Be Smart About Your Tax Return

It’s tax season so you’ll see more news stories about people trying to get your refund. We haven’t received everything we need to finish our taxes but I’m 100% certain nobody will steal our refund — because we’re not getting one. The only time you get a refund is when you’ve overpaid the IRS by having too much money withheld. They return the overpayment to you without interest. Adjust your withholding to reduce your annual overpayment to almost zero.

The other thing I see a lot of these days are advertisements selling tax preparation software & services.  Many pay $50-$400 for services they could do online for free. Yes, free.

All federal forms are free. It’s free whether you draw a paycheck, are self-employed or are a small business owner. It’s free whether you file a Form 1040, 1040EZ or 1040A. It’s free whether you have mortgage interest to deduct, have kids in college or earn a little from the stock market. It’s all free. (IRS)

Incomes up to $62,000 can use online software for free, higher incomes can use fillable forms.

If you do go to a tax service, please don’t pay extra to get your refund immediately — it’s a high interest loan.

— Steve Patterson

Local Example of Light Rail in Center of Street

For a while now I’ve been trying to convey how disastrous light rail in the center of Natural Bridge & Jefferson would be. I kept trying to think of a local example, but then the 2006 light rail extension in the center of Forest Park Parkway in Clayton came to mind.

Such walls preventing pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists and crossing the street except at a few points would be horrible for the surrounding neighborhoods. Do as I did — go to the interception of Meramec & Forest Park Parkway and see if you think that would be good for Natural Bridge or Jefferson.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Super Bowl Interest Unchanged Because Of Rams Departure

In the non-scientific Sunday Poll nearly two-thirds indicated the Rams departure didn’t change their interest in the Super Bowl

Q: Now that St. Louis doesn’t have an NFL team, your interest in the Super Bowl is…

• Increased 0 [0%]
• Unchanged 30 [63.83%]
• Decreased 17 [36.17%]

However, without a home team, over a third had less interest. My guess is more people in Los Angeles are interested in the Super Bowl now that they again have a team. Net win for NFL.

— Steve Patterson

More On Soccer Stadiums

Yesterday’s post was my site idea for locating a Major League Soccer (MLS) downtown — Downtown West, to be precise. In trying to figure out if a soccer-specific stadium would fit I looked at other recently built stadiums. Today I thought I’d share some of the research.  I like to start with a big picture historical view — knowing where we’ve been helps to know where we may go.

The St. Louis Cardinals baseball team originated in St. Louis in 1875, as the Brown Stockings. The team started here, has stayed here. The Chicago Cardinals football team moved to St. Louis for the 1960 season — staying through the 1987 season. St. Louis was just a pit stop. In 1967 the St. Louis Blues hockey team was created during the NHL’s first expansion — doubling in size to twelve teams. Founded here, stayed here.

And of course, the always moving Rams:

• Cleveland 1936-1945
• Los Angeles 1946-1994
• St. Louis 1995-2015
• Los Angeles 2016-

Teams that were founded here, have stayed here. Teams founded elsewhere —  that moved here — moved again.

What about soccer?

The earliest record of organized soccer in St. Louis date to 1881. In 1891, the St. Louis Soccer League was organized, and before long, amateur soccer was flourishing in the city. Unlike other cities where clubs were often associated with immigrant working communities and sponsored by ethnic social clubs, many of the major clubs in St. Louis were associated with churches and parishes, and later with manufacturing & retail companies. The catholic parishes in St. Louis, through the CYC chapters, adopted soccer as an inexpensive mass participation sport for their recreational programs, and it wasn’t long before the top teams were winning national honors. One result of this is the long history in St. Louis of developing home grown talent rather than attracting foreign players to the top level professional leagues. 

The Kensingtons won the first two league championships, followed by Blue Bells and St. Teresa’s. Later, the first dynasty was established by St. Leo’s who won nine consecutive championships between 1905/06 and 1913/14. St. Leo’s was originally composed entirely of members of the St. Leo’s Sodality, a church men’s organization. After the team opened its memberships to outsiders, it began its championship run. They were also the first team to tour the East, as they played a series of New Jersey teams in tours during this time. St. Louis soccer grew very early on, and the leagues have been strong from the beginning, but the city also had a very independent tradition, and even after the local association joined the United States Soccer Federation, it remained somewhat aloof, not fully integrating itself into the national body until 1918.
(History of Soccer in St. Louis — recommenced)

So soccer has a very long history in St. Louis.

To see if a soccer stadium would fit in Downtown West I needed to look at dimensions.

A soccer-specific stadium typically has amenities, dimensions and scale suitable for soccer in North America, including a scoreboard, video screen, luxury suites and possibly a roof. The field dimensions are within the range found optimal by FIFA: 110–120 yards (100–110 m) long by 70–80 yards (64–73 m) wide, These soccer field dimensions are wider than the regulation American football field width of 53 1?3 yards (48.8 m), or the 65-yard (59 m) width of a Canadian football field. The playing surface should also consist of grass as opposed to artificial turf, since the latter makes players more susceptible to injuries.

Lastly, the seating capacity is generally small enough to provide an intimate setting, between 18,000 and 30,000 for a Major League Soccer franchise, or smaller for minor league soccer teams. This is in comparison to the much larger American football stadiums that mostly range between 60,000 – 80,000 in which the original North American Soccer League teams played at and most MLS teams participated in during the league’s inception. (Wikipedia: Soccer-specific stadium)

I also looked at some recent stadiums and how those would overlay in the area bounded by Pine, 20th, Market, and 22nd (new). The distance between Market and Pine is tight, between 20th and 22nd generous — assuming the pitch was oriented East-West. Placing the pitch North-South might be better — would give lots of room to the East & West sides for amenities. Ideally restaurants, team store, etc would face 20th Street. I love the idea of the main stadium entry being located at 20th & Market. A tower at that corner could have a rooftop restaurant open year round with Eastern views of Aloe Plaza/Gateway Mall, Union Station, Civil Courts,  and the Arch.

There is a preference for urban stadiums:

Going urban also helps activate the building on non-gamedays with everything from company picnics on the pitch to conferences in suites and club spaces that offer more than the mundane four walls of a downtown hotel.

“It is an amazing thing to have (the stadium) in the heart of downtown,” Portland Timbers president of operations Mike Golub, tells SI.com. “The energy, intimacy and passion comes through.” (Sports Illustrated)

Providence Park in Portland OR is an urban neighborhood (aerial). I’m still reviewing Wikipedia’s List of Major League Soccer stadiums. More will open in 2017 & 2018.

As I stated yesterday, I think any new soccer stadium should[n’t] be owned by the public. I think government’s role would be to rework the public streets and highway on/off ramps to free up land for private development.  The city/state were responsible for the existing hole in the urban fabric — they’re responsible to piece it back together. Part of this investment into getting currently wasted land ready for development would be a form-based zoning code to achieve a walkable urban neighborhood once fully built out.

— Steve Patterson

A Great Site For A Major League Soccer (MLS) Stadium In Downtown St. Louis

Last week Major League Soccer (MLS) officials indicated they’re interested in expanding — adding a team in St. Louis:

Major League Soccer will begin searching for a stadium site in St. Louis and planning for its financing and operations immediately, the league’s commissioner told the Post-Dispatch Thursday. (Post-Dispatch)

The site they shouldn’t consider is the North riverfront one previously targeted for a significantly larger NFL stadium — we shouldn’t tear down buildings when we have vacant land available. We have land, mostly state owned, without any buildings and a target for redevelopment for years already. I’m talking about the 22nd Street Interchange area — an area on the West side of downtown I’ve written about numerous times over the 11+ years.

Why this location?

1. Brings needed activity/development to Downtown West
2. Right size for stadium
3. Paul McKee was going to redevelop the area, but nothing has happened yet
4. Most of the land is owned by Missouri or St. Louis
5. Would not involve relocating any residents or businesses
6. Doesn’t require the demolition of any buildings
7. Numerous hotels already serve this area
8. New stadium could anchor West end of the Gateway Mall, events could take place in Aloe Plaza
9. Market St viaduct/bridge is in poor condition
10. Great views to the East.
11. Would give a reason for the #99 Downtown Trolley (Bus) to make a complete circle and serving Downtown West, operating in both directions

What physically needs to happen for this to work?

1. Gateway Greening’s urban farm project would need to be relocated
2. Street grid restored, Pine/Chestnut 1-way couplet returned to 2-way traffic
3. Highway on/off ramps need to be reworked:
   1. Entrance onto I-64 in both directions from 22nd & Clark
   2. EB off ramp connects to grid at 21st & Clark instead of 20th & Chestnut
   3. WB off ramp connects to grid at Clark between 21st-22nd
   4. Roundabouts may help along Clark at on/off ramps

What politically needs to happen for this to work?

1. Elected officials need to abandon the idea of razing the North Riverfront
2. City/region/state pays for these new roads/sidewalks, on/off ramps
3. New ownership group pays for the actual stadium
4. Form-based code to ensure development creates an urban pedestrian-friendly neighborhood over the next 15-20 years

Below is a rough mock-up:

Here are some additional images to show current conditions:

I think this location offers the chance to create a new neighborhood and provide the environment/experience desired by the MLS.

— Steve Patterson