West Florissant Ave Part 2: QuikTrip to Chambers Rd

Yesterday I looked at the W. Florissant streetscape from the Ferguson Market to the QuikTrip, today I’ll continue northward making our way from Ferguson into Dellwood.

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West Florissant Ave Part 1: Ferguson Market To QuikTrip

For 3+ weeks now I’ve been thinking about the physical environment of West Florissant from the burnt out QuikTrip location south to the elevated train tracks, just under half a mile. Let’s take a look:

The area looks & feels tired. Ferguson, Jennings, Dellwood, St. Louis County, Emerson, etc. all need to look at updating the public streetscape along W. Florissant. The use of rain gardens on both sides would visually improve the look as well as absorbing considerable water runoff. Walk Score gives the area a low 36 (Car Dependent) rating, embarrassing for an area with so many pedestrians and frequent transit users.

In Part 2 I’ll look at similar issues a little further North, in Dellwood.

— Steve Patterson

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Many Readers Correctly Guessed St. George, Lemay, Affton, & Spanish Lake Are Unincorporated Areas Within St. Louis County

Up to seventy readers last week correctly guessed the fours areas in St. Louis County that are unincorporated, not a separate village, town, or city: St. George, Lemay, Affton, and Spanish Lake. With 90 incorporated it’s hard to keep track of all the areas of the county.

Here are the four that are not incorporated:

1. St. George: In November 2011 residents voted to disincorporate so they could return to being part of unincorporated, lack of money to repair roads was the stated reason.  St. Louis County had 91 separate municipal governments prior to St. George’s disincorporation. See St. George may close up shop at year’s end
2. Lemay: An area in unincorporated south county, see the Wikipedia entry.
3. Affton: Another unincorporated area in south county, see the Wikipedia entry.
4. Spanish Lake: I’m surprised more people didn’t get this right, it is famously unincorporated.

Three of the four were never incorporated.

Here are the results from last week’s voting, the correct four were the top vote getters:

Q: TRIVIA: Which FOUR (4) of the following are part of unincorporated St. Louis County, NOT a separate village/town/city:

1. St. George 81 [16.4%]
2. Lemay 78 [15.79%]
3. Affton 72 [14.57%]
4. Spanish Lake 70 [1417%]
5. Tie 25 [5.06%]
   1. Crystal Lake Park
   2. Green Park
6. Country Life Acres 23 [4.66%]
7. Greendale 18 [3.64%]
8. Tie 17 [3.44%]
   1. Oakland
   2. Wilbur Park
9. Tie 15 [3.04%]
   1. Bella Villa
   2. Winchester
10. Kinloch 14 [2.83%]
11. Uplands Park 10 [2.02%]
12. Pasadena Park 9 [1.82%]
13. Pasadena Hills 5 [1.01%]

Here is more about each of the areas some thought were unincorporated, in the same order as the poll results. All links are to Wikipedia entries:

• Crystal Lake Park: Tiny class 4 city in west county with an area of 0.11 square miles, and 470 residents as of the 2010 census. Adjacent to Frontenac, off Bopp Rd.
• Green Park: Small city in south county with area of 1.35 square miles, and 2,622 residents as of the 2010 census. Tesson Ferry Branch of the St. Louis County Library is within Green Park.
• Country Life Acres: a village in west county with an area of 0.11 square miles, and 74 residents as of the 2010 census. Adjacent to the city of Town & Country. 
• Greendale: a city in north county with an area of 0.21 square miles, and 651 residents as of the 2010 census. Adjacent to Normandy. 
• Oakland: a city in west county with an area of 0.61 square miles, and 1,381 residents as of the 2010 census. 
• Wilbur Park: a village in south county with an area of .06 square miles, and 471 residents as of the 2010 census. Off Gravois Rd just outside St. Louis. 
• Bella Villa: a city in south county with an area of 0.13 square miles, and 729 residents as of the 2010 census. I-55 & Bayless. 
• Winchester: a city in west county with an area of 0.25 square miles, and 1,547 residents as of the 2010 census. Near Manchester & Woods Mill (141)
• Kinloch: a city in north county with an area of 0.73 square miles, and 299 residents as of the 2010 census. Northeast of I-170 & I-70. 
• Uplands Park: a village in north county with an area of 0.07 square miles, and 445 residents as of the 2010 census. South of Natural Bridge west of Kienlen Ave.
• Pasadena Park: a village in north county with an area of 0.1 square miles, and 470 residents as of the 2010 census. East of the UMSL campus. 
• Pasadena Hills: a city in north county with an area of 0.22 square miles, and 930 residents as of the 2010 census. Southwest from I-70 @ Lucas & Hunt. 

The total area of these 12 is 3.95 square miles, less than 1% of the county. The total population in 2010 was 10,089, roughly 1% of the 2010 population of the county.

This is just twelve of the ninety municipalities in St. Louis County. Many contract with a neighboring municipality or St. Louis County to provide some services. Clear fragmentation when 1% of your land & population are divided into 12 separate governments.

— Steve Patterson

Ferguson’s Neighbors Dellwood & Jennings Also Impacted

For nearly three weeks the focus has been on Ferguson, but residents & businesses in neighboring Jennings & Dellwood have also been impacted.

So if you’re trying to help out by patronizing businesses be sure to include businesses up and down W. Florissant and Chambers, in Jennings, Dellwood, and Ferguson.  The locally owned businesses were the hardest hit by a decrease in sales due to rerouted traffic/buses.

— Steve Patterson

Three Area Police Officers Suspended, Including Glendale’s Matthew Pappert (UPDATED)

The last week several local police officers were suspended from duty. First was St. Ann’s Lt. Ray Albers:

A St. Ann police lieutenant has been suspended after pointing a semi-automatic assault rifle at a protester in Ferguson late Tuesday night, police said. (stltoday)

On Friday August 23rd we heard about two more suspensions. Here’s one of the two, suspended due to statements made in a YouTube video:

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said officer Dan Page, a 35-year veteran of the department, has been suspended pending a review by the internal affairs unit. The video was brought to Belmar’s attention by CNN reporter Don Lemon, who had previously brought Page to the department’s attention after complaining Page shoved him. (stltoday)

I knew the name of the last one as the TV news anchor began introducing the story; ‘an officer from suburban Glendale Police in trouble for Facebook comments’ was roughly how the story was introduced. I immediately knew the name they’d say: Matthew Pappert.

A police officer just 15 miles away from the ongoing protests in Ferguson, Mo. allegedly said he thinks the protesters should have been “put down like rabid dogs.”

Officer Matthew Pappert is a police officer with the Glendale Police Department. He has been an officer since 2008. Pappert received the 2009 City of Glendale Community Service Award and the 2013 Kirkwood American Legion Post and Kirkwood Optimist Club Public Safety Award. (St. Louis Area Cop Thinks Protesters Should Be ‘Put Down Like Rabid Dogs’)

You can click the link above for screenshots of Pappert’s statements, which include: “Where is a Muslim with a backpack when you need him?” More sources:

• Glendale Police Officer Suspended For “Inappropriate” Facebook Posts
• Two St. Louis–Area Cops Suspended After Racist Rants
• Glendale officer suspended for anti-protester Facebook posts

So how did I know his name in advance? I learned about Matthew Pappert on July 21st, via Facebook, of course. It started with the following image I took that morning:

From across Market St I saw the traffic cop pull up and get out of the vehicle, I thought to ticket the truck parked in the bus stop I needed to use. As I crossed Market at 16th the truck pulled out and the officer went in to the building, presumably for traffic court.

Not long after posting, the photo was shared by someone. With the privacy set to public I was able to see the comments, I wasn’t prepared for what I read:

Who is this Matthew Pappert guy? Oh look, his Facebook profile says he’s a patrolman for the City of Glendale, a small suburb of less than 4,600 people — 96.7% of them white (Wikipedia).

I was furious so that night I used Glendale’s “contact us” form to email the police department. I never heard back from Glendale and I forgot about it — until last Friday’s evening news. Back to the website I went, but I couldn’t find the name of the chief. I called their non-emergency number and explained to the staff person. I then typed out a letter and faxed it to the attention of the chief, including my email address. I heard back from Chief Jeffrey within an hour:

Mr. Patterson,

Thank you for bringing the information you faxed to me attention. This will be included in the internal investigation we are currently conducting. As stated in my previous press release, the comments and posts by Matthew Pappert absolutely do not reflect the views & opinions of the Glendale Police Department and City of Glendale, Missouri. That includes the comments he posted during your correspondence dated July 11, 2014. I am not sure why we did not get your previous emails but I assure you it will be looked into as well.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey Beaton
Chief of Police

I sent supporting documentation via email. On Monday I heard from Captain Bob Catlett, Glendale’s Assistant Chief of Police, who’s investigating. We’ve been corresponding back and forth. After reading the statement from Pappert’s lawyer, I emailed Capt Catlett back to assure him the recent vile comment from Pappert about Ferguson were not an “aberration.” It turns out many in the LGBT community are familiar with his right-wing outbursts.

If  Pappert resumes working, I’d advise all non-whites to avoid Glendale Missouri.

UPDATE: The day this post came out Albers resigned from St. Ann, Pappert was fired by Glendale. The next day Page retired from St. Louis County.

— Steve Patterson