St. Ann’s speed camera begins February 1st

Starting Monday February 1st motorists speeding along Ashby road in front of Hoech Middle School (3312 Ashby Rd) will receive tickets from a new speed enforcement camera:

ST. ANN, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) – It’s a first of its kind effort in Missouri to try and cut down on speeding in school zones. St. Ann, Missouri, is putting up a camera to catch people who speed through a school zone. But not everyone is thrilled with the idea. The St. Ann program is similar to the red light cameras- offenders will be mailed a ticket with a picture of the speeding car and a fine.

[Police Chief] Schrader says speeders will receive a flat fine of at least $100, but he says no points will be assessed on a driver’s record if they’re caught.

That fact upset attorney Chet Pleban, “They’re a bad thing in my opinion.” Pleban has been an outspoken opponent of red light cameras and he’s against the speed zone camera as well.

Pleban says without assessing points, the program is nothing more than a money maker for St. Ann with big brother watching. “It’s a revenue producing thing that I think is in the long run dangerous,” explained Pleban. “Where does big brother stop? Where does big brother stop monitoring us under the circumstances for revenue production?”

The camera will be in use 24/7-so even when the school zone speed limit is not in effect, drivers breaking the normal speed limit will still get tickets.  [Source: Camera Will Soon Be (sic) Catch School Zone Speeders]

Just as numerous municipalities now use red-light cameras I anticipate we will see more of these throughout the region.  But is this a good thing?  Some would argue the idea is too big brother while others argue safety is the primary concern.  What are the alternatives?

A couple of years ago I was in a car with my brother in Edmond OK as we drove entered a school zone in front Cimarron Middle School (3701 South Bryant Avenue, Edmond, OK).  South Bryant, like Ashby Rd, has four lanes of traffic but the method of denoting the school zone was the most effective I had ever seen.  Small runway lights in the center line flash during the school zone period.  The following video from the City of Edmond shows the flashing in-road lights as well as other measures they use to improve the safety of their streets (the intro is cheesy but stick with it).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4kHXl5nORk

Edmond’s solutions are a good alternate strategy to using cameras to ticket speeding vehicles.

– Steve Patterson

Local restaurants getting head start on competition, going smoke-free before required by new laws

Some food & drink establishments are holding out until the very last minute, January 2, 2011, to go smoke-free.  In the City of St. Louis non-food bars under a certain size have until January 2, 2016.   Smart money, however, is on local establishments that are going smoke-free prior to the start dates of the smoke-free laws in St. Louis City & County.  By doing so they will have time to attract a non-smoking clientele before other places go smoke-free.

Two such recently smoke-free places are:

• Hodak’s
• Tap Room

A year from now all food establishments in the city & county will be smoke-free.   Addicted chain smokers will likely resort to the drive-thru because not smoking for a meal is just too difficult for them.  Non-smokers will likely stick to places they always go to while trying out a few newly smoke-free establishments.

Recently Mangia Italiano on South Grand put out an online  survey to get a sense if they too should go smoke-free prior to before required to by law.  The response must have been very positive because on Wednesday (Jan/27) they will be smoke-free starting March 1st:

“IMPORTANT NEWS: We are proud to announce that our restaurant will go Smoke Free on March 1! Thanks to all of our fans for your comments!”

If you own or manage an establishment that allows smoking understand that by waiting until the last minute to go smoke-free you may well have a hard time finding new customers.

– Steve Patterson

Recovery Act high-speed rail announcement in St. Louis

Yesterday, across the country, announcements were being made regarding $8 billion in federal grants from the Recovery Act.  One of those announcements took place in St. Louis.   I was there for the announcement and captured the entire press conference on video so you can view the entire event.

#1 – Opening with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Dept Admin Karen Rae (Dept Admin Transportation Dept):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv-_Ol3yVtA

#2 – Dr. Ed Montgomery (White House Exec Dir for Auto Communities and Workers):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nPtfGJw9hg

#3 – U.S. Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-3rd):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Pml8wxnmo

#4 – Question  & Answer:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_lqGfRz0RM

#5 – Missouri Senator Joan Bray (D-24):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqdKuMR8BPI

Another press conference will be held today (Friday 1/29/2010) at the Amtrak station in Alton IL.  It will be years before the St. Louis-Chicago connection is complete but as was said this $8 billion is only a down payment.  The federal government subsidized the interstate highway system for decades while ignoring passenger rail. Chicago will be the center of a network of high-speed rail lines, our proximity is good.

“A White House official visited St. Louis today to announce $1.1 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail between St. Louis and Chicago and another $31 million to upgrade passenger rail service between St. Louis and Kansas City.” (St. Louis-Chicago high-speed rail gets $1.1B in stimulus)

Improving city-to-city rail transit will increase the ability for someone living in the St. Louis region to go car-free.  Residents on both sides of the Mississippi River can take MetroLink to the St. Louis Amtrak station and travel to Chicago and beyond.  I look forward to taking a high-speed train to Chicago.

– Steve Patterson

Crown Food Mart on Jefferson has an ADA access route thanks to me

Like so many new buildings in the city/region, the new Crown Food Mart at Jefferson & Clark was being constructed without any connection to the public sidewalk network.  This was the construction site in late September 2009:

The lack of an ADA route is no different than most of their other recent stations. But rather than wait until complete to complain, I decided to see if I could make a difference to change the construction.  I contacted the city’s ADA commissioner and 6th ward Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett.  Ald. Triplett was the first to respond and it wasn’t long before she forwarded me a revised drawing the owner had sent her.

As I had suggested, the solution was to include a ramp at the end of the sidewalk at the front of the station and a bit of concrete between the parking lot and sidewalk.  None of the concrete work had been started so the change was minor.

Is this ideal? Hardly.  Ideally the building would be at the corner of the property so pedestrians could easily enter.  The gas islands would be located behind the building, rather than out front.

As you can the building has zero relationship to the street it faces, Jefferson.  The ADA route is to the left of the building connecting pedestrians along Clark.  But anyone approaching the building on foot from Jefferson will face this vast expanse of pavement between them and the business.  Those of foot might be employees at UPS or guests at the hotel across Jefferson & I-64.

I had suggested a sidewalk be run down this side of the parking area and then have it connected to the building’s front walk as done on the other side.  Clearly that didn’t happen.  I got the minimum — by asking beforehand.  I do think if the city asked developers to include a minimum ADA access route so those in wheelchairs have a way to access a business from the public sidewalk they’d do it.  Before the concrete is poured it is no big deal.

I want to have our city codes embrace walkability.  They should require such a route from each street the property borders.  In this case, they would be required to have a sidewalk connecting to Jefferson. Eventually they will realize if the building is closer to both streets the sidewalk is either much shorter or completely unnecessary because the building entrance is directly on the public sidewalk.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Readers not keen on open enrollment in public schools

A majority of readers in the poll last week were not keen on the idea of open enrollment for Missouri schools (Post: State Senator pushing legislation for open enrollment in Missouri’s public schools).

Q: MO State Senator Jane Cunningham wants “open enrollment” for Missouri’s public schools. For St. Louis this would be

1. a bad idea: 41 [41%]
2. a good idea 35 [35%]
3. unsure 16 [16%]
4. a neutral idea: 6 [6%]
5. Other answer… 3 [3%] 1) Didnt this fail with deseg?  2) Something worth exploring.  3) A good idea IF school funding was only from the state. But its not.

The last “other” response may have hit on the key — the source of funding.  But many see open enrollment as removing students from the St. Louis Public Schools.  Parents chimed in via the comments:

• Wouldn’t such a thing help attract suburban families to city living, since their children could attend schools in the county?
• Having open enrollment will not get the right parents involved in their children’s education.
• The city is totally unsustainable without schools that middle class, educated people will send their kids to.
• Any changes should only include a regionally unified district not the ability to pick and chose districts.
• I doubt I am long for the city for the schooling reason.
• Children are not to be used for “social experiments”.
• My children attend a racially & economically balanced school with high academic achievement, and I live in the only neighborhood in the St. Louis area that offers the walkable, urbane lifestyle I want to have. I believe by virtue of this choice, my children will have a better understanding of the realities of the world than they would if I lived in a typical suburb.

I think the last comment is one of the best on the schools issue.  Middle-class white kids need to learn from an early age how to interact with non-white kids and those from different economic classes.  Their future is one where they will be a minority.  Those who grow up in diverse neighborhoods and attend diverse schools will be better prepared for the future.  I don’t know that open enrollment is the best solution but I know our region needs to have some serious discussions about how better educate all our children.

– Steve Patterson