As years go, 2013 went.
Like any year, 2013 will linger as a mix of good memories and bad memories, both getting smaller in the rear-view mirror as time passes.
If you are looking for trouble, you can find it looking back at 2013. The year’s news had the usual doses of tragic crime, inegalitarian public schools, unfair unemployment, a widening income gap, and local governments strapped for cash resorting to legal, then maybe-not-so-legal, use of red light cameras.
Good news happened too, and it wasn’t limited to the Cardinals making it to the World Series. IKEA and Whole Foods made it official that they are coming to the city. Boeing added jobs. A new Mississippi River Bridge was built downtown and is opening next month. The Arch grounds are getting a makeover.
Sometimes a quote or two can sum up a situation. Consider these:
With the inter-district student transfer program, more than 2,000 students living in the Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts chose to take buses to accredited schools, enabled by two Missouri Supreme Court decisions upholding a statute allowing students living in unaccredited districts to attend schools in accredited districts in the same or adjacent county. Amy Stuart Wells, a St. Louis native and professor of education and sociology at Columbia University in New York City, summed up the underlying problem: “The single most problematic issue we face in public education is when a lot of poor students from poor families are concentrated in a single school or a single district. That repeatedly leads to school failure.”
St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Michael Cook Arrested
In Belleville, St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Michael Cook was arrested in May and charged with heroin possession. At the time of his arrest, Cook was wearing an indisputable T-shirt with “Bad Is My Middle Name” across the chest. Cook’s arrest followed the death of another St. Clair County judge, Joe Christ, who died of a cocaine overdose at Cook’s family cabin. Christ had bought the cocaine from a St. Clair County probation officer. When Cook was sentenced to 18 months in prison in November, he said, “I knowingly and unlawfully possessed heroin.” Your honor, indeed.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Returns to City Control
In September, control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department returned to City Hall for the first time in 152 years. Police chief Sam Dotson is under a direct chain of command headed by mayor Francis Slay. The theory is that this change will make improvements in police work easier to achieve. Dotson already plans to reorganize and reduce police districts. St. Louis Police Officer Association president David Bonenberger is not so sure. "They claim they have built in safeguards to protect officers from political influence," Bonenberger says. "Who are they kidding? The political officials will go to the upper ranks of the department, who will then force the lower ranks, under the guise of an order, to do what the city politicians want."
South County Connector Creates Controversy
The South County Connector controversy produced two cringe-inducing quotes, one from Garry Earls, chief operating officer for St. Louis County, who gave the worst possible response to KTVI’s Ellliott “You Paid for It” Davis. When Earls couldn’t give Davis solid numbers on how much congestion would be eased by the controversial road project, Earls told Davis, “Trust me.”
Later David Wrone, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic, told a KMOX reporter that his department supported the road project over the objections of some bicyclists reasoning that “We’re a highway department, not a bicycle department.”
Children in Foster Care Decreases
One bit of good news that surfaced in 2013 was that the number of children in foster care in the city continues to drop. In 2002, in the city 3,142 children were in the care of the state. This June, it was 618, an 83-percent decrease. Melanie Scheetz, executive director of the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition, credits the “Team Decision Making” method for the drop. Efforts will be made this year in the legislature to use this approach statewide. “It’s been proven to work in St. Louis. How much longer do kids in other parts of the state have to wait? Missouri is one of the few states in the country with a growing number of kids in care in foster care,” Scheetz says. “Team Decision Making is the single most important thing we can do to keep kids healthy and safe.”
Matt Hawkins Petitions to Dissolve City Limits
In East St. Louis, the poster city for urban pathology, reformer and resident Matt Hawkins has a petition to dissolve the city limits and have the county, state and federal governments take over. “Municipal dissolution is a dramatic way out,” says Hawkins. “But if that is what we have to do to establish freedom and democracy in East St. Louis, so be it.”
Professional Soccer Makes a Comeback
Professional, elite soccer made a comeback in St. Louis, with three matches, two at Busch Stadium and one at the Edward Jones Dome. The Bosnia Herzegovina – Argentina match in November brought Vedad Ibisevic back to St. Louis. Ibisevic, who had just scored the winning goal for Bosnia in the game that qualified that country for its first World Cup, is a graduate of Roosevelt High School. His return brought some long-awaited notice to the world-class player who some thought had been snubbed by the local media and soccer hierarchy because he wasn’t born here. “I don’t think it’s xenophobia; it’s more like anywhere-but-St.-Louis phobia. I don’t think it matters if it’s Bosnia or Texas,” the soccer insider said, preferring to remain anonymous so as not to annoy the locals.
KWMU and the St. Louis Beacon Merges
In local media, KWMU (90.7 FM) and the online St. Louis Beacon merged, though it’s far too early to judge what will be the net effect for news consumers. The Beacon’s website is virtually closed, and the St. Louis Public Radio on-air news slot hasn’t grown. The station’s website might eventually have more news content, yet even the consultant hired to look at the KWMU/Beacon endeavor said this about the two entities in their previous state: “Neither organization is consistently producing content that is explanatory or investigative in nature.”
750-Millileter Beer Bottles are Sold in the City and Beer Sales are Banned at CYC Sporting Events
On the beer front, in addition to Urban Chestnut announcing the opening of a brewery in the Grove neighborhood on Manchester, two notable events transpired. Despite an early ‘90s ban on chilled glass bottles of 32- to 40-ounce bottles of beer in the city, this year trendy 750 ml bottles of upscale beer went up for sale in city grocery and liquor stores. City excise commissioner Robert Kraiberg reasoned that litter was the main reason for the 40-ouncer ban, and that wouldn’t be a problem with higher-priced brews. Microbrew magnate Tom Schalfly described the 750 ml allowance this way: “If you’re going to chug something to get a buzz, this is not a cost-effective choice.”
On the Catholic Youth Council (CYC) front, an edict came down from Lindell that beer could no longer be sold at CYC sporting events that were centered on youth. More than a few people befuddled by the policy change cited the Biblical reference to Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. “I bet there were kids at that wedding,” one parent said. “I don’t get this.”
Missouri Takes Steps to Legalize Marijuana
As the states of Washington and Colorado have legalized marijuana, Missouri may not be that far behind. John Payne of Show-Me Cannabis says the last poll his group did on legalizing marijuana in Missouri hovered around 50-54 percent in favor, and that once that number reached 60 percent, his group would push for a vote either in 2014 or 2016. "As states within the U.S. start to reject the prohibition model for cannabis,” Payne says, “it makes the U.S. look like a hypocrite on the international stage—we’re one of the biggest consumers of illicit drugs in the world, but we tell the rest of the world you have to prohibit these things.”
