Better Together St. Louis Raises My Suspicions

I’m generally in favor of reducing the number of government entities in the St. Louis region. The 2011 Where We Stand report (p88) sums up the numbers:

We rely on local government for a wide array of services including public education, health and safety, infrastructure, environmental protection and sanitation, public housing, and arts and cultural support.

• The St. Louis region continues to be ranked in the top three for overall number of governmental units, as well as for the ratio of governments to population.

Depending on perspective, the region’s local government structure can be seen as the 3rd most fragmented or the 3rd most accessible to its citizens and businesses.

• With 884 individual units of government,

St. Louis ranks 3rd only to Pittsburgh and Denver among our peer regions in ratio of local governments to citizens.

For the 35 peer regions, the average number of governmental units has decreased from 399 in 2002 to 379 in 2007.

• Of the 35 regions, 20 have fewer governmental units in 2007 than they had in 2002.

In the St. Louis region, the number of units of local government continues to increase.

• Less than half of local government units in the St. Louis region are general-purpose governments, such as counties, municipalities, and townships.

• In 2007, the St. Louis region had 9.8 municipalities per 100,000 population, up from 8.9 municipalities per 100,000 in 2002.

A majority of area local governments have been established for specific functions, including school districts, special taxing districts, or other special district governments.

• Almost all of these special district governments perform a single task, such as drainage and flood control, soil and water conservation, fire protection, water supply, or housing and community development.

• The St. Louis region’s ratio of school districts per population ranked 2nd in 2007 with 4.8 per 100,000 population; slightly lower than the 5.0 per 100,000 reported in 2002.

I’m of the belief that more units of government isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, just as fewer isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. I do know the St. Louis region

• Contains roughly 2.8 million people
• Less than half (46%), 1.3 million, live in St. Louis City & County
• The job market remains sluggish
• Tax incentives have been ineffective at economic development.
• 137 years since St. Louis City removed itself from St. Louis County, residents of both entities have very strong, mostly negative, feelings about the other. Those in the rest of the region hold similar views about one or both.

With this in mind you might think I’d be a cheerleader for the new Better Together Saint Louis effort.

Sponsored by the Missouri Council for a Better Economy, Better Together is a grassroots project born in response to growing public interest in addressing the fragmented nature of local government throughout St. Louis City and County, which dates back to 1876, when St. Louis City broke away from St. Louis County.

The resulting absence of a cohesive governmental structure left a void and many smaller governments formed to fill it. This is why the 1.3 million people who call St. Louis home are served by 116 local governments, which include St. Louis City and County, as well as 91 municipalities and 23 fire districts. The costs associated with funding all 116 governments (excluding airport and water service fees) has reached a staggering $2 billion per year. To-date, there has been no comprehensive single study that has looked across the City and County to determine whether the region could improve both service and cost by streamlining and eliminating redundancies and better serve the people of St. Louis.

Better Together is neither putting forth nor advocating for a specific plan to such end, but rather seeks to act as a facilitator, a resource for information and tools, and a catalyst to spark discussion. Accordingly, we will drive an inclusive, transparent process of developing and assembling valuable information other organizations can use to craft their own plans for what the future of the region should look like, as well as judge plans put forth by others.

I remain a skeptic for a variety of reasons:

• As I explained earlier, the region is much larger and more complex than just St. Louis City & County.
• The Missouri Council for a Better Economy was started by Rex Sinquefield, a billionaire seeking to alter tax policy in his favor.
• “Sponsored by” and “grassroots” in the same sentence! Really, how exactly does that work? Sounds like this might be astroturfing.
• Just collecting data for the community to decide what to do with it, but the name and MCBE clearly shows reunification as the intent.  Plus, data from the many school districts isn’t being collected because they don’t want to get “bogged down.”  If the mission is to collect data on how tax money is being spent it makes sense to look at it all — what’s the hurry?

Let’s dig a bit deeper into the above reasons I listed.

Region:

Forty-six percent of the region’s population isn’t the region. Granted, this 46% live in the city or county that carry the region’s name. Still, I think something well over 50% is required to discuss a topic as regional in nature. Better together is clearly focused on the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County only, not the region.

MCBE:

From their “About Us” as of 8:30am yesterday “The studies were funded by MCBE, whose sole donor until now has been Rex Sinquefield, a retired investment fund executive and philanthropist.” Oh but they told me he hasn’t given any money in a year. Rex is a fan of chess and I can see a strategy playing out of him giving enough money to fund MCBE for a couple of years  — that way it can be paid he’s the sole donor from the past, but not now. Question for MCBE, how many donors since the last donation from Rex?

Grassroots:

Calling yourself grassroots doesn’t mean you’re actually a grassroots movement. The Better Together STL materials indicate it’s a project of MCBE, not a separate organization. I didn’t find any such organization listed with the Secretary of State. The website  does list a board which is comprised of the powerful & elite of local politics and business. Also on this “board” — Rex’s Chief of Staff. Those in attendance at the kickoff represent more of the same — nothing remotely grassroots about it.

Data:

Several issues here. The speakers all said they’re just collecting data so we know what we spend and where — sounds reasonable. But everywhere you look at Better Together and MCBE the final goal is clear — unification of some sorts. And schools are a big part of where our tax money is spent and school districts are governmental entities just like fire protection districts, we should look at education too if the goal is an honest self evaluation.

While I support reducing the number of units of government my goal isn’t to provide the same services for less money, as was stated several times. My goal would be to provide more services distributed more evenly for the same money.

Unfortunately, I see Better Together  & MCBE as a backdoor to Rex’s radical tax policies — no state income taxes, no city earnings taxes, higher property & sales taxes.  The wealthy’s fantasy to get out of paying their share, they can easily buy any services the community can’t afford to provide.   Some will claim this has bipartisan support, but our Democrats are often that in name only, they’re as fiscally conservative policy-wise as far-right Republicans.  I keep hoping a local version of Bernie Sanders will appear. I want to believe  this is an altruistic effort, but I’m not gullible.

I’d like to see an actual grassroots effort look at our region with an open mind — perhaps even concluding nothing should change with respect to the relationship between the city & county.

— Steve Patterson

Beyond Housing Development in Pagedale Ignores Pedestrians, ADA

In August 2010 a new Save-A-Lot grocery store opened in the St. Louis County municipality of Pagedale:

ST. LOUIS, August 5, 2010 – Save-A-Lot, a SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU) company, one of the nation’s leading hard discount carefully selected assortment grocery chains, has extended its commitment to a local neighborhood in need of access to fresh produce, dairy and meats with the opening of the first new grocery retailer in the Pagedale community in 40 years. The store is a result of a partnership with Beyond Housing, one of the St. Louis region’s leading providers of housing and support services for low-income families and homeowners.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the opening of this new Save-A-Lot Food Store, which will serve thousands of families including hundreds in the Pagedale community,” says Chris Krehmeyer, president and CEO of Beyond Housing. “The opening of this store is another step toward our goal of providing families with access to necessities, such as groceries and bringing new jobs to the community.” (Save-A-Lot) 

Pagedale is a low-income municipality that has long been ignored by for-profit developers.

The new development includes a bank and senior apartments:

Mayor of Pagedale Mary Louise Carter looked on as Chris Krehmeyer, president and CEO of Beyond Housing, and Ron Barnes, Midwest BankCentre (MBC) chairman, recently unveiled the city’s first-ever full-service bank.

“This is a great day for the City of Pagedale,” Mayor Carter said. “This means convenience for our residents because they can now bank right in their own city at a financial institution with a long history of excellent service.” (St. Louis American)

Yes, a local bank branch can be very convenient.

I applaud Beyond Housing for investing in Pagedale, adding needed retail, banking, & housing. But the common “drive everywhere, walk nowhere” viewpoint is expressed in the design. As a result, I’m disappointed.

Numerous buildings were razed allowing them a clean slate. Nobody on the design team asked how a senior got from their apartment to the 1) bus, or 2) grocery store.  Maybe they thought all low-income seniors have cars?

— Steve Patterson

Automobile Driveway Replaced With Pedestrian Access Route

Every so often I get back to a once-familiar place and I’m pleasantly surprised by positive changes. Recently I drove through the strip mall on Ladue Road that formerly contained a Wild Oats store, in a space previously occupied by a Schnucks. Wild Oats was bought out by Whole Foods in 2007, leaving the dated center largely vacant. The strip center underwent renovations in 2012.

A decade ago I visited the Wild Oats every morning before work, but I’d forgotten the exact layout of the parking lot. So I turned to Google Maps and it still showed the old pattern, with a wide auto driveway where the dedicated pedestrian path is now.

Most of the center, including the pedestrian access, is located in Ladue, while the east end is located in Clayton. St. Louis County records indicate this strip mall was built in 1960, a time when wide auto driveways were valued but more and more developers & retailers know walkability and a more pleasant arrival sells, especially to those with disposable incomes.

Kudos to those responsible.

— Steve Patterson

This Building Not Approved For Occupancy

I’d never heard of Tee’s Golf Grill until Monday when I was driving around the Chesterfield Valley, it closed in July 2012:

The 10,400-square-foot golf center opened in early 2011 at 103 Chesterfield Valley Drive. “We’re doing a full-service sports bar and grill,” Ben Rassieur IV, Tee’s owner with Phil Harris, told Sauce magazine at the time. In addition to the bar and grill, Tee’s had 330-square-foot golf simulators that visitors used to practice their swings. (St. Louis Business Journal)

I’m not sure if the building was constructed new for this tenant, or a previous tenant. I also don’t know why this business closed so soon, but I found a number of issues that should be addressed by the owner before the next tenant leases the space.

This building shares the same site with a multi-tenant building to the south, yet there isn’t an ADA-compliant accessible route connecting them, as required.

I will attempt to share the above issues with the owner and St. Louis County.

— Steve Patterson

New Wellston Child Care Center Under Construction, Adjacent To MetroLink Station

Construction workers are busy building a new child care center near the Wellston MetroLink station:

The Wellston Developmental Child Care Center is a key component of the Wellston Sustainable Neighborhood Initiative Masterplan. Located adjacent to a Metrolink Light Rail Sytstem (with which it will share parking) as well as being in close proximity to the Metropolitan Enterprise Center (a new job training center) will allow the Development Center to attain the goals of providing early childhood education in a depressed neighborhood, preparing children for the K-12 system, and providing day care assistance for parents training for new jobs.

The 14,650 SF building is oriented primarily on an E-W axis maximizing orientation for energy efficiency and daylighting. The building footprint had been placed on the site to minimize driveway length and take advantage of the adjacent public parking. Stormwater from the site will be handled by a series of micro-detention areas integrated with native landscaping. The program includes public, administrative, infant/toddler, classrooms and support spaces. (Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects)

I’ve requested the site plan & Wellston masterplan from the architects & county economic council, neither have been received.

The shortcut was the most direct path for pedestrians to reach public transit.  It wasn’t even paved, but since 1993 it was heavily used. However, I support building on the field — especially facilities that’ll benefit the community.

How will pedestrians now reach the station?

The new child care center will use the existing parking, rather than have a separate parking lot. Still, the parking lot remains a divider between train, bus, residents, and new child care center. It’s possible pedestrian routes will be constructed in the parking lot to connect these elements. Without pedestrian connections the new construction is just transit-ajacent, not transit-oriented.

Once I see an actual site plan I’ll post an update.

— Steve Patterson