1893 House on Delmar Blvd Getting Rehabbed

I like to end each week with a positive post and nothing is more positive than a favorite building, long written off, getting rehabbed. A large house on Delmar, with unique dormers, has been in disrepair for years.  A few months ago a friend posted on Facebook that work was starting on the building. Earlier this month I took the #97 MetroBus to photograph the progress.

City records indicate 4270 Delmar Blvd was built in 1893 and contains 5,687 sq ft. This property is just a couple of blocks West of another favorite building, that also recently got rehabbed, now known as Freedom Place. Fingers crossed someone will take on the building at the East end of Fountain Park.

— Steve Patterson

Voter ID Laws Supress Voters

A majority of those who voted in the poll last week foolishly think voter ID laws are about preventing fraud. The real motivation is to keep those who typically vote Democratic from voting:

A disabled woman in Travis County was turned away from voting because she couldn’t afford to pay her parking tickets. An IHOP dishwasher from Mercedes can’t afford the cost of getting a new birth certificate, which he would need to obtain the special photo ID card required for voting. A student at a historgically black college in Marshall, who registered some of her fellow students to vote, won’t be able to cast a ballot herself because her driver’s license isn’t from Texas and the state wouldn’t accept her student identification card. (Ginsburg Was Right: Texas’ Extreme Voter ID Law Is Stopping People From Voting)

A couple more examples from Wisconsin, via the ACLU:

Ruthelle Frank is a resident of Brokaw, Wisconsin, where she has served on the Village Board since 1996. She was born at her home in Brokaw in 1927. She is an eligible voter registered to vote in Wisconsin. She has no accepted form of photo ID under the photo ID law and lacks a certified copy of her birth certificate, which she needs to prove citizenship to the Wisconsin DMV. Though she has never had a birth certificate in her possession, the state Register of Deeds has a record of her birth and can produce a certified copy of her birth certificate, but at a cost. The record on file, however, has an incorrect spelling of her maiden name: Wedepohl, and is consequently an unacceptable form of identification. The process to correct the birth certificate is lengthy and costly, with some reports suggesting it might require $200 or more. She has voted in every election since 1948 and intends to vote in Wisconsin again next year.

Eddie Lee Holloway Jr.’s birth certificate says Eddie Junior Holloway and as a result he is no longer able to vote in the state of Wisconsin. DMV employees tell him that his birth certificate is an unacceptable form of ID because the name on it reads “Eddie Junior Holloway,” due to a decades-old clerical error. It doesn’t matter to the DMV that his father’s name — “Eddie Lee Holloway” — is printed on his birth certificate, and that Eddie has a Social Security Card and an expired Illinois photo ID both bearing the name “Eddie L Holloway Jr”. Eddie says, “I never miss voting” and has rarely missed a chance to cast a ballot since he was 18. He worked in Illinois for years as a cook at the airport and Claire’s Family Restaurant, and he cooked in nursing homes too. Years of heavy lifting and hard work left him severely disabled, unemployed, and homeless — in that order. He now lives with his mother in Milwaukee but cannot secure the disability benefits and medical attention he so badly needs due to a lack of photo ID.

You might think it’s no big deal if a handful of people are inconvenienced or turned away to cut down on the massive fraud that takes place. The reality is the reverse, thousands are turned away because of a few cases of fraud:

Election fraud happens. But ID laws are not aimed at the fraud you’ll actually hear about. Most current ID laws (Wisconsin is a rare exception) aren’t designed to stop fraud with absentee ballots (indeed, laws requiring ID at the polls push more people into the absentee system, where there are plenty of real dangers). Or vote buying. Or coercion. Or fake registration forms. Or voting from the wrong address. Or ballot box stuffing by officials in on the scam. In the 243-page document that Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel filed on Monday with evidence of allegedly illegal votes in the Mississippi Republican primary, there were no allegations of the kind of fraud that ID can stop. (A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast)

Also see Jim Crow Returns: Millions of minority voters threatened by electoral purge.

Here are the embarrassing poll results:

Q:  Photo ID Voter Laws…

1) Prevent voter fraud 132 [67.69%]
2) Disenfranchise voters 54 [27.69%]
3) Make no difference 7 [3.59%]
4) Unsure/no opinion 2 [1.03%]

 — Steve Patterson

An Update on Lucas Park

The land that’s now Lucas Park was given to St. Louis by the Lucas family in the 1850s. Read about Lucas Place, now Locust, and Lucas Park here. In the last couple of decades the park became the gather place for the homeless downtown. For a couple of years the park has been closed as it undergoes a much-needed refresh. Slowly the park has been opening up again.

Old habits don’t die easily. 

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Mixed-Use Building Better Than Laclede’s Landing Park

I agree with the majority of the voters in last week’s poll, a mixed-use building would be better than a park in Laclede’s Landing!

Q: Great Rivers Greenway Bought Laclede’s Landing Property, Plans Park. Thoughts?

1. A mixed-use building would be better 53 [51.96%]
2. A park is a good idea 21 [20.59%]
3. A residential building would be better 15 [14.71%]
4. A Taco Bell with drive-thru would be better 4 [3.92%]
5. Other: 4 [3.92%]
   1. greenway along the river
   2. “Other Compatable Development” appears to leave much open to consideration.
   3. Park? Restrooms? Sounds like a great place for the homeless!
   4. It’s a nasty dirty area
6. Unsure/No Answer 3 [2.94%]
7. A parking garage would be better 2 [1.96%]

Laclede’s Landing is barely a place anymore, with so many holes in the formerly urban fabric. Between grassy blocks are harsh surface parking lots, it’s clear there needs to be a plan to infill some of these holes with new construction. It make take 20 years to happen, but the planning needs to happen now.

With such a tiny amount of land between the King & Eads bridges I think every bit should get filled in. Knowing that isn’t likely, the land closer to the south should be filled in while land to the north isn’t as critical to completing streetscapes and urban vistas.

But if Great Rivers Greenway goes ahead with this park next to the Eads Bridge, what should we call it? Eads Transit Park?

A tiny park next to a massive park that is growing in size by the size of the Arch parking garage and the width of Washington Ave is a huge mistake! This land is an opportunity to add much-needed building mass, people, activity, etc right next to a light rail station. Great Rivers Greenway can’t get into the development business but I’d think they could buy and hold for a developer. If they really have the urge to green up Laclede’s Landing they could unlock Metro’s Eads Transit Park and/or do something with the mess under the King Bridge.

Hopefully Great Rivers Greenway will reconsider, so the land adjacent to the Eads Bridge might someday see new constriction. Maybe a demonstration is needed to convince them?

— Steve Patterson

Please Shut Down NLEC

Tomorrow the city’s Board of Public Service will continue hearing testimony in response to a petition calling for New Life Evangelistic Center’s hotel license to be revoked. Both sides have been presenting their arguments for weeks now.

Six years ago I bought a loft exactly two blocks to the west of NLEC. I was aware of the complaints about NLEC at the time but I also believed we can’t let one problem property owner ruin an entire neighborhood.Over the last six years I’ve become more familiar with NLEC, the homeless, and other homeless service providers. Those entities that provide needed services are not created equal.

Larry Rice has convinced many that he’s the only game in town. NLEC is, in fact, a very last resort for many — they’d rather sleep outside than on one of his cots. When NLEC kicks everyone to the curb at 6am the others begin providing meals, counseling, computers, showers, etc.

From my balcony I can see the building that houses another homeless agency one block south of me. The Bridge is a day shelter and provider of meals, they have a professional security staff that monitors activity inside and out. They work with their neighbors to improve the safety for everyone. NLEC says they’re not responsible for anything that happens outside their facility.

To the west of me is the Horizon Club:

Horizon Club is a 24-hour drop in center for individuals without homes, operated by DD Resources. It is also funded by Housing and Urban Development through the St. Louis City Department of Human Services. The City of St. Louis Department of Human Services and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, both seek to end homelessness.

Horizon Club offers membership and guest services to people without homes, especially those with disabilities. The Horizon Club features computer games, internet access, and satellite television as well as showers and lockers. This center is a safe place to spend time relaxing in a quiet recreation.

These other agencies are all trying to get the homeless off the streets, to improve their lives. NLEC, I believe, wants to keep the homeless on the streets — that helps them look needed and get donations. I think they’re fooling themselves to think they’ll end homelessness, though. Every time you get someone off the streets someone else will become homeless. I accept that I’ll always have homeless around my loft building.

Shutting down NLEC is the right thing to do for everyone except Larry Rice and his staff. The other homeless service providers can come out from behind NLEC’s shadow, the homeless will get more than a baloney sandwich, a bible, and a cot without a pillow or blanket.

Those wishing to let the Board of Public Service know how they feel about NLEC should email the board secretary, Cherise Thomas.

— Steve Patterson