respublica

Glitterati and Luminaries

The current St. Louis Magazine (December) includes two women of local interest. 

Janice Mudd, artist and wife of Concordia Seminary's facilities director, is featured in the magazine's Glitterati section.  She attended the St. Luke's Hosptital Spirit Girls Night Out and is seen painting in her photo.

Clayton Mayor, Linda Goldstein is highlighted as one of St. Louis' Luminaries, "people whose ideas glow so brightly, they illuminate a path for the rest of us."  Her efforts in sustainable environmental work in Clayton has made Clayton the area leader in this area.  She is also one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

The Luminary story is not yet linked on the website. 

Somewhere in Clayton part 4

Now if it would only stop raining.

Ugh.  It just does not stop, rain almost every day this month except for two Saturdays.

Somewhere in Clayton part 3

Every now and then there are signs posted in neighborhoods. 

Uh oh.  I have an animal with me.

A couple of signs inform the passing public about small neighborhood parks.

Very polite and cordial.  I photoshopped out the park's name

Click to enlarge to read this sign.  When I walk Ferdie past this area I am intimidated enough that I keep myself from even looking in there.  

Everyone is different, every neighborhood is unique.

Somewhere in Clayton part 2

Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus-Concordia Seminary

Touch football on the old CBC, now Wash U, soccer field.

The Woods at Concordia Seminary, a spot of red

My front yard

Red with a spot of Gold

Red, green and yellow at CBC (Wash U)

Married student apartments, Concordia Seminary

With more rain expected, the leaves will be falling fast and losing their color

Good-Bye big, beautiful elephant ear Hostas.  We'll meet again in the spring

Somewhere in Clayton

Fall.  Stunning colors, no sun.

The right to bear chickens

What are some of the more agonizing issues local city officials have to vote on?  Budget?  TIF's?  Zoning?

These can be tough, but more often than not the things that keep aldermen and council people up at night are the seemingly small things.  These tough issues are the ones which affect residents personally.

So it is with Clayton.  The board of aldermen is facing one of their toughest voting challenges-to allow or prohibit the raising of backyard chickens.

"Up until recently, it hasn't been an issue, but we have seen a greater number of chickens coming into Clayton," Catherine Powers, city planning director, said last week at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen.

She said chickens are being raised in all of the city's three wards but didn't have an estimate of either the number of homes with chickens, or an overall number of fowl."

Mayor Linda Goldstein said that no action on chickens would be taken without public hearings.

It's an emotional issue.  People who love their chickens, see them as producers of great eggs versus neighbors who find the incessant squawking annoying.

"You can't talk over the squawking, and there are flies all over the place."   "I didn't move to Clayton for this".

Residents supporting keeping the pro-chicken ordinance see it as just one more reason to be proud of Clayton:

"Our existing chicken ordinance is in line with our environmental leadership, and reversing it would be an embarrassing step backwards for Clayton".

The aldermen are working hard to see both sides.

It's going to be a tough one.  But, there will be a public hearing on city chickens. 

Ladybugs

This area is in the midst of Ladybug season.  All the pretty Ladybugs appear on doors and windows in huge numbers on late fall days when the sun comes out and the temperature warms.  They're trying to find a warm place to stay during the cold months.

Our glass front door was covered with them yesterday.  They're cute and harmless, but we don't want them all over the inside of the house.

The other day I got in the car to drive to St. Louis from Collinsville and saw a Ladybug on the middle of the windshield.  I gave the wipers one swipe but only moved the Ladybug to one side.  She scooted back to the middle at a stoplight.  That little stinker made it the whole way to Clayton, somehow managing to keep her grip on the window while on the interstate and the surface streets. 

I wish her well, what a trooper.

Clayton's Rolling Stock

At a Clayton committee meeting last night I learned a new term-Rolling Stock.

Tuesday night the Clayton Board of Aldermen approved the new fiscal year's budget and the director of public works, Mike Pratt presented the board with a couple of slides showing how the city's rolling stock was being transformed into energy savings.

Rolling stock is anything that moves on wheels-trucks, cars, golf carts etc.

In the post below I mentioned how the city of Clayton emphasizes being green and saving energy and waste.  The public works department is a leader in this area.

In 2009 the city operates 123 items of rolling stock

9-Hybrids
1-electric golf cart
83-vehicles using bio-diesel fuel

In 2010

17 new vehicles of rolling stock will be purchased

8-non-hybrid vehicles will be replaced with hybrids
5-leased Toyota Prius hybrids will be continued

By the end of 2010, 101 of the 123 vehicles will be using alternative fuels-82%

Further-2010 budget "Green" initiatives will be added

19 rain gardens in the Clayton Business District

Mandatory recycling of any concrete rubble from city projects

All paper used by the city and cleaning products will be 100% "Green" meaning the paper will be made of recycled paper and all cleaning items will be free of harmful chemicals.

100% of all leaves and wood chips picked up or turned into the city will be recyled and turned into compost for use by city residents.

Crack seal material will consist of at least 15% Crumb (recycled) rubber.

Festival recycling

Recently many people who attend or work at local city festivals have lamented the lack of a way to recycle all the plastic cups, cardboard boxes and bottles.  Too often there is no provision made for this sort of thing and everything ends up in the normal trash dumpster heading for the landfill.

But Clayton is different.  Recycling bins are ever present at all Clayton festivals from the April Earth Day event to the Taste of Clayton to the Art Fair to the Big Read.  All recycling then ends up in a recycling dumpster and is taken away by Allied Waste to the separation plant.

Why can't other cities offer the same during their large events? 

Probably because being environmentally proactive is not a priority for most local city governments and this is where it has to start.  Clayton's Board of Aldermen have emphasized energy savings, recycling, safe cleaning products and the like for some years.  Their point of view and ordinances result in a green way of working and purchasing in all departments and carries over into the city's festivals and fairs.  It's become a way of life not an afterthought.  But it would not be possible without the all out desire of the city council to reuse, recycle, save energy, keep harsh chemicals out.

The reason Clayton can have such a visible and successful recycling effort during their festivals is that the Board of Aldermen have made having the dumpsters part of their trash hauling contract, right in there with the residential pick-up.  Allied Waste contracts with the city to pick up home trash and to provide the recycling dumpsters for festivals.

How easy is that?  Something other cities might want to look into.  Volunteers who run the local fairs normally do not have the time or knowledge or money to provide this opportunity, but doing it like Clayton does would solve the problem. 

No one should underestimate the real desire on the part of many fair goers to have their cups and bottles and boxes recycled rather than tossed away.

25 rats?

While in the car this morning I was listening to Charlie Brennan on KMOX.  He was leading into a commercial for pest control and mentioned that his neighbor told him yesterday that she saw 25 rats Sunday.

25 rats!?  In one day in one neighborhood?  Here's what worries me about this.  Charlie lives in our neighborhood too, one block away. 

I got to wondering where this woman saw the rats.  Were they in her yard or on the streets while she took a walk or in her basement or floating in her toilets, under the stove, in the garage? 

A large portion of Clayton has combined sewers and storm drains, a perfect environment for rats and other unappealing creatures.  Charlie Brennan thought the upsurge in rats in this area has something to do with the nearby Highway 40 construction as workers demolish drains and excavate large areas.  The rats leave and head for someplace else.

Ugh.  I will say, though, that Concordia Seminary tries to be proactive about such things and has long contracted with a pest control company to come out every Thursday.  What makes this even better is that it is the same man who comes which means he has a good feel for problem areas, future problem areas and the pesty history. 

Even so, this was an unsettling story to hear.