Sine Die at the Board of Aldermen

Today is Sine Die at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen:

Adjournment sine die (from the Latin “without day”) means “without any future date being designated for resumption” or “indefinitely”. It is often used with reference to meetings or when an organized body’s existence terminates.  (source)

In short, today is the last meeting of the old Board.  For three members today is their last meeting as an elected official.  Ald. Hanrahan & Ald. Kirner both opted not to run for reelection.  Ald. Bennice Jones King was defeated in the Primary by Antonio French.

Tomorrow 4/21/09 is the first meeting of the new session.  The winners in the odd-numbered wards will be sworn into new 4-year terms.  For 11 of the 14 it is just a continence of prior terms.  But three new members will officially become Aldermen tomorrow:

• 21st Ward -  Friend and fellow blogger Antonio French
• 23rd Ward – Political insider & car wash owner Joe Vacarro
• 25th Ward – Shane Cohn, a friend and the first openly gay elected official in St. Louis city government

The testosterone level in our legislative branch will change.  Three seats held by women will now be held by the men listed above.  The old board had 11 women and 17 men — or a 40/60 ratio.  Tomorrow it will have 8 women and 20 men.  Not that gender matters.  The racial composition of the Board will be unchanged tomorrow — 16 white and 12 black (57/43).

What about political party?  After all we went through a partisan primary.  Well, the political party composition of the board remains unchanged.  It remains 27 Democrats and 1 Republican.

Last week the Democratic members held a caucus to determine seniority among members elected at the same time.  I’m not sure how it turned out.  Ald Heitert has been on the Board the longest but, as the only non-Democrat, he has the least seniority.

Also on the agenda tomorrow, Darlene Green will be sworn in again as Comptroller.  Francis Slay will begin his 3rd term as Mayor.

Friday May 1st is the first full business meeting of the new Board.

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Poll; Local Politics on the Small Screen

The poll for this week is about your TV viewing habits.  Specifically, if you watch the St. Louis Board of Aldermen on the city’s channel 10 on cable, STL TV.

STL TV provides government related informational television programs to the residents of the City of St. Louis. The channel, which is available to basic cable subscribers, serves as a vital link in making local government more accessible to the community via cable television.

STL TV is operated 24-hours daily and has logged thousands of production hours in pursuit of its mission to inform, educate and promote City government operations.

For the past several years, STL TV has produced original programs tailored to inform and promote the City of St. Louis. Weekly coverage of the Board of Aldermen meetings (beginning in 1993), Mayoral Press Conferences, public events and other government-related programming has been a major function of STL TV since 1991.

Do you watch the weekly live broadcast of the Board of Aldermen?  Do you get TV10?  The poll is located in the upper right corner of the main page.

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Proposed Smoking Ban Ordinance for St. Louis City

Normally I’d not do another smoking related post so soon after the one earlier this week.  But, I agreed to publish the proposed ordinance to ban smoking in the City Of St. Louis.  28th Ward Alderman Lyda Krewson sent along the following note with the draft board bill:

Attached is a draft of a proposed smoke free air ordinance I plan to introduce soon.

I hope you will consider joining me in this effort.  Most states already have smoke free air legislation, including our neighbors, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska & Arkansas… and of course, well known places such as California, New York, France and Ireland.

The following link gives a quick map and summary of the current laws in the U.S.  All but 15 states have some form of smoking ban, to provide smoke free air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States

Many think this legislation should be done at the state level, and frankly I agree.  But Missouri is unlikely to move this forward.  Many legislators consider it a ‘city issue’.  Kansas City, Columbia, Kirksville, Nixa and others already have a broad smoking ban.

It seems clear to me that Mo’s largest city needs to provide leadership on this issue!

The science is clear… second hand smoke causes or exacerbates a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.  Banning smoking in public work environments is about the health of workers… not about smokers.  About smoke… not smokers.    It is a health safety issue, not a social issue.

The attached draft Board Bill says that  it will become effective in the City, when St Louis County passes a similar ordinance. I am not interested in creating an advantage/disadvantage for a city vs. county establishment.  Let’s take the leadership role on this. Maybe we can move the whole state?

I look forward to our discussions about this ordinance.  The pressure not to do it will be heavy…   I hope you will join me in this effort.

Thanks Lyda

Lyda Krewson
28th Ward Alderman

314-231-7318 (work)
314 607 3452 (cell)
lyda.krewson@pgav.com

You can view a PDF of the proposed bill here.  One of the most important clauses is on the last page:

SECTION SIXTEEN. Effective Date
This Ordinance shall be effective on such date that a similar smoking ban ordinance becomes effective in St. Louis County, Missouri.

So we can pass the ordinance in the city but until St. Louis County passes a similar bill we will keep things as is.  This prevents the challenge of city establishments losing customers to the county.  Read the language and share your thoughts in the comments section because Alderman Krewson will be reading them.

Coleman Must Face the Results

This week it became clear that Coleman didn’t have enough votes for a victory.

I’m speaking, of course, about Norm Coleman of Minnesota.  The recount in November’s U.S. Senate is favoring Democratic challenger Al Franken.  Humorist Franken is now leading Republican Coleman by 312 votes, an increase over his narrow 225 vote lead in November.

On Tuesday, 351 once-rejected absentee ballots were counted and broke for Franken (source).

In other Coleman news from Tuesday, former Missouri State Senator Maida Coleman did not prevent Francis Slay from becoming the 4th St. Louis Mayor to be elected to a third 4-year term.

Back in Minnesota, Norm Coleman needs to accept the reality that he lost to Al Franken by a tiny margin.

Spending Money on the Way Out the Door

Four years ago, in March 2005, I lost my bid to become Alderman for the 25th Ward.  My opponent was Dorothy Kirner, the incumbent.  Kirner had won the office through a special election in 2004 when the previous Alderman, her husband Dan Kirner, died while in office.

I ran on the premise that I’d do something. I didn’t win.  Kirner was elected to a full term.  She did something  — she hoarded $625K in capital improvement money rather than, you know, make needed capital improvements in the ward.

Alderman Dorothy Kirner incurred the anger of a neighborhood group when she approved a repaving package for her ward that includes $21,600 to repave two blocks in front of her house.

The allocation is part of $409,600 in capital spending she signed off on recently to repave parts of 12 streets in her 25th Ward.

Chris Wintrode of the West Dutchtown Neighborhood Association said there’s more pressing needs and that she didn’t obtain comment from the residents, some of whom have other concerns.

“The issue’s not that Alderwoman Kirner has no authority to spend money in the account. It’s that she’s secretly spending taxpayer money less than a month before she leaves office resurfacing the road in front of her house,” Wintrode said.

The repaving money came from a $624,469 reserve built up from 25th Ward capital money not spent for several years. Kirner is free to allocate it as long as it is spent on public property or a public right-of-way.  (source: Suburban Journal on 4/7/09)

So Kirner hoarded $625K over her four years in office and then spent 2/3 of it in her final month.  Why wait until you are a lame duck?

I should note that some money was spent in her four years.  Streets were repaved.  Beautiful brick alleys were covered in asphalt.  Sidewalk repairs were made.  Dumpsters were replaced.  But six hundred twenty-five grand was not spent.  Amazing!

The Dutchtown West Neighborhood Association has listed all 28 wards in both numerical order and in money unspent (link).  As of December 2008, the 25th’s $624,469 placed it second to the 1st ward with $745,617 in unspent money.  On the other end of the scale the 18th & 24th wards have fully exhausted their allotments.  The city’s fiscal year ends on June 30th.

The city’s 1st ward is located on the Northside and includes the intersection of Kingshighway & Natural Bridge.

The total unspent funds was nearly $5.5 million!  Are these wards so perfect we have no projects worth doing?  Aldermen too afraid of Eliot Davis questioning the use of the money allocated for capital improvements?

The city could certainly benefit from $5+ million in capital improvements.  I can think of many things likely needed in these wards with stockpiles of money.  Bike racks, street trees and ADA curb ramps come to mind.  Street furnishings like trash receptacles and benches are also good projects, in the right spots.  Parks always need improving as well.