urbanSTL

Isn't part of the challenge in defeating an incumbent basically that you are trying to get regular voters to change from who they have voted for historically to vote for you?

If you have voted for Schmid for years and years, are you now going to change and vote for Spencer? How often does that happen?

Maybe a lot of Schmid's voters are either dying off or moving away? That would give Spencer a better shot, right?

Or is she trying to raise turnout with new voters, getting most to vote for her? Isn't the 20th ward one of the lower turnout wards in STL?

Since Schmid really isn't a tainted candidate (scandal free and pretty much known to be a hard working, dedicated, "choir boy", picking up neighborhood trash and doing all that sort of good neighbor stuff), and then Spencer brings a new face with lots of energy, challenging the status quo, this is probably the most interesting race in the city. Well, this and the 7th ward.

Meanwhile, over in the 24th ward, if voters return Bauer to office, it just shows how dumb we STLouisans really are!

Is he campaigning on the donkey again?

Is he campaigning on the donkey again?

LOL!

I don't get it. Why would anyone vote for the man? How do people like him get elected? Why do St. Louisans elect people like Sharon Carpenter?

Actually, yes, I do know why. Tradition. Loyalty. Machine politics. Labor. A herd mentality. Etc.

No thought required!

I met Rodney Norman who is challenging Frank Williamson in the 26th roday. He did a career in IT, lived in Dallas for 30 years, and moved back to be close to family. Seems like he gets it. His main point was to stop accepting what is and strive for what we see elsewhere in the city and in other places like he saw in Dallas.

roger wyoming II wrote:Here in the 15th, challenger Beth Braznell has been knocking on doors and getting signs up. Seemed rather old school with not much emphasis on change; main point seems to be that Megan Green has a full-time job and since she's retired she'll be full time for us. I think I'll take a young, hard-working person with ideas for change over the old-school establishment.

I was (and really still am) a bit undecided. Beth Braznell seems like she has been committed to the neighborhood for a long-time and cares.

But Megan seems to have done a good job, and she really pushed me towards her side with her "no" vote on the QT at Jefferson and Chouteau.

Conway has drawn a challenger in the 8th Ward. I've never heard of McKinney, but he has a fair amount of signs up and his people have been canvassing the ward.

I was leaning Conway until I discovered his vote for the QT at Jefferson and Chouteau.

I sent a long email to McKinney through his website and asked what he would've done as alderman and what his urban development priorities are and never received a response...so I'm pretty up in the air with who to give my vote to.

I have a problem with Conway being in office since the early 90s, but during the recent unrest his dedication to and communication with Shaw was pretty great...so I'm feeling a bit conflicted with him, but a challenger who doesn't respond to a message through their website is pretty off putting to me.

Here's the vote on the eminent domain bill

olvidarte wrote:I was leaning Conway until I discovered his vote for the QT at Jefferson and Chouteau.

I sent a long email to McKinney through his website and asked what he would've done as alderman and what his urban development priorities are and never received a response...so I'm pretty up in the air with who to give my vote to.

I have a problem with Conway being in office since the early 90s, but during the recent unrest his dedication to and communication with Shaw was pretty great...so I'm feeling a bit conflicted with him, but a challenger who doesn't respond to a message through their website is pretty off putting to me.

McKinney seems a little odd to me. He's from Tennessee, and was mayor in his hometown, but decided to move here. Not sure what to make of it.

McKinney seems a little odd to me. He's from Tennessee, and was mayor in his hometown, but decided to move here. Not sure what to make of it.

What is the implication of the above comment supposed to be? People don't move to better places? I think I'd rather live in St. Louis than small town Tennessee.

McKinney runs a company specializing in building affordable housing for seniors. He is married to Kimberly McKinney, CEO of the local branch of Habitat for Humanity. McKinney has lived in St. Louis for at least ten years, maybe 15 or so.

In a town that either shuns newcomers, or thinks they have the best ideas compared to long time status quo locals, McKinney is worth a listen.

Conway on the other hand is old school as they come. He's a proven defender of his ward. Shaw has made huge strides while he has been in office. He's a lawyer and CPA, with much experience at the Board of Aldermen. His father was mayor. He's like Roddy. Senior members of the B of A, and that's not a bad thing.

I'd say McKinney has an uphill battle and that retaining Conway wouldn't be a bad thing.

The race in the 15th ward is much more interesting. Why does Beth Braeznell have the support of many key folks, including Mayor Slay, over the current office holder and (albeit minimally) democratic incumbent? That hardly ever happens.

And what about in deep south city, in the 12th ward. Who is the person challenging Arnowitz and why? Apparently some rift involving parishioners at IHM?

Are there any interesting races on the north side? Nothing seems to come to mind. There is usually a battle in the 4th ward, but there don't appear to be any campaign signs up in the Ville.

quincunx wrote:Did anyone go to the 7th ward debate tonight? What did you think?

Didn't go, and I haven't seen anything about it.

I did notice that Alderman French complimented one of the candidates, Chelsea Merta, for her remarks at the hearing for the citizen review bill before it turned into a scuffle.

Northside Neighbor wrote:

McKinney seems a little odd to me. He's from Tennessee, and was mayor in his hometown, but decided to move here. Not sure what to make of it.

What is the implication of the above comment supposed to be? People don't move to better places? I think I'd rather live in St. Louis than small town Tennessee.

I just thought it was odd for someone who was mayor of a town to move to a large city and then run for alderman. I guess perhaps I am just cynical.

A semi-brief story about Conway: While I don't live in his ward, my sister does, and she's at times expressed concern about areas of darkness on Alfred right across from the Botanical Garden. There's obviously only houses on one side, and LOTS of foliage on the other. So even though there's plenty of street lights for drivers to see fine, there are a lot of patches of darkness for cars to be broken into—or worse.

I contacted the CSB about this, and they contacted the street department saying lighting was ample. Not satisfied, I contacted Alderman Conway on Twitter. He quickly gave me his phone number and told me to call him. I did, and we had a nice conversation. He told me he thought he already had the brightest lights possible installed in the street lights, but that he would double check that, in addition to sending out the trees department or whoever it is that trims trees to make sure those are as tidy as possible. He said that there's other constituents who pressure him to put more trees, so he has to balance things. (Fair enough).

Lastly, he correctly noted that a lot of the buildings on the particular stretch I was talking about on Alfred are multi-family buildings, and thus porch lights aren't a thing that are on the minds of the tenants like they would be a homeowner. He suggested a lot of buildings don't have working bulbs or that they're not on. He told me that he'd be happy to buy some bright bulbs and go door to door with me and help install those bulbs and give out a little flyer requesting the tenants keep those lights turned on.

Shortly after that, the officer-involved shooting in Shaw happened, and I never ended up getting back in touch with him to set that up. And honestly, I'm not sure that would have really solved the problem.

Nonetheless, I found him very committed to helping, and obviously willing to spend both money, time, and labor to help with some semblance of a solution. And he was very easy to get in touch with.

I don't know if that ward could do better than him as Alderman, and I'm not "endorsing" him so to speak. But I definitely think you could do worse than Conway. My experience with him was very positive.

Trees tend to get in the way of the streetlights which are primary meant to light the street.

The west side of Skinker was incredibly dark. It took WashU to put in the pedestrian lights between FPP and Delmar. The project cost $2M

^Looks good. Pretty bright, but I guess that's the point. It should certainly help any Wash. U. student walking from the Loop back toward campus or their Pershing/Waterman apartment feel safer.

jstriebel wrote:A semi-brief story about Conway: While I don't live in his ward, my sister does, and she's at times expressed concern about areas of darkness on Alfred right across from the Botanical Garden. There's obviously only houses on one side, and LOTS of foliage on the other. So even though there's plenty of street lights for drivers to see fine, there are a lot of patches of darkness for cars to be broken into—or worse.

I contacted the CSB about this, and they contacted the street department saying lighting was ample. Not satisfied, I contacted Alderman Conway on Twitter. He quickly gave me his phone number and told me to call him. I did, and we had a nice conversation. He told me he thought he already had the brightest lights possible installed in the street lights, but that he would double check that, in addition to sending out the trees department or whoever it is that trims trees to make sure those are as tidy as possible. He said that there's other constituents who pressure him to put more trees, so he has to balance things. (Fair enough).

Lastly, he correctly noted that a lot of the buildings on the particular stretch I was talking about on Alfred are multi-family buildings, and thus porch lights aren't a thing that are on the minds of the tenants like they would be a homeowner. He suggested a lot of buildings don't have working bulbs or that they're not on. He told me that he'd be happy to buy some bright bulbs and go door to door with me and help install those bulbs and give out a little flyer requesting the tenants keep those lights turned on.

Shortly after that, the officer-involved shooting in Shaw happened, and I never ended up getting back in touch with him to set that up. And honestly, I'm not sure that would have really solved the problem.

Nonetheless, I found him very committed to helping, and obviously willing to spend both money, time, and labor to help with some semblance of a solution. And he was very easy to get in touch with.

I don't know if that ward could do better than him as Alderman, and I'm not "endorsing" him so to speak. But I definitely think you could do worse than Conway. My experience with him was very positive.

Conway actually lives on Alfred across from the Botanical Gardens, funnily enough.

quincunx wrote:Trees tend to get in the way of the streetlights which are primary meant to light the street.

The west side of Skinker was incredibly dark. It took WashU to put in the pedestrian lights between FPP and Delmar. The project cost $2M

Yeah, this is the solution, albeit an expensive one.

Another example (and a nice contrast) is Cherokee. On the east end pedestrian-scaled lights have been installed and it's great (click here for a street view showing a pedestrian light next to and old cobra head streetlights). The west end only has the cobra heads and the difference between the two ends of the road at night is, err, night and day.

-RBB

I attended a Holly Hills meeting was absolutely disappointed in almost everything Tom Villa talked about. He vaguely says that he has some meetings with the owners of the abandoned, decaying historic buildings on Grand Blvd, he said he hoped the police would chase "them to East St. Louis" talking about criminals, he made fun of Lewis Reed at the meeting and called Alderman French "Ferguson's Alderman". Why is this guy in control of anything? Sad.

The historic buildings on Grand Blvd are the only hope for a great commercial area in Holly Hills and he seems content to have them torn down. If the North-South Metrolink line ever gets built, it would make an amazing TOD stop.

A few people laughed at the French remark. The other two remarks, were met with silence and some nods.

old STL political family...as old as WWI....Younger crowd needs to mobilize and vote him out.

Villa is a name as central to South St. Louis as Slay.