Poll: Will St. Louis Voters Repeal The Earnings Tax in April 2011?

Tuesday Missouri voters approved Proposition A by a wide margin.

Yes 1,294,705 [68.4%]
No 597,920 [31.6%]
Total Votes 1,892,625

As a result, Missouri cities no longer have the option of an earnings tax.  The two cities with an earnings tax, Kansas City & St. Louis, must hold a vote in the Spring to see if voters wish to keep the earnings tax.  If they vote to eliminate the earnings tax it would be phased out over a 10 year period.  If kept, another vote must take place 5 years later, in 2016.

Voters in both cities voted against Proposition A, although not as strongly in Kansas City

St. Louis:

YES 28,251 [31.84%]
NO 60,473 [68.16%]

Kansas City:

YES 37,264 [44.85%]
NO 45,826 [55.15%]

The poll question this week seeks to find out what you think will be the outcome of this vote in St. Louis.  The answers have two parts — will Rex Sinquefield fund the campaign to repeal the earnings tax and will we keep the tax or repeal it?  The poll is in the upper right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson

Sixth Anniversary of UrbanReviewSTL.com

Today marks the sixth anniversary of this blog. I had no idea what I was doing at first, I just needed  a distraction from my Dad who was recovering from a heart attack on 10/1/2004. Many things have happened since:

• In early 2005 I ran for alderman in the 25th ward. I lost the race.
• After Katrina I bought a 49cc scooter.
• In 2006 my Mom passed away. Later that year I started the Master of Arts in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development (UPRED) program at Saint Louis University.
• In 2007 I went car-free and moved to a loft downtown.
• On New Year’s Day 2008 my Dad passed away.  A month later, to the day, I had a massive stroke from a hemorrhage on the right side of my brain.  I was hospitalized for three months.
• In 2009 I finished the coursework for my degree.

As my life has changed this blog has changed.  Where I live, where I go and how I get there plays a big role in what I write about.

Tomorrow, as I start year seven, I look forward to the next six years and beyond.  Thank you!

– Steve Patterson

Poll: What Do We Have That Will Help Our City Grow & Prosper?

At first I thought I’d go the negative route this week and ask what is it that will hold us back. But I quickly decided to flip it around and look at the positive first, saving the negative for a future poll.

Thus the poll question this week is: What do we have that will help the City of St. Louis to grow & prosper in the next 20-30 years is?

I’ve included a variety of answers, including that we won’t grown & prosper.  No doubt you will have other suggestions.  I’m optimistic that despite our leadership we will grow.  This is mainly due to national trends of increasing disinterest in suburbia among young adults, demographic changes, etc.

– Steve Patterson

Readers Not Positive About Proposed Solutions For Connecting The City To The Arch

Last week readers voted on their thoughts on the winning proposal in the City+Arch+River competition. While the top individual answer shows support (with changes) the overall sentiment is negative:

Q: Now that you’ve had a chance to review the MVVA proposal (for City+Arch+River), what do you think?

1. With a few changes it will work 41 [29.5%]
2. Few elements aren’t bad but otherwise not impressed 39 [28.06%]
3. Very disappointed, my least favorite 24 [17.27%]
4. Doesn’t matter, very little will get built. 18 [12.95%]
5. Very excited, best of the five finalists 7 [5.04%]
6. Other answer… 4 [2.88%]
7. Don’t like or dislike it 3 [2.16%]
8. Unsure/no opinion 3 [2.16%]

The other responses were:

1. the arch is decaying, fix that first!
2. Will this really make the riverfront more vibrant and connected to the city?
3. Disappointed, this is the doable design, not the inspired vision design.
4. The only do-able option

Hopefully in five years we will be impressed by the final outcome.  Here is the MVVA video:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArNdigN48Kg

– Steve Patterson

Top Six Posts From The Last Six Years

This month I’m celebrating six years of UrbanReviewSTL.com.  This post looks at the top six posts from those six years, sorta.  My current analytics go back to mid-January 2009 so it is possible an earlier post was more popular prior to then.  No matter the rankings of #2-#6 I know the #1 is the #1.

#6 Missourians Against Red Light Cameras, February 17th, 2009

#5 The History of Problems in North St. Louis, May 26th, 2009

#4 Flashing Lights Outside Walgreen’s, February 5th, 2009

#3 NorthSide Project Has Potential to Transform St. Louis, May 27th, 2009

#2 Can We Please Ban Smoking in the St. Louis Region? Missouri?, January 29th, 2009

#1 My Honda Metropolitan Scooter, Two Years and Six Thousand Miles Later, September 4th, 2007

I loved that little scooter and this post is ten times more popular than any of the others.

– Steve Patterson