Steve Wilke-Shapiro on KDHX Tonight, Farewell Party Tuesday

Tonight is Steve night on KDHX‘s Collateral Damage program — Steve Wilke-Shapiro from 15thwardstl.org and myself will join hosts DJ Wilson and Fred Hessel in studio at 7pm on 88.1FM. As many of you know, Wilke-Shapiro and his family are moving to Des Moines for a new job and to be closer to family. Among tonight’s topics will be Steve’s 50 Things I Won’t Miss About St. Louis list which includes, in no particular order:

• The Board of Aldermen – I’m not going to name all the individual representatives. That would take up 24 of my 50 items in this list. For the most part, they seem to be just about as incompetent at dealing with critical issues in a proactive and comprehensive manner as Congress is. Two big thumbs down.
• Parochialism – Y’all have to figure out a way to work across borders. The region is killing itself from all the fighting over scraps in a zero-sum game.
• Eureka, Chesterfield, and friends – That sucking sound you hear? That’s all my taxes going to maintain your unsustainable infrastructure.
• Paul McKee – Pretty much represents all that is wrong with politics and development in St. Louis. Clear cutting is not the right way to go about rebuilding community.
• Interstate 64 – Or is it Highway 40? Redoing this road is the biggest boondoggle we’ve seen since, well, the Page Avenue Extension. Should have planned for transit.
• Page Avenue Extension – I could put together another “Top 50” list of things I would rather have spent a billion dollars on. All you self-centered suburbanites quit complaining about Metrolink “subsidy” until you add up all the money spent on extending and widening your own roads.
• Loughborough Commons – With a little urban planning, it could have been done so much better. Instead we have another “place not worth caring about.”
• Riverfront – Quite possibly the biggest missed opportunity in the region. What a huge disappointment it is to cross under the Arch and gaze down the grand stairway only to see the might Mississippi lapping at a sometimes parking lot and a bunch of concrete bollards.
• Racism – Race seems to inform everything in St. Louis (and not in a good way). I’ve been in St. Louis for 14 years and haven’t seen much forward movement. I don’t know what the right steps are, but I do believe that until people make a conscious effort to equalize some of the spatial disparities in income, education, health, and employment, it will be difficult to deal with the underlying prejudices.
• The Gateway Mall – If you build it they will come. We don’t need “greenspace” downtown.
• “Reserved” street parking – They are public streets. I’ll park where I want. Just because you own the adjacent property doesn’t make a street space yours.
• River Des Peres – Affectionately called River Dispair by those in the know.
• Schnuck’s – I shop there because it’s so damn convenient to my house (I don’t even have to get in the car), but I don’t like it. Shame on you for demolishing the Century Building. Is it intentional that the logo looks so much like “Schmucks”?

This should make for a good conversation! Tuesday evening friends are giving Steve a farewell party at The Royale. 5:30pm-? And finally, if you are looking for a great home in a great neighborhood consider Steve’s home at 3618McDonald.com (listed by my broker, Christopher Thiemet).