Grocery Shopping By Bicycle

To many people stocking up at the grocery store means taking the car, but not everyone  thinks that way.

When I saw this woman come out of Vincent’s pushing a shopping cart with two bags I expected her to go toward the parking lot. Instead she headed to the bike secured to the bus stop sign. Initially was a bit shocked because, like me, she wasn’t a young 20-something. The more I thought about it I realized I know people my age (mid 40s) to well into their 70s that bike everywhere.

If the bus wasn’t about to come I would’ve stopped her to find out more. Given that she has fold-out baskets on her bike I’d say if she has a car at all it doesn’t get used much for grocery shopping.

Those of you who drive everywhere may find it hard to believe that a person can live in St. Louis without a car, but more and more are doing so.

Note the bike racks in the background, not near the entrance. It’s telling she locked her bike to the sign post rather than one of the two bike racks further away.

— Steve Patterson

Readers Optimistic About The City+Arch+River Project

Readers in the poll last week responded they were optimistic about the City+Arch+River project to connect the Gateway Arch to downtown.

Q: Optimistic or Pessimistic About The City+Arch+River Project?

1. Optimistic 197 [62.54%]
2. Pessimistic 85 [26.98%]
3. Neutral 16 [5.08%]
4. Other: 9 [2.86%]
5. Unsure/No Opinion 8 [2.54%]

I’ve gone from optimistic to neutral since funding seems to be a challenge.

1. Unhappy that the project doesn’t include eliminating the depressed I-70 lanes.
2. impatient! when does construction start?! NOW!!!
3. For the better
4. Portion will get done but not sure about Metro East projects.
5. cautiously optimistic.
6. It still won’t truly connect the city to the arch grounds.
7. Pessimistic about it being completed on time.
8. disappointed with the choices 
9. Biggest waste of money. 

I think we’ll see something completed by the 50th anniversary party on October 28, 2015 but it will be significantly scaled back.

— Steve Patterson

Completely Different Economies

Many people use daily deal sites/apps like Living Social and Groupon and many local versions exist now as well. Businesses run deals in an attempt to attract new customers, but the distribution of deals is .

Recently looking at a map (above) of Groupon deal locations it become clear to me the central corridor and south city are my only options, no businesses in north city seem to be participating. A notable exception is advertiser Rambles on 14th Street in Old North had  a recent deal on Living Social.

Perhaps the north city merchants realize the cost of a new customer through such sites may simply be too high, not enough bang for the buck. I looked on Ujamaa Deals but didn’t find anything local:

Ujamaa Deals was founded to directly combat the chronic unemployment plaguing the Black community. No community that spends over 90% of its money with businesses that they don’t own will EVER achieve political, social, cultural, or economic equality or independence!

The idea behind Ujamaa Deals is very simple. The real unemployment rate in the Black community is over 20%, with some estimates as high as 30%, and these numbers are not improving. It is a fact that Black-owned business are more likely to hire Black people than non-Black-owned businesses (about 85% more likely actually). Blacks currently spend less than 10% of their money with Black-owned businesses. So it became obvious to us that the most efficient way to combat Black unemployment is to re-direct more Black dollars to Black businesses in order to help them grow, and when they grow they’ll need to hire more people, and those people are likely to be Black. So by spending money with Black-owned businesses we are creating wealth and jobs for ourselves and decreasing our dependence on others for goods and services.

One sentence really stood out to me:

“Blacks currently spend less than 10% of their money with
Black-owned businesses.”

That’s a harsh reality if true! Looking into this issue I ran across an article by Ujamaa Deals co-founder Lawrence Watkins where he discussed the  4 half-truths about black-owned businesses — and why you should still buy black:

1. Customer service is terrible with black-owned businesses.
2. The prices of black-owned businesses are higher than at other firms.
3. Encouraging people to buy black is racist. We need to encourage people to buy American.
4. There aren’t any black products that I really want to buy.

Obviously much work needs to be done to get a thriving economy is predominantly black areas.   I don’t have any solutions, do you?

— Steve Patterson

Missouri’s Cigarette Taxes Are Embarrassingly Low, Smoking Rates High

Eight states border Missouri, all with substantially higher cigarette taxes than we do. Kentucky is the lowest of the eight and their tax rate is 353%  higher than our rate. On the high end is Illinois, there taxes are 1,165% higher than our $0.17 rate!

Proposition B, if approved tomorrow, will raise our cigarette taxes to $0.96. At that rate four neighbors would have lower taxes and four would have higher taxes — we’d be in the middle.

If Proposition B passes, the best data suggest that we will experience an almost 12 percent reduction in teen smoking and prevent more than 40,000 Missouri youths from starting to smoke. More than 30,000 adult smokers in Missouri will likely quit smoking, and more than 20,000 premature deaths from smoking-caused diseases will be prevented over a very few years. More than 8,000 smoking-exposed pregnancies will be prevented. Furthermore, those of us who do not smoke will have less exposure to passive smoking, further reducing the risk of smoking-related diseases.

Passing Proposition B will result in huge health care cost savings over five years — $4.95 million from fewer cases of lung cancer, $17.69 million from fewer pregnancies exposed to cigarette smoke, and $11.8 million from fewer heart attacks and strokes. Over the long term, Missouri will save about $1.37 billion from health care cost savings from reduced teen and adult smoking. (Guest editorial @ stltoday.com)

Basically Missouri has failed in the past to raise taxes like our neighbors have done.

In Missouri, 25% of the adult population (aged 18+ years)—over 1,120,000 individuals—are current cigarette smokers. Across all states, the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults ranges from 9.3% to 26.5%. Missouri ranks 48th among the states. (CDC)

Forthy-eight out of fifty!

Approximately 30% of the annual revenue generated from state excise taxes and settlement payments would fund Missouri’s tobacco control program at the Best Practices recommended amount. However, in 2007, Missouri’s funding for tobacco control was 1.7% of the recommended level. Missouri ranks 49th among the states. (CDC)

We’d still be below the national average of $1.34 per pack. Please vote yes on Proposition B to get us caught up.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Should Archibald &/or Biondi Resign Their Positions?

Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi and Missouri History Museum President Robert Archibald are both under fire for unrelated reasons.

Archibald:

The museum’s purchase of the Delmar land, which was owned by former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., has drawn fire for weeks. The Zoo-Museum District board report also lambasts the compensation of the History Museum’s president, Robert Archibald, saying his newest contract should be withdrawn and his perks and vacation days re-evaluated. (stltoday.com)

Archibald, head of the museum since 1988, had signed a new three-year contract in July. The board of trustees at that time also agreed to pay him for 410 unused vacation days, due as a lump sum when he retired. Archibald used to receive eight weeks of vacation. He now is entitled to four weeks, but also gets six weeks for “historical researching and writing.” (stltoday.com)

Biondi:

The St. Louis University Faculty Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly against the leadership of the school’s president, the Rev. Lawrence Biondi.

The Senate room erupted in applause and cheers when the 51-4 no-confidence vote was announced, following nearly two hours of debate. (stltoday.com)

The Student Government Association at St. Louis University joined the push to oust the university’s president late Wednesday.

The student group by a 38-0 vote passed a “no confidence” measure against the leadership of the school’s president, the Rev. Lawrence Biondi, and the school’s vice president of academic affairs, Manoj Patankar. There was one abstention.

The vote came at the end of a six-hour meeting, student leaders who attended the meeting said. (stltoday.com)

Both men have their supporters and detractors. Will they persevere despite criticism? The poll question this week asks if they should resign, the poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson