Blog Comments Pass 20,000

Reader comments on this blog have now passed 20,000 in less than 5 years time.  Wow, thank you!

– Steve Patterson

Poll, How do you receive TV?

Earlier this month the U.S. completed the decade long transition to digital television. The weekly poll, located in the right sidebar, asks how you receive television.  Over the air, internet or a paid option?  From an urban perspective it doesn’t really matter.  Or does it?

At two prior residences I had satellite service.  In both cases I had the installers located the dish out of sight. But we’ve all seen places with an out of place dish.

When I moved downtown in November 2007 I didn’t move a TV.  A few months ago I purchased a small HDTV.  But rather than spend a ton on cable or satellite I stuck with free channels over the air.  I was fine with not having tons of channels except that my reception wasn’t so good.  Some channels wouldn’t come in.  With a digital signal it is either all or nothing.  On some channels I had nothing.  My old antenna just wasn’t doing the job it had done with digital.

I recently received a digital antenna from antennasdirect.com for review.  The ClearStream antenna (Cleastream 1 Convertible, $79.95) is compact and is discrete.  Once I rescanned the channels they all came in.

PBS in St. Louis has four channels – World (9.3) and Create (9.4) are awesome.  It is said over time each region can expect up to 60 free channels.    With this news I have no regrets about receiving free television rather than pay huge monthly fees.  Now if I can just get Charter Communications to stop mailing me solicitations to get cable.

– Steve Patterson

Poll, How Long Before the City of St. Louis Will Be Smoke-Free

You oppose, favor or are neutral about smoke-free legislation.  Regardless of your perspective on the merits of smoke-free laws, I want your opinion on when you think the City of St. Louis will be covered by smoke-free legislation. Here is the question:

Clayton will go smoke-free in July 2010.  Regardless of your view on such laws, at what point do you think the City of St. Louis will go smoke-free, if ever?

The possible answers are:

• Before the end of 2009
• January 2010
• same time as Clayton – July 2010
• January 2011
• Only upon a statewide ban
• January 2012
• Never — not for City or Missouri
• By January 2015
• Unsure/Don’t Care

Remember this is not about when you want it passed or don’t want it passed. You may, for example, oppose smoke-free laws but think it will be in effect by January 2011.  Or if you are like me, you want these laws in effect yesterday, but realize it will not happen as quickly as you’d like.  So when you vote in the poll don’t select the answer you’d like to see but what you think will be the outcome.

You can find the poll in the sidebar to the right.

– Steve Patteron

Contributors Wanted

Since October 31, 2004 UrbanReviewSTL.com has published nearly 1,900 posts on a broad range of topics.  Most were written by me, Steve Patterson.  Others were written by guests.  Yesterday marked a continued evolution for this blog.

What happened yesterday?

The first post written by a “contributor” happened.  Jim ‘JimmyZ‘ Zavist has frequently added to the discussion in the comments and has written numerous guest posts.  I recently asked Jim to be my first contributor.  He agreed and yesterday I posted his first piece.

I’m seeking additional contributors, up to 9 more.  Contributors cannot make the final post to the site but they are granted limited access to the back end of the site where they can work on posts and then submit them to me for approval and final posting to this site.  If you have thought about starting a blog or have ideas of topics or viewpoints you think should be presented here then I want to talk to you.

Some initial ground rules:

• I reserve the right to make up new ground rules as necessary.
• You don’t have to agree with me.  This blog is about civic discourse.
• Topics can run the gamut from design to policy as long as they have a St. Louis connection.
• The pay sucks — zero.  I may treat you to lunch.
• You must use your real name and we must have met in person.  If we’ve not met yet but you are interested please consider applying — we can meet to seal the deal.
• This cannot be used as a sales pitch for your product or services but I have no objection to a one sentence bio at the end of the piece which may include a link to your website.
• There are no assignments or deadlines.  Contributors write what interests them, when they want.

Some perspectives I’d like to see represented:

• A person living on the edge of the region that would like to move closer to the core — the person seeking a more urban lifestyle.
• Racial minorities living in the region.
• Former St. Louisans now living outside the region.
• Elected officials that want to speak on issues.
• A parent with a school age child in the St. Louis public school system.
• Resident(s) from the Illinois side of the St. Louis region.

The information I need from potential contributors:

• Your first & last name — as you would sign your posts.
• The perspective you’d bring to UrbanReviewSTL.com.
• A personal email address (will be kept private).
• Your mobile phone number (will be kept private).
• A 2-3 sentence bio to use on your profile.
• If you have a website, the URL. This goes in the profile for each contributor.
• email the above along with why you’d make a good contributor to steve at urbanreviewstl dot com.

Rest assured, I’m not going anywhere.  I am finishing my Masters degree this Fall and anticipate having less time to maintain the same pace.  Contributors will help ensure there will be new material daily.

– Steve Patterson

Poll, Do You Care if the St. Louis Rams Leave St. Louis?

Chip Rosenbloom &  Lucia Rodrigue will be selling their 60% stake in the St. Louis Rams NFL team.  They inherited the controlling interest when their mom, Georgia Frontiere, passed away in January 2008.  The remaining 40% share is owned by Stan Kroenke, a Columbia Missouri native.

If a local/Missouri buyer is found the Rams are probably staying put for a while.  But if an out of town buyer takes a majority share it is likely they will seek to move the team when their lease in St. Louis expires.

My poll this week asks simply if you care.  You have only 3 choices:

• I don’t want them to leave.
• I do want them to leave.
• I don’t care if they stay or go.

Many factors may play into your decision.  You may enjoy the games or you may not like football but think our civic pride depends on having an NFL team.  Or you may think a football team is too costly to the community.  Or you may just not care.  The poll is located in the upper right of the main page.

I personally don’t care if they stay or go.  Although if they leave I’ll probably find the views of loss as highly irritating.  If the Rams stay, no doubt I’ll find the probably dome replacement equally irritating.  Either way I think in 5 years we will face questions as a community: can we live without an NFL team or will we be willing to fund a new stadium?  There is no place downtown for a new stadium so location would be debated.

Stay or leave I see the existing Edward Jones Dome as empty and hopefully razed.  The four city blocks occupied by the current dome are needed to reconnect downtown to the near-North neighborhood.

I see the area shaded above as being rebuilt and filled in with active streets.  If we can get rid of I-70. after the new Mississippi River bridge opens, we have a chance to reconnect an even bigger portion of our city.  See Reconnecting St Louis to the Mississippi; Don’t Cover the Highway, 86 It. Maybe in five years we can get rid of the convention center as well — that would be six more blocks to be reclaimed and rebuilt.