MO Secretary of State Says St. Louis Has Nearly 7,000 Fewer People Than St. Louis Claims

Per the Post-Dispatch Political Fix I read that Secretary of State Robin Carnahan unveiled the new Official Manual today, commonly called the “Blue Book” apparently regardless of the color of the cover.  So I am looking through the online version because I didn’t get one of the forty thousand printed versions.

The online version is broken down into many small PDF files and I was browsing the municipal one.  Therein is a handy list of all the municipalities and how they are classified by the state, such as a Village, a 4th level , a 3rd level or in the case of St. Louis, a Home Rule city (bottom of P887).  Hmmm, population estimates.  The blue book lists St. Louis’ 2006 estimated population at 347,181 — considerably less than the 353,837 as estimated by the city and accepted by the U.S. Census in April of this year (see prior post).  I’ll save you the math, that is 6,656 less people.  Ouch, that is almost 2%!

Obviously the book is prepared at a given time and any changes afterwards really cannot be altered.  Still, St. Louis announced the revised population figures only two weeks after the April election.  Maybe they already had the municipal section done and were simply saving the newly elected reps for last?  Still, St. Louis has contested population figures for several years now so they really should have known.  Or does Missouri have their own census department that comes up with their own estimates?

Football Fans Block Public Sidewalk Before Games

One of the joys of living downtown is accepting the influx and outflux of people for events.  At one time in history various events were held throughout the cities, where ever the team or organization could buy property.  Once we managed to kill our downtowns, we used stadiums and other attractions to attempt to prop them up.  And until a better stadium deal is coming along, the St. Louis Rams are not going anywhere.

Sunday I was out for a post-brunch walk and noticed tents and all sorts of otherwise normal looking people, dressed in blue and gold, standing around their SUVs.  After viewing the windows at the downtown Macy’s I was heading back toward my loft when in the middle of the sidewalk was this group of fans.  Once passed I turned back around to snap this shot.

For me this wasn’t really that big of a deal.  My friend and I were able to squeeze by the parking meters to go around them.  You can’t tell from this image but they had a grill out smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk.  I’ve had my share of sidewalk confrontations but I knew better than to argue with a large group of football fans that had been drinking in the AM.

I guess the paved parking lot wasn’t enough room for them?  Or the “plaza” across the street at the US Bank — the site of the former Ambassador Theater?  I’m all for a good time but must it be in the path of pedestrians used by real residents?

I should have asked them where they lived.  Then I could have rented a car and BBQ’d on the sidewalk on their cul-de-sac.   Somehow I don’t think they’d get it.

They’d never do this in say NY or Chicago.  Or course, there, they actually have such a steady flow of pedestrians people wouldn’t think of setting up the tailgate on a sidewalk.  Here we make it almost perfect for such a blockage — back the SUV into the space, open the tailgate and commence partying on the sidewalk.   I’m told this helps downtown but I haven’t quite figured out how just yet.

Dine Out Tomorrow, Raise Money for a Good Cause

Tuesday is the annual Dining Out For Life event held around the world the Tuesday following Thanksgiving.  The event raises money for various organizations in the fight against aids.  In St. Louis:

Dining Out for Life is an international event that has raised over $1 million since 1990 to help Saint Louis EFFORT FOR AIDS provide education on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and comprehensive support services for those affected by the disease. It’s an incredibly important event that not only helps nourish the community…but also the soul. We sincerely hope you’ll dine with us at one of our participating Dining Out For Life restaurants when at least 25% of your check will be donated to support the work of Saint Louis EFFORT FOR AIDS. 

For more information click here.

Food Waste; Disposal, Trash, Backyard Composting or Feeding Worms

Ever give much thought to your food scraps? All those potato peelings, bits of onion or excess from a head of cabbage? Most people just scrape the food off into the trash can or flip the switch and the disposal grinds it all up. Now is the first time in nearly 20 years that I’ve had a garbage disposal, all my post-parents places have lacked a disposal. With the exception of six months living in an 8th floor studio apartment on Lindell, I’ve had a yard for these past two decades. And in having a yard, I managed to compost nearly all my food waste — be that scraps from preparing a meal to the usual table scraps.

Now I am back in an urban setting in a multi-family building lacking a yard to compost in. Composting is great, allowing earth’s worms to come up and help out the process of breaking down matter. So what do you do in a situation where you lack the yard and earth worms? Well, you bring the worms into the home for a process known as vermicomposting. But before I get into looking at the process I plan to undertake, let’s look at the environmental implications to more conventional disposal methods — the garbage disposal to grind and send it all to the sewage treatment plant and just dumping it in the garbage for shipment off to a land fill.

The disposal is about as convenient as they come, using it to rid ourselves of meal prep scraps as well as those un-eaten bits post-dinner. Dump, turn on the water and flip the switch. Like magic it is gone. Ever think about where it goes?

The ground-up waste does NOT go back to nature’s water supply to be gobbled up by fish and other life forms. It must first pass through the sewage-treatment plant (or your septic system). This not only increases the load on our already overburdened sewage-treatment facilities, the process also removes any food value the waste might have had further down the line. (source: Grinning Planet)

So food that might help out your own garden is flushed into the sewer system, our very old and fragile sewer system, that MSD is spending Billions (yes, Billions with a B) to upgrade. MSD covers all of the city and the bulk of St. Louis County. Other parts of our 16-county region are covered under other sewer systems or are on septic. While I couldn’t find what to flush and not flush on MSD’s website I did see in other cities them asking that you not use your disposal, that food waste be placed in the trash. Which brings us to land fills.

Have you seen the massive pile of trash over in Illinois? In the news lately has been the proposed trash transfer center in South County that the Fred Weber company wants to build. Fred Weber wants to take their old quarry site to bring in trash trucks so the trash can be collected and then loaded onto larger trucks for removal. Neighbors are understandably upset. However, I wonder how many of those that are so upset bother to recycle their trash? Or to look for items with reduced packaging? Their objections would have more impact if they didn’t help contribute to the problem of trash collection and removal to a landfill.

Oh yeah, the landfill. I’ve read that responsible landfills are supposed to allow food waste to decompose but I can’t imagine how — locked up tight in the hefty bag with all the other garbage it doesn’t get any air. The reality is that what we throw away stays in a landfill basically forever. Where, we don’t exactly know. Sadly, most really don’t care.

The only green alternative for food waste is backyard composting. Layer by layer you are slowly building a wonderful fertilizer to use in your vegetable or flower garden. But say you are like me, now lacking a yard, you are not out of luck. Why? Worms can be house broken. In a well-prepared plastic or wood container in the home they can eat through your garbage — it is what they do.

Today I purchased a $5 container at Family Dollar, I’ve shredded up old paper used to pack dishes and I’m ready to start drilling holes for air circulation (proper air circulation eliminates odor you might get otherwise). I’m not going to attempt to explain the ins and outs of vermicomposting to you — I’ll leave that to the experts. Here is a fun “how to” video with a master composter:

[Note: embedded video seemed to only work well on the Mac so I have deleted it. Use the link provided to watch the video.]

This video can be found here. Barb can also be seen in two Freshtopia videos located here and here. You can get more information on vermicomposting at Wiki. The Fed’s even support the idea with their own page on the EPA website! I’ll keep you posted on the progress and any issues I may encounter along the way.

Next time you toss out the core of that organic apple that you bought at Whole Foods, after driving there in your Prius hybrid, think about how green your lifestyle really is and if you can go further.

UPDATE 11/29/07 @ 8:20pm — Ryanne and Jay managed to kill their worms after five months.  Check out updates here and here.  I’ve yet to start my bin yet but I am very close — still researching just the right container.

Expensive Streetscape Falls Short of Having Good ADA Compliance

Since moving downtown I’ve been doing more walking and one of those streets, as you might expect, is Washington Ave — our main focus for the rebirth of downtown.  It started a number of years ago with a complete new streetscape — new paving, curbs and sidewalks.  From Tucker to 18th Street is was completely rebuild for a hefty sum ($17 million or so).  While I think they went overboard with the design, I believe a new streetscape project by the city was necessary to spur private investment in the area.

That said, I’ve noticed some interesting design decisions.  OK, make that some really bad design decisions.  For example, the curb ramps at 16th & Washington Ave:

Probably looks fine?  Look closer.

Anyone using a wheelchair, such as my neighbor two doors down, or to anyone pushing a baby stroller, this is really messed up.  One side of 16th has you aligned with the flow of pedestrians while the other side uses a corner ramp.  The corner ramp in the foreground serves the dual purpose of crossing Washington Avenue as this point — one of the very few places where someone in a chair can cross.

Seen from the other direction, looking Westbound, you can see how someone has to jog and angle to continue straight along Washington Ave.  Several solutions would have been worth considering here.

First, the corner ramp could have continued further to the South so that a person rolling along Washington Ave could continue straight without having to veer out toward traffic.  Second, the ramp crossing Washington Ave could have been positioned in a number of other nearby spots so that the ramps crossing 16th St could have been aligned.  Simple really, all it takes is an eye for details and functionality.

Despite all the money spent on fancy paving and custom light fixtures, little details like this were overlooked.  Do not assume, that because professionals were involved, that the design is always good.  Clearly, more time could have been spent getting these details right.