In April Francis Slay will end his 4th term as mayor — the longest serving in St. Louis’ history. Slay had previously indicated his intentions to seek a 5th term, but in April 2016 announced he wouldn’t run again. Those seeking to replace him have until January 6th to file to be in the March 7, 2017 primary. Independent candidates have more time to file for the April general election.
For many, Slay is the only mayor they’ve known since they began voting. Today’s non-scientific question is seeking to find out if readers want Slay’s policies to continue.
The St. Louis City Democratic Central Committee is the elected body consisting of one Committeewoman and one Committeeman from each of the 28 wards in St. Louis City. We are tasked with building a strong party organization within the city of St. Louis and working to get Democrats elected up and down the party ticket in every election.
Every party has a central committee, but, to my knowledge, the Republicans and Greens don’t have two members for every ward — as provided by state law. Not surprising since St. Louis is a reliable “blue city”. They’re elected every 4 years in the August primary before the presidential election.
The city Democrats website used to be awful, not even listing who the committee consisted of. Thankfully it is substantially better than in the past.
Screen shot of stlcitydems.com, click image to view
But it’s far from perfect. Each of the 28 wards is independent from each other so the amount of information you get varies greatly from ward to ward. All list the committeewoman & committeeman, with contact info (phone, Twitter) for some of the 56 members.
Of the 28 ward organizations:
18 (64%) have NO website, Facebook page, etc
5 (18%) do have a website & Facebook page
4 (14%) have a Facebook page, but no website
1 (4%) has a website, but no Facebook page
The 8th ward is one of the 5 with both a website & Facebook page
Each ward page includes a PDF of the boundaries, however, nowhere online have I been able to find ward maps with precinct boundaries.
Below is a list of all 28 wards and additional sites listed on the city Democrats page, again, 64% have nothing:
It’s important to remember the committeeman, committeewoman, and alderman may not get along with each other. They may all work against each other. or two may work together against the third. If you have an interest in St. Louis politics the ward-level is a good place to get involved– especially with the Spring 2017 primary election just around the corner.
December 28, 2016Featured, Popular Culture, ReligionComments Off on Christmas Is A Religious Holiday For Many, Cultural For The Rest Of Us
We buy a new ornament every year, this year we got a leg lamp ornament — a reference to the 1983 classic: A Christmas Story (click image to watch video clip)
For many of us, Christmas is an important holiday. My husband and I are both atheists, but we have a Christmas tree every year. Sunday his family came down from Springfield IL for brunch at our loft, it’s an important cultural holiday for us.
We’re not alone:
About nine-in-ten Americans (92%) and nearly all Christians (96%) say they celebrate Christmas, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey. This is no surprise, but what might be more unexpected is that a big majority (81%) of non-Christians in the U.S. also celebrate Christmas. This includes 87% of people with no religion and even about three-quarters of Asian-American Buddhists (76%) and Hindus (73%). Roughly a third of U.S. Jews (32%) – many of whom have non-Jewish spouses – said in a 2013 survey that they had a Christmas tree in their homes during the most recent holiday season. Among Americans overall, about half (51%) say they celebrate Christmas as more of a religious holiday, while roughly a third (32%) say it is more of a cultural holiday to them personally. (Pew)
A proposed MLS stadium would be built here, the site of a long-dead planned highway project
Decades ago Missouri & St. Louis used taxpayer money to buy and raze a huge area West of Union Station for a planned highway that’s long dead. This vacant hole has been a huge negative, preventing smaller private investment all around from spreading to improve the tax base and employment.
It took taxpayer money to raze the neighborhood that once existed here — it will take taxpayer money to undo the damage. Regardless of what goes here — public money will be needed.
I haven’t reviewed the MLS stadium proposal, but it could potentially spur other development that would, in time, completely fill in this hole, St. Louis & Missouri needs to look at the long-term pros & cons to investing in this area. No doubt the proposal is heavily tilted in favor of the would-be team owners, that’s why it needs to be scrutinized and revised. But outright rejection is saying this huge dead hole is ok as is for another 2-3 decades.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
