EWGCOG message to the City of St. Louis, “Fine then, walk”.

Sadly enough, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments gave the City of St. Louis exactly what we wanted out of the ARRA. Of the City’s $255,909,276 of requests, the EWGCOG granted the City a whopping $35,893,363 of streetscapes, streetlights, bridge repair and traffic signal adjustment! Mayor Slay expressed in his blog that he was not happy with the amount of money flowing into the City of St. Louis from the stimulus package. I think that to jump on the sustainable development bandwagon, we need to learn to ask for money for the right projects, at the right time. And now is the perfect time to ask for a lot of money to bring back our sustainable-propulsion St. Louis Streetcars.

I was reading EWGCOG’s Legacy 2035 plan, again, trying to make sense of their decision-making strategy for our region’s mass transit, especially their long-range plan for sustainable development. I think we all understand that the green movement and sustainable development are very popular terms in today’s media, and we are all trying to figure out what it all means, including the EWGCOG. On page 71, of Legacy 2035, EWGCOG defines the field of play:

Although no consensus has been reached as to how sustainable development is defined, two distinct principles have emerged. The first is making responsible use of natural and built resources by conserving non-renewable resources and preserving and renewing built resources that present generations value. This is a matter of stewardship. The second emphasizes maximizing the potential of human resources by ensuring that all people have real opportunities to learn, work, thrive, and be involved in decisions that affect their lives. This is a matter of justice. Sustainability, then, is about taking thoughtful and proper care of all resources, and ensuring that all have the opportunity to share in the benefits thereof (sic).

From the “Along for the Ride” blog, Chesterfield Mayor John Nations takes a stab at defining sustainable development for the Chesterfield Valley. Nations “learned that Metro’s bus service cutbacks would cut off workers from hospitals, nursing homes and retail centers.” Nations “considered it a ‘call to action’” to ask for federal grant money and local business donations, because “Public transportation is a vital element of creating sustainable economic development.” [http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/along-for-the-ride/along-for-the-ride/2009/03/deal-keeps-buses-rolling-to-west-st-louis-county/#comment-1525]. To Nations, “sustainable economic development” is keeping hospital, nursing home, and retail workers bussed into Chesterfield Valley.

How does the City of St. Louis define “sustainable development” for itself? Walking.

On February 13^th, 2009, the deadline for asking for federal funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, occurred. What exactly did the City of St. Louis ask for? The City of St. Louis asked for $255,909,276 worth of projects.

I have broken down the City of St. Louis requests into ten broad categories from the “ARRA of 2009-St. Louis Urbanized Area-Submitted Projects and Programs-February 17,2009” PDF [http://www.ewgateway.org/InfrastructureApp/infrastructureapp.htm], as follows:

	requests
streetscape	$86,123,686
resurfacing	$11,011,175
multi-use pathways	$3,675,200
signage	$760,150
sidewalks	$18,590,000
parking structures	$29,744,000
signals	$14,575,000
bridges	$82,135,001
lighting	$3,050,000
intersection const.	$6,245,064
total	$255,909,276

Our largest ask at 35% was for streetscapes, followed by bridge repair at 32%, and parking structures at 12%. “Streetscape” is a broad category that is akin to street beautification, including landscaping and sidewalk repair.

Of our $255,909,276 of requests, the EWGCOG granted the City of St. Louis a grand total of $35,893,363, broken down in the table as follows:

	granted
streetscape	$11,768,363
signals	$2,450,000
bridges	$19,025,000
lighting	$2,650,000
total	$35,893,363

The EWGCOG heard our cries loud and clear. On February 25^th, 2009, the EWGCOG published their list of ARRA Approved Projects. St. Louis City residents wanted prettier streets, more cohesive looking business districts, more places to park our fuel-thirsty cars, and safe bridges to drive them over. The EWGCOG gave us what we asked for.

St. Louis City Mayor Slay was none-too-happy about our ARRA haul. On his blog at MayorSlay.com, for March 6, 2009, Mayor Slay pleaded with MoDOT, through his appearance on CNN, to direct more money into economically distressed areas. In all honesty, I think MoDOT gave us what we asked for. We asked for streetscapes, bridge repair, and parking structures. We got signals, streetscapes and bridge repair.

In all due respect to our government leadership in the City of St. Louis, we don’t even know what we want and then we don’t know how to ask for it. It is obvious from the EWGCOG’s Legacy 2035 long-range plan that “sustainable development” has yet to be fully defined, it is a grey area. Chesterfield Mayor Nations feels comfortable enough to use it in a sentence. How would the leadership in the City of St. Louis use it in a sentence? We need to figure out what we are asking for, and then ask for it.

The EWGCOG has defined the field of play, “making responsible use of natural and built resources”, “conserving non-renewable resources”, “stewardship”, “maximizing the potential of human resources”. The electric streetcar would achieve all of those things for the City of St. Louis. We have to prove to the EWGCOG that this is an important effort toward sustainable development, or we’ll get a whole boat-load of streetscape.