Happy Labor Day

Missouri is book-ended on eat side by blue-ish cities: Kansas City on the West and St. Louis on the East. In between is a lot of red. Wages & labor, among many others, are areas where the differences clash.  Though the GOP controls Jefferson City the people are fighting back.

From last month:

With the submission of more than 300,000 signatures Friday, Missouri’s right-to-work law won’t go into effect Aug. 28 and its fate likely will be put to voters in 2018.

 The law is suspended, Secretary of State spokeswoman Maura Browning told St. Louis Public Radio. The office still needs to verify that at least 100,000 of the signatures are from registered voters — the minimum to force a statewide vote in November 2018. (St. Louis Public Radio)

If the signatures are conformed, this gives lots of time to mount a campaign to override the legislature on unions. St. Louis’ higher minimum wage has been rolled back by the state GOP, but again efforts are underway to change that as well:

In Missouri, advocates of a higher minimum wage are already mobilizing a new statewide campaign to get a minimum wage measure on the November 2018 ballot. If organizers with the “Raise Up Missouri” campaign gather enough signatures and voters approve it next year, Missouri’s minimum wage would go up to $8.60 in 2019 and increase 85 cents each year until 2023, when it would hit $12 an hour.

Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at Washington University who studies labor and inequality, points to the successful 2014 statewide measure raising Arkansas’ minimum wage as an example of the issue’s resonance beyond a liberal base. (Post-Dispatch)

Arkansas is just as backwards as Missouri, perhaps more. So if they can increase their statewide minimum wage we should too.

Have a great Labor Day today.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Is Forest Park A Better Venue For Fair St. Louis?

Last week Fair St. Louis officials announced the dates & location for the 2018 event.

After four years at Forest Park, Fair St. Louis is returning to the Gateway Arch in 2018.  (KSDK)

Organizers say the event drew approximately 300,000 people to Forest Park last year — more than any event there in more than a century. (Post-Dispatch)

So the event in Forest Park attracts more people.

Today’a poll question is about the event returning to the Arch grounds.

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

One Building On Locust Being Renovated While Another Awaits Demolition

Over 4 years ago the then-owner of a couple of buildings at 10th & Locust wanted to raze them for a hotel driveway for the 3rd building, the tallest. Many objected, the city’s Preservation Board repeatedly said no to demolition.

I’ve not followed the current project, but work is underway at at least two of the three.City records show a demolition permit was issued on 8/17/2017 for the 3-story on the NE corner of 10th & Locust (923 Locust St.), with the later Tudor-revival facade. The exterior isn’t original to the building, but it’s important to have massing on this corner.

Hopefully a new building will be built on the corner, ideally taller — at least as tall as the adjacent building being rehabbed.

— Steve Patterson

Opinion: St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach Has Best Interests of Rally Cat

Thankfully the volunteers at the non-profit St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach were able to find and trap the cat known as “rally cat” since running across the field during a Cardinals game on August 9th.

St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach is a 501c3 organization (tax-exempt nonprofit). We’re a resource page for trappers, caretakers/feeders, and cat lovers dedicated to Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in St. Louis, MO and surrounding communities. The page is managed by several trappers and colony/caretakers and we believe that TNR is the best and most effective approach to cat overpopulation.

Our goal is to reduce the feral cat population in St. Louis, MO and surrounding communities while improving the quality of life for both cats and humans. High-volume use of low-cost or free spay-neuter services to sterilize feral, semi-feral, stray and domestic cats will help us achieve this goal.

Feral cats are wild animals, not domesticated pets. They’re also called community cats:

Community cats are not adoptable and shelters rarely will accept them. The fact is, most community cats exhibit wild, shy or frightened behavior, and it’s impossible to predict how or if they will ever acclimate to indoor life. While a community cat might look exactly the same as a pet cat, community cats survive by avoiding close human interaction. When properly cared for, community cats are happier outdoors in their own territory.

Some semi-community cats are actually stray cats who don’t exhibit quite the same shy behavior as the majority of community cats. Occasionally, these cats are born in the wild but, for no particular reason are less fearful of humans than is typical. Many semi-community cats lack the knowledge to survive on their own, and are often rejected by established colonies. It is possible for some of these cats to be socialized, but it depends on their trust of humans. It is very important to take caution, especially with cats who seem to straddle the fence between community and friendly. Getting them to trust people again might be hard, making them extremely difficult to adopt out. (ASPCA)

Some feral cats can be adopted and domesticated, most cannot. Thus, it makes sense the St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach doesn’t want Rally Cat to be forced to live in the Cardinal’s clubhouse.

In the recent non-scientiofic Sunday Poll just over half agreed, with more than 10% in the middle.

Q: Agree or disagree: The St. Louis Cardinals should get custody of “rally cat.”

• Strongly agree 6 [15.38%]
• Agree 5 [12.82%]
• Somewhat agree 2 [5.13%]
• Neither agree or disagree 4 [10.26%]
• Somewhat disagree 3 [7.69%]
• Disagree 7 [17.95%]
• Strongly disagree 11 [28.21%]
• Unsure/No Answer 1 [2.56%]

This has forced me to read up on the varied opinions on Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

— Steve Patterson

Crosswalks Meet At One Curb Ramp, Rather Than Two

Recent work downtown has been mostly good for pedestrians, but Saturday night my husband and I found an awful corner: the NE corner of Market & Broadway.  This is the SW corner of the Old Courthouse. I;m not sure who gets the blame, the possible culprits are city streets dept, city board of public service (BPS), MoDOT, National Park Service, or Gateway Arch Park Foundation.

Most new work has gotten away from placing one curb ramp at the apex at the corner, instead doing a ramp/crosswalk to cross each street. This improves ADA-compliance and reduces inconveniences for all pedestrians.

We had to cross the ramp on the NE corner of Market & Broadway as we crossed Broadway. Both times the ramp was full of pedestrians waiting to cross Market. Both times I had to ask others to move.

The idea is to get Arch visitors to start in Kiener Plaza, so this corner should see many pedestrians. It amazes me each crosswalk doesn’t lead to its own curb ramp.

No, I’m not amazed. I’ve experienced first hand how even brand new work ism’t designed by people who think like pedestrians.

— Steve Patterson