Poll: What Do You Think Of The MVVA Proposal For The City+Arch+River Competion?

By now most have formed an opinion of MVVA’s winning proposal in the City+Arch+River competition.  Over the next five years we will (hopefully) see work completed on both sides of the river. For the poll this week I hope to get a sense of what you think of the proposal.  I know there are those who are disappointed, but are they a few or the majority?  The poll is in the upper right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Help Me Determine The Message To Leave On Some Cars

For the poll this week I’m asking what should be printed on the cards I’m going to get to leave on cars parked like this:

I see things like this often and I want to do something about it but 1) the police are too busy, 2) parking violations is closed, 3) I can’t wait for the person to come back, 4) and if I had paper & pen I can’t write legibly.

Here is one example of what I was thinking:

To harsh or not enough?  I have listed several ideas in the poll, all have come to mind.  The poll is at the top of the right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson

Poll On The Decision To Not Have Bike-N-Ride In St. Clair County IL

Monday I posted about how the Chair of the St. Clair County Transit board, Delores Lysakowski, doesn’t allow bike racks on the buses serving 15 municipalities in that county.  On Thursday the St. Louis Beacon looked into the story with more, although somewhat conflicting, reasons why an entire county in our region doesn’t have bike bike racks on the front of their buses:

Delores Lysakowski, chairwoman of the St. Clair County Transit District, says the racks damage the buses when they go through the bus wash.

“When they go through the wash rack, they tear the heck out of the bus,” she said.

But Bill Grogan, managing director of St. Clair County Transit District, has a slightly different tack. He says the racks damage the bus wash brushes. “The washers don’t damage the racks, but the racks can damage the washers,” he said. “They get stuck in those spinning brushes.” (full story: Want to bike and ride on Metro buses in St. Clair County? Forget it)

So which is it? Do the racks damage the buses or the brushes? Both? Neither?

Neighboring Madison County, like Metro in Missouri, sees the benefits:

Madison County Transit (MCT) has equipped all of its buses with bike racks to provide accessible connections between the MCT bikeway and bus systems. Now people throughout Madison County can simply BIKE AND BUS for transportation and recreation. In fact, MCT carries an average of 800 bikes each month, which equal more than 12,000 bike and bus participants and growing since 2003. (source)

In the full story, linked above, writer Kathie Sutin goes to Metro to ask them about their experience with washing buses with bike racks. In short it takes some extra labor to wash around the racks, but it is worth it.  Back in St. Clair County the attitude is they made the decision in the past not to have bike racks so it is not open for discussion.  This whole thing doesn’t sit well with me but I want to get a sense on your thoughts so the poll this week (right sidebar) is on this subject.

Thanks to the St. Louis Beacon and writer Kathie Sutin for digging into this issue!

– Steve Patterson

Poll On Proposition A On Local Earnings Taxes

Missouri voters will decide in November on a proposition concerning the 1% earnings tax levied by Kansas City and St. Louis:

If passed, Proposition A would require the two cities to hold referendums on the tax every five years, with the first likely next spring. If voters elected to repeal the tax, it would be phased out over a decade. (Source)

I normally like the idea of putting such decisions at the local level but I know if Prop A passes there will be battles every five years.   If there are proposals for other ways to collect the necessary revenue to support the services provided by Kansas City & St. Louis I’d be fine with eliminating the earnings tax.

The poll is in the upper right sidebar for the next week.

– Steve Patterson

Readers Would Like To See Restaurants Donate Unsold Food

A total of 183 people voted in the poll last week.  The original post is here.

Q: Ald Kacie Starr Triplett thinks Little Caesars should donate, rather than discard, old pizzas. What do you think?

1. Ald. Triplett is right, more restaurants need to donate unused food rather than waste it. 109 [59.56%]
2. Ald. Triplett needs to stay out of how private businesses operate. 63 [34.43%]
3. Other answer… 7 [3.83%]
4. Unsure/no opinion 4 [2.19%]

Other responses were:

1. “To Whom It May Concern”? She can’t be troubled to figure that ou
2. Ald. Triplett: “Look at me, please look at me!”
3. used to work there, sounds like Seinfeld’s “Muffin Top” episode –
4. Little Ceasars should donate, but this is just grandstanding
5. What about legal implications? No good ded goe unpunshed.
6. publicity stunt yet again…
7. better to donate than to waste, but how about healthy foods?

I looked up the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 (Wikipedia, full text). This law was passed specifically to indemnify those who would donate — except if willfully negligent. So Little Caesars could donate the pizzas that have been held in their warming oven for more than 30 minutes.

Operation Food Search can distribute prepared food:

“Restaurants, Caterers, and Mass-Feeders: Overproduced product, cancelled events, minor production imperfections.”

Other organizations, such as Food Outreach, seek frozen or canned goods for their pantry.

– Steve Patterson