Happy Washington’s Birthday or Presidents’ Day?

So which is it: Presidents’ Day or Washington’s Birthday? What about Abraham Lincoln? The best answer I found online is from Snopes.com (recommended):

Claim:   The federal holiday observed in the United States on the third Monday of February is officially designated as “Presidents’ Day.”

FALSE

Their post is long and detailed, but the following is a good summary:

President Nixon is frequently identified as the party responsible for changing Washington’s Birthday into President’s Day and fostering the notion that it is a day for commemorating all U.S. Presidents, a feat he supposedly achieved by issuing a proclamation on 21 February 1971 which declared the third Monday in February to be a “holiday set aside to honor all presidents, even myself.” This claim stems not from fact, however, but from a newspaper spoof. Actually, presidential records indicate that Nixon merely issued an Executive Order (11582) on 11 February 1971 defining the third Monday of February as a holiday, and the announcement of that Executive Order identified the day as “Washington’s Birthday.”

Executive Order (11582) makes no mention of the title’s of the holidays:

(a) Holiday means the first day of January, the third Monday of February, the last Monday of May, the fourth day of July, the first Monday of September, the second Monday of October, the fourth Monday of October, the fourth Thursday of November, the twenty-fifth day of December, or any other calendar day designated as a holiday by Federal statute or Executive order.

Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is the 12th — my husband and I were on a Lincoln Service Amtrak train to Chicago on his birthday. Washington’s birthday s the 22nd — this coming Sunday.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: QuikTrip wants to build a typical QT at Jefferson & Chouteau, St. Louis should…

The latest controversy in St. Louis is over a proposed QuikTrip on the SW corner of Jefferson & Chouteau, you can view the site plan on Scribd.

For the poll today I’d like to see what readers think. Answers provided range for let them build it to deny it, with two levels of compromise in between. The poll is at the top of the right sidebar, it closes in 12 hours (8pm).

I’ll detail my thoughts on Wednesday when I share the results.

— Steve Patterson

Live From The 2015 Chicago Auto Show

Today I’ll be posting to Twitter & Facebook from the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, which opens to the general public tomorrow morning and runs through Sunday February 22nd.  Yesterday and today are media preview days.

The St. Louis Auto Show is organized by local auto dealerships, whereas the Chicago Auto Show has exhibits from manufacturers — all makes are represented. Several new vehicles will make their debut at this show, including:

• GearOn edition of the St. Louis-built Chevy Colorado
• New Ford Police Intercepter SUV
• An off-road Kia
• A refreshed Chevy Equinox
• 2016 Acura RDX
• 2016 Honda Pilot
• 2016 Toyota Avalon
• Special editions of Toyota’s Camry & Corolla sedans

We visited this show last year — on a busy final weekend.  It’ll be nice attending some manufacture press conferences and seeing vehicles on the floor without massive crowds.  The only press allowed into the recent St. Louis Auto Show were those being paid to promote the show.

— Steve Patterson

Arch Construction Started 52 Years Ago Today

After more than two decades as a vacant site, work on a Jefferson Westward Memorial was finally started 52 years ago today.

At the beginning of the 20th century our leaders wanted to raze the historic riverfront and pay tribute to the Louisiana Purchase.  In October comes the 50th anniversary of the final piece of the Arch being lowered into place. It’ll be a few more years before we can celebrate the half century mark of being able to visit the top of the Arch.

— Steve Patterson

One Year After Opening Readers Positive Toward New Mississippi River Bridge

In the most recent Sunday Poll the ‘Very Good’ & ‘Excellent’ outweighed the ‘Fair’ & ‘Poor’ ratings, 17 vs 8, respectively. The two negative choices barely beat out the neutral middle ‘Good’, 8 vs 6, respectively.

Q: Rate the new Mississippi River Bridge (aka The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge) based on your overall impression:

1. 4) Very Good 12 [33.33%]
2. Tie 6 [16.67%]
   1. 2) Fair
   2. 3) Good
3. 5) Excellent 5 [13.89%]
4. Unsure/No Answer 5 [13.89%]
5. 1) Poor 2 [5.56%]

As a residential designer for many years I can tell you no matter the wealth of the client — the size of their budget — it’s never enough to accomplish everything they desire. Missouri & Illinois started off with a very long wish list then realized their list had to get substantially shorter.  It works though, we’ve used it regularly instead of the William L. Clay Sr. Bridge (aka Polar Street Bridge/PSB).

I wasn’t able to find any information on traffic counts on the new and other bridges into downtown St. Louis, but an accident on the PSB yesterday morning caused delays:

The accident occurred around 6:15 a.m. and forced all but one lane of the roadway to close. All lanes of the roadway reopened around 6:30 a.m., but delays were ongoing. (KMOV)

I’m very curious to know how reality compares to the projections.

— Steve Patterson