Four years ago I was a candidate for Alderman in the 25th Ward, losing with 44.1% of the vote in the 2-way race . In November 2007 I moved downtown to a loft in the City’s 6th Ward where Kacie Starr Triplett was elected earlier in the year after a 3-way race.
Dorothy Kirner, who defeated me in 2005, decided not to run again this time. Four candidates filed as Democrats. The winner of the March 3rd Democratic primary will potentially face Independent Chris Clark on April 4th (assuming he submitted signatures yesterday and they are verified).
This election cycle I sent out letters to candidates in contested primary races asking them to complete an online questionnaire. The following are answers from three of the four candidates on the Democratic ballot in the 25th Ward: Shane Cohn, Travis Reems and Angie Singler. A fourth candidate did not respond.
4. Campaign website URL is (this WILL be published). Type ‘none’ if you don’t have a website/blog.
I recentlycontacted candidates in contested primary races for the city’s March 3, 2009 primary. The following are the responses received in the 7-way Democratic primary for the 23rd Ward. I received responses from Colleen Bridges, Doug Dick, Mary Homan, Forrest “Woody” Lange, Kevin Toal and Joe Vacarro. Not everyone answered all the questions.
The first 3 questions were related to name, phone number and a secret code to ensure it was the candidate answering the questions.
4. Campaign website URL is (this WILL be published). Type ‘none’ if you don’t have a website/blog.
I had a productive weekend and got 25 letters ready to candidates for Mayor & Alderman who face a challenger in the March 3, 2009 primary. The letters were mailed yesterday.  After the primary I’ll do the same for candidates in contested races in the April 7, 2009 general election.
The letters request candidates to complete an online questionnaire. I’ve assigned a random ID code to each candidate to ensure no other candidate pretends to be another. The questionnaires will be accessible from this page. Each questionnaire (Mayor & Alderman) has a password so only candidates have access.
Topics covered include:
Basic info like email/phone/website.
Top five issues facing your ward (Aldermanic candidates only).
Top five issues facing the city.
Top five issues facing the greater St. Louis region.
Charter Reform – term limits
Charter Reform – partisan vs. non-partisan local elections
Charter Reform – reduction of the number of Aldermen
Charter Reform – consolidation of city/county positions
Ban on Smoking in public places.
Local control of the St. Louis Police.
Adoption of form-based zoning
Funding of public transit in the region.
Expansion of MetroLink light rail.
Thoughts on streetcars.
Earnings tax
Replacement/upgrading the Edward Jones Dome in the future
Redistricting following 2010 Census.
ADA/Pedestrian-friendly development
Historic Preservation/demolition
Bicycle advocacy
Bicycle parking
Parking for scooters/motorcycles
Big box & strip center development vs. urban development.
Tax incentives for affluent firms
Ideal role of the Alderman (Aldermanic candidates only).
Ballpark Village
St. Louis Centre
Homeless (Mayoral candidates only)
Arch-Downtown Connection
City reentering STL County
Valet parking
Communications (blog if elected?)
Public schools
Rental vs. owner-occupant development
I’m still finishing up the questionnaires. I indicated to the candidates the questionnaires will be open as of 5pm Friday January 30, 2009 and they will close a week later at 5pm 2/6/09. This means I still have a chance to include questions on additional topics not listed above so use the comments to suggest more for either aldermanic or mayorial candidates (or both).
At 6pm tonight (11/17/08) citizens will gather for a ‘design charrette‘ focusing on downtown’s Lucas Park.
Above: Volunteers on 9/13/08 work to beautify the park.
In short, a charrette is an intensified design process. Teams will assemble and draw & write out what they want for Lucas Park.
The current park was created 100 years ago. It once featured elaborate plantings and had few trees. It was symmetrical in both directions. The two North-South walkways and entrances align with the rear doorways of the library to the South across Locust St. Each of these walkways has a circle at its center. A drinking fountain exists at the East circle.
I’m rather fond of the original design. I say original but that is not quite accurate. The city was deeded this block in 1857. The city bought the block where the library is now located. From 1859-1883 the two blocks contained a large park. Locust St did not go through from 13th to 14th. That would be the true original park.
That park was wiped out in 1883 for the St Louis Exhibition and Music Hall. That hall was razed in 1907 current main Library, which opened in 1912. Locust St was cut through at this time. At some point during the 5 years it took to raze the old structure and build the library, the current design for Lucas Park was realized.
So, I like the 1907-1912 design of the park. In fact, it is in very good condition. On my team tonight I will advocate more a restoration/renovation than a completely new design. But I’d like to see a team or two come up with a fresh approach. We need as many different concepts as possible. We will have a drawing (view PDF) of the existing conditions as a starting point.
The park needs to be a reflection of today. That would include a pleasant outdoor place for people to sit and enjoy the park. That includes those that are homeless. However, while I don’t object to a homeless person enjoying the park I do object to bags of belongings surrounding trees. We need to find a way for the homeless to have a place to safely store their belongings as they search for employment, housing and treatment for any addictions or mental issues.
The Eastern end of the park was fenced off and used by a nearby daycare center for a playground. That center moved West near Jefferson last year. A prior charrette was done 5-6 years ago. At that time the children’s center was still using the playground so the thought was to mirror the design and fence the Western end for a dog park. The center, with the fountain, would have remained open to all.
But Larry Rice objected and the project stalled.
Today the neighborhood is very different than it was just six years ago. We have more residents, more dogs, and more children. The city says we have fewer homeless.
As with anything we need to strike a balance: residents, homeless, kids, dogs. Not one of these should be given so much priority in the park that it tips to being only for that one user group. The park can and must be shared by and for all.
So we’ll see what everyone comes up with tonight. We will be at Crepes in the City at 500 N. 14th (just North of the park). They are closed on Mondays so we are just using their space for the evening. The doors open at 5:30pm and we begin precisely at 6pm. I’ve got a short presentation of the history, recent conditions as well as images from other small urban parks to start the creative juices. We’ll give the teams instructions and set them to work from roughly 6:25 to 8:20pm. At 8:20pm each of the teams will present their park concept to the other teams. We will finished by 9pm.
Following the charrette we will begin incorporating the ideas from everyone into a master plan for the park, enabling us to seek public and/or private funding. The charrette is open to all who wish to participate.
Design professionals are encouraged to participate (and to bring markers & trace).
Today we continued our presence in Lucas Park by holding an afternoon Halloween Party for neighborhood kids.
Above: I got into the spirit by having a jack-o-lantern painted on my head.Above: Dr Pat Clark applies her surgical skills to a pumpkin. Above: We set up the activities on the East end of Lucas Park, around the drinking fountain.Above: Games included the Wicked Witch ring toss, pumpkin bowling and the eyeball bounce.Above: 5th Ward Alderwoman April Ford-Griffin (right in red) talks with two downtown residents.Above: after the fun & games we took the kids trick or treating in the 1300 block of Washington Ave. Others in our group had pre-arranged to have people at 5-6 places with candy for the kids.
Everyone had a great time, by the end of the event in the park we had quite a few kids, maybe 10. One of the kids was homeless, at age 5. He was with a friend of his mom’s, the mom was at work. The three of them had spent the last few nights on the street sleeping under a loading dock. They had spent a few nights at Larry Rice’s New Life Evangelical Center but he tossed them because the women wouldn’t do his 90-day program. They consider Rice’s program to be “slave labor.” One woman has a job while the other is doing classes as St Patrick’s Center to get her GED. They consider Rice’s program to be “slave labor.” Their landlord had raised the rent and they could no longer afford it. They have some leads on more affordable places. In the meantime the three of them were out in the cold.
We shared their story with Alderwoman April Ford-Griffin. She gave us her cell number and asked that the mom call her and she would help her get into a family shelter. As we went trick or treating the friend of the mom stayed in Lucas Park but she sent a homeless young man to keep an eye on the young one. After we all got back from trick or treating the mom arrived from her day at work. Andy Martello of the shut down NLEC petition gave the women the Alderwoman’s phone number. I gave them my card and told them to call me if they needed a ride to a shelter.
About a half an hour later my phone rang, I was at home by now. They had talked with Griffin and they needed a ride to a shelter just north of Downtown. I got in my car and drove to a nearby building where they had slept under the dock. Within 20 minutes of them calling me they were safe inside the shelter.
When I got back home I started to cry. The little 5 year-old was so sweet and innocent. The mom and the other woman were nice and trying to do their best, they’d been out of their apartment since October 9th.
As I picked them up I saw Maureen Brown again. She asked why I wasn’t helping her. I said I’d be happy to give her a ride somewhere. I think I was crying in part because I had gotten to know Maureen over the last few weeks but she was still on the street. So I called a women’s shelter to see if they could take her. They said they were full but they might be able to let her sleep on a sofa for one night but they wanted to talk to her first.
So back down to the car I went. I got lucky and found Maureen near the same loading dock where I had seen her about an hour earlier. She got into my car and I called the shelter. She turned down the sofa but they suggested she call back Monday to see if they have any openings. She doesn’t have a cell phone so I’m going to go find her on Monday so she can use my phone to talk to them. She is out there in the cold. I did notice a couple of homeless men in the same spot — they are likely her protectors.
I’ll be able to sleep better tonight knowing I helped two women and a child get a safe place to sleep and that I will hopefully get Maureen into a shelter as well this coming week. This morning I had noticed belongings under this particular loading dock. It was weird putting a face to a space. A 5 year-olds face.
We had fun in the park today. We made more connections with homeless persons. I found more people among the homeless population that think NLEC needs to go. Needs do exist and NLEC is not meeting those needs.
Above: one of several piles of belongings around Lucas Park
One of the top needs is a place to store personal belongings and clothing. We have more homeless than we have spaces for stuff. The stuff goes into the shelters at night but the next morning the person & their stuff are back on the street (or in the park). I don’t mind seeing homeless persons in the park but piles of stuff just show how poor a job we are doing at providing good services for the homeless. How can we expect this person(s) to get a job? They can’t carry all this to a job interview.
Happy Halloween!
UPDATE 10/26/08 @8AMÂ Â – I removed information on the shelter where I took the two women and child.
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