Poll: Public meetings without prayer

The poll this week is about an issue that often ends up in court — the role of prayer during public meetings.  Many public bodies do not begin their meetings with a prayer, but others do. One that does is the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

Here is their outline for each meeting:

Rule 13 Regular Order of Business
The Order of Business and Procedure shall be as follows:

1. Roll Call.

2. Suggested Prayer.

“Almighty God, source of all authority, we humbly ask guidance in our deliberations and wisdom in our conclusions. Amen.”

3. Announcement of any Special Order of the Day.

4. Introduction of Honored Guests.

5. Approval of minutes of previous meetings.

6. Report of City Officials.

7. Petitions and Communications. (Source)

Increasingly public bodies that include prayer as part of their agenda are being challenged in court:

Federal District Court Judge James A. Beaty this morning ruled that Forsyth County is violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing prayers with sectarian references before meetings of the county board of commissioners.

Beaty ordered the county to stop allowing prayers under its current policy, which had come under fire from those who said that the county was promoting Christianity because most of the prayers have made reference to Jesus.

Beaty gave the county several options in his order. He said that the county could choose to open meetings without a prayer, or could require that prayers contain no sectarian references.

Mike Johnson, the attorney representing the county, told commissioners this morning that he hopes they will appeal the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. That court traditionally also has ruled against sectarian prayer at public meetings.

Today’s ruling by Beaty confirms what a magistrate recommended in November. The lawsuit was filed in March 2007 by several county residents, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union. They asked that the commission only allow non-sectarian prayer at meetings; in those, references to God are allowed, but to specific deities such as Jesus Christ or Buddha are not.

The lawsuit prompted other counties to study their policies on invocations before public meetings. Several, such as Yadkin County, changed their policies to eliminate sectarian prayer. Others, such as the Winston-Salem City Council, have held off, saying they would wait to see the outcome of the Forsyth County case.  (Source)

One example is the Texas State Board of Education:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdhGK9aYjDY

Friday the prayer at the start of the Board of Aldermen mentioned God four times.The poll this week asks how you feel about prayer and public meetings. The poll is on the right hand side of the site.  The final results will be posted Wednesday June 30, 2010.

– Steve Patterson

Loft apartments going into midtown buildings once targeted for razing

A few years ago Saint Louis University (SLU) wanted to raze many buildings they had purchased in midtown near their main campus to construct a new arena.  After the objections of many (and a few lawsuits the arena plans were shifted to another campus adjacent location.  SLU did raze one building on Locust for a parking lot (view prior post) but others remained.  The area is emerging with restaurants, lofts, shops and clubs so the decision to put loft apartments into two structures is welcomed news.

These two buildings are being transformed into the West Locust Lofts:

“West Locust Lofts is located in Midtown Saint Louis, one block north of Saint Louis University. With 12,000 theatre seats within four blocks, 12 galleries and museums and over 1500 cultural events with 1.3 million visitors each year, this Saint Louis neighborhood is unique in the country.”

Not so sure about the unique part, many universities are in vibrant urban areas.

– Steve Patterson

Midtown needs bike parking

Bike parking throughout our region is severely lacking. You can somewhat excuse the auto-centric edges for not having bike parking but in the urban core biking is more common and places to secure bikes are necessary.

As midtown (aka Grand Center) becomes a more popular place to dine and shop seeing bikes locked to lamp posts, street signs and parking meters will become increasingly common.  Locking to a lamp post requires a long cable rather than a more common u-lock.  Bike racks need to be planned.

– Steve Patterson

Boycott all gasoline, not just BP gasoline

Everyone is angry at BP right now. Given the ecological disaster in the Gulf it is understandable. Many are boycotting BP branded gasoline and buying gasoline from non-BP stations instead:

Across the country, American consumers are voicing their disgust with BP (BP) over the worst oil spill in U.S. history the only way they can — by not buying gas sold under the oil company’s name. Despite their good intentions, however, it turns out that this will do little harm to the U.K. company’s bottom line.

In 2008, BP announced it was exiting the retail gasoline business because the margins were lousy. Rivals ExxonMobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP) did the same thing. Today, BP owns only about 100 of the 900 or so gas stations bearing its name.  See full article from DailyFinance.

So the boycott may be hurting local business owners in your community.  Certainly employees of these stations may face a loss of their job if the customers stay away.  The answer is not to boycott BP gasoline, but to boycott all gasoline.  We, the users of products made from crude oil, are the reason companies such as BP are drilling deeper offshore.  Granted we didn’t force them to take the risks that made have led to the explosion, worker deaths and the massive amounts of oil continuing to spill into the gulf.

But boycott all gasoline?   Yes, by significantly reducing your energy consumption.  Here are some ways:

• Walk, bike and use public transportation more.  Any increase in these three is good.
• Carpool with co-workers.
• Get a high mileage motor scooter.
• Reduce car ownership in your household — 2 > 1, 3 > 2, etc
• Combine trips.  Don’t drive somewhere just for one task — make sure you can do one more thing while you are out.
• Avoid products made from crude.  Hard to do since oil is in everything around us. Buying locally produced products made from renewal resources helps.
• Buy products with less packaging.
• Adjust your thermostat just a couple of degrees so you use less energy.
• Buy from stores closer to your house to reducing your driving. If you are walking, biking or using transit you are already doing this but if you are driving consider your route and options on where to buy the things you need. Know the retailers between your house and work so you don’t drive out of your way.
• If you drive a car more than five days per week see if you can reduce the number of days — try to go 2-3 days without getting in your car.

Driving past the BP station to get gas from another brand just doesn’t seem effective in the big scheme of things.

– Steve Patterson

Readers: Vacant Ballpark Village site now downtown’s biggest eyesore, I-70 close behind

The top winner for downtown’s biggest eyesore is the vacant site that was planned to be Ballpark Village.  But second & third place were the depressed lanes and the elevated lanes of I-70, respectively.  City to River’s idea will take care of I-70. Each person was allowed two picks.

Q: With the St. Louis Centre pedestrian bridge being removed, downtown’s biggest eyesore becomes? (pick up to 2)

1. The vacant Ballpark Village site 106 [28.42%]
2. The I-70 depressed lanes in front of the Arch 98 [26.27%]
3. The I-70 elevated lanes North of Washington St 92 [24.66%]
4. Other answer… 24 [6.43%]
5. Twain 20 [5.36%]
6. Lumiere Casino 19 [5.09%]
7. The Kiel Center parking garages 7 [1.88%]
8. US Bank’s parking garage (8th & Washington) 7 [1.88%]

Total Votes 373

“Other” edged out the other answers I had suggested.

1. Kacie Starr Triplett
2. Chouteau’s Landing
3. Arcade Building
4. Highway 40 and the railyard to the south
5. The building to the right of I-64 , just before you cross the Poplar (name?).
6. Downtown
7. Lumiere’s digital sign needs to go!
8. The vacant Arcade building
9. Powell Square
10. Kiener Center parking garages–particularly considering their prominent location
11. The I-40 bridges running through the center of the city
12. “Powell Square”
13. The Stadium Parking Structures
14. Kiel Opera House
15. The countless surface parking lots
16. All buildings on 70 Northbound from the Arch all the way to the Airport
17. Powell Square
18. The Peabody Building
19. Statdium East and West parking garages
20. Gateway One
21. Powell Square
22. Amrica’s Center
23. Macy’s garage
24. GatewayOne tower

I want to comment on a couple of the “other” answers.

Peabody is a tenant in the Gateway One building, occupying 7 of the 15 floors. The plan decades ago was to have four of these half buildings. I’m glad only one was built but I like obscured view of the Old Courthouse and Arch.  It forces you to walk closer to get the full view.  While Gateway One is not great architecture, it is not remotely close to being an eyesore.

I don’t consider Powell Square in downtown as I tend to think of I-64/40 as on the near south side.  But assuming it is part of downtown it is an eyesore in it’s windowless state. But this is not an eyesore to be removed.  This building just needs windows to be stunning.

– Steve Patterson