the rest of the state as well. Maybe the state will make a deal — give us back our police if we reform our own city charter?  The current city structure would do no better a job with the police than the state government.  The state has an interest in seeing the city revise it’s outdated city charter.  The ransom demands might include eliminating an excessive number of elected offices, cutting out wasteful partisan primary elections, and doing away with the Board of Estimate & Apportionment.

The poll this week asks how local control would change corruption.  Please vote in the poll in the upper right corner and share your thoughts on the topic below.

– Steve Patterson

Conservatives can support public transit on April 6th

Liberals do not hold a monopoly on supporting public transportation.   Thanks to a post on Sprawled Out I learned of an interview by Street Films with conservative author William S. Lind.  Some of his points include:

• Auto dominance in the U.S. is not a free market outcome
• Liberal transit advocates should not mention reduction of greenhouse gases when talking transit to conservatives
• Libertarian anti-transit critics use wrong measurements
• “When you tax one competitor and subsidize the other the subsidized competitor wins.”

Here is the video (3:21 minutes):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q9zeJnCx6Q

I often find myself agreeing with fiscal conservatives — and disagreeing with Libertarians.

“Conservatives And Public Transportation”Conservatives and Public Transportation” is a collection of studies originally published between 1997 and 2009 in booklet form by the American Public Transportation Association. The book includes a previously unpublished report on the activities of the National Surface Transportation Commission, appointed by Congress in 2005 to examine the infrastructure needs of this country. Weyrich served on the commission and wrote language that strongly supported public transportation for the commission’s final report. That language, which had been adopted on a 9-3 vote, was excised from the final report.The studies helped conservatives understand why transit should be an essential part of the conservative agenda: because it enhances national security, promotes economic development, helps maintain conservative values including a sense of community, and provides welfare recipients with access to jobs.”  (Reconnecting America)

More:

“The Free Congress Foundation has established The Center for Public Transportation under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to offer a re-balanced vision of the national transportation system in which rail and highway travel complements each other. Some journeys will always be more convenient by car. But Americans should be able to travel from any point in the country to any other point without using a car, if they so choose. They had that option as recently as the 1950s. By re-creating it, we can ensure that America is not held hostage by crises in the Middle East or other oil-producing areas.”  (Free Congress Foundation)

Conservative or liberal, there are reasons to support good mass transit.

-Steve Patterson

Changes to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in my lifetime, future change proposed

Every ten years, following each national census, the boundaries of St. Louis’ 28 wards are redrawn. The map above is based on the 1960 census.   UPDATE 2/8/2010 4:25PM:  the map above reflects changes following a 1965 lawsuit that challenged the way the maps were drawn. Prior to 1965 districts were based on the number of registered voters, not the number of residents.

The map below (rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise) is the current map based on the 2000 census.

Most wards are still in the approximate same location while a handful are in completely different parts of the city.  The idea is for each ward to contain the same number of residents.  Areas that lose more people than others will see the physical size of the ward grow.

The ward map at the top is from a 1967 book published by the St. Louis Public schools explaining the election process: We Elect! The story of St. Louis Government and Politics.  It was published in the year I was born, 1967.  They met at 11am on Fridays wheres they meet at 10am Fridays currently, not sure when that changed.  Looking through the information in the book I decided I needed to put it in a table to see it in one place.

Some interesting things jump out at me:

• Five new members were elected in 1967, three of which were Republicans (ward # shown in red).  One Republican is on the current board, first elected way back in 1979.
• Eight members (29%) were Black.  Currently the board has 12 black members (43%) plus Board President Lewis Reed.
• Only two female members (7%), both Black.  The current board has eight females (29%) split evenly between Black & White.
• 32% (9/28) of the members had served 12 or more years.   Today 46% (13/28) have served 12 or more years.
• Only one (4%) had served 20 years.  Today seven (25%) have served 20 or more years.
• The average length of service was 7.5 years in 1967.  In 2010 it is 11.45 years, a 53% increase!

Elsewhere in the book the committeeman & committeewomen were listed for each ward. Every ward (except the 21st) had both Democrats & Republicans in place. We had somewhat of a two-party city in 1967.  Today we have a one party city yet we hold primary & general elections.  In one party elections holding a primary & general elections is just a huge waste of limited money.   With service cuts to reduce the city budget holding unnecessary partisan primaries is a luxury we just can’t afford.   I’d like a lawyer out there to contact me to see what it would take to switch our city elections to non-partisan.  I’d love a measure on the ballot during an an upcoming election, such as November 2010.

I know many of you are not fans of term limits but I see a need for a limit of say five terms/20 years.  Two decades is plenty of time to get into office, learn the ropes, and have an impact before passing the torch onto the next generation.

I will be on KDHX (88.1FM) tonight (Monday 2/8/2010) at 8:30pm discussing this and other local issues.

– Steve Patterson