- The lack of trash pick up after a couple weeks is a joke. I'm embarrassed by the city's response. Every responsible manager plans and budgets for equipment upgrades. Is it time to privatize it like the suburbs do? I don't see a lot of overflowing dumpsters and recycling bins in the small towns in MO and IL abutting St. Louis. Why are we paying for this level of service?
- The lack of mowing in city parks is a joke. Again, embarrassing response by the city...the mowers are broken?!?! You have all winter to fix your equipment. Excuses are so lame. Should we privatize the mowing?
- I think the Arch grounds and museum redo will be pretty and better than it was. But, it will do nothing to improve the quality of life for residents of St. Louis. The benefit is for visitors/tourists only...and maybe some residual upticks for local businesses in the immediate vicinity. Imagine if $380M were invested in the city neighborhoods in the form of new housing, low interest home improvement loans and low interest small business loans...
- Musical chairs should not be celebrated, especially when they are incentivized with tax breaks (Ackerman Toyota, etc); especially when it leaves a big hole in the former property.
- Traffic calming measures such as concrete spheres and roundabouts are necessary and a good investment. The police do not enforce speeding on residential streets so the danger to pedestrians and other drivers is palpable. Horrible/careless drivers hit the concrete spheres routinely and just took out the first roundabout at Nebraska and Sidney this week. I think resolve is needed.
Sometimes the city department managers are our own worst enemy. Sometimes the dumb, unchecked criminals are annoying too. We need to consider all options to improve.
I'm on the verge of posting another negative-slanted story and then I'll try to get the karma wheel spinning in the right direction once again....
