Sunday Poll: What Is Your Primary Mode of Transportation?

Back from another trip to the annual Chicago Auto Show. To get there I took the bus to the Amtrak station, my husband met me there — leaving our car in long-term, parking. In Chicago we used the bus to reach the auto show.  Lots of miles covered in non-auto modes to see autos.

This got me thinking about getting around in St. Louis. How do readers of this blog get around? For many the top choice will be private automobile, no doubt. Is it paid off, leased, or still have a loan?

What’ll be interesting to me is to see how other modes fare. Hopefully this poll will get lots of responses, so please encourage others to weigh in.

Today’s poll includes a detailed list of options to select from. Respondents can pick up to 3 answers.

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

Candidates in March 5, 2019 Primary

The March 5th partisan primary is coming up in less than a month, so I wanted you to begin thinking about voting. Typically when we go to the polls the worker will ask which ballot you want (non-partisan, Green, Republican, Democratic, etc). Next month only those in the 6th Ward will be asked. Why?  One Green candidate is running for President of the Board of Aldermen, one Republican is running for 6th Ward Alderman (MICHAEL J. HEBRON, SR.).  Because the Green Party received less than 2% of the vote in the last gubernatorial election Jerome Bauer will automatically appear on the April 2nd general election ballot.

There are no ballot questions and only even-numbered wards are electing aldermen, so those of us in odd-numbered wards will only have to vote for the President of the Board of Aldermen.

The following in all caps is taken from the sample ballot.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATES

FOR PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN: curious to see who wins this rave. Prediction: will NOT be Jimmie Matthews

• JAMILAH NASHEED
• MEGAN ELLYIA GREEN
• LEWIS REED
• JIMMIE MATTHEWS

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 2

• LISA MIDDLEBROOK
• THOMAS BRADLEY

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 4

• SAMUEL L. MOORE
• ROBERT DILLARD
• LEROY CARTER
• EDWARD MCFOWLAND

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 6: Incumbents generally don’t get 3 primary challengers, the only ward that will face a challenger in April

• CHRISTINE INGRASSIA
• CEDRIC REDMON
• DEBRA CARNAHAN
• HENRY GRAY

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 8

• ANNIE LEE RICE
• EMMETT L. COLEMAN

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 10

• JOSEPH [JOE] VOLLMER
• PAT HICKEY

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 12

• LARRY ARNOWITZ
• DERRICK NEUNER
• CASSANDRA [CASSIE] DECLUE

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 14

• CAROL J. HOWARD
• TONY PECINOVSKY

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 16: unchallenged incumbent

• THOMAS ROBERT OLDENBURG

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 18: Longtime 18th Ward Ald. Terry Kennedy isn’t running for reelection, so you’ve got a 5-way race to fill the seat. Kennedy was first sworn into office on April 18, 1989.

• JESSE TODD
• JEFFERY HILL, JR.
• DARRYL GRAY
• JUDITH ARNOLD
• ELMER OTEY

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 20

• CARA SPENCER
• SATIA [SUNNI] HUTTON

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 22

• TONYA FINLEY-MCCAW
• JEFFREY L. BOYD

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 24: two-term Ald. Scott Ogilvie isn’t running for a 3rd term, so five candidates are running. Ogilvie easily defeated Tom Bauer in the 2011 general election.

• LORIE CAVIN
• BRET NARAYAN
• TERI POWERS
• DANNY SAMPLE
• TOM BAUER

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 26: Longtime Ald. Frank Williamson resigned to take a job in the Treasurer’s office, he has been in office since April 15, 2003. Candidate Jake Banton is a licensed architect!

• LEATA C. PRICE-LAND
• SHAMEEM CLARK HUBBARD
• JAKE BANTON

FOR ALDERMAN WARD 28

• HEATHER B. NAVARRO: unchallenged incumbent

Please be sure to vote!

— Steve Patterson

Readers Not Rams Fans

Next year professional football will return to St. Louis when the XFL league begins play in 8 cities.  Can it compete with the NFL, will it outlast its initial 3 years of funding?  Hard to say, but it seems the NFL isn’t the sure thing it once was:

The lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history turned off fans Sunday, with the matchup between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams drawing the game’s smallest TV audience since 2008.

TV’s most-watched annual event drew 98.2 million viewers, down 5% from last year when 103.4 million viewers watched on NBC, according to Nielsen data.
 
Counting those who watched the game on streaming platforms, CBS put the total audience at 100.7 million viewers, down 4.5% from the 105.4 million who watched on all platforms last year when the Patriots played the Philadelphia Eagles. (Los Angeles Times)

On Sunday we asked Siri a couple of times for the current score, but we didn’t watch the game at all. Yawn.

Here are the results from the non-scientific poll:

Q: Who do you want to win in today’s NFL Super Bowl?

• Don’t care: 16 [53.33%]
• New England Patriots: 9 [30%]
• Los Angeles Rams: 4 [13.33%]
• Undecided: 1 [3.33%]

More backed the Patriots over the Rams, still far less than the “don’t care” crowd.

One Kansas City politician has a solution to the lack of an NFL team in St. Louis:

City Councilman and mayoral candidate Quinton Lucas told St. Louis television station KMOV that if it comes down to losing a home game, he thinks the Chiefs would be better off trying to build a regional footprint rather than an international following.

“I don’t think it’s just a pie in the sky thing,” Lucas told a St. Louis reporter.

The Chiefs lost a home game to play against the Detroit Lions in London in 2015.

The Chiefs were scheduled to play an away game in Mexico City in 2018 only to have that game moved to Los Angeles due to poor field conditions. They’re scheduled again for an away game in Mexico City in 2019.

Lucas thinks the team would be better off playing across the state than across the world. (KMBC)

Interesting. Given that the XFL plays at a different time of year than the NFL there wouldn’t be a venue conflict. The NFL’s reason for playing a home game abroad is an attempt to compete with football (aka soccer).

— Steve Patterson

Understanding Vehicle Size Classifications

Later this week we’re taking the train to Chicago, our annual trip to the media preview of the Chicago Auto Show. So I have vehicles on my mind right now.

One aspect I find interesting is the various size classifications of passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs.

The size class for cars is based on interior passenger and cargo volumes as described below. The size class for trucks is defined by the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), which is the weight of the vehicle and its carrying capacity. Fuel economy regulations do not apply to heavy-duty vehicles, so they are not tested.  (FuelEconomy.gov)

Below is how cars & trucks are classified:

The 2015 Hyundai Sonata we bought last year competes in the mid-size class with vehicles such as the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Altima. Chevy & Ford are getting out of the midsize sedan market, each to cease production of the Malibu & Fusion, respectively.

Our car, however, it’s not a mid-size — it’s a large (full) size!

Prior to this car I’d owned subcompacts, compacts, and one mid-size (87 Volvo). I’d never even driven a full-size (large) car until January 2013 when Enterprise upgraded the rental I needed to attend an uncle’s funeral in Amarillo, TX. It seemed huge, as did our car last year. I’m used to it now, the extra interior room makes it easier for me to get in/out of the car.

Trucks are different. Back in the 70s pickups were either regular or a tiny compact (think Mazda-based Ford Courier). Today’s mid-sized pickups are bigger than the full-size pickups of my childhood.

Many SUVs on the road today are car-based crossovers, like the Honda CR-V. It is based on the compact Honda Civic platform. True SUVs have body-on-frame construction, not unibody like passenger cars. Even still, you get SUVs based off different sizes of truck chassis.

Used to be every car maker trying to compete would have at least one passenger car per size classification.  Now, that’s optional — but they must have an SUV/CUV in every possible size & price point.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Which Team (if any) Are You Rooting For In The Super Bowl?

I’ve said before I’m not a sports fan, that’s still true. To me the most interesting thing about the Super Bowl is the commercials — I can watch those online now.

This year is more intriguing for some reason. Maybe it’s because of the unique stadium architecture, news stories talking about the age difference between the quarterbacks, or the Patriots’ recent Super Bowl record:

The team owns the record for most Super Bowls reached (nine) and won (five) by a head coach–quarterback tandem, and most Super Bowl appearances overall (eleven). Currently, the team is tied with the 49ers and Cowboys for the second most Super Bowl wins with five, after the Steelers, who have six. (Wikipedia)

It’s in my nature to root for the underdog, give someone else a chance. Then we turn to the St…uh…Los Angeles Rams.

The franchise has won three NFL championships, and is the only one to win championships representing three different cities (Cleveland in 1945, Los Angeles in 1951, and St. Louis in 1999) (Wikipedia)

Three championships…but only one Super Bowl…when they were still the St. Louis Rams. Of course the Rams were again in the Super Bowl the year after their only win…to lose to the New England Patriots. They meet again.

If you’re like me you’ve seen reports of loyal Rams fans still in St. Louis, as well as lawyer Terry Crouppen’s new ad critical of Ram’s owner Stan Kroenke. So today I’m curious which team you’re rooting for…or if you care.

Today’s poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson