Renovation is one giant recycling project – Couple show that green rehab doesn’t have to be expensive – 3 Oct 2009 P-D

Charles and Nikole Zidar drive hybrid cars, compost and recycle just about everything. They put great thought in making sure their carbon footprint on Mother Earth is a small one.

So when they bought a 1901 brick home in the Shaw neighborhood, they saw it as another opportunity to recycle something old instead of buying a new home. They’ve taken great care to make sure the renovation of the 3,400-square-foot, three-story home is as green as possible.

“Just about the greenest thing you can do is renovate an old home,” Charles says.

The Zidars bought the home, which was built by the German owner of a men’s furnishing store, for $118,000. Charles says they’ve added about $50,000 in upgrades, but he believes when all the work is done, the home will be worth more than $300,000.

“Not bad for a foreclosure?” Charles says, as he ushers a guest inside the home’s foyer with deep wood trim and one of three of the home’s original fireplaces. “It’ll turn into a pretty good deal.”

A former tenant bred pitbulls in the home’s basement. Charles says he had to put Vicks VapoRub under his nose just to be able to tour the home.

A cleaning company estimated it would cost $10,000 to clean up the basement, which was filled with cages. Instead, Charles chose to head up the cleaning: He carried out 15 bags of dog feces. “It was disgusting,” he says.

The Zidars have kept much of the home’s décor neutral, as they have focused the look on many of the home’s German-inspired motifs and memorabilia from the couple’s travels to 40 countries (including a poison dart gun from Brazil).

Some of the highlights of the home’s renovation:

– They recycled the glass removed from broken windows, cardboard packing, scrap metal and carpeting.

– They bought fixtures from Habitat for Humanity’s Restore, which sells used home supplies.

– They installed a new driveway, which was made from recycled concrete.

– They bought Energy Star-rated hot water heater and appliances.

– They found enough bricks and stones from the property for their backyard patio and waterfall/pond feature.

– They refinished the wood floors with water-based, low-VOC polyurethane.

– They installed 90 compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Charles says they considered air and water quality, water and energy savings and sustainability during their renovation. They wish they could have done more – like installing recycled glass and paper countertops and geothermal heating and cooling – but the costs were too steep.

Even so, Charles says, renovators can make a low impact on the environment on almost any budget.

“Green renovation does not have to be expensive,” Charles says. “I am too thrifty for that. You just need to make smart decisions and go the extra mile to find the right sustainable products.”

Charles and Nikole Zidar

Ages • He’s 42; she’s 36

Occupations • Charles is manager for construction administration at the Missouri Botanical Garden; Nikole, a biologist, is an instructor at Vance-Granville Community College in North Carolina, Harris-Stowe State University and St. Louis Community College.

Home • Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis

Family • Son Alex, 4; Ceiba, a mixed-breed shelter dog; and two snakes.

Cops’ private patrols raise questions – City officers with Hi-Tech Security got involved in chase that cost firm’s owner his license as he faces new competition – 14 Jun 2009 P-D

ST. LOUIS – Red and blue lights flashing behind them, Thomas Dobrowski and his son took turns trying to explain their plight to a 911 dispatcher.

“We’ve got these rent-a-cops pulling guns on us,” Dobrowski, 49, yelled into his cell phone as his son drove east across the city after midnight on May 13, 2008.

The Chicagoans had gone sightseeing on Westmoreland Place, a private street in the Central West End. A uniformed guard from Hi-Tech Security had tried to detain them. They had resisted. The guard radioed that he had been punched.

Now three Hi-Tech cars were in pursuit. On Market Street, an unmarked BMW pulled even with their Hyundai.

Michael Dobrowski, 19, finally stopped at 15th and Walnut streets. A man in plain clothes got out of the BMW and approached, gun drawn.

“Pull ’em out!” a voice ordered, audible on the 911 tape. “Everyone in the Hi-Tech car is a cop! Hellooo! Your mistake!”

The Dobrowskis would tell investigators later that it was the voice of Adam Strauss, Hi-Tech’s owner.

He’s not a St. Louis police officer. But two of his employees in the chase are.

Strauss, 46, who works as a part-time officer in Pevely, has played a starring role in St. Louis policing for nearly two decades. He commands a large force of off-duty city police officers and non-police security guards.

Part of his business is mundane, such as protecting stores and offices. But Hi-Tech also has become a shadow police force. It collects hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to patrol neighborhoods that are willing to pay extra taxes or assessments for it – notably Soulard and the Central West End.

His cops wear their police uniforms, carry their guns and retain full investigatory and arrest powers. Strauss says he employs police commanders as supervisors for an operation that has its own dispatchers, squad cars and radios – and many times arrives first at crime scenes.

He is often at the table with city leaders and police officials to plan security for large events such as the Big Muddy Blues Festival. And he’s a frequent guest of neighborhood groups that want to boost their security.

City police officials have routinely praised his crime-fighting acumen.

But the department’s internal investigation concluded that Strauss engaged in an improper chase and used unnecessary force to arrest the Dobrowskis.

The two paid $100 fines for trespassing and then filed suit against Strauss and Hi-Tech, claiming mental anguish. The case is pending.

In April, the Board of Police Commissioners voted 5-0 to revoke Strauss’ security license.

He can still operate Hi-Tech. But he can’t work as a security officer anymore. That could damage his reputation at a time when competition for neighborhood security is heating up.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

The episode points to a unique system of policing that has sprouted in St. Louis while the Police Department has withered.

The department hit peak deployment in the 1970s, with 2,200 officers. A year ago, it sank to 1,340, roughly a low for the last century. The number was up to 1,393 this spring.

Some neighborhoods have compensated by digging deeper to buy back patrols.

Many neighborhood leaders praise Police Chief Dan Isom for assigning more officers to the street. But a growing sentiment is that the prototypical beat cop – keeping mayhem off quiet side streets – is a relic, now a premium service that costs extra.

For years, Strauss has filled the gap.

Hi-Tech employs nearly 90 city cops, according to police records; the company at times put it over 100.

Strauss’ attorney, Nels Moss, said he couldn’t understand why the board suddenly acted against his client after nearly a year.

Police Board President Todd H. Epsten said only that the board’s actions were appropriate and “speak for themselves.”

Moss wondered whether competition wasn’t a factor.

“I would be merely speculating,” Moss said. “His company is the premier private security agency in the city and is usually contacted by most neighborhoods and organizations first to provide security.

“It’s a business that other people would like to get into that are not getting into it because he’s pretty much got it sewn up.”

One that has gotten into it is called The City’s Finest, which features off-duty St. Louis police officers patrolling on mountain bikes. The company now works in the Central West End, in “the Grove” (Forest Park Southeast) and in the Locust Business District.

Charles R. Betts, a city police officer identified by some groups as their contact, told a reporter that his mother, Margaret

Luedde, was the owner. She did not return several phone messages.

Betts said he could not take questions about the company because it is against department rules for an officer to speak with reporters.

Central West End officials say they’re impressed with The City’s Finest.

Jim Dwyer, president of the Central West End North Special Business District, said, “Only recently has there been an opportunity to put (Hi-Tech’s performance) to the test, because a new competitor emerged last year who we are also engaging to provide services in this neighborhood.”

An unusual model

Nationally, it is common for urban neighborhoods to pay extra for private guards.

But several law enforcement experts interviewed by the Post-Dispatch said it was uncommon for areas already paying taxes for police protection to pay extra for a private company to provide more of the same department’s officers.

“I’ve never heard of police going off the job and then being hired to carry out their public function in a private setting,” said Charles P. Nemeth, director of graduate legal programs at California University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, and author of “Private Security and the Law.”

Floyd Wright, president of the Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association, said the model made sense. Residents of that area of south St. Louis appreciate the police but don’t expect to see them often on the quiet blocks.

“I will not live long enough to see the Police Department patrol the city this way,” he said.

With Hi-Tech, Wright said, a common crime such as car-bashing is now “incredibly rare.”

Some neighborhood leaders wish they could afford extra patrols.

Sue Raney, of the Shaw neighborhood, wanted them. “Some neighborhoods are willing to pay for it and others aren’t,” she said.

Hers wasn’t. A move this year failed to establish a taxing district that would have paid for two officers seven hours a day.

Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe, whose 1st Ward includes some of the city’s poorest and most crime-rattled blocks, called the concept illegal, and unfair to those who can’t afford it.

He thinks money from special tax districts should go to the Police Department for use citywide.

“It’s morally wrong to say this community is going to have adequate police protection and the other community perishes because it doesn’t,” he said.

Police spokeswoman Erica Van Ross said the department focused effort where it was needed without regard to where off-duty cops were working.

The 911 chase tape

Tom Dobrowski, a businessman from an upscale Chicago suburb, said it never occurred to him and his son, a St. Louis University student, that they were fleeing from the police while also seeking their protection.

The 911 tape shows that police were confused, too.

The dispatcher says, in part: “Hi-Tech Security is following them and apparently pulled a gun on them.”

Officer at Central Patrol Station: “Them are police officers, though.”

Dispatcher: “Well, some of them but not all of them.”

Officer: “The majority of them, though.”

Before his son stopped the car, Tom Dobrowski said, he saw Strauss and a woman passenger both pointing guns at him. The BMW had a light flashing on the dashboard, he said.

In the Police Department investigation, Strauss denied they pointed guns while driving, or having a flashing light. He said he did approach the Hyundai with a gun. He told investigators that he “can’t say for sure” the voice on the tape was his.

Strauss told them that “the only information he had at this point was that his employee had been assaulted after the suspect had been asked to leave the property” and that he was “concerned for the safety of his employee and the community his company was to protect.”

He did make one concession: He told the department he had since removed the red-and-blue lights from his cars and replaced them with white.

The internal-affairs report noted that the original police report – written by one of the officers working for Hi-Tech that night- made no mention of Strauss’ role.

The department found out about him while checking the Dobrowskis’ complaint. It did not discipline the three police officers involved.

“The complainant alleged that the officers appeared uninterested in listening to him and also alleged that one of the officers flourished a weapon,” said Van Ross. “There was not enough information to prove or disprove those allegations.”

The officers believed they were pursuing assault suspects, and did not speed or violate traffic signals, she said. “We believe the actions of the officers were reasonable.”

Van Ross said the department had the same expectations of its officers, on duty or off.

Outside law enforcement experts warn that conflicts of interest – and accountability problems – could result.

“There is so much intermingling between private and public here,” said Nemeth, the security expert. Officers can’t do the same job “and simply switch your hat and say there is no conflict.”

Sgt. Gary Wiegert, president of the city police officers association, shares that view.

“Do you really want the power of policing to go to a private company?” Wiegert asked. “I’m against people paying taxes for services that should be provided to them in the first place.”

One high-ranking police official said some department leaders were long unhappy with Strauss, his level of influence over their officers and complaints about Hi-Tech’s service that could reflect badly on the force.

CREATING THE MODEL

Adam Strauss’ father was the late Leon Strauss, the Central West End urban pioneer who rebuilt the Pershing-Waterman area into a thriving neighborhood and transformed gutted buildings and littered streets into DeBaliviere Place. He saved the Fox Theatre from demolition.

“I guess I’m kind of a chip off the old block,” Adam Strauss told a reporter in a 1993 interview. “My dad helped rebuild the Central West End. Now, I think my job is to protect it.”

Adam Strauss declined through his attorney to be interviewed for this story.

Hi-Tech started small in 1991, when panhandlers and stickups were upsetting life south of Lindell Boulevard.

Dennis Gorg, who owns Coffee Cartel on Maryland Plaza, the landmark Central West End cafe, said Strauss “introduced to a lot of people in the neighborhood that visible policing was important.”

Soon, other city neighborhoods copied the model. Some paid with special tax districts, others charged association fees.

Hi-Tech has contracts with four of the six special business districts in the Central West End – the city’s most populous neighborhood. Together with the Washington University Medical Center, they formed the Neighborhood Security Initiative in 2007.

Those districts have been paying Hi-Tech a total of about $500,000 per year, said James Partee, the committee’s security chief. He helps coordinate efforts with commanders of the 7th and 9th police districts.

Relationships between Hi-Tech and its Central West End customers have been tense at times.

Gorg, a former board member for the Cathedral Square Business District, said it once suspected Hi-Tech of “double-dipping” by having one officer cover two districts.

“In the early years, we actually formed a group of neighbors to audit that, and we discovered there were many occasions – more than 10 in a several week period – where we followed the officer and he went outside of our district in the Central West End,” he said.

Partee has started to weave in patrols from The City’s Finest because a mix of car and bike patrols is more effective, he said. They also are more expensive, with patrols by an off-duty city cop costing $50 per hour. Hi-Tech charges $34 per hour for officers, and about half that for security guards.

Dwyer, of the Central West End North district, lauded the early performance of The City’s Finest and said those who bought the service would gain from competition that would challenge Hi-Tech to “step up its performance.”

Meanwhile, Tom Dobrowski says he is done with sightseeing in St. Louis neighborhoods and is encouraging his son to transfer to the University of Michigan and away from a city he compares to “a communist state.”

He says he thinks it’s a “conflict of interest’ for police to work for private concerns.

“They’re supposed to be police officers,” he said. “They’re supposed to serve and protect.”

One expert says he has never heard of police doing

same duties for department and private firms

A sweet way to make a living – Five questions • Rejected writer and mother of three relishes success, freedom in opening a bakery in the Shaw neighborhood – 22 May 2009 P-D

The recipes for Reine Bayoc’s cakes and cookies can’t be found in a book, and neither can her ingredients for starting her own business in St. Louis. The concept for her SweetArt bakeshop was born from raw rejection and creative energy, all brought to life with family support and convenient timing.

Bayoc opened the shop in the Shaw neighborhood in December, specializing in cupcakes, cookies and other baked sweets. Since then, she has expanded the menu to include quiches, sandwiches and light lunch items – all vegetarian, all natural ingredients and all made fresh daily. Keeping things fresh has Bayoc putting in 70 hours in a five-day workweek, but she said she refuses to freeze her products overnight for future sale.

SweetArt was started with loans from family and not long after a successful art sale by her husband, Cbabi, a local artist who has gained some national attention during their 11 years of marriage. Bayoc’s creative interests were in writing, but after having three children, she found it difficult to get a job that allowed her to be a mother and a steady supplier of income for the family.

While searching for jobs and raising her children, Bayoc learned to bake and started selling her goods at local markets, even getting a cookie contract with Straub’s Markets for a time. Despite minor success, she longed for something steadier that also could be a home to her husband’s art.

When friends found a deal for cheap retail space, the Bayocs decided to take a risk, spent their last cent to open the shop the day after Christmas and prayed for rain. She now says with a nervous laugh that the family might have been homeless if the shop had failed.

But Bayoc said the business is on pace to turn a small profit in its first year – which, if that holds true, is a major accomplishment for most any small business during this recession.

When did you realize you would make the switch from writing to baking?

I go (into a local magazine) and I’m doing the interview and I’m thinking it’s going really well. … You know I have holes in my résumé where I’ve had babies, so somehow we got to talking about how I had three little kids. … We get up to leave and one editor says, “How many children do you have?” And before I could answer, another editor says, “Three!” And she gave this look like, “12! … This woman, we should not hire … She won’t be reliable.”

And when she made that face I said (to myself), “I am not going to get this job.” … And low and behold, I didn’t get the job. … I don’t know why they didn’t hire me. I can’t say it’s because I have a tribe of small children. I don’t know what it was about. But I remember seeing that woman make that face and I said to myself, “I’m running my own business. And I don’t know what it’s going to do, but it’s going to be something that I love, where I can be in charge, where my children can run around if they want and nobody can tell me they can’t be there, because I own it.”

How do you feel about being part of the trend of several cupcake shops opened locally in recent years?

Cupcakes aren’t a trend. They’re nostalgic. They’ve been around since … people had them at their birthday parties at schools forever. I’m almost 33, and I remember people bringing cupcakes.

I have really good cupcakes, but I’m not just cupcakes, and that’s purposeful. I think our cupcakes are fantastic. … But I also think our quiche is. I think our veggie burgers are. I think everything we have is incredible, and I like where we are focused. I like that we do cakes and cupcakes and cookies and a great vegetarian, vegan lunch.

I didn’t just open a cupcake place. There are other places that are just cupcakes, and I’m sure they’re doing great business, but I purposely didn’t want to do just cupcakes.

How does being a business owner affect your family life?

As a woman and a mother, we battle being a businessperson and mom. I have to be a businessperson so I can feed my children and provide for them. But I have to be a mom, too. And at first, which is more important? How do you do it when what you do is the livelihood for your children?

But I think I always work best and stay true to myself when I say my children and my family always come first. That’s why we’re not open on Sundays. Even though we’re right across the street from the church. Even though people come in and say, “You’d make so much money if you were open on Sundays.” And maybe I could, but I’m not ever, ever, ever going to find out. My children are out of school on Saturdays and Sundays. I’m here for a long time on Saturdays. There’s no way the only other day they’re free from school I’m going to be here. It’s not worth it.

Have you been able to find a way to balance the creative aspects of your personality with the need to make money?

Creatively, I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. We don’t do sheet cakes. Everybody and their momma wants a sheet cake. They don’t want a cut-around cake.

…Would it be a big deal if I went out and bought a sheet cake pan? No. It’s not difficult. But I like that aspect of old school round birthday cakes. … So I just make sure I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.

As soon as I veer from the things that I know in my heart I want to do, I won’t make money. I will make money by doing what I know I’m here to do, and that’s what I stick to. That way, I create that balance.

Describe the experience of owning your own business.

It’s even more work than I thought it would be. It’s not just baking.

It’s customer service. It’s managing your taxes, even though we have people who help with that. People see you in the shop and they want to talk to you. Even though you could be in a mad dash to finish something, you have to stop and say “Hello,” because I wouldn’t be here if the customers weren’t here.

…We opened the day after Christmas because we had no more money. We had to open so we could make some money. It was a really good day. You wouldn’t think it would be. We sold things. And the next day, we sold more things. And we were just like, “Thank God we’re making money.” We had spent every dime.

—

REINE BAYOC

Title • Owner

Company • SweetArt

Address • 2203 S. 39th Street, St. Louis

Age • 32

Education • St. Louis University, bachelor of arts in English and French, 1998

Family • Married, three children

Tax credits in the crosshairs – Effort to rein in development incentives prompts concern in St. Louis – 15 Mar 2009 P-D

JEFFERSON CITY – State Sen. Jeff Smith says he can’t walk down his street in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis without seeing the benefits of Missouri’s historic preservation tax credit.

Many of the century-old homes on Flora Place have been renovated with help from the program, which pays 25 percent of the construction cost. Smith said his block captain told him: “I wouldn’t have redone my house” without it.

Smith, D-St. Louis, has been busy defending the tax credit lately to Senate colleagues. Last week, several Republican senators proposed a bill that would make the program subject to annual appropriations and cap it at $50 million a year. That would be a 70 percent reduction from the $170 million authorized last year.

The proposal is sending tremors through the St. Louis offices of downtown boosters, the mayor, developers and banks. Scores of projects have relied on the credits to breathe life into areas such as the Washington Avenue loft district and landmarks such as the Old Post Office, Cupples Station and the Chase Hotel in the Central West End.

Mayor Francis Slay said Friday that the credit “might be the most important tool in the renaissance of the city of St. Louis.” He said it had spurred $1.8 billion worth of construction in the city, turning around deteriorating neighborhoods and business districts.

But although preservationists have prevailed in past legislative skirmishes, this year promises to be tougher. Republicans, who control the Senate, are holding up Gov. Jay Nixon’s jobs bill and say it won’t pass unless it includes caps on all tax credit programs.

“Nobody’s debating” the merits of rehabbing buildings, said Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah. “We’re saying we do not have unlimited resources in Missouri.”

SOaring Program cost

The state has dozens of tax credit programs subsidizing everything from high-tech businesses to farms. Combined, they cost the state more than $532 million last year.

When the state issues a tax credit, the treasury agrees to forego that amount of money. The recipient gets a voucher, which can be used to reduce income taxes or various business taxes. In most cases, the credits also can be sold to a bank or wealthy investor.

Historic preservation is drawing the most attention because it is one of the largest outlays and one of the few programs that has no cap. It exploded from $2.5 million in credits being redeemed in 1999 to $140 million claimed last year.

Over the program’s 10 years, historic credits have cost the state $646 million. As a result, Missouri leads the nation in fostering investment in historic buildings, ranking No. 1 in a 2007 study by the National Park Service.

More recently, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Taxation surveyed other states about their preservation efforts; 28 responded. None came close to the $140 million that Missouri spent. The two largest programs were in Virginia ($80 million) and Ohio ($60 million).

There’s no consensus on exactly how much the state benefits from its investment.

To its admirers, the credit generates jobs, increases tourism and boosts income, sales and property taxes paid into state and local coffers.

Sen. Smith told colleagues on the Senate floor last week that the state got back $1.78 for every $1 of tax credit.

But that figure came from a state study that was six years old. The updated calculation by the Missouri Department of Economic Development estimated that every dollar returns only 23 cents.

Jim Farrell, who lobbies for the Missouri Coalition of Preservation and Economic Development, said the 23-cent figure fails to take into account construction jobs, business for suppliers and spinoff benefits.

“Where there was a vacant or underutilized building for 40 to 50 years, now it’s turned into the Westin Hotel or lofts,” Farrell said. “It doesn’t account for that.”

Preservationists cite an analysis by Washington economist Donovan Rypkema, who concluded that the program had produced 40,000 jobs in a decade.

Then there are intangible benefits that flow from cleaning up contaminated or crime-ridden properties and rebuilding housing where people can walk to shops and schools.

Patty Maher, a general contractor, uses the tax credit to restore homes in south St. Louis neighborhoods such as Benton Park, Fox Park and Forest Park Southeast.

“Every area I’m in was once a really bad, boarded-up area, and they’ve all come around in the past 10 years,” Maher said. “Now, everybody wants to live there.”

work in progress

No matter how worthy the projects, Lager, chief sponsor of the Republican plan, said historic buildings should compete with other worthy programs for state money.

“Go out and tell some guy who lost his job that we’re giving 25 cents on every dollar to restore an old building when he can’t feed his family,” Lager said.

In addition to capping the program, the pending bill would set a $25,000 credit limit for homes, base overall allotments to urban areas on population and bar recipients from drawing benefits from multiple programs for the same project.

Preservation proponents say the bill would kill the program by creating uncertainty and drying up private financing.

“If they don’t know the credit’s going to be there, they’re just not going to be able to do the project,” said Debbie Sheals of the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation.

Countered Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Mehlville: “We have a pie that’s only so big.”

Senators invited critics to look over their bill and send in suggestions. But historic preservation coalition members balk at any talk of compromise.

“This is like asking which door you want to take to go to the slaughterhouse,” said St. Louis attorney Jerry Schlichter, who helped draft the law setting up the credit.

For his part, Smith said the $50 million cap was “irrational.” To kill it, he promised to invoke the Senate’s tradition of letting any senator talk endlessly.

Said Smith: “I’ll stand as long as I have to stand.”

(The jobs bills are SB45 and HB191.)

Largest recipients of historic preservation credits

Here are the five largest St. Louis-area recipients of historic preservation credits in fiscal year 2008, which ran from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.

Log Number Property Tax credit Project Name Property Address Zip Issue Date Rehab Costs Project Costs Tax Credits Jobs Housing City Recipient Units

45275-HTC St. Louis Orchard Dev. Group III LLC The Ely Walker Building 1520 Washington Avenue 63103 6/25/2008 $52,264,091.00 $61,074,873.00 $13,066,022.75 10 174

34608-HTC St. Louis TLG Marquette, LLC The Marquette Building 314 N. Broadway 63102 5/21/2008 $47,924,095.00 $57,692,050.00 $11,981,023.75 85 79

33748-HTC St. Louis University Village Apts., LP Stix, Baer, Fuller Relay Station, C.P. #1 3712-48 Laclede 63108 11/16/2007 $40,383,388.28 $54,120,375.51 $10,095,847.07 104 129 & 3717 Forest Park

36885-HTC St. Louis 1641 Washington, LLC The Ventana 1635-41 Washington Avenue 63103 5/30/2008 $20,838,826.00 $28,529,121.00 $5,209,706.50 10 91

35239-HTC St. Louis Loop Lofts, LP Loop Lofts 1019 N. Skinker Parkway 63133 9/17/2007 $19,014,967.00 $22,084,579.00 $4,753,741.75 5 104

Source: Mo. Dept of Economic Development

Defeat of Shaw Special Taxing District – 4 Mar 2009

Voters in parts of the Central West End extended two special taxing districts, but the Shaw neighborhood rejected the creation of a new one.

Shaw Special Taxing District editorial – 23 Feb 2009 P-D

On March 3, voters in St. Louis’ Shaw Neighborhood will decide a local tax initiative. Actually, “hyper local” better describes it.

The tax would apply in just 1/100th of the city, the 54 blocks that make up the neighborhood just to the east of the Missouri Botanical Garden (bounded by Grand Boulevard to the east and Interstate 44 and Tower Grove Park, to the north and south).

The funds would be used to pay for more police service and other security improvements in a neighborhood that, while thriving, is not immune to common urban problems.

Voters must decide whether to nick themselves an extra $100 to $200 a year per parcel of real estate in hopes of helping to keep the neighborhood’s more than 8,200 residents safer. The tax would raise about $250,000 a year. That’s enough to put one experienced cop on the street 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Could this be the start of a trend? There isn’t a municipality in the region whose police budget isn’t being pinched by recession. For years, some “gated” communities have supplemented police protection by hiring private security to patrol their streets.

But now comes Shaw, an economically diverse city neighborhood, trying to do the same thing.

The strategy involves funding a “special business district” to pay for security services. The process is available to other Missouri communities that want more security than their city halls currently provide.

Shaw is a neighborhood where people are so involved and passionate about community affairs that significant initiatives are scrutinized like a microbe under a microscope and argued almost endlessly. No aspect of the proposed public safety tax has been left unhashed.

More than a few people oppose the tax – in part because they believe they already are paying for police service. That, of course, is true; about a third of every city tax dollar goes to pay for police services. Others say they simply can’t afford the new tax, at least not without hardship.

Others in Shaw say the cost is relatively minor and that the initiative could have a significant effect on crimes like burglary, car thefts and muggings.

Still others are offended by the idea of “private” patrols. They see them as divisive, creating a two-tiered system of police protection. This works against a “community” ideal by bestowing a greater portion of what should be a common benefit on an elite few.

And others argue that regular police patrols inevitably would give less attention to Shaw, that the police may assume that the private patrols could handle things.

Proper planning could alleviate many of these concerns. A seven-member neighborhood commission would oversee the process. Its records and meetings would be open. Shaw is full of the kind of engaged citizens who might attend such meetings. And if people were unhappy with the results, voters could dump the entire enterprise in five years simply by not renewing it.

This page makes no recommendation on the issue, except to note that it’s an interesting concept that could build on other initiatives underway in other city neighborhoods and that might spawn similar efforts, outside the city, throughout the region. Long term, what happens on a hyper-local level could be a factor on municipal budgets and planning and, indeed, on the basic question of where people decide to live.

John Titzler obituary – 10 Feb 2009 P-D

Titzler, John W.age 80, life long resident of St. Louis, Shaw neighborhood. A graduate of Roosevelt High School and Washington University; he majored in History. He worked as a bookseller in the downtown area and was well known to loyal patrons of Miss Hulling’s Restaurant, music and used-book stores. His life-long love of Classical Music germinated in High School when he attended a concert for students by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. His favorite musical figure was Vladimir Golschmann; a long time Conductor of that orchestra. John acquired a complete collection of Golschmann’s commercial recordings, which are part of his extensive collection of 78 rpm, LP records and tapes. His book collection includes many biographies of composers, conductors, artists and authors, as well as public figures, stage and movie personalities. Associates were always impressed by his fantastic memory for things that he had read or experienced such as weather statistics, disasters, addresses, bus and streetcar route numbers as well as names of people from his childhood. He resided at 4118 De Tonty Street for sixty years before acquiring residency at the Council Tower Apartments and, later, at the Lutheran Convalescent Home. Services: Visitation Wed., Feb. 11th at 9am to 10:30am at Bopp Chapel, 10610 Manchester Rd., Kirkwood, MO with graveside to follow at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Freeburg, IL.

Ken Walter obituary – 4 Jan 2009 P-D

Dr. Kenneth “Ken” Eugene Walter, a retired cardiologist, died Wednesday (Dec. 31, 2008) at St. Anthony’s Medical Center after collapsing that morning of an apparent heart attack during breakfast at his home in Crestwood. He was 78.

Dr. Walter graduated in 1956 from St. Louis University School of Medicine and completed his residency training there, followed by a fellowship in cardiology. He remained a full-time faculty member until retiring in 1990 as professor emeritus.

For more than two decades, he also was chief of cardiology at John Cochran Veterans Affairs Hospital. He also maintained an active clinical practice and did research in the pharmacologic effects of cardiovascular medications.

After retiring, Dr. Walter worked with computers, a skill he mastered during his medical research. His interest led him to volunteer with BWorks, a nonprofit organization in the Shaw Neighborhood that helps youngsters with computer and bicycle skills.

Dr. Walter refurbished donated computers, taught courses and helped distribute computers. He became president of the board, helping the group secure financial support.

He grew up in Godfrey and helped his father build the house that his parents lived in for the next 45 years. At Our Lady of Providence Catholic parish he was a Eucharistic minister, president of the 50-plus group, Scoutmaster and a member of the parish school board.

Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Kutis Funeral Home, 10151 Gravois Avenue, Affton. A Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at Our Lady of Providence Church, 8866 Pardee Road, Crestwood.

Among the survivors are his wife of 50 years, Nathalie Walter of Crestwood; four daughters, Marty Walter of University City, Peggy Greenwood of Crestwood, Cheryl Stewart of Chicago and Susie Walter of New York City; three sons, Greg Walter of Shrewsbury, Mike Walter of Webster Groves and Matt Walter of Glendale; a sister, Judy Peipert of Godfrey; two brothers, Bill Walter of Alton and Dan Walter of Hamel; and 17 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to BWorks, 4100 Shenandoah Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 63110; or Our Lady of Providence Capital Campaign, 8866 Pardee Road, St. Louis, Mo. 63123.

Ray Miller obituary – 17 Dec 2008 P-D

Miller, Raymond D.64, Dec. 13, 2008. Husband of Patricia Taillon-Miller; father of Sara Miller; brother of Margaret Bath; uncle and friend of many. Ray grew up in Ely, Nevada. US Army 1966-1969. He graduated from University of Oregon and received a PhD in Genetics from the University of California, Davis. Ray had an inexaustible love of science and learning which he used daily. As a research scientist he has numerous scientifc publications in the fields of genetics and genomics. Ray recently retired from Washington University Medical School. He was a 26 year resident of the Shaw neighborhood where he was a familiar sight walking his dog. He was an active member of Christ Church Cathedral. He loved to travel and visited 48 states and five continents during his short life. He was well loved and will be greatly missed.Services: Visitation will be at Christ Church Cathedral Thursday, Dec. 18 1:30-2:00 p.m. with a Mass to follow at 2 p.m. Donations may be made in his name to Tower Grove Park Foundation or to the Christ Church Cathedral’s effort to provide education to the children of Darfur.

School is lesson in innovation – City Garden Montessori is the kind of homegrown school advocates say is needed in St. Louis – 3 Dec 2008 P-D

The city’s newest public school opens each morning beneath a south St. Louis church.

For years, City Garden Montessori was a private, tuition-charging preschool.

This fall, it started a free neighborhood charter school – one of the first specialized charters in St. Louis and the first to target students from specific neighborhoods.

And in a city where charter schools are generally large and managed by out-of-town companies, City Garden is the kind of homegrown school advocates say is needed in St. Louis.

Now, four instructors teach 53 elementary students in two of the church’s basement halls.

Classrooms are busy – almost chaotic – teeming with children working on their own. Kindergartners lie on the floor calculating subtraction and division with blocks and beads. Six- and 7-year-olds pour oil and molasses into science beakers. A teacher helps younger students sound out words.

“It is one of a kind,” said Marshall Cohen, director of the charter school Lift For Life Academy, who liked City Garden so much, he enrolled his daughter in preschool there. “That’s what the charter movement was about. A small school where you can change things on a dime if they’re not working.”

A decade ago, when lawmakers and activists proposed starting charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis, they said that such independent, tuition-free public schools would change the cities. They could experiment with teaching, find what works, and force low-performing city school districts to shape up.

Charter schools have grown, booming to 17 campuses here and more than 9,500 students, or roughly one-quarter of the city public school population.

But that burst generally hasn’t brought innovation with it. Instead, most of the charter schools here enroll hundreds of students from all over the city and aim not to innovate but to provide a conventional college-prep education.

“Most of them look like traditional public schools in St. Louis,” said Jocelyn Strand, the state’s director of charter schools.

Montessori schools subscribe to a different vision for education. Children are generally given short lessons focused on hands-on academic activities.

Then the students work on their own, experimenting with blocks, beads, maps and a variety of manipulatives that teach academic skills, under a teacher’s supervision.

Traditional education, said Trish Curtis, City Garden’s director, expects all students of a given age group to learn at roughly the same pace. “But kids don’t all have the same set of skills,” Curtis said one recent day at her school, beneath Tyler Place Presbyterian Church, at 2109 South Spring Avenue.

City Garden is not the first public school to use Montessori techniques. But it is the first St. Louis charter school to break from traditional grade-level classes and desk-based school work.

Curtis said she kept waiting to hear complaints from parents.

But they’re not coming, she said.

Brian Connor is thrilled. His daughter is practicing division in kindergarten. “She is learning 200 percent more than I thought she would,” he said.

Many parents agreed. They said they loved how their children were learning at their own pace. They said they loved the school’s racial and economic diversity. They are clearly enthused by their new school.

In St. Louis’s charter school movement, however, enthusiasm has not necessarily led to academic success: Many have boasted of waiting lists and strong parent participation, but just a few have outperformed the St. Louis Public Schools on state tests.

And although Curtis has run City Garden’s preschool for more than a decade, this is her first foray into publicly financed schools, a subject she acknowledges she doesn’t know well.

But the school’s sponsor, St. Louis University, is watching closely, said SLU Assistant Provost Steve Sanchez. The university even evaluated City Garden this summer, helping the school prepare for its opening. And Sanchez said SLU would continue to evaluate City Garden as the school grew.

Curtis said City Garden would add 25 students a year, growing to 175 in about five years.

Most will come from the homes near the Shaw neighborhood school – parents within the geographic area will get first priority during enrollment.

Children and families, Curtis said, should be able to walk to their school.

—

City Garden Montessori Charter School

What: A public, tuition-free, neighborhood school

Targeted attendance area: Kingshighway to Grand Boulevard; Magnolia Avenue to Highway 40

Grades: Kindergarten through third this year; with a grade added each year

Budget: $700,000 this year

“Just step one” – OUR VIEW | CAMPAIGN 2008 – 6 Nov 2008 P-D

To understand why Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States, it helps to visit the old Lester’s Music Store on the corner of 39th Street and Castleman Avenue and talk to Renée Racette.

Ms. Racette – and an army of others like her who worked in storefront field offices across the nation – helped mobilize the “ground game” that got out the vote for Mr. Obama. That Mr. Obama apparently failed to carry Missouri daunts her not at all. She thinks she’s onto something.

The election is “just step one,” she says. “It’s just the affirmation of all the work we’ve done so far, showing what is possible when volunteers come together and unite behind a cause.”

The old store in St. Louis’ Shaw neighborhood was the site of nearly constant activity from the moment it opened as the first Obama for President field office in Missouri. On Election Eve, Ms. Racette, 25, was at the office’s “command post,” fielding inquiries while making entries in her laptop databases.

She came to St. Louis from Wisconsin three years ago to join the Teach for America program as a chemistry teacher at the city’s Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. Ms. Racette was a polling place director for Barack Obama – a volunteer coordinating and supervising other volunteers at four local polling places.

On election day, she got to work at 4:45 a.m. to supervise her team. Despite long lines and heavy turnouts, by mid-afternoon Ms. Racette had only one incident to report on her beat: A Band-Aid had to be dispatched to a voter who cut his finger.

Education is the key issue that propelled her.”The achievement gap we see here in the city of St. Louis and in other urban areas across the country is not going to get solved by more testing,” Ms. Racette said. “It’s going to get solved by getting those kids proper nutrition in the pre-K years. . . stimulating their brains. . . getting them tested for lead, all those basic medical-physical needs, getting those addressed early.”

Ms. Racette was back at her teacher’s job on Wednesday, taking 20 girls on a field trip to Washington University, which was hosting a “women in science day.”

She said her students are “insanely happy” about the outcome of the election and that they “intuitively recognized” that it “could change the world in ways we can’t today anticipate.”

“I feel we’ve set up a good network, that now I know in my own neighborhood who’s willing to work for change and take steps forward as a team,” Ms. Racette said, adding that the shared experience can serve as “glue that brings together elements of social progress.”