St. Louis Alderwoman Triplett Wants Chain Restaurant To Donate Unused Food, Poll

Last week St. Louis alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett (D-6) sent a letter to the corporate headquarters of the Little Caesars pizza chain encouraging them to donate pizzas rather than toss them out if not purchased within 30 minutes.   Here is the full text of her letter:

August 9, 2010

Little Caesars World Headquarters
2211 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201

To Whom It May Concern:
It is well known the Little Caesars Pizza brand has sponsored a variety of charitable endeavors, most specifically the Little Caesars Love Kitchen. The mobile kitchen has proved to be an innovative and successful tool to feed communities devastated by disaster. The program brought a hot meal to rescue workers at the World Trade Center site as well as Hurricane Katrina victims along the Gulf Coast and continues to contribute to various disaster relief efforts across the country.

While the Love Kitchen is a great way for Little Caesars’ corporate body to help feed the hungry and the homeless in this country, it seems every restaurant bearing the Little Caesars name can play a better role in fighting hunger in America. It has been brought to my attention Little Caesars employs a policy of discarding unclaimed pizzas 30 minutes after they are made rather than donating them to local charitable organizations. Given the Little Caesars public commitment to “give back to the communities in which it serves”, (see; http://www.littlecaesars.com/news/community.asp) this policy is both surprising and disappointing.

With only a few mobile units, the Love Kitchen is not able to reach more than a small portion of the country at any given time. If this policy was to be reversed and the excess pizzas donated to local homeless services organizations, each Little Caesars restaurant would help to make a greater impact in reducing food waste and hunger across America.
Operation Food Search, a food bank operating here in the Saint Louis area, receives donations from several local restaurants, caterers and food manufactures, including your competitor Pizza Hut (see; http://www.operationfoodsearch.org/). Given the thousands of hungry individuals in the city of Saint Louis alone, it is unfathomable Little Caesars has chosen to discard their excess pizzas rather than committing to donate them to a local food bank or homeless care provider.

If it is a question of liability, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects all food donations made by Little Caesars Pizza (see; http://www.operationfoodsearch.org/donate-today/food/business-food-donations.php). Additionally, if someone from your office would like to know more about the donation process or would like an introduction to local food banks or homeless services providers in the Saint Louis area, I would be happy to make the introduction myself.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely,

Kacie Starr Triplett

Alderwoman, City of Saint Louis, Missouri

Cc: Saint Louis Local Franchises of Little Caesars

The poll this week is your reaction? Should we pressure private businesses to donate rather than waste or should it be up to them to waste or donate?  The poll is in the upper right hand corner.

– Steve Patterson

The Key To Paying The Parking Meter Is A Key

I’ve heard of a key to the city but I recently learned some cities offer keys to parking meters:

Both Springfield IL and Champaign IL offer keys to people to use to pay parking fees. From Champaign’s CaskKey website:

What is the CashKey?

The CashKey is a programmable key that provides a cashless way to pay at parking meters. The CashKey can be carried on your key chain and eliminates the need to carry coins for the meters.

CashKeys can be used at any City of Champaign, City of Urbana or University of Illinois parking meter. Each key carries three accounts (a separate one for each parking provider) and $10 to $100 of value can be purchased for use at each type of meter.

How to Use a CashKey:

The CashKey functions like an American quarter. The first time the key is inserted into a meter, the amount of value on account for that parking provider is displayed. Each subsequent time the key is inserted is like depositing a quarter into the meter providing the user with the minutes of parking in accordance with the rate posted at each meter. For example, at a $.75 per hour meter, each insertion will provide 20 minutes of time at the meter; at a $.25 per hour meter, an insertion will provide one hour worth of parking time. The CashKey will not register more than the posted time allowed for that meter, but it will continue to deduct $.25 from the account each time it’s inserted. If the key is left inserted for more than 5-seconds, the meter will flash in the out-of-order mode until the key is removed. This is to alert the user in case the CashKey is inadvertently left in the meter.

The CashKey doesn’t guarantee you a parking space. Parking meter spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The CashKey can be used in conjunction with coins.

Purchasing a CashKey and/or Time:

The initial cost of the key is $19.50 and $10 to $100 of time can be purchased for each parking provider. Keys and/or time can be purchased at the following locations:

* City of Champaign Parking Programs Office (713 Edgebrook Dr.)
* City of Champaign Finance Department (2nd floor of City Building, 102 N. Neil St.)
* City of Urbana Finance Department (400 S. Vine St, Urbana)
* University of Illinois Facilities and Services Parking Department (1110 W. Springfield Ave.)
* Purchases must be made in person at one of the above locations. There is not an online purchase or reloading option.

If you find you aren’t using time loaded for one meter provider, the value can be transferred over to a different one.

I like this idea as a way to make it easier to ensure you have the ability to pay the meter.

– Steve Patterson

Poorly Located Bike Rack Outside Chicago Whole Foods

Last weekend I was in Chicago.  Passing by the Whole Foods at Cicero & Peterson I spotted a poorly located bike rack:

So what makes this “poorly located?”  First I should note this type of rack, the inverted-U, is my favorite rack. I also like that the rack is highly visible.  But this rack is designed to hold one bike per side — two per side if they don’t mind being locked together.  But the distance away from the wall makes using the back side difficult.  The raised planter to the right is going to make it hard to secure the bike with both wheels on the sidewalk. Centering the rack on a portion of the wall took priority over function.  Bike racks should be functional before anything else.

– Steve Patterson

Culinaria Increasingly An Accessibility Nightmare

A year ago yesterday Culinaria, a Schnuck’s Market, opened in the ground floor of the 9th Street parking garage.  You know, the parking garage that replaced the historic Century Building.  The intersection of 9th & Olive was the last intersection in St. Louis’ CBD that still had it’s pre-WWII buildings on all four corners. More on the Century in a bit.

The store has been open a year now yet there is no door opener on either front door. Because of the settings on the door closer it is nearly impossible for me to enter without help from others.  I exit by pushing the door open with my wheelchair.

Inside the situation is getting worse.  The once attractive store has every bit of floor space occupied my an increasing number of display boxes.  They change based on what company is paying them.  Trying to access a freezer case was difficult the other day because a stack of product on the floor next to the door handle prevented me from getting in the right position.

A year ago I was impressed by the design of the store.  Today I use it as a convenience store, the bulk of my groceries comes from other grocery store and markets. I need to go once a month for my prescriptions but I try to avoid the place now.  It is hard to access and circulate, increasingly not worth the hassle.

I’ve asked before about a door opener.  “We are working on getting the state to pay for it.”  You see, Schnuck’s is a tenant in the state-owned parking garage. The garage wasn’t designed for a grocery store but the developer was DESCO which is owned by members of the Schnuck’s family.

Which brings us back to the 1896 Century Building. Local property owners & residents (and friends) Roger Plackemier & Marcia Behrendt had sued various entities prior to the destruction of the Century, questioning the legality of the process used in the garage project. In 2004 they were unable to raise the money to post a bond and the demolition of the Century began.

In April 2005 the developer and development agencies of the city & state sued Plackemeier & Behrendt for “malicious prosecution“, seeking $1,000,000 in damages. The trial has been scheduled several times and each time the plaintiffs request a delay. The trial was to begin on Monday of this week but once again they were granted a delay.

For over five years now two citizens have had a million dollar lawsuit against them and those suing them keep delaying the trial.  Talk about malicious prosecution!

– Steve Patterson

Readers Think The Tour Of Missouri Was A Good Use Of Tourism Dollars

Last week 181 people voted in the poll:

Q: The 2010 Tour of Missouri has been canceled due to zero funding from the state, which of the following best describes your thoughts:

1. The Tour of Missouri has been a great event, bringing money into the state economy each year — a good use of tax money 97 [53.59%]
2. The Tour of Missouri has been a victim of fighting between Republicans and Democrats 36 [19.89%]
3. The Tour of Missouri has been a money pit, costing more than it made — a good decision to cancel 22 [12.15%]
4. Other answer… 14 [7.73%]
5. Unsure/no opinion 12 [6.63%]

The (14) other answers were:

1. If it’s so successful, they should plan for it’s financial viability.
2. screw the bicyclists. when do I get my own lane to drive in?
3. Killed by Nixon for a petty political vendetta. Politics at its worst.
4. Sad…
5. Even the Tour de France commentators said its a shame it got canceled
6. What a shame. Where was the money spent instead? What was the return?
7. This happened MONTHS ago. Why are you only addressing it now?
8. Jay Nixon needs to go for this! What a joke!
9. B and C
10. Not sure why this can’t be privately funded, the state gave it a good start
11. The Tour of MO should be able to fund itself by corporate donations and sponsors
12. Tourism should have cut back to $500K or so.
13. Not necessarily the best way to spend state money.
14. When the economy is bad, nonessentials get cut.

– Steve Patterson