It hasn’t taken long but the new Culinaria grocery store downtown is already using emergency exits for storage:
The same exit is also blocked outside:
Blocking these exits is unacceptable.
– Steve Patterson
UPDATE 9/1/09Â @ 1:50pm:
At my request, City inspectors visited Culinaria this morning and I’m told all exits are now clear of these obstructions. I have not been there to verify but will do so soon and report if anything is not OK.  – SLP
A personal friend of mine, last week on Monday August 24th, spotted former 25th Alderwoman Dorothy Kirner park at a parking meter and place an “official business” placard upon the dashboard of her Ford Escort before going inside without feeding said parking meter.
Kirner defeated me in the March 2005 Democratic primary election for Board of Alderman for the 25th Ward. She did not seek re-election in the 2009 race. Shane Cohn was sworn into office as the new Alderman for the 25th Ward in April 2009.
Above you can see the placard placed on the dash.
These placards are issue to elected officials for, well, official business. I’m not sure what official business a former Alderperson is conducting for the Board of Aldermen. Could it be she expects to continue receiving the perks of the office she no longer holds?
– Steve Patterson
Voters in St. Louis County will have a smoke-free measure on their November ballot. Those addicted to nicotine to campaign against the measure.
The measure does have flaws — exemption of casino floors and bars that serve little food. A state-wide smoke-free measure, more likely once we
The rhetoric will be high, pure FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt).
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Bill Hannegan, who fought the county bill, said he thought opponents would have a real chance of defeating it at the polls.
People are angry about “the way it was handled and the unfairness of the law,” he said.
“For example, bowling alleys are out of luck. You can smoke on a casino gaming floor but can’t smoke at all in a bowling alley. Bowlers will be angry about this.”
This bowler will be pleased. What Hannegan should have said is the nicotine-addicted bowler will be angry.
Next month the St. Louis Board of Aldermen will resume consideration of a bill that would create a smoke-free St. Louis, triggered by a measure in St. Louis County. Hopefully the existence of the ballot item in the county will help the city measure pass. In turn, I hope a passed city ordinance would motivate county voters to pass their measure. If anything the fragmentation in our region may stretch the opposition forces thinly. Now is the time for officials in St. Charles County and Jefferson County to push their own measures.
The poll this week, in the upper right sidebar, asks both if you support or oppose the St. Louis County ballot measure and if you think it will pass or fail.
If passed St. Louis County would go smoke-free in January 2011.
– Steve Patterson
Yesterday, while driving home from the doctor, I spotted this equipment sitting on the sidewalk along Olive at Compton (map link):
In the background is a corner of the Saint Louis University campus. Behind me, to the East, is several restaurants that cater to SLU students. Between the two is equipment used in monitoring traffic counts. Someone had to make the decision it was OK to place this device on the sidewalk, in the way of pedestrians. Able bodied students can walk around but the more our pedestrian spaces are compromised the less likely we are to walk from place to place.
– Steve Patterson
Drive around suburbia and the garage seems more important than the front door.
But in more urban areas, such as the City of St. Louis, we have alleys. While we park on the street the typical garage is off the alley at the rear of the parcel of land. This lets the front of the house look like a house rather than a garage.
Often a good urban house is narrower than your typical suburban garage. Each has their place. Just keep the front garages out in suburbia. I’m horrified every time I see a typical suburban house built in the city:
When no alley exists, as is the case in various parts of the city, you have no choice. But the house above does have an alley:
It is among a group of homes just North of Cass & West of 14th Street. It is bad enough that suburbia continues to spread out into farm fields but I must draw the line at having suburbia spreading back into the core. I propose that in the city/region that on parcels where an alley is available that any garages/off-street parking must use the alley. No curb cuts allowed.
If I wanted to live among garage doors I’d live out in sprawlville. If that is what folks what then I suggest they shop out in that ugly ring of suburbia that surrounds the City of St. Louis.
– Steve