2014 Boat & Sportshow

The other day we attended the St. Louis Boat & Sportshow. The show was interesting because it included a very broad range of boats for most budgets.

As a city guy I’m not a lake kind of person. I have spent time on the Missouri River, but not since 1999. My employers in the late 90s had a 37ft Sea Ray with a kitchen, bathroom, and one bedroom below deck.  Such luxury spoiled me for anything less but the twin engines sucked fuel like crazy, each few hour outing cost hundreds in fuel. These things cost more than an average house! The shows offers tips for green boating.

For me, boats are like pools — great if you can afford to buy and maintain. Better for me to know someone with a boat than to ever try to have one. Still, we found the boat show interesting, it continues today and tomorrow.

— Steve Patterson

Happy 250th Anniversary Saint Louis!

Depending upon how you interpret Auguste Chouteau’s handwriting, today or tomorrow marks 250 years since St. Louis was founded. The recent half hour special Chouteau’s Journal: In His Own Words touched on this and other debated facts surrounding the origins of our city. For most everyone it means two days of celebrating.

There are many events this weekend and throughout the coming year. The Missouri History Museum includes a whole weekend of activities, starting with the opening of the 250 in 250 exhibit:

St. Louis turns 250 in 2014! How do you tell 250 years of St. Louis history in one exhibit? The Missouri History Museum does it through the stories of 50 People, 50 Places, 50 Images, 50 Moments, and 50 Objects. We can’t give you a complete picture of St. Louis’ 250 years of history, but through these 250 snapshots, we will give you an engaging look at the richness, diversity, and complexity of the place you call home.

The 250 in 250 exhibition is part of the yearlong celebration marking the founding of St. Louis in 1764. 

Happy 250th Anniversary Saint Louis!

— Steve Patterson

Accessing the Opening of the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge

Despite the cold weather thousands came out Saturday to see the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge a day before it opened to vehicle traffic. The shuttle we rode from 9th near Washington onto the bridge was packed tighter than the #70 Grand bus during peak use.   I overheard some saying how nice the bus seamed, likely their first time on a bus.  Our shuttle passed by the last two stops because we couldn’t take on another passenger.

As we approached I wondered if there would be a break in the center dividing wall to get from the westbound lanes to eastbound lanes. There wasn’t, instead the had ramps to cross over.

I don’t have any stunning bridge photos, it was too cold & gray to attempt. We did stay through all the speeches at the ribbon cutting.

I look forward to driving across the bridge, and seeing it night. This is an interesting example of a very cost-effective structure type also being very beautiful, sometimes limited budgets can result in a better finished product than unlimited budgets.

Hopefully any new development at each approach will be worthy.

— Steve Patterson

Metropolitan Square Time Capsule Opened, Refilled For 2038

In August I posted about the 25-year time capsule at Metropolitan Square  that was placed in 1988. On November 20, 2013 the time capsule was opened.

The time capsule box was to be refilled and placed back into the front planter for opening in 2038. If I’m still alive then I’d like to attend. January 20, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of the building.

— Steve Patterson

Treasurer Jones Seeking Integrated Parking Management Bids, To Hold ‘Town Hall’ Events

I’ve now attended three meetings of the St. Louis Parking Commission (July, September, October). Here are the minutes from the prior meetings that were distributed:

• June 2013
• July 2013
• August 2013 — meeting cancelled
• September 2013

These minutes are not available online so I scanned and uploaded them. Hopefully they will, in the interest of transparency, upload these in the future.

The “Liberty Meter” parking meter test being conducted in the Central West End has been mentioned each time.   In October specific reports were handed out showing payments by coin vs credit card. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t add up. The August total for credit card payments was copied into September, and other totals & percentages are incorrect.  Still, from the data presented we can see the use of credits cards during this trial are higher than the previous trial a few years ago on South Grand. We can also see credit card use has been increasing each month. It’s hard to know for sure given the spreadsheet errors.

Since I sold my car 18 months ago I haven’t had a chance to use these new meters, but I still think I’d prefer payment machines to individual meters. Anyone have any thoughts?

At the October meeting they went into closed session to discuss a recently issued Request for Proposal for an Integrated Parking Management System:

The City of St. Louis Treasurer’s Office is soliciting proposals from qualified companies to furnish and potentially install an easy-to-use on-street parking system that allows payment flexibility and convenience for users while allowing real-time monitoring, reduced cost of operating, increased flexibility in changing rates and increased compliance.

It was also announced that four “Town Hall” events are scheduled for the coming weeks:

The City of St. Louis Treasurer’s Office will host four town halls dedicated to the current and future state of parking in St. Louis. The Treasurer’s Office issued an RFP for parking meter management and processing on October 4 in efforts to modernize operations.

“We promised the citizens of St. Louis that all existing contracts would be reviewed and examined for their operational and financial efficiency. This is another step we’re taking to propel the office from the 19th Century to the 21st Century,” said Treasurer Tishaura Jones.

The town halls will provide more information on the RFP selection process and opportunities for citizens to provide feedback on the direction of parking in St. Louis. The RFP selection will consist of two phases. During the first phase a review committee will rank and score the proposals based upon the evaluation criteria. The Treasurer’s Office will select a limited number of vendors to proceed to the second phase which requires vendors to perform a six (6) month on-street field test evaluation of their equipment before a final selection is made. The field test will include installing parking equipment on both sides of one or more contiguous city blocks. Based upon the results of the trial and citizen feedback, the Treasurer’s Office may decide to proceed with an offer to one or more companies to furnish and potentially install units on a long-term basis throughout the City.

The town halls will take at the following locations:

Schlafly Branch Library, 225 N Euclid Ave.

Wednesday, October 23, 6:00pm-7:00pm

Central Library, 1301 Olive St.

Tuesday, October 29, 6:00pm-7:00pm

Carondelet Park Recreation Complex, 930 Holly Hills Ave.

Wednesday, November 6, 6:00pm-7:00pm

O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex, 4343 W Florissant Ave.

Tuesday, November 12, 6:00pm-7:00pm

Unfortunately, all are scheduled for 6pm on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Due to work schedules, not everyone will be able to attend. With four events it would’ve been nice to see four days of the week covered rather than just two, as well as other times besides 6pm-7pm.

— Steve Patterson