respublica

Sauce Reader's Choice awards for 2008

The July issue of St. Louis' Sauce Magazine has their annual insert section on this year's winners in the readers choice of favorite restaurants by category.  I put it down after reading it last night when it occurred to me something was obviously missing.

Only one Illinois eatery was listed in any category, the 17th Street Bar and Grill received an honorable mention for barbeque.  The 17th Street Bar and Grill is in Murphysboro!  That's it for the Illinois Metro East as far as favorite places to eat in the entire St. Louis area.  No doubt this place has outstanding ribs, it's nationally known, but how can this be?  You have to drive all the way to Murphysboro to find a favorite place in Illinois?

Do Metro East readers not bother filling out the Sauce entries?  Certainly Sauce has many readers on that side of the river and certainly there are good restaurants which have many fans.  I just don't get it. 

I can think of at least one place which should get either first, second, third or honorable mention in its category and that is Bobby's Frozen Custard.  It's a given that Ted Drewes will always take first, but Bobby's is as good as any, better than most others, and is always packed. 

There are good restaurants and bars and hamburgers and pizza and etc all over the Metro East.  This year's Sauce awards has a huge void and will lead many on the west side of the river to continue to believe the metro east has nothing worth the drive.

Home sales up in the Metro East

The St. Louis metro east has seen an upswing in home sales contrary to what is happening in other parts of the country.

The spring and early summer months are traditionally the time when people move, so the prevailing thought is to wait and see what happens from here on out before getting overly optimistic.

Cutting the state's grass

You'd think that if someone offered to  help take care of your grass, when you have so much grass you can't keep up with it, you'd be quick to say yes.  But that is not the case with the state of Illinois' grass cutting department. 

The Belleville News-Democrat editorializes today on just this situation.  Belleville hosts what many say is the number one art show in the country each May and this year city officials noticed that grass and high weeds growing along the major entrances to town were almost five feet high.  Since the art fair brings in many out of town people, Belleville wanted the grass cut so they could make a good impression.

Problem is most of the growth was on the state owned right of ways and the state of Illinois is very strict about not allowing anyone but their own IDOT workers to cut.  But, because of budget cuts in the 90's the state cut back on mowing workers and put in a policy that state right of ways would only be cut 3 times a year.  If a local city offered to do this more often in order to keep traffic sight lines clear and for aesthetics, there was hell to pay.

The BND does not blame IDOT, because it was state legislators and their budgets which forced this practice, however, they pointing the finger at the current state legislature and governor when this has been going on since the early to mid-nineties. 

This year has seen an over-abundance of rain and the resulting rapid growth of grass and weeds.  Maybe it's time that the state let local officials help with this job where state highways enter and run through cities.  Since they have strict rules on how many times they will cut, it certainly isn't going to be taking a job away from an IDOT worker.  There's plenty of work to go around. 

Problem is, of course, as usual money is a problem and personnel is a problem for the local folks too.

The editorial is not online, someone running the website put up a letter to the editor instead of today's editorial.

Picture this. Why aren't these people uneasy?

Most unsettling news item of the day out of Columbia, Illinois, a city in the south St. Louis Metro-East.

"A network of surveillance cameras watches residents and passersby in this small town, from high in the sky next to the water tower, in parks and schools, and even in some residential neighborhoods."

How easily we adapt to being watched 24/7.

Metro East blogging

Brian Bailey has begun putting together a site which will feature Metro East news and events as well as a consortium of other Metro East bloggers.  His site, Metro-East.com, is currently up and running with local Illinois news headlines and other items of interest.  I hope to join his site in the near future as a contributor and any other metro east bloggers may want to drop him an email if you'd like to join in.

Have a look and bookmark this site for Metro East news.

Pat Gauen, the name pops up

During a lunchtime conversation last week, local metro east/Collinsville/Highland Post Dispatch reporter, Pat Gauen's name came up.  His name reminded me that I hadn't noticed his byline in the paper for some time and wondered if he'd retired or taken a buy out or some such.  But as often happens in things like this, I stumbled on Gauen's byline in the P-D today as he gave answers to a quiz on past local events he must have published last week.  So he is still around.

A couple questions caught my eye.

Fairmount Park in Collinsville is the only horse racing track in the region.  Why did it close for a while in the mid-70's?  Answer:  The grandstand burned to the ground.   I didn't know that and have never heard any conversation about it.

A developer planning to build homes on a tract near Caseyville filed a federal lawsuit last year against the previous owner, alleging a failure to disclose the presence of 159,000 tons of what?  Answer:  Manure from Fairmount Park and some farms.  This strikes me funny, farmers have laid their livestock manure on their fields forever.  Why would it be a surprise?

What star of the silent screen was from East St. Louis?  Answer:  Lillian Gish.  Was she the "it girl"?  No, that was Clara Bow. 

A new Mississippi overlook on the Illinois side

What a great idea!  It's a wonder it took so long in coming.  Now being constructed just south of the Casino Queen, the 40 foot high overlook will allow views of downtown St. Louis as well as both banks of the river.

The overlook which is expected to open this summer will include a large observation platform and a vast lawn below, the perfect spot for watching future fireworks shows or picnicking on the river. 

This spot has always had the best view of downtown, especially at night, but except for the Queen, there was never a good place in which to loll around and enjoy it.  It will be a snap to get to, Metro Link has a sprawling stop there and it won't be surprising if this spot becomes a tourist destination point, bringing with it more places to enjoy the view, like restaurants and small shops.

Granite City the latest in the fight against Wal Mart

Unions in Granite City, a very strong demographic in that place, put together a campaign against a proposed expansion of an existing Wal Mart.  They dropped off 2500 letters at city hall all of which voiced opposition. 

The Unions even created a website just for this fight, a site which is actually better than most single issue websites.  Going to the site you'll find a list of reasons why putting in a super Wal Mart is bad for Granite City and with some of these points I have to take issue.  It's one thing to be opposed to a business because it is known as a non-union shop when you live in a town where over half the residents are members of a union, but some of these reasons are a stretch.

No health insurance. This is not as true as it used to be and it appears as though Wal Mart is making headway in providing better insurance for its full time employees and will be expanding its coverage to part time workers.

Bad for local business-Future Development Good Luck. "The expansion of Wal Mart to a Supercenter makes it less likely other chains and retail outlets will want to move here."  Talk to Collinsville about whether a Super Wal Mart kept other businesses away.  The Collinsville Crossing is doing well, adding more and more businesses and, it must be said, getting a lot of customers from Granite City.   

Tax Rate.  "They will not go down. Any new money generated by Wal-Mart will have to be immediately eaten up with the need for infrastructure improvements, and policing."  Tax rates are nebulous things, they may not go down but they probably won't go up and what is so bad about the money being used for infrastructure improvements?  The property around that area will improve considerably, better road surface, better lighting, maybe even green space.  And won't the new infrastructure work be done by union members?

Wal Mart remains controversial in a lot of places, but Granite City businesses have struggled as steel went overseas, it's a tough argument to make that Wal Mart is a sole contributer to a decline in downtown.  But if the unions succeed in keeping the expansion from happening, and this is doubtful since the company will not be asking the city for any help, the beneficiary will continue to be the Collinsville store.

Partisan Discourse in Madison County

Madison County Clerk, Mark Von Nida and Troy alderman, Allen Adomite, have joined forces and created a blog they named Partisan Discourse.  Von Nida is a democrat and Adomite is a republican.

Working together!  How cool is that?

According to the Collinsville Herald Journal, "their position on opposite ends of the liberal-conservative spectrum is serving as the jumping off point for a new online venture both hope will foster bipartisan spirit and spark discussions about policy and politics in the region. "We really want to take the politics out of policy," said Adomite, who with Von Nida earlier this month launched "Partisan Discourse," a blog the creators are optimistic will serve as a kind town square for observers and players of the Madison County political scene."

Taking politics out of policy in Madison County, long in coming, but very welcome and I anticipate looking in there everyday to see what these two have to say.

The "unthinking oaf approach to regionalism"

An editorial in the Belleville News-Democrat today takes issue with the way in which Missouri and St. Louis officials are dealing with China over possible air cargo and passenger air travel, correctly pointing out that all the nice talk about "regionalism" really leaves the Illinois side of the metro area out.

"It's the unthinking oaf approach we've seen so many times from Missouri's leaders. Regionalism is a great idea when Illinois is promoting businesses on the St. Louis side of the river. But Missouri helping attract commerce to Illinois? Forget about it."

Unfortunately, it is all too true.