Readers: Remove Cannabis From Missouri’s List of Controlled Substances

If enough signatures are collected by May 6th, Missouri voters will be asked to support a constitutional amendment to decriminalize cannabis. Seemed like an interesting topic so it was the poll topic last week:

Q: Should cannabis be removed from the Missouri Statutes list of controlled substances

1. Yes, a constitutional amend would keep the legislature from changing the vote of the people 124 [64.25%]
2. Yes, but not as a constitutional amendment 41 [21.24%]
3. No 15 [7.77%]
4. Unsure/No Opinion 5 [2.59%]
5. Other: 5 [2.59%]
6. Maybe 3 [1.55%]

More than 85% support decriminalization but they split on making it a constitutional amendment. Three-qurarters of those who support removal from the controlled substance list  support an amendment.  It should be noted the total number of votes was higher than a typical week, but the results as a percentage stayed consistent throughout the week.

– Steve Patterson

‘Schoemehl Pots’ Need To Be Maintained Or Removed

When I voted last week I walked by this pot in the center of a walkway near 10th Street, next to Henry School. The walkway was once a public street.

Attractive huh? I’m sure these have a proper name but I’ve always liked the term “Schoemehl Pot,” a name based on their use starting during the administration of former mayor Vincent Schoemehl.

Most often they are used to destroy our street grid. Sometimes they are planted nicely but most often I see them full of trash, weeds, or both. In these cases they are not a positive part of the community but just another symbol of failed urban policies.

I’d like to see a study done of how many of these are scattered around the city and in what condition they are in. Just like broken windows or boarded up buildings, these foster negative behavior. I’d like to many, if not most, removed.

 – Steve Patterson

The Bottle Undistrict

The soft drink 7-Up was once marketed as the uncola. For years now people have been trying to market the vacant land and a vacant warehouse north of the Edwards Jones Dome as The Bottle District. The first post where I mentioned The Bottle District was in August 2005 (Thoughts on St. Louis’ Proposed Riverfront Makeover, Lid Over I-70 and Mississippi River Bridge).

The Bottle District is a six-block area north of Downtown St. Louis, Missouri that is being redeveloped as a mixed-use entertainment and residential district. The area is located north of the city’s convention center and west of Laclede’s Landing.

The district is located in what was once known as the Kerry Patch neighborhood of the city, which was home to thousands of Irish immigrants in the 19th Century. The neighborhood gradually became more industrial in nature. In the 1920s this area was famous for animal stockyards and bottling companies.

McGuire Moving and Storage Company, a longtime business located in the area, announced plans for redeveloping the district as an entertainment destination in 2004. Noted architect Daniel Libeskind was hired to design the district. The Ghazi Company of Charlotte, North Carolina is the co-developer of the Bottle District.

The first phase of the redevelopment is scheduled to open in 2007. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 27, 2005. The first phase will include a Rawlings Sports museum, a Grand Prix Speedways kart-racing center, a boutique bowling alley, 250 residential units, and several restaurants. The first phase of the development is anticipated to cost $290 million and is being funded in part by $51.3 million in tax increment financing.

Several explanations for the origin of the name of the Bottle District have been given. It has been suggested that the name honors the longstanding connection between St. Louis and the brewing and bottling industries. Others have suggested that the name comes from bottles found buried on the property, or the many broken bottles found in the neighborhood. Finally, the site is noted for a decades old, 34-foot-tall (10 m) advertisement for Vess Soda, shaped like a bottle, which the developers intend to restore during the redevelopment. (Wikipedia)

Here we are years later and this district remains anything but a district. To me it’s The Bottle Undistrict.

The problem here is this has been developer-driven planning. Big picture urban planning would have looked at how to develop this land and connect it to the west, the former Cochran public housing project, now the nice mixed-income Cambridge Heights neighborhood and renovated Neighborhood Gardens apartment development from 1935. Developers rarely think beyond the borders of their property, that takes municipal planning to knit together private parcels into a cohesive city.

We should be planning now for when the new I-70 bridge opens to the north, allowing the replacement of the highway lanes with a high volume boulevard instead. This district could then front onto the boulevard and more easily connect to the east. But our leadership doesn’t get it, to them the 1970 way is just fine.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: The St. Louis Question: “Where did you go to school?” is?

“Where did you go to school?” is a very common question around here. Last week the Post-Dispatch had a couple of interesting stories on the topic:

It was while attending a party as newcomers to St. Louis that, for the first time, someone asked Kim Wolterman and her husband where they went to school.

Their answer, “Iowa State,” received blank stares and silence.

“He said, ‘No, I meant high school.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Why do you care where I went to high school?'” Wolterman said.

She didn’t know it then, but Wolterman was bumping into one of St. Louis’ most peculiar quirks — asking complete strangers to name their high school alma mater. (STLtoday.com)

I also used to answer with the college I attended, now I say “not here” or something like that.  The other article  “So, how did ‘the St. Louis question’ start?” has a few theories. What I want to know in the poll this week is 1) how you feel about the question and 2) did you go to high school here or not. The poll is located in the right sidebar.

For the record, I’m a 1985 graduate of Southeast High School in Oklahoma City (aerial). The northwest part of the city was, and is, considered the better part of town. My parents lived in NW OKC before I was born but my dad felt it was too snobbish so when they built a new house they did so in SW OKC  — just two blocks from the east-west dividing line (Santa Fe St. Ave.). My high school (and middle school) both bordered Santa Fe but on the east side, not west side.

– Steve Patterson

New Mission & Neighborhood for Ittner’s Henry School

Last year’s redistricting meant I was now in the 5th ward, rather than the 6th. As such my polling place for voting changed from the senior apartment building on Olive west of Jefferson to Patrick Henry Elementary on North 10th St.

It’s official name is now Patrick Henry Downtown Academy:

Nestled in the heart of downtown St. Louis, Patrick Henry Downtown Academy, located at 1220 N. 10th Street, offers a tuition-free world-class urban educational experience for children grades Pre-K-6th. We are beginning the first phase in the implementation of a GREEN School Model. We will emphasize ecological sustainability, environmental health, nutrition, personal responsibility, leadership and a comprehensive, high-quality academic program.

Patrick Henry Downtown Academy will serve as a unique springboard for students who will be at the forefront of the industries and disciplines of the 21st Century. There will be an emphasis on the environmental sciences, energy alternatives and conservation, recycling, organic gardening and the food sciences, and the emerging “green” economy, students will focus on developing the math, science, writing and “hands-on” skills that will make them successful leaders to make a difference in improving the environment for humanity. Our goal is to be the first urban GREEN Model Pilot School in the country! (Saint Louis Public Schools).

The Henry school is one of many designed by architect William B. Ittner (Landmarks Association, Wikipedia). Voters entered through a basement entry to get to the small gym so the areas I saw weren’t grand spaces designed by Ittner. They were nice and clean and students going from class to class were well behaved. School staff were clearly in charge of the students. Those working the polls were helpful.

Last November I voted absentee but I’m glad I went in person on Tuesday, even though I had to walk down numerous steps. The area to the east was the Cochran Gardens high-rise public housing projects. Cochran has been replaced by Cambridge Heights, a mixed income neighborhood. Now that construction is nearly complete I’ll be visiting and posting about the changes, including pictures of the high-rise buildings before they were razed.

– Steve Patterson