Sunday Poll: Should the St. Louis Workhouse Remain Open or be Closed?

For a while some have been pushing the City of St. Louis to close its Medium Security Institution, commonly known as the workhouse. Others have argued it can’t be closed because the downtown facility doesn’t have capacity to handle all inmates.

From September 2018:

City officials say it isn’t feasible to close an institution that houses hundreds of people facing felony charges but add they are taking steps to reduce the jail population without risking public safety. They’ve also pushed back against recent complaints about jail conditions, offering reporters a tour of the facility in March. The building may be old, said Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards at the time, but it is clearly functional.

Debate about closing/not closing the workhouse, located at 7600 Hall St, continue.  This is the subject of today’s poll:

Today’s poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should Gov. Parsons send the Missouri National Guard to help patrol the worst neighborhoods in the City of St. Louis?

In some St. Louis neighborhoods violent  crime is driving some to the breaking point, including 3rd ward Alderman Brandon Bosley.

From last week:

Bosley said he and the city Board of Aldermen’s black caucus had been talking for weeks about petitioning Gov. Mike Parson. He said he hoped to persuade the board to pass a resolution calling on Parson to send troops to the worst city neighborhoods.

“We’re going to have tanks on every damn corner,” Bosley said. “These people have to know we’re not playing anymore.” (Post-Dispatch)

This is the subject of today’s poll.

This poll will close at 8pm tonight, I’ll share my thoughts on Wednesday morning.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Is Slicing Bagels Like Bread Wrong?

This isn’t the first Sunday Poll about food; prior polls have been about burritos as sandwiches, St  Louis-style pizza, food carts/trucks, etc.

Last week the slicing of bagels became part of the national conversation:

On Monday, a man from St. Louis tweeted a picture of some bagels, and the internet hasn’t been the same since.

The bagels in the photo were cut in what has been described as St. Louis “bread sliced” style: in little strips, like a loaf of bread. Bagel-lovers from across the country have been passionately chiming in to share their opinion of this concept on Twitter.

While some have reacted with horror and outrage, others have shared the benefits of slicing your bagels in this manner. The tweet has since gone viral—with over 8,000 comments, 3,000 retweets and 22,000 likes—and the debate has been labeled #Bagelgate. (People)

With that introduction I give you today’s poll:

This will close at 8pm tonight, Wednesday I’ll have the results along with thoughts on the topic

— Steve Patterson

I’m In A Very Good Mood

Lately I’ve been in an especially good mood. It’s Spring. I’m enjoying exploring and researching my new neighborhood. And finally, I have my power wheelchair back. 

In the Summer of 2015 my 7-year old wheelchair had a problem unlike it had experienced before, it appeared to be an electrical short somewhere. It wouldn’t come on at all.

The company that sold & serviced the chair brought out a loaner and took mine to their facility for repair. Within a few weeks they delivered it and took back the loaner. I immediately go in the chair and went out for a spin. I broke down a couple of blocks away, I had to release the drive wheels and push it back home. Very unpleasant.

The company brought back the loaner chair and took mine back for repair. Again, that was the Summer of 2015.

The loaner wheelchair was lighter, slower than mine, but I got used to it. I gave up bugging them about repairing my chair. I had them out in January 2017 to replace the batteries & tires  on the loaner chair.

When they came out this January to do the same is when they realized I still had a loaner since 2015 and that they still (hopefully) had my chair.

By this point the batteries in the loaner chair were two years old, they’re usually replaced annually. Medicare covers most of the cost, but my co-payment isn’t insignificant.

I could get to the downtown YMCA, where I’d charge it while working out. This required me to lug around an external charger. Then I’d go to Culinaria where I’d need to charge it again, though not as long, to be able to get home.

Even when the batteries were new it just didn’t have the distance of my chair. I had the loaner for at least five trips to Chicago. Unfortunately I had to limit my pedestrian activity, reply more on transit, and keep charging while out.

I think I’ve only been to the Missouri Botanical Gardens once with the loaner, we had to get lunch afterwards in their cafe so the chair could recharge, it wouldn’t have made it as far as the bus stop on Tower Grove Ave otherwise.

In the weeks since my wheelchair was returned I’ve been able to go to the YMCA, Culinaria, and back home all on one charge. I’ve gone out exploring on my own, plus my husband and I went out Saturday for a mile plus journey.

Increased mobility really does increase happiness!

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: OK With Legislators Introducing Bills To Make A Point

A Missouri legislator, Andrew McDaniel,  recently made national news. Prior to the recent shooting in Christchurch New Zealand he’d introduced two bills in the Missouri house:

35 year-old Andrew McDaniel, a state representative from southeast Missouri, has received global attention for a bill he’s introduced called the “McDaniel Militia Act” that would require every person in the state between the ages of 18 and 35 to own an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

He also has a second measure, the “McDaniel Second Amendment Act”, that would require everyone over the age of 21 to own a handgun. (Source)

After the NZ shooting McDaniel’s bills got lots of attention.

McDaniel was forced to clarify that he didn’t — technically speaking — support his own bills, at least not as written.

He wants the tax credits for firearms purchases, but that part about requiring everyone to own a gun? It was a tactic to try to bait the left.

“I wanted the media and the other side to jump on it, to show that our Second Amendment rights are under attack,” McDaniel said. “I don’t actually support mandates, hardly ever.”

But he didn’t expect the national media to get involved, a development that has cast a harsh light on his efforts, he said, because of the timing of the mosque attacks in New Zealand. (Washington Post)

So today’s poll is NOT about his bills, it’s about introducing bills that have zero chance of passing…using them to bait others.

Today’s poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson