respublica

Campaign buttons booming

Political Wire links a story from the Providence Journal which reports that political memorabilia is again becoming quite collectable and more specifically, any old button, pen, etc,  which harks back to baby boomer memory is even more popular.  With that in mind I went and dug through a drawer.  We've collected, or maybe kept, any number of campaign pins over the years, beginning with Ike.  Memory, you know.  Here's a few.

I like Ike.  Percy for Illinois governor, Barry Goldwater, Johnson Humphrey.  These were rescued from the bottom drawer of my parents desk a few years ago.

The 2000 election, buttons from each party, plus an old 60's/50's republican button.  My favorite is the Texas Ranger pin the Bush campaign gave/sold in 2000.  Big donors got a fancy one made out of a more valuable metal.  We picked up a number of these, gave some away and tucked away the rest.

Another 2000 set of buttons.

And of course, the 2000 election wouldn't be complete without something from the Florida recount.  We have a number of buttons and things from that.

Time to get all this stuff in one place.

Population gains in Metro East

The latest census figures show big gains in population for many metro east cities. It appears as though the newest influx is coming from Missouri. The biggest gains, ranging from percentages in the 40's to the teens, are in Maryville, Edwardsville-Glen Carbon, O'Fallon-Shiloh, Columbia-waterloo. Those cities losing population are East St. Louis, Granite City, and Alton. Belleville had a flat gain of .07 while Collinsville gained about 3.5 percent. Neither of these two kept pace with the others. Since interstate access is being pointed to as an explanation for the major growth, this does not explain why Collinsville, at the merging of I-55/70 and 255 would have increased so much less than the others. A major reason has to be Collinsville's landlocked status. The city has no where to expand except to the east and that option has been closed to them so far.

Local items of note

I had a couple of meetings today, one in Collinsville the other in Clayton and I picked up a couple of bits of information I had never heard before.

Did you know...

Illinois has a Monastery Museum?  It's located in Teutopolis, T-Town, which is in the Effingham area.

Did you know...

Effingham is booming?  After losing Fedders Air Conditioning manufacturing company to China and World Color Press shutting down in 2003, the city lost 1200 manufacturing jobs and it looked like Effingham may have been on its way down and out.  But, using an ambitious development plan the city has built six industrial and business parks. Among the tenants is the largest Krispy Kreme mixing plant in the country. About 40 factories and warehouses have been built or expanded over the past decade.

Did you know...

The City of St. Louis does not have a home recycling program?  Or any recycling program?  In this day and age?

Did you know...

Las Vegas has the most bio-fueled vehicles in their municipal fleet than any other city?

Did you know...

Anheuser-Busch has their own recycling subsidiary company?   Not only are they the world's largest recycler of aluminum beverage containers, but they make and provide recycling bins and containers for municipalities.  Clayton recently received a couple dozen 60 gallon recycling containers to use during their park events.

For coffee lovers only

The latest trend/fad/technique in coffee making is the cold brew.  There are coffee lovers who are taking to this in a big way because they find the coffee is not bitter, smooth...so smooth you need neither sugar or cream.

This is not iced coffee, which is what I thought it was, but coffee mixed with cold water and left to stand on the counter overnight or for 12 hours.  This forms a concentrate which is then added in a 1 to 1 ratio to form a perfect cup of Joe.

There is a product on the market to take the fuss out of making a cold brew-the Toddy maker cold brew.  However, after checking some major stores online, I only find it online.  So far it doesn't look like you can walk into Target or some such and get one.   According to a story in the New York Times, you can also make your own cold brew maker using a mason jar (a pretty big one) and a couple of coffee filters.  The amounts to use are 1 pound of ground coffee to 9 cups of water to make a concentrate.

Cold water, combined with filtering, extracts the coffee's true flavor without the bitter oils and fatty acids which are only found using hot water. 

The two shall not become one

The Clayton/Richmond Heights merger study committee will be recommending against a merger.  The committee, made up of residents/officials of both cities, have been studying the feasibility of combining into one municipality for about two years.  They will include their recommendation in the final report coming the end of July. 

It appears that although they will recommend against a merger, they will include recommendations to officials for the combining of some services.

The BND suggests

The Belleville News-Democrat weighed in on the discussion as to whether to change Main and Clay streets from one way to two way.

The editorial suggests the idea of two way streets has merit, citing a national study:

A study in 1999 of 22 cities around the country found bringing two-way traffic back to those cities' downtowns improved business activity, investment, traffic flow and the climate for pedestrians by slowing traffic. The cities also reported improvements in livability, quaintness and sense of community -- none had plans to go back to one-way traffic.

As one of the commenters on the paper's website mentioned, Belleville tried the one way streets back in the 70's and 80's and found it hurt downtown.  Belleville's downtown re-energized when two way streets were put back.

The editorial is on the right track when it asked that city leaders look at this objectively rather than reactively.  It could be that taking out the awkward kink at 159 and Main/Clay and getting rid of the one way 159 loop around the bank, may make having two way streets into downtown obvious and easy. 

Leftward Ho

A new study for the New York Times and CBS has found...Surprise!...that young people tend to lean politically left.

Sheesh, young people invent the left every generation.  This is news?

Watering the lawn

Being in a bit of a dry, warm patch around here has a lot of folks debating what to do about the lawn.  We've had a series of recent "spotty thundershowers" which haven't spotted most of us and the grassy areas are going from green to light green to yellow to brown.  So what to do?

One website begins:  "Purchase hose end sprinklers or invest in an underground sprinkler system".  No duh.  How else can you water a lawn without some sort of sprinkler?

Anyway, most experts believe the best time to water the lawn is in the morning.  Watering in the middle of the day causes too much evaporation and evening watering does not allow the moisture to dry out and causes disease problems.

Lawns should be watered regularly, they need about an inch and a half of water a week to sustain their roots and stay green.  This is best done at one time, not a quarter inch a day.  A little water every day or two hurts good strong root formation and you're probably just invigorating weeds whose roots are more on the surface. 

Some lawns go dormant to protect themselves from the dry and heat and then come back great in the wetter, cooler fall.  Unless you want to totally kill your lawn, however, you do need to water it fairly regularly if there is no rain.

If you can see your footprints on the lawn in dry weather, your grass needs watering.  Of course if you see footprints in nice green grass, your lawn needs cutting.

"She's a lucky lady..."

Reports over the weekend told of Lady Bird Johnson being hospitalized for a fever and remains in the hospital at this time.  This is terrible to admit, but I was shocked to learn she was still with us. 

Age specific driving requirements

Illinois, which has one of this country's strictest set of rules for senior drivers, has begun debating whether add to them in the wake of new research by Carnegie Mellon University and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety which found drivers age 75 to 84 had the same fatality rates as teens. Drivers at age 85 are four times as likely to die in crashes.  This study plus some very high profile fatal crashes involving senior drivers has Illinois officials talking.

There is a lot of politics involved here, seniors vote in greater numbers than most other age groups and AARP would certainly lobby against more senior driving restrictions.  But, this is something which must be dealt with sooner than later because more Americans are living and driving longer with a huge population of aging baby boomers on the horizon.

It is also easier for legislators to push back the age when young first time drivers can get their licenses than it is to take away a license someone has had for decades.