Travel By Train Good For Urban Centers

Recently I took a weekend trip to Kansas City.  I’d driven there many times and I’ve flown there once.  But have you been to the Kansas City airport? It is located more than 20 miles north of downtown Kansas City and the bus ride takes more than an hour!  For this trip I took Amtrak.

The train trip was longer than if I had driven my car (6 hours vs 4 hours 15 min), but the convenience was worth it.  First, I could read, stay current on email, watch music videos, take pictures and arrive at my destination refreshed.  Apparently, I’m not alone:

In the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Amtrak served more than 28.7 million riders, an increase of 5.7% from 2009, according to a company statement. Ticket revenue grew 9%, to $1.7 billion. Ridership on the Acela, Amtrak’s higher-speed train, was up 6.6%. Manieri says the ability to stay connected by phone and Internet while traveling is just one reason she prefers the train over flying or driving.

“You can make phone calls, and you don’t have to turn your laptop on and off,” says Manieri, adding she also avoids the airport’s long security lines and the highway’s congestion.

Amtrak has benefited from the “remarkable lifestyle shift” caused by smartphones, laptops and iPads that let travelers work and communicate almost everywhere, says Joseph Schwieterman, a transportation professor at DePaul University in Chicago. “It’s kind of a have-iPhone-will-travel kind of thing.”

Young adults especially view trains and intercity buses as extensions of the public transportation system, he says. They can hop on without ever disconnecting from the rest of the world, he says. (Amtrak chugs along nicely to record ridership)

My last train trip was to Chicago, nearly a decade earlier.  That trip was a disaster, arriving about 6-7 hours late. But this trip was punctual to the minute.  By taking my train I was able to have my power wheelchair with me, saving the hassle of parking and of my limited walking distance.

Future trips will be by planes, trains & automobiles. Once Amtrak service in Missouri & Illinois gets wi-fi like trains on the east coast I think we will see more and more opting for train travel.  More people traveling from urban center to urban center will only help those  cities, without hurting the suburban edge.  Next week I will look at Kansas City’s BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) line.

– Steve Patterson

PR: City Makes Proposal To Avert Deep Cuts In Fire Department

The following press release just in from the mayor’s office:

ST. LOUIS-The City of St. Louis today put forward a proposal to avert deep cuts in the St. Louis Fire Department by stopping the spiraling cost increases of the Firemen’s Retirement System (FRS).

“These common sense changes are fair to both firefighters and taxpayers. They will ensure that firefighters get the pension they deserve when they need it,” said Jeff Rainford, Chief of Staff to Mayor Francis Slay. “But the changes will also ease the cost increases that threaten public safety.”

In 2001 and 2002, the state-created Fireman’s Retirement System lost $147 million on its investments. In 2008 and 2009, it lost $170 million. Under state law, the taxpayers of St. Louis must pay for those pension losses even though they did not control them. As a result, between 2001 and 2009 the cost to the taxpayer doubled. Between 2009 and 2011, it will double again. If FRS continues to miss its assumed investment gains, the costs will keep going up.

The City has already made cuts – millions of dollars of them – and the taxpayers have made sacrifices because of employee pension fund losses. The City has eliminated 600 civilian jobs. It has put off fixing broken infrastructure. It is not adequately maintaining parks. It has been forced to charge a fee for trash pickup. It raised the sales tax. It has dropped or cut back on some services. The mayor cut his own office budget by 7%; other offices have cut more or less.

By comparison, the fire department has been largely untouched.

The fire department budget has gone up by more than 40% in the last decade. Firefighter pay, health care, and pension costs have gone up by 73%. For every dollar taxpayers spend for a firefighter’s salary, taxpayers pay another 82 cents for firefighter fringe benefits, far more than private sector benefits.

These benefits costs fund one of the best public safety pensions in the country. St. Louis firefighters can retire with partial pensions as young as 38 years old. They can retire with full pensions as young as 48 years old. Injured firefighters get full disability pensions even if they are capable of doing other work. Firefighters get two weeks of sick pay each per year. When they don’t use it, they can save it up and get big checks and bigger pensions when they retire. (The City is trying to end sick leave buy-back, which is the subject of a lawsuit filed by FRS.)

“We want firefighters to be paid well and treated fairly because they do a dangerous job,” Rainford said. “But, taxpayers should not be treated like ATMs.”

The proposal, in essence, would result in some firefighters working a few additional years to get the same pension. It includes:

Increasing the minimum number of years before a firefighter can retire from 20 to 25.

For each year a firefighter works after 25 years, the value of their pension goes up. The City is proposing to reduce the annual increase slightly. It would have the effect of requiring firefighters to work a few years more to get the same pension.

Set the minimum age at which a retired firefighter can begin to collect a pension at 55 years old.

· Accepting a proposal from the International Association of Fire Fighters Local #73 that would require firefighters who are no longer able to physically do the job as a firefighter to do other work if they are able, rather than collect disability pensions.

· Requiring firefighter pension contributions to remain in the system when firefighters retire. Like many Americans who have pensions, the firefighters pay into their system. But, unlike most pensioners, they get the full contributions back when they leave the department.

· Changing the basis of pension calculations from the last two years of salary to the last three years of salary. That would put firefighter pensions more in line with public pensions across the country.

These proposed changes would be from now on only. No accumulated benefits would be cut.

Because FRS is created by state law, it will take action by the Missouri General Assembly to make all of the needed changes. Legislators have indicated they will not even consider the changes if firefighters oppose them.

“If we fail to agree and don’t change FRS, we will go down one path,” Rainford said. “There will be fewer working firefighters. There will be far less money for pay and health care for the firefighters who remain. Residents and businesses will be served by a diminished department. On the other hand, if we agree and successfully change FRS, the crisis is averted.”

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Readers Mixed On ‘Most Dangerous’ List

The results were mixed on the poll last week.

Q: St. Louis was recently named the ‘Most Dangerous City’ by CQ Press. Your thoughts:

1. The methodology may be flawed but there is some truth to it 51 [29.31%]
2. If they looked at metropolitan areas the St. Louis region wouldn’t be on the list at all. 50 [28.74%]
3. The study methodology is highly flawed so the results can’t be trusted. 27 [15.52%]
4. St. Louis is dangerous, but not the most dangerous. 27 [15.52%]
5. Other answer… 8 [4.6%]
6. Take that Camden NJ, we’re #1 this year! 7 [4.02%]
7. Agreed, St. Louis is the most dangerous. 3 [1.72%]
8. unsure/no opinion 1 [0.57%]

The other answers were:

1. The city is very dangerous
2. Horsecrap. So far.
3. Major cities like Chicago aren’t even considered for this “honor”
4. Dangerous enough to matter in the negative!
5. The city is extremely violent, however the city/county divide scews the results
6. No, St. Louis is not the most dangerous city.
7. Not the most dangerous, but dangerous enough and we need to fix it, now!
8. St. Louis is no more dangerous than any other large city.

I have no great conclusions based on the above other than 1) St. Louis can be dangerous 2) the results are flawed & 3) probably not the most dangerous. You see anything else in the numbers?

– Steve Patterson

Kansas City’s Power & Light District An Open-Air Food Court

Kansas City’s Power & Light District was developed by The Cordish Companies, the same developer selected by the Cardinals in 2006 for Ballpark Village.  I’ve over simplified in the headline — it is more than a food court.

There are streets that continue the existing downtown street grid but the main area is a self contained central area.  As with an indoor mall, this is private –not public, space. Unlike the public square, don’t plan to organize any government protests here.  It has the generic feel of an indoor mall, without the air conditioning or heating.

Granted it is dressed in the latest style — lots of metal internally and brick facing the streets.

I visited on a very cold Saturday morning so both the sidewalks and the central Main Stage area were largely vacant.  I will visit again in the Spring on a weekday and weekend night.

The evening after my morning visit three friends picked me up at my midtown hotel for dinner downtown.  Did we go to a place at the Power & Light?  Uh, no.  We went to a locally owned restaurant in the nearby River Market District. Like St. Louis, Kansas City has a great restaurant scene but projects like Power & Light and Ballpark Village are more about formula restaurants than local places.   The question I have is if both can co-exist?  Will the influx of a concentration of tax subsidized new eateries make it difficult for existing places to compete?  Or will downtown see an increase in the number of diners so existing & new survive?

Call me a snob, but I don’t see myself patronizing restaurants at Ballpark Village.

– Steve Patterson

Downtown Grocery Stores: St. Louis vs. Kansas City

On a recent visit to Kansas City I visited the downtown Cosentino’s Market in the Power & Light District.   I was impressed., I left thinking the store had to be twice as big as St. Louis’ downtown market, Culinaria.   It is bigger, but only 22% (27,000sf vs 33,000sf).

Both stores are operated by local family chains.

The older & larger chain is the St. Louis-based Schnucks:

“Associates of Schnuck Markets Inc., have been serving customers a unique combination of quality food, variety and value for nearly seven decades. Founded in north St. Louis in 1939, the family-owned grocery company has grown to include more than 100 stores in seven states: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee and Mississippi.”

But the Cosentino chain is only a quarter the size of Schnucks:

The Cosentino family opened their first market in 1948, located on Blue Ridge Boulevard in Kansas City. Since that time the local family owned grocer has aspired to provide excellent customer service in an exceptionally clean environment. It was with immense pride that Cosentino’s Market grew from a dream into a reality. The first Cosentino’s Market was opened in Brookside in 2004 followed by the location in the Kansas City Power & Light District in 2009. “We were so honored to be chosen as part of this historical project and to have the chance to develop such an innovative store.” John Cosentino says of the Downtown project.

Cosentino’s Food Stores currently operates 25 stores in the Kansas City area. The first generation is proud to watch the third generation of Cosentino’s Family members now taking part in the day to day operations and management of the company.

So the newer, smaller chain built a larger downtown market.

The Cosentino’s didn’t receive any direct subsidies.  However, it is part of the Power & Light District, which was financed in part through the state MODESA program.  Culinaria, on the other hand, got plenty of incentives.  First the parking garage it is located in is owned by  the Missouri Development Finance Board.  The structure was developed by DESCO, the Schnucks’ development company.  But they also got specific help:

Schnucks will pay $3.42 million necessary for tenant improvements, inventory and other opening expenses at the downtown location, at Ninth and Olive streets, according to state finance board documents. The remaining money will come from a combination of state, federal and city subsidies. (St. Louis Business Journal)

To my knowledge no criteria was put in place to have Schnucks repay the taxpayers if the store exceeded a certain threshold.

– Steve Patterson