Ald. Florida Calls Urban Review a “Stupid Blog”

Yes, in today’s Post-Dispatch Ald. Florida says, “It took me half an hour to find his stupid blog.” Stupid? Even those that often disagree with my views would most likely not characterize this site as stupid — as in “lacking intelligence or common sense” per one dictionary I consulted. I won’t even comment on taking a half hour to find my blog…

What I think Ald. Florida, and so many other elected officials find frustrating, is they no longer control the flow of information. In the old days, they’d go to neighborhood meetings and tell people A) as little as possible and B) what they wanted to hear. Few citizens would talk to each other about a proposal so even if some thought a plan was a bad idea they had no clue if they were the only ones that felt that way. If they thought it was bad they were not sure how to go about changing or stopping a proposal. Neighborhood newsletters did little to change things because by the time word got around the deals were done. Email had a big impact but only if you had a good list of contacts or an active listserve. A searchable website, on the other hand, is perfect for communicating to the masses. I have more readers each month than an alderman has total constituents.

Society today is increasingly interested in urbanity. Many are realizing the “suburban experiment” is nearly over and an urban existence is the way to go. My site and others provides a timely forum for discussion and debate of these relevant issues. Again, our elected officials are basically left out of the discussion because they continue to hold on to the way things were done when they were first elected. Many are a good two decades behind the times.

On the issue of the McDonald’s, as quoted in today’s paper:

“I really don’t know what I could have done differently,” Florida said. “I attend to the ward as if it were my own child.”

Really? Now what could she have done differently? Well, she could have started with telling Pyramid & McDonald’s that drive-thrus are against the redevelopment plan for South Grand from Utah down to Meremec and held firm that any such facilities would need to be limited to physical locations that have already had them. In other words, the bulk of the area has never had drive-thru restaurants and that should be enforced. She didn’t do that.

Ald. Florida will correctly argue this is a “private land swap” and they could do the deal without her. While it is true they could exchange real estate the problem with her logic in this case is the variance needed for the drive-thru. At the hearing in February Ald. Florida acted pretty much as the project’s spokesperson in full support of the variance over the objections of many residents that will be directly impacted. So, once again Ald. Florida had another chance to do something different — oppose the variance request rather than enthusiastically support it.

If she attends to the ward like her own child then it is clear she’ll sell out all the neighbor kids to make her own kid happy in the short term. She is even quoted as saying, “”Patterson went after my children,” which is pretty humorous considering they were the ones that came after me on my site (read post).

Ald. Florida has simply dug in her heals on this one, not wanting to consider the many alternative solutions offered by myself and others (see alternates). When Ald. Craig Schmid, who represents the bulk of the residents that will be affected by the relocation spoke against it, she voted against another bill that she was co-sponsoring with Schmid. Voting against legislation you co-sponsor over a disagreement on another issue is simply petty. Is this how we want our elected officials conducting business on our behalf?

The flap could ultimately cost Florida her job, as opponents galvanized by the McDonald’s debate move forward with a push to remove her from office.

This may well happen. Ald. Florida wants to blame me but she really has only herself to blame. I didn’t tell Gravois Park residents the McDonald’s would not be located on the former Sears site all the while planning for just that. I didn’t conceal drawings for the site plan at a Dutchtown meeting two days prior to the public hearing. I didn’t speak at public hearings over the wishes of the residents. I didn’t sponsor legislation to effectively spot zone the parcel to remove the no drive-thru clause from the redevelopment plan nor did I think it was OK to place a drive-thru on land acquired using federal tax dollars. I didn’t take the maximum contributions allowed from the officers of developer Pyramid Companies. Ald. Florida’s actions on the McDonald’s and other issues over the last five years have gotten her exactly where she is today, in the midst of a recall campaign. It is unfortunate that citizens have been forced to take such drastic measures to have a sense of checks and balances.

You see, in our municipal government we don’t have checks and balances. The other aldermen simply “defer” to the wishes of a singular aldermen when it comes to development issues. The will of one person often rules. Ald. Florida is attempting to say this issue is out of her hands. Interesting viewpoint since she has lobbied hard to get the necessary variance for the drive-thru and most likely will do so again on June 21, 2006 when the Board of Adjustment meets again on this issue (1:30pm, room 208 City Hall). I seriously doubt she’ll walk into that hearing and say she is withdrawing her support given all the information that has surfaced.

The McDonald’s is among several local stores operated by Jim Proctor, who says the move is necessary to build a new restaurant with an updated design.

I just love how these folks try to twist the truth around. Moving the franchise is not necessary to build a new restaurant. They’ve got a site. It may need to be re-graded and perhaps have a retaining wall added to achieve what they want. But to say they must move or close is false and is simply a tactic to get myself and others to capitulate. Since 1996 it has been recognized the area was blighted and it is the many auto-centric establishments that has made it so. We should not allow drive-thru restaurants to establish themselves anywhere they happen to buy land. Allowing them to locate anywhere is far to dangerous for the health of the street yet forcing them to leave is too harsh. The reasonable middle ground is to allow them to rebuild on their current sites.

Florida’s dilemma highlights the city’s shifting political landscape.

The landscape has changed. Myself and other citizens are tired of the status quo and some are not willing to wait until the next election cycle to take action. We are a city. We should look and act like a city. If the folks in office currently are not willing to work with those of us they are supposed to represent then we will simply replace each and every one. My role, as an urbanist, is to highlight the various issues and illustrate how politics is getting in the way of good urbanism. The tired tradition of aldermanic courtesy is not more important than the physical rebuilding and subsequent re-population of our city. Those in office & administrative jobs need to either adapt or get out of our way.

– Steve

Who Can It Be Knocking At My Door

One of the best things about having such a well-read website is all the feedback I get — both the pro & con. I love nothing better than a good debate on issues. Of course, some comments have little to do with the actual issue and simply seek to bash me. I’m pretty thick skinned so I can handle it. Such was the case with this comment a couple of weeks ago:

From “James” on 5/13/06:

I think it is fortunate for Steve Patterson that this is a Blog. It is human nature to give more credibility to items that are read than those heard by word of mouth. For this reason, Steve is able to present himself as a Journalist in order to gain credibility all the while using this sight for his own personal gain. It is really kind of clever because Steve can write absolutely anything he wants and people will read it and think because of the lay-out it is true. Talk about self-serving.. tell me Steve.. are you planning on moving to the 15th ward anytime soon? I heard forces outside of the Ward may render it alderman-less pretty soon.. maybe if you could run opposed the people would be idiotic enough to elect you.

A couple of hours later I got the following comment, sent from the same location [computer IP, unknown physical location] as “James” from above.

From “Megan” on 5/13/06:

I am a Journalism student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I heard about your blog through various sources and I decided to check it out.
Recently, in one of my Journalism classes we discussed the dangers of blogging to the field of Convergence Journalism. The Convergence field of Journalism is a newly recognized (it is the first year this sequence has been offered at MIZZOU) sequence that focuses mostly on Online Publishing and Online Periodicals (CBSNews.com, etc). The problem of blogging is that in creating a blog and deeming it a title so decidedly journalistically inclined as the “Urban Review” you are lending a false credibility to yourself and, in essence, misleading those who may misinterpret your articles as truth instead of simply your opinion. I am sure that you think that you are very unbiased but the truth is that as a Journalism student I am horrified at what blogs like yours will mean for the future of Convergence Journalism. I can see that you have been praised by several in my future chosen field, but I am simply horrified and insulted by your irresponsible use of a blog for your own ulterior motives.

The above two comments were among a total of 70 on this post from May 10th. Yesterday I get another comment from the same location [cryptic IP, unknown physical location] answering another commenter’s question from a different post about what Metamora has to do with Jennifer Florida.

From Ian on 5/31/06:

Michael Allen

The comment about Metamora is a reference to where she was raised. She was born in Peoria Illinois and was on the road with her father and mother until middle school, when her parents settled down. She lived there until she graduated from college. Metamora is located about twenty five miles South East of Peoria, it has a population of roughly three thousand, however, due largely to many residents of Peoria leaving the city, Metamora’s population has been steadily growing.

So Ian is posting from the same location as James & Megan. Interesting. And who is this Ian with email address ief919@truman.edu? Well, I believe that would be one of Jennifer Florida’s children, Ian Florida.

Today Ian posted another comment, this time on the post about the ACC;

Doug Duckworth

Your assertion that citizens are moving out of the area because of the “botched” redevelopment of the Sear’s site is absurd. People have been leaving this city for many years, just look at the population statistics and crime rate and you’ll see for yourself why. The city’s crime rate has risen from roughly 38,000 in 2000 to
over 45,000 according to the most recent estimate. While at the same time the population has dropped from 396,685 in 1990 to 348K in 2000 and is now hovering just under 340K. It would be much more rational to draw a correlation and subsequantly attempt to prove a causation between crime and people fleeing the city than your supposition that its all Florida and McDonalds.

So this leaves me wondering, who are “James” and “Megan?” Also, does Ian Florida share his mother’s view that a new McDonald’s will help reduce crime?

The soap opera that is the McDonald’s on Grand continues….

[UPDATE 6/2/06 @ 4am – I added a bit of clarification to the above shown in brackets. I have no clue as to the physical location of the single IP address where these came from, nor do I really care. Nor do I know about 99% of the visitors/commenters to the site. I have not done any research on her kids, an there are many, and only know Ian is her son because she mentioned him at the SSNB ribbon cutting on Wednesday. For all of you that want to think I’ve been doing major digging get over it already — I simply observed four comments came from the same computer location of an unknown physical location. Without her mentioning her son at a public event I would not have been able to know that was who posted. ]

[UPDATE 6/2/06 @ 5:30am – please see my next post on privacy policy.

– Steve

Olive: One Street, One Neighborhood, Two Wards

The Northern edge of the Central West End is a maze of street barricades. Nowhere is this more visible than the view where Washington & Olive come together just East of Euclid. This view is looking Eastbound along Washington (left) and Olive (right). Click here to view a map.

I wrote about this recently (see post) and since then I’ve had some calls & emails on the subject. As a result, I’ve done some additional research and want to discuss this further.

So here is the fun part. Olive, a once great road, is politically divided. One side of the street from Boyle Westward is in the 18th Ward (Terry Kennedy) and the other is in the 28th Ward (Lyda Krewson). Both sides of the street, however, are fully within the Central West End neighborhood. From an urban perspective the issues relating to the rebirth of this street do not fall into line with ward boundaries.

What is the big deal?

Say you are visiting the Green Market located on Washington just East of Euclid and you see the new Bowood Farms just down Olive. You can certainly walk from one to the other but barriers tend to have the “wrong side of the tracks” connotation. Here, one wonders, which is the good side and which is the bad side?

In the past barriers were used to help stabilize an area but of late these barriers have become such an established fixture they are now, in my view, preventing revitalization from expanding into formerly neglected areas. The view at right is a close up of Olive at Walton. On the left of the picture you are in the 18th Ward and on the right you are in the 28th Ward. Same street, same intersection. If one alderman has their barriers removed you’ll just see folks driving around the remaining ones to go the direction they want.

Olive East of Walton has seen some hard times. Lots of buildings have been razed over the years but many hopeful signs exist. I think these barriers are preventing this area from reaching its potential. People who need to get from A to B will find a way to do it. Right now I think that puts additional traffic along McPherson between Euclid and N. Taylor.

Just to the East of the above as we approach N. Taylor we see the remains of what was once a thriving neighborhood shopping district. A number of buildings have been renovated but they are still not fully connected to the neighborhood due to the barriers along Olive. Again, each side of the street is a different aldermanic ward.

A former school, Field School, is being renovated into apartments. An old apartment building next door is being converted into condos. This is all just East of N. Taylor. With all these new residential units coming onto line soon it is a perfect opportunity to connect this area to Euclid via Olive.

Further East along Olive we get to Newstead. This is in the 28th Ward and Newstead is closed to Olive, sorta. The private parking lot on the left of this picture has access to both Newstead and Olive — cars & trucks are simply cutting through to avoid the street closure. This shows a couple of things, people will find ways to get around street closures and that a need exists to get people from place to place — enough of a demand that we need to look at reopening these various closures.

It would be nice to see Ald. Kennedy & Ald. Krewston work together with local residents, business owners and the city’s planning staff to come up with some sort of plan for the area rather than just leaving barriers in place simply because they’ve been there for decades. Both Ald. Kennedy & Ald. Krewson are up for re-election in March 2007.

Additional photos in this area can be seen on Flickr.

– Steve

Arch City Chronicle Misses Mark on McDonald’s & Recall

Most of you are probably familiar with the Arch City Chronicle — both the on again/off again print edition as well as the online blog. While the McDonald’s issue has been going on for several months now the print edition of the ACC has remained quiet on the issue until this past edition. Let’s take a look at their coverage from “The Inside Dirt” section:

The 15th ward recall might usurp the 4th district as the most fascinating political play this year. Jennifer Florida, who supported the stadium deal, fought charter reform, and made cozy in Slay’s camp; was unopposed last year for reelection. Now she’s the subject of a recall because a McDonald’s wants to move across the street?

Oh I get it, a clever way of saying the McDonald’s isn’t such a big deal relative to all her other wrong-doings. Perhaps. But this shows a complete lack of understanding about what motivates individuals: proximity to their home. Did the stadium deal or charter reform threaten resident’s homes with trash and noise from an adjacent drive-thru? No.

And it is not as simple as Editor Drebes (and Ald. Florida) make it out to be — just moving across the street. This shows Drebes has formed an opinion without looking into the issue of the financing behind the site (Federal funds used to acquire & raze old Sears) as well as the quality of life issues that would come from having a drive-thru on your side of a major street rather than the other. It should be noted the Drebes family lives just a block off Grand South Grand with all the various restaurants and shops and a decidedly different feel than the area in question. Location, location, location.

What’s surprising isn’t that it’s a bloody McDonald’s that’s moving the electorate. What’s funny is that the “recallers” apparently haven’t thought much about the future. First, it’s unlikely they’ll get the signatures. In order to so so, they’ll have to improve on their timid approach we witnessed in the park last weekend.

Oh, the discredit approach. Good one, Dave. Let’s observe a fraction of the first two hours of the recall effort and draw conclusions about the outcome of something which arguably takes a couple of months at best. I saw the folks collecting signatures in the park doing really well approaching people — perhaps too well. They were soon asked by Park Rangers to move toward the traffic circle where efforts proved more challenging.

Second, if they get the sigs, Florida has an open and thriving ward organization. Something progressives applaud. It has members. That is to say, she has a base to beat back a recall (Not to mention her $21,000 war-chest.)

Part of the ACC mission is to be, “challenging to the status quo.” Uh, is that going to start anytime soon? Sounds more like trumpeting the status quo to me. First we have the scare mongering technique to squash any potential rebellion by saying an incumbent has a whole ward organization and second a big pile of cash. What the ACC is really saying is this is St. Louis where ward politics reign supreme and money talks so even though we talk about challenging the status quo we really don’t mean it.

If blogger Steve Patterson couldn’t out-door-knock Kirner in his aldermanic race, it’s unlikely he can out-work the spunky Florida.

This sentence seems added later, just as a quick jab at me. It doesn’t really relate to the rest of the piece. Funny, a year ago Dave Drebes said it was the work of Lou Hamilton and the $14K+ that Kirner paid him that was why I was defeated in my race. Still, I managed to get more votes in the two precincts on my side of Grand with only two months from the date I entered the race to election day.

Florida is trying to paint me as the person behind the recall and the ACC doesn’t seem willing to examine that assumption. The truth is I don’t have the time to recall every alderman that makes bad development decisions — can you imagine the coordination required to run 28 recalls? Clearly I am a supporter of the recall and I am in communications with those that are but I have no intention of going door-to-door collecting signatures. It is their baby which may or may not succeed. My focus remains on the planning issues behind the McDonald’s issue on Grand.

Third, suppose they win a recall, the Democratic nominee would be chosen by the committeepersons — hardly the people that the recallers would consider a positive improvement from Florida. Greg Thomas is going to vote in favor of a civilian review board? “Not bloody likely.”

In other words, the alderperson whom you disagree with on moving a McDonald’s across the street will be better on 90% of your issues than the one that you get when you recall her.

Wow, more of that challenging to the status quo writing! The 15th ward has two committees. Florida’s committee though “thriving” apparently failed to have any candidates for committeeman or committeewoman. As such, the old guard committee would determine the Democratic nominee. The ACC is presuming committeeman Greg Thomas would nominate himself (certainly a possibility). I just adore the argument that we are better off with what we have because any replacement would be worse. Was that a jab at William Waterhouse in the 24th, the former committeeman that replaced recalled Tom Bauer?

The problem here is the ACC is promoting the idea that citizens should not be engaged in the process, that an incumbent with money cannot be beat so why even bother. This is not progressive thinking. This is what the status quo wants people to believe so they can go about their business and stay in office for 20+ years with seldom being challenged.

I’ve been disappointed the ACC hasn’t taken a closer look at the various issues of planning, zoning, aldermanic courtesy, funding sources, redevelopment plans and such all at work in this complex issue. You’d certainly think a paper with a mission to challenge the status quo would do so. But maybe not.

Ald. Florida is a regular advertiser in a paper that has struggled to stay afloat. Last year it got new investors but we don’t really know who they are. We do know advertisers include status quo PR folks Richard Callow & Lou Hamilton. Then we have Pyramid Construction, the developer behind all this. Not only are they big advertisers in the ACC they are also their landlord. Yes, the ACC leases office space from Pyramid.

The ACC is not about challenging the status quo but simply another voice for the status quo (besides the St. Louis Business Journal that Dave Drebes also writes for).

UPDATE 5/31/06 @ 5pm – At the suggestion of Thomas Crone, Dave Drebes and I are meeting tomorrow morning to “hash out” our perspectives in a civil face-to-face meeting.

– Steve

New ‘Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority’ to Benefit Ballpark Village?

Just when you thought we didn’t have enough authorities, boards and commissions the City of St. Louis has decided to add yet another: the Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority. This is authorized by the State of Missouri through the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act or MODESA for short.

Under the city we’ve got the Planning Commission, Preservation Board, Board of Adjustment, and probably a few others. Under the St. Louis Development Corporation board (SLDC) we have the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), St. Louis Local Development Company (LDC), Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA), Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), Planned Industrial Expansion Authority (PIEA), Tax Increment Financing Commission (TIF) and the St. Louis Port Authority. Trying to find out information on these is a challenge as with only one exception are the members names listed and agenda published online.

So do we really need another authority charged with economic development? Sadly, I think the answer is yes.

I attended the Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Design & Zoning (HUDZ) committee meeting recently where Barb Geisman, the Deputy Mayor for Development, presented BB#6 to create the authority. The first thing I found interesting was the bill was sponsored by Fred Wessels, committee chair, rather than one of the aldermen representing most or some of downtown.

Ms. Geisman talked about the new state law allowing counties & cities to create this authority which can utilize state funds collected from two sources: state sales tax and state payroll taxes. She did a great job of explaining the complicated requirements and I’ll do my best to pass along how it will work as well as links to the legislation so you can play along at home.

The condensed idea is to attract new business to the downtown area as defined by the authority. If the development plan meets all the various criteria a portion of the state sales tax and earnings tax generated from new business can be applied toward development costs.

Defining new business is the tricky part. Moving the Hooters from Union Station to the old Mike Shannon’s site does not constitute new business. Even something like opening a new grocery store downtown may not count as the state will argue that it is not generating new state taxes — any sales would simply be at the expense of another grocer already located in Missouri.

In describing the process Geisman mentioned they were thinking of this authority for three “related” projects, St. Louis Center, the former Dillard’s building and Jefferson Arm’s. First, Jefferson Arm’s is only related to the other two because of the same developer, Pyramid Companies. Physically, the projects are a good 5+ blocks apart. But, that is not the issue. This Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority looks at projects generating state taxes — sales and payroll. The residential uses planned for St. Louis Center, Dillard’s and Jefferson Arms don’t even begin to meet the criteria. Sure, new businesses located at street-level may well qualify under the state’s terms but I can’t imagine that would generate much.

I think mentioning these projects was a bit of a smoke screen. My bet is this new authority is being put into place to help offset development costs for the Ballpark Village. You’ll recall recent flap over the developer, Cordish, seeking TIF financing and the city refusing to do so (see Biz Journal story). In all the years it took to get the new stadium deal put together and all the talk about the Ballpark Village I find it highly unlikely that TIF financing never came up in discussions until just recently. Does this mean a TIF is out? No, one of the tricks of the MODESA state law is that it must always accompany a TIF.

Mark my words — we’ll see the Ballpark Village get a TIF as well as help from this new Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority. I wouldn’t rule it out for other projects such as St. Louis Center and the Bottle District (aka Gateway Village).

Related links:
•

BB#6 (ignore summary as it is wrong but the PDF has the right bill)
•Missouri Development Finance Board/MODESA
• Missouri Revised Statutes, Chapter 99 (see 99.921 – 99.980)

– Steve