Poll: Who Will Be Elected St. Louis Mayor In 2013?

Now that we are past the midterm elections it is time to think of St. Louis Spring 2011 elections. But first I’m thinking about the race for mayor in 2013.

The first & second mayors of St. Louis are the only two that have served more than three terms, but those first two don’t really count:

“Under the original city charter, the mayor was elected to a one-year term. The mayor served a two-year term after the adoption of a new city charter in 1859.  The mayor’s office was extended to its present four-year term after passage of the Charter and Scheme in 1876 which separated the City of St. Louis from St. Louis County. The mayor is not term limited.” (Wikipedia)

Francis Slay is our 45th mayor and at the end of his current term he will be only the fourth mayor to have served three (3) four-year terms. Slay may decide to seek an unprecedented fourth term in office but I’m guessing he won’t. Our last 3-term mayor, Vincent C. Schoemehl (1981-1993), did not seek a fourth term.

So I thought since we are just over two years away from the next mayoral election that it would be interesting to see who you think would be the person elected in 2013. Not who you necessarily want, but who you think will be elected to the office.

Will Slay become the first four-year four term mayor?  Perhaps a current holder of another city-wide office? A current alderman? Bill Haas?  Don’t like my answers, make up your own. The poll is in the upper right for for a week, final results will be posted Wednesday November 24, 2010.

– Steve Patterson

Sidewalks Are Constantly Abused

Many see the public sidewalk as wasted space where they can do as they please.  Presumably that is the case of this for lease sign I spotted early yesterday morning. Hopefully the St. Louis Streets Dept didn’t grant them a permit to place this sign on the sidewalk.  Yes, the sidewalk is still passable but such things greatly reduce the pedestrian experience.  We do need more pedestrians in the city but we need to stop giving people reasons not to walk.

– Steve Patterson

Downtown Trolley Popular With Visitors

The #99 Downtown Trolley is proving popular with visitors to St. Louis.

I have no numbers, only my frequent observations of the ridership.  Locals are riding as well.

The wrap on the bus, the well marked route and the $2 all day fee seem to be doing the trick to get visitors to explore more of downtown.  The region benefits as well as others also take MetroLink to other parts of our area.

– Steve Patterson

The Significance of November 11th

November 11, 1918 was the end of World War I.

Eighteen years later, November 11, 1936, the cornerstone for St. Louis’ Soldier’s Memorial was laid.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to St. Louis to dedicate the site for the Soldiers Memorial building on October 14, 1936.(Source)

But in 1936, November 11th wasn’t yet a holiday:

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday-a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. (Source)

Word War I seems so long ago, the 100th anniversary is just eight years away.

Thank you to all who have served in our armed forces.

– Steve Patterson

Readers See Our Walkable Origins, Building Stock & Compact Street Grid As Helpful To Future Growth

Not everyone got the poll question last week. The question, What do we have that will help the City of St. Louis to grow & prosper in the next 20-30 years is? (pick up to two), was about the attributes that we currently have — not those we need. The standard answers picked by readers were:

1. The walkable city origins with great building stock and a compact street grid 117 [37.26%]
2. Our cultural institutions 52 [16.56%]
3. Our urban parks & trails 33 [10.51%]
4. General demographic changes 32 [10.19%]
5. The people 24 [7.64%]
6. Other answer… 18 [5.73%]
7. Sports teams: Cardinals, Blues and Rams 13 [4.14%]
8. Nothing, the city isn’t going to grow & prosper 13 [4.14%]
9. The city isn’t within St. Louis County 7 [2.23%]
10. That we only elect Democrats to local office 3 [0.96%]
11. The weather 2 [0.64%]

Other answers is where it becomes clear some readers focused on what we need, rather than what we have:

1. Pride.
2. investment by the city to attract/retain businesses downtown, midtown
3. Vastly reduce the crime rate
4. merge city
5. public schools
6. The bones left over from previous prosperity (e.g. walkable, parks, culture).
7. nothing
8. Safe public schools
9. we have plenty of great things that we need to emphasize, like our LOCATION
10. This is a strange and badly worded poll question. I have no idea what to choose.
11. Relatively few “urbanists” with big ideas about my property / no $ of
12. Have you have businesses to bring people.
13. pretty limited on answers, how about increasing jobs
14. Steady supply of water
15. Restructure local government to give mayor more control
16. Great universities
17. Accessible, extensive public transit
18. Better schools and a better city crime image

Some good other answers include transit, water, and location. A future poll will deal with the “what we need” question.

– Steve Patterson