I Don’t Really Hate Cars

I write a lot about pedestrian-friendly environments and getting rid of highways. Some of you probably think I’m some car-hating liberal that wants everyone riding around on a beat up old Schwinn. Ironically, I’m actually quite the car nut.

First we have my list of cars up to and including my current, Toyota’s cute Scion xA:

2006 Scion xA (basic, fun and cheap)
1999 Audi A4 Avant (my third Turbo, fun car and you get very used to the secure handling of the Quattro AWD system)
2000 VW Golf (my first new car, disappointing gas mileage)
1986 Saab 900 Turbo (something to drive when the other Saab was in the shop)
1986 Saab 900 S
(I also owned a 1970 Volvo 145 & 1982 Volvo 244 w/Right Hand Drive but didn’t really drive them)
1987 Volvo 740 Turbo (purchased in late 1992, had over 200K miles!)
1988 Mitsubishi Mirage (bought it in 1990 after moving to St. Louis)
1984 Dodge Colt (a Mitsubishi product, my first manual transmission)
1979 Ford Fairmont Futura (purchased the day of my junior prom)
1975 Mercury Monarch (lesson one; never buy a silver car from the 70s at night)
1971 Dodge Demon (ugly car, reliable “slant 6” engine, borrowed from my brother)
1974-1/2 Ford Mustang II (I was only 15 when I bought it & sold it, never actually drove the car).

For a while in the mid 90’s I owned three Volvos. I only drove one, a stunning 744 Turbo sedan. Boxy never looked so good. I served as the President of the Missouri & Southern Illinois Chapter of the Volvo Club of America. This car was totaled on New Year’s Eve, I forget what year, with 296k on the odometer — it still had the original engine, transmission and turbocharger. I’ll never forget that day the guy in the Mazda 626 made a left turn right in front of my Volvo! Yeah I know, geek.

The funny thing about Volvo is how consistent they were, before being bought out by Ford. Take the old 140 Series that came out in 1966. At the time it was considered a funny little foreign car. The same basic platform, albeit much improved, ended production in 1993 as the 240 Series. By that time most considered the Volvo a large car.

I’ve always had a fascination with foreign makes. Many a day was spent in high school driving around looking at old MGB’s, Triumph’s, Saab’s, Volvo’s, and even the occasional Fiat. I could never get my father to agree to let me get one and my older brother’s partially restored 1955 Ford F-100 pickup rusting on the driveway didn’t help matters. In hindsight it was a good thing as I am not mechanically inclined.

Speaking of our driveway, it could easily hold 9 cars. It was three wide by three deep, four if we squeezed close. The garage would only hold two cars, my parents (ok, Dad) wanted a 3-car garage when they built the house in 1966 but at the time that was considered excessive and the subdivision rules required two — no less, no more. Driveways could be as big as you liked and sidewalks were optional. One of my older brothers now lives in a subdivisions that requires a three-car garage…

Today I am very economy minded but in my youth I loved the idea of a big Mercedes or Rolls Royce. It is the smaller car that peaks my interest these days.

I do have a “if I won the lottery” list of cars that I’d purchase. Not that I’d drive them much, they’d mostly be works of art that happen to have internal combustion engines. You’ll see from the list I tend to prefer imported sedans from the 1970s.

Ok, here is the list in alphabetical order by make:

Alfa Romeo, the classic Spider
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint (designed by Bertoné)
Alfa Romeo GT/GTV6 coupé from 1974-86)
Austin Healey 3000
BMW 2002 (mid 70s, predecessor to the 3-series)
BMW Isetta (Steven Q. Eurkel from the TV series Family Matters drove one).
Citroén C2V
Fiat 131 Sedan, 124 Spider and the X1/9
Ford Fiesta Mk1 (designed in Detroit but built in Germany this was Ford’s answer to the VW Rabbit. I had a major crush on the top of the line “Ghia” model.
Jeep Wrangler, probably the new 2007 4-door “Unlimited” model
Land Rover Defender (the British version of the open top Jeep)
Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 (huge gas guzzling engine in a huge sedan, JR Ewing drove the “basic” 450SEL with the smaller V-8 engine)
Mercedes-Benz 280CE (M-B’s mid-size coupe from the 70s, beautiful proportions).
MG: MGA and MGB-GT (2+2 version of the classic MGB
Peugeot 504 (early 70s) & 505 (later model from late 80s).
Rover P6
smart fortwo
Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger
Toyota’s Land Cruiser FJ40 (like a Jeep Wrangler) and FJ60 (like a Jeep Cherokee, very United Nations)
Triumph TR6
Triumph Dolomite sedan

Volvo 780 Turbo Coupe (actually designed & built by Bertone in Italy, stunning lines).
Volvo 122

Plus I’d have a long list of bicycles, scooters and motorcycles. I’d need a very big space for storage/display. Again, I don’t think I’d drive most. To me they are works of art.

So there, the urbanist has a car fetish. For me I want the car to be an option, something used for those trips when I am not walking, biking, scootering or taking some form of mass transit. The car should be simply one of many transportation choices, not the only choice. As I seldom buy a lottery ticket I just don’t see this collection coming together anytime soon.

What cars have you had? Which would you buy if you won the lottery and why? Or would you move to Amsterdam and not have a car at all (hmmmmm…)?

– Steve

Florida Backing Gambaro in 4th District

“Progressive” Alderwoman Jennifer Florida was overheard strategizing with Laura Slay and Ald. Gregali about getting conservative Derio Gambero elected in the Missouri Senate’s 4th District over rivals Amber Boykins, Yaphett El Amin, Kenneth Jones and Jeff Smith. I’m told Laura Slay is a paid consultant on the Gambaro campaign. Apparently the trio was complaining about the Smith campaign attacking Gambaro on a mailing piece comparing him to George W. Bush.

The 15th is one of the more progressive wards in the city so it is a surprise to me that Florida would be supporting Gambaro over any of the other candidates in the race. The ward has two Democratic organizations, the closed organization where the committee persons endorse a candidate have selected Amber Boykins while the open 15th ward group voted to endorse Jeff Smith.

To my knowledge Florida has not publicly endorsed Gambaro but it seems everyone at Chris’ Pancakes got the message.

– Steve

Mohn Running for State House in Kansas

Former St. Louisan Corey Mohn is running for the Kansas House of Representatives. Mohn was among the many Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress in 2004, along with Jeff Smith and winner Russ Carnahan. In 2005 Mohn served as my #1 campaign worker and co-manager when I ran for the Board of Alderman. He issued the following press release today:

SHAWNEE, KS – Corey Mohn, candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives in the 39th District, announced today that he is geared up and ready for the upcoming general election campaign. Mohn will be taking on conservative Owen Donohoe in an election to be held November 7.

“I am ready to continue taking my message of moderate, rational values to the voters of the 39th District, whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents,” Mohn stated. “Our citizens have been privileged to have enjoyed the moderate leadership of Ray Cox over the past 14 years. I am convinced that the citizens of our area want to continue to have a representative that will listen to their desires and concerns with an open mind. They want a leader who will be willing to work with all parties, including the governor and members of the Kansas House and Senate from both sides of the aisle. Consensus building is essential for good government, and I look forward to the opportunity to bring our district together. Partisan politics and staunch ideologies must be put aside in order to foster understanding and, ultimately, effective government.”

Corey Mohn is a city planning consultant and co-owner of Planning Initiatives, an economic development consulting firm. He lives in Shawnee.

Corey is engaged to be married this Labor Day weekend. The honeymoon will obviously involve door-to-door visits, producing mailers and squaring off with his conservative Republican challenger. Corey is an amazing worker and very passionate about the issues affecting most of us on a daily basis.

Best of luck Corey!

– Steve

A Sneak Peek at MetroLink’s Cross County Line on August 22

Rail advocacy group Citizens for Modern Transit are offering a unique opportunity — a chance to ride the new Cross County extension of the MetroLink system before the opening to the general public:

Metro is on the brink of opening the next major extension of MetroLink for the St. Louis Region. It is an exciting time especially for members of CMT/WTS/COMTO – here is your chance to have a Sneak Peek Ride of the new alignment before it opens to the general public. Seating is limited so please reserve your spot early.

You will need to arrive at the Shrewsbury-Lansdowne I-44 Park-Ride Lot on Lansdowne at River Des Peres between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Rides will run on the new alignment between 5 and 7 p.m. Make history with Metro and CMT . . . get on board today!

I’ve already signed up for the August 22 event with a cost of only $5 for CMT members ($10 for non-members). To register click here.

This gives us a clue about the official public opening of MetroLink — sometime after August 22nd. I’m guessing it will be sometime the following week or perhaps just a few days later. It has been many years and many hundreds of millions in the making but I’m glad we are finally at this point. Our region is about to get a renewed interest in rail transit.

– Steve

The Twisted Logic of Ald. Florida

The West End Word had a recent article on recalls in the city. One part, about 15th Ward Alderwoman Jennifer Florida, caught my attention:

Florida called the recall effort against her a “terrible distraction,” but said that the effort against her has not affected the way she does her job, other than to force her to spend a bit more money producing newsletters and progress reports to explain her position.

Oh my, she must now communicate with her constituents!!! Oh the humanity. How dare folks “force” her to explain her position. Of course, her position in theory should be based on the feelings of the community. Did she think she could just get elected, not communicate anything, and not have any issues arise?

“There’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there, and I have to address that,” she said. “I’m trying to learn how to explain what I can and cannot do.”

The recall effort against Florida has been based on her support of a plan to move a McDonald’s franchise down the street from an existing location. Florida’s opponents say the move would be illegal, as the zoning for the new location does not allow a drive-thru, which is included in the design.

Florida said that the new location is commercially zoned, adding that there’s not a whole lot she could do to stop the move. “I think they thought I had more power than I actually have,” she said. “It’s just a small group of people who aren’t accepting [the move]. It’s like they’re trying to punish me for not getting exactly what they want.

I think someone needs to look in the mirror before talking about misinformation. Florida continues to downplay her role in the McDonald’s fiasco. After receiving substantial financial contributions from the officers of an entity seeking to profit in the deal, Florida took on an active role of making the project a reality. Her support, nearly to the point of being official spokesperson, did help influence the various boards that granted variances allowing the project to move forward. Had she remained neutral or opposed the drive-thru it most likely would not be happening now.

“I was always told recalls are about malfeasance in office or negligence. The reason why it’s in the charter is to cover corruption [in city politics]. But now it’s about not agreeing with an alderman’s position on an issue.”

I think if an alderman engages in criminal behavior we are not going to go through the recall process to remove them. Most often when a politician is caught with his/her hand in the candy jar or some other offense they typically resign amid charges of wrong doing. The recall process is in the charter to allow citizens to remove an elected representative when that person is no longer representing their interests. I believe that to be the case here and in a number of other recent recall efforts (Bauer, Roddy, & Bosley).

Florida said she suspects the recent rash of recalls stems from the citizens’ frustrations with federal and state politics. Because average citizens have little control over national issues, they instead vent their frustrations on local politicians, she said. “If you’re upset about the war in Iraq, you’re not going to recall President Bush,” she said. “Instead, you go after the people you have more control over.”

Florida can’t really be serious with this line of thinking, can she? She is suggesting that to be actively involved in local civic politics, including disagreeing with elected officials, is simply because we cannot impact issues on a state or federal level. Oh please! What a distorted view of the citizens of St. Louis! If we are not involved we are apathetic. If we are involved but disagree we are simply frustrated with others. How convenient for Ms. Florida to be so dismissive of everyone except those that agree with her. Open dialog about issues is the only way we will progress as a city but our elected officials don’t want dialog. They want status quo.

– Steve