Poll: Was The City’s Switch To Gmail A Good Or Bad Decision?

Last month the City of St. Louis changed their email accounts so they’re now hosted by Google’s Gmail service at a cost of $275,000.  Why?

This spring, a city department head admitted he sent an email from his work account urging acquaintances to attend a $500-a-head golf tournament benefiting the campaign of his boss, Mayor Francis Slay. (St. Louis goes Google, ends ‘archaic’ email system)

In short the system the city had used for years had virtually no tracking information. When the above email was sent the holes in the city’s 20th century email system became apparent. Also:

Employees complained that their old service did not work well with mobile devices and computers outside of the network. Now, in an effort to fix the system and cut costs they have switched to Google’s cloud based service. (St. Louis City Switches To GMail)

What do you think? Good decision? Bad decision? Comment below and vote in the poll (right sidebar) now until Sunday July 8, 2012. Final results to be published Wednesday July 11, 2012.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Thoughts on Solar Panels In Historic Neighborhoods?

An interesting debate about solar panels in historic neighborhoods was in the news lately:

Bob Hiscox wants solar panels on his roof.

Energy costs are rising. Hiscox is increasingly concerned about the environment. And government rebates could help him fund the $45,000 cost.

But his building, the Soulard Bastille Bar on Russell Boulevard south of downtown, has a roof that faces the street. And that means his solar array would break neighborhood rules. Soulard, a national historic district, does not allow visible panels. (St. Louis battle over solar panels pits preservation against environmentalism)

Michael Allen has a thoughtful post on the subject, here is part:

The Soulard local historic district standards are not explicit about solar panels, which means that their installation requires a variance. The standards mandate that the character of sloped roofs be maintained through adherence to one of several times (sic) of approved roofing (most of which were not in use before 1900, I might point out). In a few instances, the Cultural Resources Office (CRO) has recommended that the Preservation Board grant a variance, and the Board has done just that. This time, however, CRO recommended denial of a variance based on the public visibility of the Bastille’s street-facing rear roof. (recommended –  Soulard Solar Collectors)

If you want to learn more here are some helpful resources:

• 1972 nomination of the neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places
• Soulard Historic District Ordinance
• Soulard Rehabilitation and New Construction Standards

I thought this would be a good topic for this week’s poll (see right sidebar). Poll results and my thoughts on Wednesday June 27th.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Should The City Of St. Louis Ban Plastic Shopping Bags?

Recently Los Angeles joined many others in banning plastic shopping bags:

In the first five months of the year, the number of plastic bag bans in the U.S. has doubled, from 37 to 75, after almost doubling, from 19 to 37, in 2011. The industry has been unable to stop major U.S. cities such as Seattle, Austin and now, most likely, Los Angeles, from banning its products.

Two-thirds of the bans are in California, and plastic bag bans are now in place in three of the 14 largest and five of the 29 largest cities in the U.S., with Los Angeles — the nation’s second-largest city, with a population of 4 million — set to join that group. (Plastics News)

However, such measures are not without controversy:

Many cities are imposing fees and bans on plastic shopping bags. Advocates argue these measures help the environment. But others say these measures are ineffective, and hurt the urban poor. (NPR)

Some stores, such as Aldi, don’t offer free plastic bags, customers must buy bags or bring their own. Other stores offer five cent discounts if you bring your own bag.

This is the topic of poll this week, the question is “Should the City of St. Louis ban plastic shopping bags?” The poll is in the right sidebar, results on Wednesday June 20, 2012.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Would You Send Your Kid To The Top High School In The Region/State If You Could?

Fourteen high schools in Missouri made Newsweek’s list of Top 1,000 High Schools for 2012. All but one were in the St. Louis metropolitan area. No Metro East high school made the list.

To generate the overall rankings, we factored in six criteria. Three make up 75 percent of the overall score—the four-year graduation rate, college-acceptance rate, and number of AP and other high-level exams given per student. Average SAT/ACT scores and AP/college-level test scores count for another 10 percent each, and the number of AP courses offered per student counts for the final 5 percent. Because most of these data aren’t available from a central source, we collected it by reaching out directly to high-school administrators directly. 15,000 were contacted, and 2300 responded.

Below is a list of all 14 Missouri high schools on the list and where they ranked. The first two listed earned spots in the Top 20 High Schools in the Midwest.

125) Metro Academic and Classical High School, St. Louis, MO

• Graduation rate: 100%
• Percent of college-bound graduates: 100
• Number of AP/IB tests per student: 0.7
• Average graduate SAT score: n/a
• Average graduate ACT score: 26.9
• Average student AP score: 2.6

129) Clayton High School, Clayton, MO

• Graduation rate: 100%
• Percent of college-bound graduates: 95
• Number of AP/IB tests per student: 0.6
• Average graduate SAT score: 2016
• Average graduate ACT score: 25.8
• Average student AP score: 4.1

181) Lincoln College Prep, Kansas City

188) Ladue Horton Watkins, Ladue

497) Rockwood Summit, Fenton

508) Lafayette, Wildwood

585) Marquette, Chesterfield

663) Lindbergh, St. Louis County

676) Eureka, Eureka

801) Parkway West, Ballwin

871) Parkway Central, Chesterfield

906) Kirkwood, Kirkwood

934) Parkway South, Manchester

947) Parkway North

The poll question this week asks you to assume you have kids, then answer if you’d send them to the best high school in the state if you could.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: How Should The St. Louis Region Respond To The Rams?

The CVC has until June 1 to accept or reject the Rams’ proposal:

The Rams’ proposal was released against their wishes on Monday, a response to the dome improvement plan submitted by their landlord, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, in February. And the discrepancy is wide: The CVC plan called for $124 million in upgrades, 52% of which would be paid for by the Rams; the team’s plan called for a complete overhaul estimated by the city to cost more than $700 million, and it wasn’t clear how it would be funded. (USAtoday.com)

My post from Tuesday is here, it includes a link to the proposal. Who holds the cards in the negotiations?

Los Angeles is really the only viable remaining market in North America that would potentially support an NFL team and help the league generate greater revenues. If they don’t build a facility, or if they do but another franchise beats Kroenke to the punch, then Kroenke’s negotiating leverage versus the CVC will be weakened. (Forbes)

Well we’ve got great negotiators here in St. Louis! We got the Kiel Opera House 20 years ago and that vibrant Ballpark Village in 2006. Oh wait…

The poll this week asks how the St. Louis region, via the CVC, should respond. I say we wish them well wherever it is they move after the 2014 season.

– Steve Patterson