Independents Trounce Partisan Nominees In 15th Ward Special Election

The unofficial results from Tuesday’s special election in the 15th ward are interesting to me.  First, the turnout was a decent 17.5%. By contrast, the December 2011 special election in my ward, the 5th, just 10.37% of voters participated.

Here are some recent participation rates for the 15th ward:

• August 2014 primary: 23.95%
• March 2013 primary: 22.72%.
• November 2012 general: 73.71%

Huge difference between big national elections, state elections, and a special local race. Here are the unofficial results from Tuesday:

• MELISSA MCDANIEL (D) 123 [10.82%]
• JOSHUA SIMPSON (R) 63 [5.54%]
• MEGAN GREEN (I) 521 [45.82%]
• RHONDA SMYTHE (I) 427 [37.55%]
• Write-in Votes 3 [0.26%]

I made the following visual:

There was a time that being the democratic nominee meant easy victory, that may still hold true in many wards.  Not in the 15th this year, Melissa McDaniel only managed to get 11% of the total. Ouch!

None of the four candidates received a plurality, but we don’t have runoffs or instant runoff voting. Megan Green will be sworn in as the next 15th ward alderman. In early 2015 she’ll have to defend the office, in March if she switches to the Democratic party, or April if she remains an independent. I still want to see all local offices become nonpartisan.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: The US War On Drugs Is A Failure; Drug Policy Lecture/Panel Friday

In the poll last week readers overwhelmingly felt our ‘War on Drugs’ is a failure, here are the results:

Q: Currently, the US ‘War on Drugs’ is…

1. a failure 98 [89.09%]
2. neither a success or failure 9 [8.18%]
3. Unsure/No Opinion 3 [2.73%]
4. a success 0 [0%]

Why does this matter? Because police continue wasting resources raiding homes growing okra. Thankfully more and more people, like businessman Richard Branson, are calling for an end to this failed war.

Friday a leading researcher on drugs, Carl Hart Ph.D.,  will be in St. Louis. Dr. Hart will meet with leaders and activists in Ferguson and participate in two public events at Washington University. Having watched his Ted Talk a few times now, watched his congressional testimony, I look forward to seeing him in person. I’ve not read his book High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society.

Dr. Carl Hart Lecture: Demystifying the Science of Drug Addiction: Neuroscience, Self-discovery, Race, and U.S. Drug Policy

Date:  October 10, 2014 – 11:00am – 12:00pm
Location:  Anheuser-Busch Hall Moot Courtroom, Room 310

Join the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellows as we welcome Carl Hart, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Columbia University and 2014 winner of the PEN/E O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

Dr. Carl Hart Keynote Group Discussion & Panel

Date:  October 10, 2014 – 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Location:  Umrath Lounge, Umrath Hall

Panel and Group Discussion, 2 to 3:30pm
Book Signing & Reception, 3:30 to 5pm

Panel Moderator:
Ken Freedland, Ph.D. – Panel Moderator
Professor of Psychiatry
Washington University

Panel Participants:

• Carl Hart, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology & Psychiatry, Columbia University
• David Patterson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Social Work, Washington University
• Rumi Price, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Washington University
• Juliette Iacovino, Ph.D. Candidate, Psychology, Washington University
• Mario Ortega, Ph.D. Candidate, Neurosciences, Washington University

Click here for a campus map.

I now agree with a majority of Americans that possession of all drugs should be decriminalized, see the study here. This was not easy for me, I came of age at the time First Lady Nancy Reagan was encouraging everyone to “just say no.” We’ve learned a lot in the last 30-40 years, we need to apply this knowledge to our policies.

— Steve Patterson

Updating Parking Garage Lighting

Yesterday I posted about a parking garage attempting, poorly, to look like numerous buildings. In researching the garage I discovered in June Cheyenne WY approved spending a little more than $130,000 to upgrade the lighting from metal halide fixtures to LED.

Bob Bradshaw, the city’s special projects director, said the current metal halide bulbs are “burning out at a rate of a couple a day” and can cost up to $260 each to replace.

Not only are the LED bulbs more energy efficient, they last longer and require less maintenance, Bradshaw said. That means the city would save money on both energy bills and maintenance costs with the new lights. (source)

The new lighting is estimated to save $253,077 over the next decade, with the break even point “in just over four years.” While in Colorado & Wyoming electricians finished replacing the old halogen lights in our condo parking garage, located underneath both buildings.  The lights are on 24 hours a day, between electricity and replacements representing over 16% of our annual budget.

A rebate from Ameren reduced our upfront costs about 30%, but it was still a substantial investment. With a payoff of just 18 months the majority of us voted to proceed.

Once our inventory of compact fluorescents (CFL) has been depleted, we’ll begin using LED bulbs in our stairwells and hallways.

— Steve Patterson

Parking Garage Attempts To Look Like Multiple Buildings

Parking, specifically parking garages, have been a regular topic here over the last decade, recently a musical garage in Chicago and two St. Louis apartment projects. While on my honeymoon last month we spotted another garage I want to share with you today, this one in Cheyenne Wyoming. We spent a few hours of our week-long Colorado honeymoon in neighboring Wyoming, having lunch in Cheyenne and dessert in Laramie.

Before the garage let me set show you what we saw on our Sunday visit.

Cheyenne has two municipal garages, each occupying a full city block. Cheyenne, the state capital of Wyoming, also has a large state garage. We drove past one municipal garage a few times, I only discovered the other two once home and researching this post.

I’m torn on this garage. On one hand the execution offends my sense of aesthetics, on the other is blends in better than the other two garages, admittedly I’ve only seen them on Google Streetview.

Is skinning a large structure to appear like multiple structures dishonest?  Absolutely! I could get over that if the execution had active space at the sidewalk level, with space for a Walgreend/CVS, Subway, etc. The ides is right, not look like a massive singular block with horizontal lines. Details do matter though.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: The Recorder Of Deeds Office Should…

The usually sleepy Recorder of Deeds office has been in the news a lot for months, after Sharon Carpenter resigned amid charges of nepotism. Some of Carpenter’s spending was questionable, including office renovations, prompting Gov. Nixon to request an audit.

On Friday Board Bill 151 was introduced at the Board of Aldermen:

A new bill, set to be introduced by Aldermen Phyllis Young and Marlene Davis today, would put the office under the umbrella of the mayor’s office and make it an appointed position — not an elected one. The change would require passage by the Board of Aldermen and ultimately a citywide vote. (stltoday)

The poll question this week seeks to find out if readers favor keeping the office a citywide elected office or if they favor the proposed change to an appointed position. The poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson