Poll: What Do You Think Of The MVVA Proposal For The City+Arch+River Competion?

By now most have formed an opinion of MVVA’s winning proposal in the City+Arch+River competition.  Over the next five years we will (hopefully) see work completed on both sides of the river. For the poll this week I hope to get a sense of what you think of the proposal.  I know there are those who are disappointed, but are they a few or the majority?  The poll is in the upper right sidebar.

- Steve Patterson

Poll: Help Me Determine The Message To Leave On Some Cars

For the poll this week I’m asking what should be printed on the cards I’m going to get to leave on cars parked like this:

ABOVE: This car is parked in the loading zone next to a disabled parking space on Washington Ave.

I see things like this often and I want to do something about it but 1) the police are too busy, 2) parking violations is closed, 3) I can’t wait for the person to come back, 4) and if I had paper & pen I can’t write legibly.

Here is one example of what I was thinking:

To harsh or not enough?  I have listed several ideas in the poll, all have come to mind.  The poll is at the top of the right sidebar.

- Steve Patterson

Poll On The Decision To Not Have Bike-N-Ride In St. Clair County IL

ABOVE: St. Clair County Metro bus without a bike rack at 5th & Missouri in East St. Louis, IL

Monday I posted about how the Chair of the St. Clair County Transit board, Delores Lysakowski, doesn’t allow bike racks on the buses serving 15 municipalities in that county.  On Thursday the St. Louis Beacon looked into the story with more, although somewhat conflicting, reasons why an entire county in our region doesn’t have bike bike racks on the front of their buses:

Delores Lysakowski, chairwoman of the St. Clair County Transit District, says the racks damage the buses when they go through the bus wash.

“When they go through the wash rack, they tear the heck out of the bus,” she said.

But Bill Grogan, managing director of St. Clair County Transit District, has a slightly different tack. He says the racks damage the bus wash brushes. “The washers don’t damage the racks, but the racks can damage the washers,” he said. “They get stuck in those spinning brushes.” (full story: Want to bike and ride on Metro buses in St. Clair County? Forget it)

So which is it? Do the racks damage the buses or the brushes? Both? Neither?

ABOVE: A Madison County Transit bus with a bike rack, at 5th & Missouri in East St. Louis IL

Neighboring Madison County, like Metro in Missouri, sees the benefits:

Madison County Transit (MCT) has equipped all of its buses with bike racks to provide accessible connections between the MCT bikeway and bus systems. Now people throughout Madison County can simply BIKE AND BUS for transportation and recreation. In fact, MCT carries an average of 800 bikes each month, which equal more than 12,000 bike and bus participants and growing since 2003. (source)

In the full story, linked above, writer Kathie Sutin goes to Metro to ask them about their experience with washing buses with bike racks. In short it takes some extra labor to wash around the racks, but it is worth it.  Back in St. Clair County the attitude is they made the decision in the past not to have bike racks so it is not open for discussion.  This whole thing doesn’t sit well with me but I want to get a sense on your thoughts so the poll this week (right sidebar) is on this subject.

Thanks to the St. Louis Beacon and writer Kathie Sutin for digging into this issue!

- Steve Patterson

Poll On Proposition A On Local Earnings Taxes

Missouri voters will decide in November on a proposition concerning the 1% earnings tax levied by Kansas City and St. Louis:

If passed, Proposition A would require the two cities to hold referendums on the tax every five years, with the first likely next spring. If voters elected to repeal the tax, it would be phased out over a decade. (Source)

I normally like the idea of putting such decisions at the local level but I know if Prop A passes there will be battles every five years.   If there are proposals for other ways to collect the necessary revenue to support the services provided by Kansas City & St. Louis I’d be fine with eliminating the earnings tax.

The poll is in the upper right sidebar for the next week.

- Steve Patterson

Readers Would Like To See Restaurants Donate Unsold Food

A total of 183 people voted in the poll last week.  The original post is here.

Q: Ald Kacie Starr Triplett thinks Little Caesars should donate, rather than discard, old pizzas. What do you think?

1. Ald. Triplett is right, more restaurants need to donate unused food rather than waste it. 109 [59.56%]
2. Ald. Triplett needs to stay out of how private businesses operate. 63 [34.43%]
3. Other answer… 7 [3.83%]
4. Unsure/no opinion 4 [2.19%]

Other responses were:

1. “To Whom It May Concern”? She can’t be troubled to figure that ou
2. Ald. Triplett: “Look at me, please look at me!”
3. used to work there, sounds like Seinfeld’s “Muffin Top” episode -
4. Little Ceasars should donate, but this is just grandstanding
5. What about legal implications? No good ded goe unpunshed.
6. publicity stunt yet again…
7. better to donate than to waste, but how about healthy foods?

Image: Little Caesars

I looked up the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 (Wikipedia, full text). This law was passed specifically to indemnify those who would donate — except if willfully negligent. So Little Caesars could donate the pizzas that have been held in their warming oven for more than 30 minutes.

Operation Food Search can distribute prepared food:

“Restaurants, Caterers, and Mass-Feeders: Overproduced product, cancelled events, minor production imperfections.”

Other organizations, such as Food Outreach, seek frozen or canned goods for their pantry.

- Steve Patterson

Readers Favor Enforcing Noise Ordinances

Response to the poll last week was very low. Here is the question and final results:

Q: The City of Alton IL is issuing tickets to drivers of noisy motorcycles & cars. Thoughts?

1. Good, more jurisdictions should enforce noise ordinances 36 [58.06%]
2. The noise is annoying but these laws are not enforceable 13 [20.97%]
3. Unsure/no opinion 6 [9.68%]
4. Bad, more government meddling 4 [6.45%]
5. Other answer… 3 [4.84%]

Other answers were:

1. i am sure I don’t care.
2. I think the law will be enforced more on the appearance of the driver/rider.
3. Motorcycles are often times ubnoxiously loud. Regulate them.

Any additional thoughts you might have add them to the comments below.

- Steve Patterson

St. Louis Alderwoman Triplett Wants Chain Restaurant To Donate Unused Food, Poll

ABOVE: Little Caesars' Love Kitchen. Source: littlecaesars.com

Last week St. Louis alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett (D-6) sent a letter to the corporate headquarters of the Little Caesars pizza chain encouraging them to donate pizzas rather than toss them out if not purchased within 30 minutes.   Here is the full text of her letter:

August 9, 2010

Little Caesars World Headquarters
2211 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201

To Whom It May Concern:
It is well known the Little Caesars Pizza brand has sponsored a variety of charitable endeavors, most specifically the Little Caesars Love Kitchen. The mobile kitchen has proved to be an innovative and successful tool to feed communities devastated by disaster. The program brought a hot meal to rescue workers at the World Trade Center site as well as Hurricane Katrina victims along the Gulf Coast and continues to contribute to various disaster relief efforts across the country.

While the Love Kitchen is a great way for Little Caesars’ corporate body to help feed the hungry and the homeless in this country, it seems every restaurant bearing the Little Caesars name can play a better role in fighting hunger in America. It has been brought to my attention Little Caesars employs a policy of discarding unclaimed pizzas 30 minutes after they are made rather than donating them to local charitable organizations. Given the Little Caesars public commitment to “give back to the communities in which it serves”, (see; http://www.littlecaesars.com/news/community.asp) this policy is both surprising and disappointing.

With only a few mobile units, the Love Kitchen is not able to reach more than a small portion of the country at any given time. If this policy was to be reversed and the excess pizzas donated to local homeless services organizations, each Little Caesars restaurant would help to make a greater impact in reducing food waste and hunger across America.
Operation Food Search, a food bank operating here in the Saint Louis area, receives donations from several local restaurants, caterers and food manufactures, including your competitor Pizza Hut (see; http://www.operationfoodsearch.org/). Given the thousands of hungry individuals in the city of Saint Louis alone, it is unfathomable Little Caesars has chosen to discard their excess pizzas rather than committing to donate them to a local food bank or homeless care provider.

If it is a question of liability, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects all food donations made by Little Caesars Pizza (see; http://www.operationfoodsearch.org/donate-today/food/business-food-donations.php). Additionally, if someone from your office would like to know more about the donation process or would like an introduction to local food banks or homeless services providers in the Saint Louis area, I would be happy to make the introduction myself.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely,

Kacie Starr Triplett

Alderwoman, City of Saint Louis, Missouri

Cc: Saint Louis Local Franchises of Little Caesars

The poll this week is your reaction? Should we pressure private businesses to donate rather than waste or should it be up to them to waste or donate?  The poll is in the upper right hand corner.

- Steve Patterson

Readers Think The Tour Of Missouri Was A Good Use Of Tourism Dollars

ABOVE: Tour of Missouri in St. Louis, 2009

Last week 181 people voted in the poll:

Q: The 2010 Tour of Missouri has been canceled due to zero funding from the state, which of the following best describes your thoughts:

1. The Tour of Missouri has been a great event, bringing money into the state economy each year — a good use of tax money 97 [53.59%]
2. The Tour of Missouri has been a victim of fighting between Republicans and Democrats 36 [19.89%]
3. The Tour of Missouri has been a money pit, costing more than it made — a good decision to cancel 22 [12.15%]
4. Other answer… 14 [7.73%]
5. Unsure/no opinion 12 [6.63%]

The (14) other answers were:

1. If it’s so successful, they should plan for it’s financial viability.
2. screw the bicyclists. when do I get my own lane to drive in?
3. Killed by Nixon for a petty political vendetta. Politics at its worst.
4. Sad…
5. Even the Tour de France commentators said its a shame it got canceled
6. What a shame. Where was the money spent instead? What was the return?
7. This happened MONTHS ago. Why are you only addressing it now?
8. Jay Nixon needs to go for this! What a joke!
9. B and C
10. Not sure why this can’t be privately funded, the state gave it a good start
11. The Tour of MO should be able to fund itself by corporate donations and sponsors
12. Tourism should have cut back to $500K or so.
13. Not necessarily the best way to spend state money.
14. When the economy is bad, nonessentials get cut.

- Steve Patterson

Poll: Regulating Noise From Motorcycles

In January one Illinois town took steps to keep the town quiet:

ALTON – A motorcycle rights and safety promotion group plans to pay for signs to “quiet” motorcycles in Alton, as city officials begin the process to strengthen the city’s anti-noise ordinance.

“We are going to be leaders in this,” said Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst, who campaigned on quieting down motorcycles traveling on city streets and loud car stereos. Telegraph

This week KMOV reporter noted “To date, police have issued 37 tickets to bikers in violation of the ordinance and 133 to motor vehicle drivers.”

The poll this week asks for your thoughts on enforcing noise ordinances.

- Steve Patterson

Readers OK With Kiel Opera House Becoming Peabody Opera House

ABOVE: Kiel Opera House becoming the Peabody Opera House

Last week, the readers that voted in the poll showed their support for the Peabody name displacing the Kiel name on the old opera house.

Q: Kiel Auditorium is now the Scottrade Center on the south and the Peabody Opera House on the north. Your thoughts on renaming this building?

1. The money to make the project happen is more important than retaining an old name: 92 [57.14%]
2. Henry Kiel was mayor, it is disrespectful to rename the building: 17 [10.56%]
3. The original name was Municipal Auditorium, the Kiel name was added later and was around long enough: 14 [8.7%]
4. Other answer… 12 [7.45%]
5. Renaming is fine, just not a coal company: 11 [6.83%]
6. Unsure/ no opinion: 10 [6.21%]
7. Mayor Henry Kiel has been dead nearly 70 years, he won’t know: 5 [3.11%]

The “Other” responses were:

1. Kiel is what it was when I lived there and knew it. Kiel it ought stay.
2. Maybe people will mistake it for the famous Peabody Conservatory of Music!
3. seriously? who cares!
4. This is money Peabody isn’t using on anti-environmental advertising.
5. Naming civic spaces after corporate sponsors is icky.
6. Sell the name to the highest bidder
7. How about Bosley? He has done more for this town than any Mayor in STL history.
8. I’m not opposed to renaming most buildings, but it should be for better rea
9. Doesn’t matter; people will still call it the Kiel Opera House.
10. The Kiel name is still preserved
11. Changing the name every 5 years destroys “history” or at least a tradi
12. As I-64 is still Hwy 40, Peabody will always be Kiel in the minds of STLers

I’m of the belief that we shouldn’t rename structures after the fact.

- Steve Patterson