That's my take of the headline from the newspaper. It comes from an article by Jane M. Von Bergen, copyrighted by The Philadelphia Inquirer, and found in the Friday, 26 December 2008 edition of the Post-Dispatch Business section. The title at the upper right column read "Unemployment insurance isn't all it's said to be" --- which is why I posted my retitle "Many Jobless Cannot Receive Pay". You see, like many Americans, I have fallen in the 63 percent who cannot get paid unemployment insurance benefits. I never seem to qualify for those benefits, no matter how much I apply or how much time has passed, and it seems like there is no regard to why I lost my job, either.
LET ME QUALIFY --- I am currently UNDERemployed and NOT unemployed. But each time I have fallen into the unemployed category, I have been denied. Anyway...
The article states clearly that the reasons for not receiving the beneficial (arguing that it is beneficial --- okay, that's a different debate altogether) insurance include that - due to work history - some who apply have not qualified because they did not EARN ENOUGH MONEY.
So for argument's sake --- how in the world does someone know IF they earn enough money?
I'm not an insurance professional, nor am I a statistician with the Labor Department, so I cannot answer this question properly. But comment...you probably stopped to read a commentary, right? Okay, then. It seems that perhaps the bill mentioned in the article, the UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE MODERNIZATION ACT - passed in the House by not in the U.S. Senate - may have helped out some who feel the states should be getting more federal money...I guess that is IF the states in which residents went to the STATE-RUN unemployment insurance agencies actually qualified to become recipients.
Ahhh --- now then, that could be the catch in your state - but it may be the same as even the next state over, and therefore you'd still not receive the benefits because of not making...ENOUGH MONEY!!!
Again, you didn't pay enough money into the system. Why is it that so many of us don't make enough money to qualify for having "paid into the system" --- no matter which state in the union we may reside --- yet we may qualify for paying into the system in the first place? That seems rather unfair. Someone who made, say, $214,000 is able to qualify for a stipend if they lose their jobs as the result of a company-wide layoff of several hundred, but those who made, say $24,700 lost their jobs as a result of mismanagement by their superiors and cannot qualify? It sure would sound like the superior mismanagers would qualify because "they paid enough" into the system, and yet those who worked daily and did the work which allowed managers to make larger salaries were denied by the state. Is this the case or am I nitpicky?
The crux of the position (if there is one in the Philadelphia Inquirer article) seems to be this: only 37 percent of unemployed Americans qualify for receiving unemployment insurance. That leads to questions aplenty...especially difficult questions for those of us who are not part of a government bureaucracy. Example of one of these questions: Would not 100 percent of employed Americans qualify for putting money into that funding source? If NOT 100 percent qualify to pay into the system --- WHY NOT? Because, see, even those who make minimum wage would surely be OUT OF A JOB at least a few times in their lives as the result of an untold number of situations. Therefore, should we not all be paying into the pool AND eligible for receiving the benefits of unemployment insurance - should the need arise?
I see no reason to sidestep the questions here. We have a new president-elect who has made motions in regard to situations such as this. In fact, a sponsor of the U.S. Senate bill was BARACK OBAMA, the now-president-elect, who was a U.S. Senator from Illinois at the time of its passage in the U.S. House of Representatives. One would think that since he sponsored the bill which did not pass, he'd try to push such a bill through the Congress once he has been sworn-in as President of the United States of America. So, with that in mind, I suppose that the states will end up with more of our U.S. tax dollars to go toward the state-run programs.
But thinking ahead: Unless we speak up to our own governments (state and local), we'll be looking at similar statistics at the outset of 2010 and perhaps 2011. I, for one, think that in Missouri we stand a better chance with Governor-elect Jay Nixon at the helm, than the lame-duck Gov. Matt Blunt. Perhaps we should be calling his father, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, and telling his office (like he'd actually answer a phone call from a constituent without being told that it was necessary by a staff member) staffer that you support a change in the way unemployment insurance is doled out to states and individuals, and would he please (be polite, y'all) support any measures which would help our state's unemployed weather the economic crisis, including any bills similar to the aforementioned legislation.
Frankly, I believe it would be worthwhile to call the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (http://dolir.mo.gov) and tell them how you feel that it is unfair that so many cannot receive the unemployment insurance when it is so vital in keeping enough Missouri residents solvent through this crisis --- the DEPRESSION of 2009 ( you know that they'll not make it "official" until we're almost at the end of February...the incoming Federal officials will want to keep it quiet for the first 2 weeks of the Obama administration...and wouldn't YOU do the same, since you could qualify the DEPRESSION as having begun in the G.W. Bush administration?) is upon us, and in full force. We've all been feeling the pressure to outperform within our own offices or industry so that we don't end up jobless or without a company to pay us due to its bankruptcy!
I was thinking about going for a profound ending to this blog, but all of a sudden thought better of that, instead favoring leaving it with an open-ended question such as this:
have you felt the impact both of job loss and not being allowed to receive the supplemental income of unemployment insurance?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Metro St. Louis = SECOND-TIER CLASS
"And now...the time is near...and so we face...the final curtain..."
--- Paul Anka's "My Way" (he wrote this - Frank and Elvis made it huge)
With a fateful, fate-filled announcement by the board of directors and upper management of the St. Louis transportation system leader "Metro", formerly Bi-State Development Agency, that come March 2009 there will be a system-wide purge of "excess" routes, employees, and other perceived wasteful expenditures such as expansion of the system to outlying areas, St. Louis becomes a true SECOND-TIER REGION. (You may already think of the city as second-tier if you live in the county, right?)
Has everyone in St. Louis County figured out where in St. Louis City they will be moving in order to become closer to their workplace? Of course, that is assuming that those who live in St. Louis County will want to continue to work in the city, after the recent (12/18 - 12/19/2008) announcements of the DEVASTATING cuts to METRO bus and train service.
I hear those who live in St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County, maybe even Franklin County saying "Wait a second. What's devastating about cutting a bus and train service that I have NEVER used!??!"
Answering that question: You now live in a SECOND-TIER REGION because you never considered the ease with which you could have found a reason to use the former Bi-State now Metro system. And now, your failure to commit to that system is helping to kill a once-thriving metropolitan area which has something only a few others has going for it --- it is in the CENTER of the U.S. of A.
Yes, those who failed to vote in favor of a tax increase to fund Metro have DOOMED the St. Louis area to becoming a second-tier region (so much for the RCGA being helpful). Not one ounce of Federal funding will help erase the complete idiocy so many "NO" voters have shown, and in FACT there is a possible reduction of Federal funding as a result of the newly aligned system. The new phrase will be heard region-wide: "St. Louis, there is a problem." Forget Houston's problems. They may get the occasional hurricane, but Houston has left St. Louis in its dust. Corporate giants have moved to Houston and so have upwardly mobile people into the urban core of that Texas gulf coast town. Meanwhile, in St. Louis there is much that could have been great instead of grating on our nerves. There are the modes of transportation which have been allowed to fall well below the expected well-above-averageness that we took for granted 50 years past. RAIL: St. Louis and East St. Louis used to house more miles of tracks than almost any metropolitan area in the country, didn't it? HIGHWAYS: Being located at the crossroads of Interstate highways 55, 44, 70, and I-64, as well as U.S. Highways 40, 50, 61, 67 (Route 66 anyone?) means almost nothing now. We can't even get a decent bridge built because of bickering government officials. Instead of a consensus (hey Governors Blunt and Blagojevich the two jokers who have been more like Kings than actual servants of the people for the past four years) we get a SECOND-TIER bridge in...well, we really won't see it built until many reading this are retired or under the sod/cremated. And when will this truly come to fruition? The guesswork is that 2010 is the earliest that construction begins on a new bridge over the Mississippi River at downtown St. Louis. Oh yeah. RIVERS: St. Louis sits at the crossroads of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, just below the Illinois River, only a few hundred miles north of the Ohio River. But, with the problems of water flow on the Missouri River, flooding upon each river, and sediment blocking channels on a routine basis as the flow wanes and causes shipping delays, even the river system is lacking more so now than 50 years past. In the case of the rivers, the blame is MUCH LESS on those who care for it like the Army Corps of Engineers than of mother nature --- there's no way to halt what naturally occurs. There's the availability of oil due to pipelines which come close or through the metropolitan St. Louis area. But OIL: Refineries are rarely talked about in the region, but we once had a thriving industry in Madison County, Illinois, around Wood River, Hartford, Roxana, South Roxana --- and in case none of you have gone through there since 1980, those production facilities are probably putting out millions of barrels fewer per year than just 30 years ago when there was a so-called "oil crisis" and we sat in lines awaiting the purchase of gas for $0.58-9/10 --- I'd take the $0.77 cents it zoomed to during that time period ANY day of the week now. The point being that we no longer have as much available because the oil industry cut back long ago. And you get more curious about the price of gasoline and its fluctuations, but it could be worse and it could be better in the metropolitan St. Louis region.
Okay - these things be so minor in nature compared to that with which we deal upon our own in the financial sense, right? Not so fast. The cost of living in St. Louis has been generally among the best in the entire nation --- it was usually compared with San Francisco or Houston or even Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater because of population size and cost of living. Okay, that's been the past - and in comparison to the future of St. Louis as it is going, those other metropolitan areas will look like a great place to be when we lose more people, industries, and overall status. Houston's Harris County has a population of more than 1.7-million, which does not include other peripheral counties in the Houston metropolitan area. But it makes St. Louis look very weak against the 901-thousand who live in the combined "big 4 Missouri counties" of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County. Grant that I did not take into the fold any metro east counties (Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Bond, Clinton, Jersey, Calhoun, etc.) or any other counties in the Houston region. It shows that St. Louis is hard pressed in the population categories. So, suffice it to say that we're down the line in other population-based statistics there. But, we also lag on other accessible industries due in part to Houston's proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. We can't change that, nor can we change where the hurricanes hit our country.
Speaking of which Houston, you - seemingly - only have a serious problem when the hurricanes hit...and even then you compare favorably to the MO/IL area. Face it: St. Louis was hit with Hurricane-turned-Tropical Depression Ike in 2008 - and there were two Ike-related deaths in University City MISSOURI!!! Hmmmn. Maybe that's where the tide REALLY turns in favor of Houston. Houston had an evacuation plan which included their mass transit systems and other transportation-related services working in tandem with their Departments of Transportation and Emergency Management Agencies. St. Louis: (without a mass transportation evacuation plan for hurricane/tropical storm-depression-caused flooding) had to re-route bus service in September when a few major roads flash-flooded, and I'll bet only those few areas in Brentwood and University City were evacuated --- and perhaps one or two other areas that I have forgotten about but did not mean to slight. Houston figured on the need for a plan. St. Louis still has no plan for another tropical depression...and when that 7.4 Richter Scale earthquake ruins the region, the STL will still not have anything of an operational evacuation plan in place --- will it? Emergency Managers in the St. Louis region routinely warn us about the need for such plans --- and they produce them. When they do so, those men and women hope the public reads them and attempts to get the media to give such papers ANY publicity. On rare occasions, like when the late Iben Browning makes a stupid prediction, do citizens sincerely discuss the problems of "what happens WHEN the big earthquake hits here?"!!!!! Grant that the full-force of a hurricane will NEVER be felt in St. Louis, nor is there a likely need for a massive flood-related evacuation in the STL region. That's just a bit of dramatic and, perhaps, creative writing on my part to help illustrate my possibly-lacking-depth blog.
Okay --- enough of the rant for a moment to get back to square one. I'm discussing the St. Louis region's transportation woes and the lack of a good system of mass transit which will cause a due "downward progressive spiral".
It comes after the NO VOTE in November, on the heels of all those Tom Sullivans who feel the world will not come apart when they cry "you're raiding my money and not serving me with anything that is needed". What do you make of this, Tom Sullivan --- that you were the only one who thinks that the former board of Metro was not doing our region a justified service? Do you not think the current board is trying to correct those gaffes which resulted in millions of dollars in cost overruns for a service (the Shrewsbury MetroLink) which could benefit YOU PERSONALLY because it runs near your home in University City? Tom, you're not to blame all by yourself --- but, yes, you should SHOULDER some of the blame because you were crying "wolf" well after the rescue crews arrived on the scene, assessed the situation, and sorted out the ways to stop the bleeding from the wolf bites which had already ceased because the wolves (those contractors who should GIVE METRO ITS MONEY BACK despite that ridiculous ruling by the courts) ran away with the money they sought. (Tom --- how many times I have completely AGREED with your assessments of MSD mismanagement? I lost count. On this, you're well past overboard with the attacks upon Metro transit. We're all awaiting your "mea culpa" come the summer of 2010...you'll feel it necessary to backpeddle by then.)
The actual story came out on 19 December 2008: it's a picture of fiscal responsibility by the Metro board of commissioners. They are implementing a plan to balance the Metro Transit budget. It'll hurt St. Louis County and the region much more than that miniscule sales tax would have hurt.
Metro is cutting more than 600 employees, around 30 routes will be eliminated or severely restricted, Express Routes will be virtually extinct as will most service outside the I-270 loop in Missouri --- which says NOTHING about the Metro Call-A-Ride services which will be cut by a probable 15 percent or more as part of the gutting of the overall system due to a monetary deficit. Illinois commuters, whereas they are going to suffer from the cuts to MetroLink service and the additional rides that they once took in Missouri, will see fewer problems unless they can no longer make connections to the Metro bus system in a timely manner. But, yes, it will be a great inconvenience to Illinois riders and drivers, too. May I inquire how many more people will be forced to drive on the Illinois highway system because they regularly ride the trains and buses to and from work?
Why do I write about this --- prattling on and on? Frankly, I am a habitual rider of both the bus system and the MetroLink system. My family lives sprawled across the bi-state region. I will be inconvenienced by the Metro system purge as a result of the idiots who voted "no" on the tax increase at the November election and so will my sister who currently lives in Alton and rides the buses into St. Louis. And there are friends in Belleville, where I worked for a portion of 2008, who will be less likely to see some of us in Missouri with the cuts to the light-rail MetroLink service. What of those who STILL have jobs in Fenton? I can foresee the pulling of that 30X route to the Gravois Bluffs...to the commuter lots near the HQ of UNIGROUP and the other businesses in the nearby industrial areas from the system...thus cutting the number of employees available to work and the number of consumers who wanted to go to Ultimate Electronics at "the Bluffs" and buy their new HDTV's and bring them back to the Delmar Loop (What do you mean that you don't see these people? Oh, yeah...you - generically - don't ride the train unless you are going to a Cardinals or Rams game...heeheeheeheeheeheehee...HA! You won't be riding those trains any more, either, you "no" voting morons!).
Indeed --- St. Louis County residents will find out in March 2009 and again in 2010 how much they are inconvenienced by the cuts in Metro bus and MetroLink service when the traffic patterns shift dramatically along what there is of I-64/Highway 40, Manchester (especially Manchester) and the other interstates and heavily-traveled road routes. I will be looking on those whose drive time increases by 20 to 40 percent (some will see a 200 percent increase in travel time) with a thought of "Ha! The cost of gasoline purchases alone will have been enough to those drivers who didn't vote for the tax increase." I did say an increase of 20 to 40 percent drive time. Why? The DRAMATIC INCREASE IN DRIVING TIME DURING COMMUTES IS GOING TO HAPPEN for a great number of people in the spring and summer and fall of 2009 and again in the summer of 2010 because these cuts will have an impact upon who goes where and when they both leave and arrive.
That's right --- prediction of all predictions: St. Louis County "no" voters will pay out the nose for not having paid on the tax increase. "NO" voters - and almost everyone else who traverses St. Louis County on a highway - will pay at the pump and on the commute EVERY DAY.
Serves y'all right.
You may as well read this entire blog as: Welcome to the SECOND-TIER COUNTY of St. Louis.
The other prediction comes slowly as a result of this vote: Here comes the resurgence of the City of St. Louis.
--- Paul Anka's "My Way" (he wrote this - Frank and Elvis made it huge)
With a fateful, fate-filled announcement by the board of directors and upper management of the St. Louis transportation system leader "Metro", formerly Bi-State Development Agency, that come March 2009 there will be a system-wide purge of "excess" routes, employees, and other perceived wasteful expenditures such as expansion of the system to outlying areas, St. Louis becomes a true SECOND-TIER REGION. (You may already think of the city as second-tier if you live in the county, right?)
Has everyone in St. Louis County figured out where in St. Louis City they will be moving in order to become closer to their workplace? Of course, that is assuming that those who live in St. Louis County will want to continue to work in the city, after the recent (12/18 - 12/19/2008) announcements of the DEVASTATING cuts to METRO bus and train service.
I hear those who live in St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County, maybe even Franklin County saying "Wait a second. What's devastating about cutting a bus and train service that I have NEVER used!??!"
Answering that question: You now live in a SECOND-TIER REGION because you never considered the ease with which you could have found a reason to use the former Bi-State now Metro system. And now, your failure to commit to that system is helping to kill a once-thriving metropolitan area which has something only a few others has going for it --- it is in the CENTER of the U.S. of A.
Yes, those who failed to vote in favor of a tax increase to fund Metro have DOOMED the St. Louis area to becoming a second-tier region (so much for the RCGA being helpful). Not one ounce of Federal funding will help erase the complete idiocy so many "NO" voters have shown, and in FACT there is a possible reduction of Federal funding as a result of the newly aligned system. The new phrase will be heard region-wide: "St. Louis, there is a problem." Forget Houston's problems. They may get the occasional hurricane, but Houston has left St. Louis in its dust. Corporate giants have moved to Houston and so have upwardly mobile people into the urban core of that Texas gulf coast town. Meanwhile, in St. Louis there is much that could have been great instead of grating on our nerves. There are the modes of transportation which have been allowed to fall well below the expected well-above-averageness that we took for granted 50 years past. RAIL: St. Louis and East St. Louis used to house more miles of tracks than almost any metropolitan area in the country, didn't it? HIGHWAYS: Being located at the crossroads of Interstate highways 55, 44, 70, and I-64, as well as U.S. Highways 40, 50, 61, 67 (Route 66 anyone?) means almost nothing now. We can't even get a decent bridge built because of bickering government officials. Instead of a consensus (hey Governors Blunt and Blagojevich the two jokers who have been more like Kings than actual servants of the people for the past four years) we get a SECOND-TIER bridge in...well, we really won't see it built until many reading this are retired or under the sod/cremated. And when will this truly come to fruition? The guesswork is that 2010 is the earliest that construction begins on a new bridge over the Mississippi River at downtown St. Louis. Oh yeah. RIVERS: St. Louis sits at the crossroads of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, just below the Illinois River, only a few hundred miles north of the Ohio River. But, with the problems of water flow on the Missouri River, flooding upon each river, and sediment blocking channels on a routine basis as the flow wanes and causes shipping delays, even the river system is lacking more so now than 50 years past. In the case of the rivers, the blame is MUCH LESS on those who care for it like the Army Corps of Engineers than of mother nature --- there's no way to halt what naturally occurs. There's the availability of oil due to pipelines which come close or through the metropolitan St. Louis area. But OIL: Refineries are rarely talked about in the region, but we once had a thriving industry in Madison County, Illinois, around Wood River, Hartford, Roxana, South Roxana --- and in case none of you have gone through there since 1980, those production facilities are probably putting out millions of barrels fewer per year than just 30 years ago when there was a so-called "oil crisis" and we sat in lines awaiting the purchase of gas for $0.58-9/10 --- I'd take the $0.77 cents it zoomed to during that time period ANY day of the week now. The point being that we no longer have as much available because the oil industry cut back long ago. And you get more curious about the price of gasoline and its fluctuations, but it could be worse and it could be better in the metropolitan St. Louis region.
Okay - these things be so minor in nature compared to that with which we deal upon our own in the financial sense, right? Not so fast. The cost of living in St. Louis has been generally among the best in the entire nation --- it was usually compared with San Francisco or Houston or even Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater because of population size and cost of living. Okay, that's been the past - and in comparison to the future of St. Louis as it is going, those other metropolitan areas will look like a great place to be when we lose more people, industries, and overall status. Houston's Harris County has a population of more than 1.7-million, which does not include other peripheral counties in the Houston metropolitan area. But it makes St. Louis look very weak against the 901-thousand who live in the combined "big 4 Missouri counties" of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County. Grant that I did not take into the fold any metro east counties (Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Bond, Clinton, Jersey, Calhoun, etc.) or any other counties in the Houston region. It shows that St. Louis is hard pressed in the population categories. So, suffice it to say that we're down the line in other population-based statistics there. But, we also lag on other accessible industries due in part to Houston's proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. We can't change that, nor can we change where the hurricanes hit our country.
Speaking of which Houston, you - seemingly - only have a serious problem when the hurricanes hit...and even then you compare favorably to the MO/IL area. Face it: St. Louis was hit with Hurricane-turned-Tropical Depression Ike in 2008 - and there were two Ike-related deaths in University City MISSOURI!!! Hmmmn. Maybe that's where the tide REALLY turns in favor of Houston. Houston had an evacuation plan which included their mass transit systems and other transportation-related services working in tandem with their Departments of Transportation and Emergency Management Agencies. St. Louis: (without a mass transportation evacuation plan for hurricane/tropical storm-depression-caused flooding) had to re-route bus service in September when a few major roads flash-flooded, and I'll bet only those few areas in Brentwood and University City were evacuated --- and perhaps one or two other areas that I have forgotten about but did not mean to slight. Houston figured on the need for a plan. St. Louis still has no plan for another tropical depression...and when that 7.4 Richter Scale earthquake ruins the region, the STL will still not have anything of an operational evacuation plan in place --- will it? Emergency Managers in the St. Louis region routinely warn us about the need for such plans --- and they produce them. When they do so, those men and women hope the public reads them and attempts to get the media to give such papers ANY publicity. On rare occasions, like when the late Iben Browning makes a stupid prediction, do citizens sincerely discuss the problems of "what happens WHEN the big earthquake hits here?"!!!!! Grant that the full-force of a hurricane will NEVER be felt in St. Louis, nor is there a likely need for a massive flood-related evacuation in the STL region. That's just a bit of dramatic and, perhaps, creative writing on my part to help illustrate my possibly-lacking-depth blog.
Okay --- enough of the rant for a moment to get back to square one. I'm discussing the St. Louis region's transportation woes and the lack of a good system of mass transit which will cause a due "downward progressive spiral".
It comes after the NO VOTE in November, on the heels of all those Tom Sullivans who feel the world will not come apart when they cry "you're raiding my money and not serving me with anything that is needed". What do you make of this, Tom Sullivan --- that you were the only one who thinks that the former board of Metro was not doing our region a justified service? Do you not think the current board is trying to correct those gaffes which resulted in millions of dollars in cost overruns for a service (the Shrewsbury MetroLink) which could benefit YOU PERSONALLY because it runs near your home in University City? Tom, you're not to blame all by yourself --- but, yes, you should SHOULDER some of the blame because you were crying "wolf" well after the rescue crews arrived on the scene, assessed the situation, and sorted out the ways to stop the bleeding from the wolf bites which had already ceased because the wolves (those contractors who should GIVE METRO ITS MONEY BACK despite that ridiculous ruling by the courts) ran away with the money they sought. (Tom --- how many times I have completely AGREED with your assessments of MSD mismanagement? I lost count. On this, you're well past overboard with the attacks upon Metro transit. We're all awaiting your "mea culpa" come the summer of 2010...you'll feel it necessary to backpeddle by then.)
The actual story came out on 19 December 2008: it's a picture of fiscal responsibility by the Metro board of commissioners. They are implementing a plan to balance the Metro Transit budget. It'll hurt St. Louis County and the region much more than that miniscule sales tax would have hurt.
Metro is cutting more than 600 employees, around 30 routes will be eliminated or severely restricted, Express Routes will be virtually extinct as will most service outside the I-270 loop in Missouri --- which says NOTHING about the Metro Call-A-Ride services which will be cut by a probable 15 percent or more as part of the gutting of the overall system due to a monetary deficit. Illinois commuters, whereas they are going to suffer from the cuts to MetroLink service and the additional rides that they once took in Missouri, will see fewer problems unless they can no longer make connections to the Metro bus system in a timely manner. But, yes, it will be a great inconvenience to Illinois riders and drivers, too. May I inquire how many more people will be forced to drive on the Illinois highway system because they regularly ride the trains and buses to and from work?
Why do I write about this --- prattling on and on? Frankly, I am a habitual rider of both the bus system and the MetroLink system. My family lives sprawled across the bi-state region. I will be inconvenienced by the Metro system purge as a result of the idiots who voted "no" on the tax increase at the November election and so will my sister who currently lives in Alton and rides the buses into St. Louis. And there are friends in Belleville, where I worked for a portion of 2008, who will be less likely to see some of us in Missouri with the cuts to the light-rail MetroLink service. What of those who STILL have jobs in Fenton? I can foresee the pulling of that 30X route to the Gravois Bluffs...to the commuter lots near the HQ of UNIGROUP and the other businesses in the nearby industrial areas from the system...thus cutting the number of employees available to work and the number of consumers who wanted to go to Ultimate Electronics at "the Bluffs" and buy their new HDTV's and bring them back to the Delmar Loop (What do you mean that you don't see these people? Oh, yeah...you - generically - don't ride the train unless you are going to a Cardinals or Rams game...heeheeheeheeheeheehee...HA! You won't be riding those trains any more, either, you "no" voting morons!).
Indeed --- St. Louis County residents will find out in March 2009 and again in 2010 how much they are inconvenienced by the cuts in Metro bus and MetroLink service when the traffic patterns shift dramatically along what there is of I-64/Highway 40, Manchester (especially Manchester) and the other interstates and heavily-traveled road routes. I will be looking on those whose drive time increases by 20 to 40 percent (some will see a 200 percent increase in travel time) with a thought of "Ha! The cost of gasoline purchases alone will have been enough to those drivers who didn't vote for the tax increase." I did say an increase of 20 to 40 percent drive time. Why? The DRAMATIC INCREASE IN DRIVING TIME DURING COMMUTES IS GOING TO HAPPEN for a great number of people in the spring and summer and fall of 2009 and again in the summer of 2010 because these cuts will have an impact upon who goes where and when they both leave and arrive.
That's right --- prediction of all predictions: St. Louis County "no" voters will pay out the nose for not having paid on the tax increase. "NO" voters - and almost everyone else who traverses St. Louis County on a highway - will pay at the pump and on the commute EVERY DAY.
Serves y'all right.
You may as well read this entire blog as: Welcome to the SECOND-TIER COUNTY of St. Louis.
The other prediction comes slowly as a result of this vote: Here comes the resurgence of the City of St. Louis.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The St. Louis Doughnuts Debacle
Remember that old Dunkin Donuts (doughnuts) commercial in which the man always arose earlier than the birds to ready himself for work, using the special phrase "Time to make the doughnuts" --- over and over?
This morning I found myself WANTING doughnuts. I considered going to Eddie's Southtown Donuts (4701 S. Kingshighway just north of Christy) or Donut Drive-In (ChippeWatson...at Donovan), but realized I had to skip them due to time constraints (at least I thought I was going to have to go out of my way to stop at Donut Drive-In...apparently I should have looked at my watch).
I am a bit perturbed at my choices once I passed the opportunity to stop and get "fresh" doughnuts. Because I was crossing town and I knew that Highway 40 was going to close by 7 am, I already surmised that getting where I wanted on a soon-to-be closed (as I write it is already closed) highway was not an option, and I still had to be "on time" to my destination. But I had skipped a breakfast opportunity at home (cereal for the third day in a row wasn't appealing, and I had no time to make oatmeal) and headed to Schnuck's just a few hundred feet from my destination.
Now --- I enjoy Schnuck's. It's made my life easy. Well, okay, it's made me spend money just like Dierberg's and Straub's. And the late Wild Oats. And National Supermarkets - remember those BEFORE the crooked farmer stole all the bread and bankrupted it? Well, anyway. I was in Schnuck's...buying my favorite soy milk. But I made the mistake of going backward in the store. NO, not walking backward, but backtracking to the bakery department, where --- by now you've guessed this part --- the fresh "doughnuts" were sitting there on the rack or newly placed into the display case. This is where it gets to the point of "I HAVE to write a blog about this" --- because I noticed they have now put an eye-catching chocolate cake doughnut into the case --- one with chocolate icing/frosting/topping on its lovely-looking crest. Then, just a short reach to the left --- the blueberry cake doughnuts! Now, this is the true account of how things occurred...so I may get grief one day for this move (I'm supposed to limit my sugar and fat intake, just like almost everyone else on earth)...as I quickly sought one more option, I witness that there were three different varieties of blueberry doughnut from which to choose. It took me 5 seconds to make up my mind...and I reached over to get one with a glazed coating on it. My choices seemed to be good --- on the surface. I had made the dreaded IMPULSE BUY!
What happened next - after checkout and the quick drive to my destination - was the obvious. After the proper amount of time had passed I opened the bag, reached in to select the chocolate cake doughnut and...well...took chewy bite number one. And painfully I took a second and third bite.
I have never blogged about Schnuck's doughnuts before. But the Schnuck family would not like what I'm reporting, I'm fairly certain. Before the revelation today that they were again producing cake doughnuts, I had given their doughnuts literally dozens of tries. And each time, they had completely failed to live up to any kind of halfway decent expectation. I'll WAGER that it has been several years since I attempted to buy a doughnut from Schnuck's for ME. Yes, I've bought them --- for other people (and, yes I AM SERIOUS). But the disappointment in tasting and chewing, along with being forced to drink hundreds of gallons of drinks while attempting to digest these sad little glutenized circles --- some with holes in the middle, and some with jelly or sugary-filling, even an attempt at custard-filling --- have made me more than cynical through a period of MORE than a decade.
I, like Homer Simpson, generally love these treats (doughnuts in general are tasty)...this is one of the hardest things to avoid when watching your sugar and fat intake. But I have to tell you that it has been with NO difficulty that I have avoided Schnuck's doughnuts for many years. And today --- this morning --- cements things. If there was a disgusting way to say that these doughnuts were bad, right now would be the time to come up with this phrase or allegory or whatever.
The chocolate cake doughnut was dry. Maybe I was actually eating something baked/cooked/produced in the Sahara desert. I found water quickly. That did little to help. This doughnut was CEMENTING things alright. After the water, I now could actually get a second taste of this doughnut. Maybe it was the fact that I actually got a momentary near-delight (not a delight...it was close to one, though - but only for a moment) because of the icing on top of this waste of 65 pennies. Ahhh. I felt more than cheated. This was Satan at work --- he wasn't wasting any time in making me feel foolish for having given into temptation and buying a Schnuck's doughnut. And that would be punishment enough if the story only stopped THERE!
But, as I mentioned - I had purchased (lulled into a false sense of security by the mere presence of two different kinds of cake doughnuts --- my memory bank reveals I passed on the pumpkin cake doughnut variety which was located to the right of the chocolate cake doughnuts) the BLUEBERRY doughnut with a glaze upon its surface. So, having attempted digestion (okay, it's fine to admit that I ate the stupid chocolate doughnut here because I had to finish the punishment I had realized was coming my way for all my sins, not the least of which was allowing myself to buy a "cake" "doughnut" at Schunuck's!!!) of the chocolate cake with chocolate icing, taking down at least 20 ounces of water and probably 6 ounces of soy milk in so doing, I gave it my all: I was going to attempt to eat the blueberry doughnut.
Here, the fresh air would be good for me, you, and anyone who has been continuing to read my saga. So...I'll be right back with the conclusion after these messages!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eddie's Southtown Donuts: I will make time for your cake doughnuts --- I promise. They really are heads and shoulders above almost any others I have sampled in St. Louis.
Donut Drive-In: when I am closer to your shop than Eddie's, you'll still get my business.
Donut Delight: Oh, how I miss your custard-filled with chocolate icing lovliness --- the best doughnuts around...you know the custard and the taste of chocolate --- and I am a confirmed CAKE doughnut eater and I still stop 16 miles from home to get a custard-filled when I can!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay, now the conclusion of my Schnuck's "DOH!" "Nuts" debacle. The blueberry cake doughnut was perched upon my fingertips. With water and soy milk close, I felt safe.
Now would be the time to tell you I survived. The remaining part of the blueberry cake doughnut from Schnuck's is in the wax paper bag. I took TWO bites and could go NO FURTHER. I nearly decried "no mas" --- but I speak English and (a smidge of) German, so going the Spanish route didn't seem appropriate.
It seems I will surely never KNOWINGLY purchase and attempt to consume a Schnuck's doughnut again. The cookies in the bakery case at Schnuck's, however...are scrumptious. And they remain off my list due to the sugar content.
Schnuck's --- made it easy --- for me to say "no" to doughnuts from their bakery.
This morning I found myself WANTING doughnuts. I considered going to Eddie's Southtown Donuts (4701 S. Kingshighway just north of Christy) or Donut Drive-In (ChippeWatson...at Donovan), but realized I had to skip them due to time constraints (at least I thought I was going to have to go out of my way to stop at Donut Drive-In...apparently I should have looked at my watch).
I am a bit perturbed at my choices once I passed the opportunity to stop and get "fresh" doughnuts. Because I was crossing town and I knew that Highway 40 was going to close by 7 am, I already surmised that getting where I wanted on a soon-to-be closed (as I write it is already closed) highway was not an option, and I still had to be "on time" to my destination. But I had skipped a breakfast opportunity at home (cereal for the third day in a row wasn't appealing, and I had no time to make oatmeal) and headed to Schnuck's just a few hundred feet from my destination.
Now --- I enjoy Schnuck's. It's made my life easy. Well, okay, it's made me spend money just like Dierberg's and Straub's. And the late Wild Oats. And National Supermarkets - remember those BEFORE the crooked farmer stole all the bread and bankrupted it? Well, anyway. I was in Schnuck's...buying my favorite soy milk. But I made the mistake of going backward in the store. NO, not walking backward, but backtracking to the bakery department, where --- by now you've guessed this part --- the fresh "doughnuts" were sitting there on the rack or newly placed into the display case. This is where it gets to the point of "I HAVE to write a blog about this" --- because I noticed they have now put an eye-catching chocolate cake doughnut into the case --- one with chocolate icing/frosting/topping on its lovely-looking crest. Then, just a short reach to the left --- the blueberry cake doughnuts! Now, this is the true account of how things occurred...so I may get grief one day for this move (I'm supposed to limit my sugar and fat intake, just like almost everyone else on earth)...as I quickly sought one more option, I witness that there were three different varieties of blueberry doughnut from which to choose. It took me 5 seconds to make up my mind...and I reached over to get one with a glazed coating on it. My choices seemed to be good --- on the surface. I had made the dreaded IMPULSE BUY!
What happened next - after checkout and the quick drive to my destination - was the obvious. After the proper amount of time had passed I opened the bag, reached in to select the chocolate cake doughnut and...well...took chewy bite number one. And painfully I took a second and third bite.
I have never blogged about Schnuck's doughnuts before. But the Schnuck family would not like what I'm reporting, I'm fairly certain. Before the revelation today that they were again producing cake doughnuts, I had given their doughnuts literally dozens of tries. And each time, they had completely failed to live up to any kind of halfway decent expectation. I'll WAGER that it has been several years since I attempted to buy a doughnut from Schnuck's for ME. Yes, I've bought them --- for other people (and, yes I AM SERIOUS). But the disappointment in tasting and chewing, along with being forced to drink hundreds of gallons of drinks while attempting to digest these sad little glutenized circles --- some with holes in the middle, and some with jelly or sugary-filling, even an attempt at custard-filling --- have made me more than cynical through a period of MORE than a decade.
I, like Homer Simpson, generally love these treats (doughnuts in general are tasty)...this is one of the hardest things to avoid when watching your sugar and fat intake. But I have to tell you that it has been with NO difficulty that I have avoided Schnuck's doughnuts for many years. And today --- this morning --- cements things. If there was a disgusting way to say that these doughnuts were bad, right now would be the time to come up with this phrase or allegory or whatever.
The chocolate cake doughnut was dry. Maybe I was actually eating something baked/cooked/produced in the Sahara desert. I found water quickly. That did little to help. This doughnut was CEMENTING things alright. After the water, I now could actually get a second taste of this doughnut. Maybe it was the fact that I actually got a momentary near-delight (not a delight...it was close to one, though - but only for a moment) because of the icing on top of this waste of 65 pennies. Ahhh. I felt more than cheated. This was Satan at work --- he wasn't wasting any time in making me feel foolish for having given into temptation and buying a Schnuck's doughnut. And that would be punishment enough if the story only stopped THERE!
But, as I mentioned - I had purchased (lulled into a false sense of security by the mere presence of two different kinds of cake doughnuts --- my memory bank reveals I passed on the pumpkin cake doughnut variety which was located to the right of the chocolate cake doughnuts) the BLUEBERRY doughnut with a glaze upon its surface. So, having attempted digestion (okay, it's fine to admit that I ate the stupid chocolate doughnut here because I had to finish the punishment I had realized was coming my way for all my sins, not the least of which was allowing myself to buy a "cake" "doughnut" at Schunuck's!!!) of the chocolate cake with chocolate icing, taking down at least 20 ounces of water and probably 6 ounces of soy milk in so doing, I gave it my all: I was going to attempt to eat the blueberry doughnut.
Here, the fresh air would be good for me, you, and anyone who has been continuing to read my saga. So...I'll be right back with the conclusion after these messages!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eddie's Southtown Donuts: I will make time for your cake doughnuts --- I promise. They really are heads and shoulders above almost any others I have sampled in St. Louis.
Donut Drive-In: when I am closer to your shop than Eddie's, you'll still get my business.
Donut Delight: Oh, how I miss your custard-filled with chocolate icing lovliness --- the best doughnuts around...you know the custard and the taste of chocolate --- and I am a confirmed CAKE doughnut eater and I still stop 16 miles from home to get a custard-filled when I can!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay, now the conclusion of my Schnuck's "DOH!" "Nuts" debacle. The blueberry cake doughnut was perched upon my fingertips. With water and soy milk close, I felt safe.
Now would be the time to tell you I survived. The remaining part of the blueberry cake doughnut from Schnuck's is in the wax paper bag. I took TWO bites and could go NO FURTHER. I nearly decried "no mas" --- but I speak English and (a smidge of) German, so going the Spanish route didn't seem appropriate.
It seems I will surely never KNOWINGLY purchase and attempt to consume a Schnuck's doughnut again. The cookies in the bakery case at Schnuck's, however...are scrumptious. And they remain off my list due to the sugar content.
Schnuck's --- made it easy --- for me to say "no" to doughnuts from their bakery.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Didja Ever...???
Sometimes it is in the details of everyday life that someone comes across a version of the truth that may or may not be in agreement with what one has surmised or learned. Obtuse? Perhaps. But it is somehow not as vague as it may sound, for on the surface we do not always see the obvious underlying tones to a version of truth.
Take Hollywood --- or almost any entertainment field and operation. We rarely know the behind the scenes truths --- who was truly gay/homosexual vs rumors of such, who was having an adulterous affair or was making millions of dollars instead of being faithful and only taking union scale wages.
This brings me to post a link to a story. It's a HOLLYWOOD story to be sure.
Think what you will --- it was enough to make me think about how I treat others, especially women.
From the New York Observer --- this story discusses why the director of the hit film "TWILIGHT", Catherine Hardwicke, is allegedly not returning for filming a proposed sequel.
Is this only an annoyance, or is this a profoundly sad situation, or is this simply another story which just happens to emphasize a particular angle???
Here's the link: http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/thanks-help-i-twilight-i-now-clean-out-your-desk
Take Hollywood --- or almost any entertainment field and operation. We rarely know the behind the scenes truths --- who was truly gay/homosexual vs rumors of such, who was having an adulterous affair or was making millions of dollars instead of being faithful and only taking union scale wages.
This brings me to post a link to a story. It's a HOLLYWOOD story to be sure.
Think what you will --- it was enough to make me think about how I treat others, especially women.
From the New York Observer --- this story discusses why the director of the hit film "TWILIGHT", Catherine Hardwicke, is allegedly not returning for filming a proposed sequel.
Is this only an annoyance, or is this a profoundly sad situation, or is this simply another story which just happens to emphasize a particular angle???
Here's the link: http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/thanks-help-i-twilight-i-now-clean-out-your-desk
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Loughborough Commons - the DESCO clowns are not funny
http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=4414
Blogger Steve Patterson has once again blogged about the Loughborough Commons shopping development and found a problem with the pedestrian and wheelchair access --- this time it's getting to and from the new Burger King. We shouldn't be so surprised that comments to Steve's UrbanReviewSTL blog show a lot of agreement with his assertion that DESCO has --- again --- gotten something INcorrect with regard to those who want to actually conveniently shop or buy there.
I lived across the park from this shopping center for more than 10 years and watched the destruction and redevelopment of it almost as closely as Steve. So many of us watched as people were given no option but to move because of eminent domain regulations, making heads shake almost regularly up until --- well, today. Frankly, I miss the old Schnuck's, the Carondelet Sunday Morning Athletic Club (even though I went into the building only thrice in the 7 years when I was only a half-mile away), and - even though I have shopped at Lowe's, Schnuck's (last night), frequented the Bread Company, purchased goods from Office Max, eaten at Qdoba (it is Qdoba, right?), sipped coffee at Starbucks, and now eaten at Burger King (I once worked for a BK in my younger years, so I had to try it out in the first week) - I cannot see why DESCO continues to develop these engineering NIGHTMARES. DRIVING in and out of Loughborough Commons (as well as across it from Loughborough to Lowe's) is not only complicated and hazardous, it is unfriendly to people who (like I have done dozens of times) walk to and from the shopping center --- not to discuss the wheelchairs or cyclists who attempt becoming customers. I lost count before spring 2008 how many times I had to avoid being hit --- or the times when I purposefully walked across the marked crosswalk by the Bread Company to FORCE SOME IDIOT TO STOP THEIR CAR (I'll bet I've done that no fewer than 20 times). These conditions are all because DESCO seemingly cannot make a development in a pedestrian-friendly manner.
I wouldn't paint them the most evil developers ever. Some DESCO properties were developed with the customer in mind. Probably before DESCO purchased them.
Mr. G. Michaud made a great point in his comment on the UrbanReviewSTL blog mentioned above (you can read the blog and see all the comments). As Mr. Michaud pointed out, the government could have shown SOME kind of oversight while it was becoming obvious that conditions were unfriendly to potential customers.
Steve's documenting the pitfalls at Loughborough Commons have been spot-on. What will this development become if Metro ever gets the funding to run a Metrolink line to the northeast portion of this lot? They'll have more foot traffic and buses and cars than they would even consider --- and they'll never refocus or redistribute the parcels to accomodate that traffic. Parking will be atrocious, and by then they'll have developed another parcel of land to relocate their Schnuck's store --- where do you think, perhaps at the corner of Grand and Holly Hills, taking down the apartments and the Foodland and perhaps ten to twenty houses and a street --- or along Loughborough where the current YMCA is located, also bulldozing part of yet another neighborhood? (a prediction...maybe???)
I wonder what the city's mayor thinks about going in and out of the maze now that he lives nearby. Perhaps one day when he is bicycling and decides to go through the park and cross over to get a Starbuck's coffee he will become a first-hand witness of this debacle from the vantage point we who blog about Loughborough Commons have seen all too often.
Blogger Steve Patterson has once again blogged about the Loughborough Commons shopping development and found a problem with the pedestrian and wheelchair access --- this time it's getting to and from the new Burger King. We shouldn't be so surprised that comments to Steve's UrbanReviewSTL blog show a lot of agreement with his assertion that DESCO has --- again --- gotten something INcorrect with regard to those who want to actually conveniently shop or buy there.
I lived across the park from this shopping center for more than 10 years and watched the destruction and redevelopment of it almost as closely as Steve. So many of us watched as people were given no option but to move because of eminent domain regulations, making heads shake almost regularly up until --- well, today. Frankly, I miss the old Schnuck's, the Carondelet Sunday Morning Athletic Club (even though I went into the building only thrice in the 7 years when I was only a half-mile away), and - even though I have shopped at Lowe's, Schnuck's (last night), frequented the Bread Company, purchased goods from Office Max, eaten at Qdoba (it is Qdoba, right?), sipped coffee at Starbucks, and now eaten at Burger King (I once worked for a BK in my younger years, so I had to try it out in the first week) - I cannot see why DESCO continues to develop these engineering NIGHTMARES. DRIVING in and out of Loughborough Commons (as well as across it from Loughborough to Lowe's) is not only complicated and hazardous, it is unfriendly to people who (like I have done dozens of times) walk to and from the shopping center --- not to discuss the wheelchairs or cyclists who attempt becoming customers. I lost count before spring 2008 how many times I had to avoid being hit --- or the times when I purposefully walked across the marked crosswalk by the Bread Company to FORCE SOME IDIOT TO STOP THEIR CAR (I'll bet I've done that no fewer than 20 times). These conditions are all because DESCO seemingly cannot make a development in a pedestrian-friendly manner.
I wouldn't paint them the most evil developers ever. Some DESCO properties were developed with the customer in mind. Probably before DESCO purchased them.
Mr. G. Michaud made a great point in his comment on the UrbanReviewSTL blog mentioned above (you can read the blog and see all the comments). As Mr. Michaud pointed out, the government could have shown SOME kind of oversight while it was becoming obvious that conditions were unfriendly to potential customers.
Steve's documenting the pitfalls at Loughborough Commons have been spot-on. What will this development become if Metro ever gets the funding to run a Metrolink line to the northeast portion of this lot? They'll have more foot traffic and buses and cars than they would even consider --- and they'll never refocus or redistribute the parcels to accomodate that traffic. Parking will be atrocious, and by then they'll have developed another parcel of land to relocate their Schnuck's store --- where do you think, perhaps at the corner of Grand and Holly Hills, taking down the apartments and the Foodland and perhaps ten to twenty houses and a street --- or along Loughborough where the current YMCA is located, also bulldozing part of yet another neighborhood? (a prediction...maybe???)
I wonder what the city's mayor thinks about going in and out of the maze now that he lives nearby. Perhaps one day when he is bicycling and decides to go through the park and cross over to get a Starbuck's coffee he will become a first-hand witness of this debacle from the vantage point we who blog about Loughborough Commons have seen all too often.
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