According to the calendar it has been Spring for three weeks now, but it sure hasn’t felt like it. Finally, on Wednesday we began to warm up. That day I met friends for lunch…al fresco. They’re from Springfield IL, they came in the day before for the Cardinals game, we met at Pi downtown, as it was near their hotel and they have a nice outdoor patio.
Pi MX at 11:30am on Wednesday, by noon every table was occupied.
After lunch I had grocery shopping to do but they had two hours to sight see until they needed to be back at the Amtrak station. They hadn’t seen Citygarden yet, so I showed them. Culinaria was next, I stayed to shop while they continued on. I’d suggested places a few places for them to see:
Big Shark bike shop & adjacent bike station
Central Library
Soliders Memorial
I’m just very glad we’re above freezing. Now if we can get rain at night, but dry clear days.
Entrance to the Treasurer’s office in city hall, though the main office is a block away,
Yesterday I went to city hall to attend the monthly Parking Commission meeting, held every 2nd Thursday, but was told it took place the day before. Really? I’d checked the Treasurer’s Twitter account before leaving home, no mention at all. I tweeted about the change from the hallway, mentioning @stltreasurer. The response was “@urbanreviewstl It was on our website: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/events/eventdetails.cfm?Event_ID=8145 …” I guess I should’ve checked the website every day since April 1st on the off chance the meeting date will be moved a day early? If only there was a way for me to subscribe to get notices of interest, like RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds allow you to get the latest news from your favorite sources, all in one place. The City of St. Louis offers the following feeds:
RSS allows subscribers to be notified of new content. But with only four feeds another way is needed to let people know, enter Twitter & Facebook. The subscription page the Twitter profiles and Facebook pages of numerous city departments/officials, including the Treasurer’s office, below the four RSS feeds are. No RSS, follow on Twitter &/or Facebook. The Treasurer’s twitter account currently has 782 followers, the Facebook page has 125 likes. The Facebook page is updated via Twitter.
The city relies on Twitter & Facebook instead of having hundreds of RSS feed, but the departments need to use these tools for them to effectively keep the public informed. It’s one thing to not tweet about a meeting being held a day later than usual, but it’s very important when moving up the meeting a day. Not using social media in this instance makes me suspicious of the goings on. The agenda listed only two items, but potentially controversial ones:
ICM/Summer Rocks Parking Agreement
Review and Approval of FY 2015 Budget
I usually attend meetings, tweeting discussions during. It appears the meeting was moved up a day so I wouldn’t be present. There may well be another reason for the change, but the appearance remains the same in my eyes. Since the prepared minutes aren’t shared online I’ll only know what took place if I make it to the next meeting on May 8th when I can get a copy. I’ll have to make a note to start checking the website starting on May 1st in case it’s decided to move the date again. So much for transparency….
Two days ago many voters in the region went to the polls to vote on local measures, such as bond issues. Those of us in the City of St. Louis didn’t have an election, our next time voting will be the Missouri primary on Tuesday August 5, 2014. However, voters in the 13th ward will vote at a special election on April 29th. Fred Wessels resigned as alderman on December 31st to become the head of the Community Development Administration (CDA):
The CDA, among other things, administers federal funds for housing, community and economic development programs. It’s also responsible for administering the city’s share of federal community development block grants.
Wessels will replace Jill Claybour, who is retiring. (Beacon)
The 13th ward candidates are Beth Murphy (D) and Conan Predergast (R), see official list here. Phyllis Young of the 7th ward is now the most senior alderman, her and Wessels were both sworn into office in April 1985.
Click image for information on becoming a poll worker.
IMPORTANT PRIMARY DATES:
Absentee balloting begins: Tuesday June 24, 2014
Last Day to Register to Vote: Wednesday July 9, 2014
Primary Election Day: Tuesday August 5, 2014
In the city the primary will include three county-level offices: Collector of Revenue, License Collector, and Recorder of Deeds. Let’s take a look at the candidates seeking the nomination of their party:
Collector of Revenue
Democratic
Gregory F.X. Daly (Incumbent)
John P. Parhomski
Republican
Dylan M. Farrell
Green
None
License Collector
Democratic
Mavis “Tesssa” Thompson (Incumbent)
Jeffrey L. Boyd
Francis Horton
Republican
None
Green
Don DeVivo
Recorder of Deeds
Democratic
Jimmie Matthews
Sharon Quigley Carpenter (Incumbent)
Edward McFowland
Republican
Erik Shequist
Green
None
What do we know from this list? All three incumbents are Democrats, no surprise. What’s surprising and refreshing is all three are being challenged in the primary. We also know the two Republicans, and the one Green, will represent their respective parties in the November general election.
The most interesting of the races is the Democratic primary for License Collector. Thompson was appointed by Gov. Nixon last year to replace Michael McMillan, who became President of the Urban League of St. Louis. Alderman Jeffrey Boyd ran unsuccessfully for Treasurer in 2012, coming in 3rd in the 4-way Democratic primary, just after Fred Wessels.
Slightly more than half the readers who voted in the poll last week selected answers supportive on the dress codes at Ballpark Village venues, conversely just under half selected answers unsupportive.
Inside the “Live” area the day before the home opener
Here are the results:
Q: The Dress Code at Ballpark Village Is…
a good thing 45 [28.85%]
no big deal 37 [23.72%]
a way to say “whites only” 27 [17.31%]
par for the Cordish course 15 [9.62%]
pointless 8 [5.13%]
offensive 7 [4.49%]
confusing 7 [4.49%]
Other: 7 [4.49%]
lame
A dress code is needed, but this one goes too far, after all it is called ballpa
a way to filter who is allowed in
The same as most clubs on Wash Ave.
The dress code at Ballpark village is a clear example sexism.
necessary evil
all the dress codes seem to apply to men.
Unsure/no opinion 3 [1.92%]
The various dress codes are outlined in the original post. In short, TV’s Daisy Duke would be admitted, but St. Louis native Nelly, dressed as he was in the Hot in Herre video, would be turned away. On Washington Ave I’ve seen young women wearing skirts so short any shorter they’d be flashing everyone. Presumably, that’s ok. We’ll probably check out a few of the venues but I don’t see any becoming a regular hangout.
Work has started on an addition to the existing St. Louis County Courthouse:
On October 15, 2013, the St. Louis County Council awarded a $122 million Design-Build contract to St. Louis-based KCI Construction Company, Inc. (KCI) to design and construct improvements related to the County Courts Project. KCI’s work will include construction of a new addition and substantial renovations to the existing Courts Building and the parking garage beneath it. Once work is complete, all family/juvenile court and detention operations currently conducted at the Family Courts Center (501 S. Brentwood) will be permanently relocated to the new, unified Courts Complex. (St. Louis County)
The new addition will be built on top of the existing parking garage. Two buildings to the west, across South Meramec Ave, will be razed to make room for staging the constriction project.
The two buildings circled in red, located on South Meramec Ave, will be razed, click image to view in Google Maps.
The two are connected via a walkway over the alley. The building at 111 S. Meramec Ave has nearly 72,000 square feet and was built in 1957. The taller of the two, 121 S. Meramec Ave, was built in 1964 and contains nearly 210,000 square feet of space. Both buildings have a negative impact on the Meramec sidewalk, neither will be missed from an urbanist viewpoint. I don’t know the architect of either, a preservationist might object to their planned demolition.
I need to find out if St. Louis County has a long-term plan for the land. Selling to a developer or keeping for surface/structured parking are the two obvious future uses.
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