OK, Maybe St. Louis Does Suck, At Least A Little

Back on December 7th, I wrote a blog post based on an article in Forbes that had the premise that St. Louis Doesn't Suck.  Author Aaron Perlut very truthfully spoke of some of the great things in the area and laid out a plan that could help the city of St. Louis, as well as St. Louis County, two different governmental units, fix the perception that St. Louis sucks.

As tends to happen in St. Louis, nobody took on the task of working on the city's image.  Something so important or so (basically) inexpensive and easy to implement was far beyond the reach of Mayor Francis Slay and County Executive Charlie Dooley and the droids who work for them.  Not a surprise, especially since the Holiday season had some mighty fine photo ops of the Mayor at St. Louis Lambert International Airport showing off some fancy artwork that was installed in that incredibly boring (and still not fully operational after the Summer tornado that hit it) place. Sadly, Hizzonner is not in this photo, he must have been trying to find a parking space or something.

But I digress.  This post is about suckage, and while the airport does suck in many ways, St. Louis as a whole grabbed a major suckage award today, being named the seventh worst run city in America by 24/7WallStreet.com.  Here's the praise the website laid on St. Louis:

7. St. Louis, Mo.
> Violent crime per 1,000 people: 17.47 (2nd highest)
> Poverty rate: 27.8% (13th highest)
> Adult population graduated from high school: 81.5% (36th lowest)
> Credit rating: Aa3 (stable outlook)
> Population: 319,156

St. Louis has had a hard time controlling violent crime. With 17.47 incidents per 1,000 residents in 2010, the city has the second highest rate of violent crime in the country. This is due in part to the city’s high poverty rate of 27.8% and its median income of $32,688, which is the 10th lowest out of the 100 largest cities. Additionally, nearly 20% of housing units in the city are vacant. All of these measures influence government revenues. Despite this, St. Louis has managed its finances fairly well. While Moody’s credit score is Aa3, the credit agency also reports that the city faces a continued weakening of resident income levels, high unemployment rates and a decreasing population.

Read more: The Best and Worst Run Cities in America - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/01/05/best-and-worst-run-cities-in-america/#ixzz1icP3fTvY

This information is about St. Louis CITY, not St. Louis COUNTY, which I mentioned before are completely different areas, in more ways than I care to go into here.  But has anyone from the City, County, Chamber Of Commerce, or the almost double secret RCGA come out to dispute or spin the story?  Not on the bleak front page of the city's newspaper website.  Not on the top rated TV station's website.  And not on the website where I first found the story, the radio station that calls itself "The Voice Of St. Louis".  They had no local reaction to the story, which makes me think the voices of power in St. Louis either had nothing to say or couldn't defend themselves.  Or that the reporter didn't pick up the phone to get a reaction, but I know that would never happen.

So America once again sees St. Louis cast in a bad light and the Damage Control machine sits dusty and unused, a victim of "old boy" networks and nobody willing to defend the city's honor.  I've seen this play many times before, and I'm seeing it again.  When will the Powers That Be in St. Louis get their act together and at least defend the region when it gets smacked around?  The dream of a campaign to prove that St. Louis doesn't suck remains unfulfilled, and the city just took another sucker punch without defending itself.

And THAT truly sucks.

St. Louis Doesn't Suck-Forbes

I’ve lived a somewhat nomadic existence in my adult life, moving from Richmond to Miami to New Orleans to New York to Raleigh to St. Petersburg.  Six years ago my wife and I reluctantly moved to St. Louis but very quickly found it to be a great place to live, work, and raise small people.
St. Louis has its problems like anywhere else, but there’s a lot to like: good schools, nice parks, great public institutions, competitive sports teams, strong corporate base, the world’s largest mustache (Gateway Arch), and plenty of places that make delicious beer.

The world's largest mustache - St. Louis' Gateway Arch

In the last two weeks, however, two stories have taken pot shots at my adopted hometown.
First there was a farcical piece in The Onion that the Labor Department reported 4 million new U.S. jobs in October, “though government officials hastened to add that the new positions are all located in the St. Louis…” I love The Onion but it essentially delivers the underlying message that people outside of “The Lou” think it’s not so hot.
Then there was something a bit uglier.  Yahoo! Health reported St. Louis to be among the 10 saddest cities in America based on suicide and unemployment rates, the percentage of households that use antidepressants, and other factors.
Oye gevault!
I’ve got to believe St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, the Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA), or St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley can’t like pieces like these.
The trouble being that nearly every political or civic entity in the region working to fix metro-St. Louis’ reputation is doing it on their own, in a silo, with little coordination with other partners. There have been some quiet efforts to galvanize private sector forces, but nothing has materialized primarily due to the political infighting that seemingly lies beneath the surface.
Why do you think that despite being a relatively safe place to live, St. Louis crime statistics are listed by the FBI as being four times higher than the national average and the city is routinely noted as one of America’s most dangerous? It’s because as the city and surrounding county battle for turf, they refuse to do what most other major metro areas do in combining regional crime statistics which leads to better rankings.
Thank you Mssrs. Slay and Dooley.
So with all of this in mind, as my holiday gift to St. Louis, I’m going to outline a strategy for altering St. Louis’ reputation on the national landscape.
St. Louis Doesn’t Suck
Let’s begin with the foundation — one that’s a bit edgy and disrupts the same conservative Midwestern sensibilities that caused the city to foolishly pass on hosting Red Bull’s popular Flugtag event a few years back.
You see, despite a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch report citing that the city attracted more young people than it lost for the first time in eons, the city has a long way to go in drawing the younger workforce that leading edge employers crave. And as my partner Brian Cross wrote on his blog, natives are still looking elsewhere for post-graduate jobs.
After all, a recent Stanford or Univ. of Miami graduate doesn’t really care if St. Louis is “Perfectly Centered. Remarkably Connected.” They want to live and work somewhere that has a thriving downtown with a great night life and is perceived to be progressive.
Which brings us to the St. Louis Doesn’t Suck campaign, focusing on delivering four key messages that support any thriving metro area:

• St. Louis has affordable housing: According to the Cost of Living Index Calculator, greater St. Louis has the lowest cost of living among the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas for 2010.

• St. Louis has a collection of outstanding education resources: The cities of Clayton and Ladue have two of the finest and well-funded public school systems in the U.S., there is a nice collection of high ranking private and parochial schools, and a several leading colleges including Washington University — regularly ranked in the top 10 nationally.
  
  
  Danforth Plant Science Center

• St. Louis has a strong employment base: Did you know there are more plant scientists in the St. Louis region than any other concentrated area in the world? We do a great job telling each other that here — just not the outside world. But thanks to the likes of Monsanto, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and a host of mid-size and smaller plant science related entities in the region — and the fact that the city is located within 500 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. corn crop — St. Louis is arguably the center of plant science research and innovation worldwide.  Add that to the fact the region is also home to 21 of the Fortune 1000 companies with leading employers like Anheuser-Busch/InBev, Peabody Energy, Emerson Electric, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Boeing, Mastercard, Nestle-Purina, and Build-A-Bear — and the case is easy that there are good jobs to be had.

• St. Louis has rich cultural resources: Let’s start with the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals and the team’s fine downtown ballpark. Then there’s one of the top ranked zoos in the U.S. that also happens to be free of charge to enter, a symphony that is highly respected worldwide, one of the largest urban parks in the U.S., a very healthy and diverse collection of restaurants, tremendous live music venues, acclaimed art and history museums as well as a City Museum that is beyond explanation, and the list goes on.

Sot sucking at all thus far. But now comes the hard part. How do we best deliver these messages? It takes a comprehensive approach that not only touches the manner in which people seek and find information today, but then compels them to take action.  
St. Louis Doesn’t Suck harnesses the most meaningful marketing communications channels and surrounds working adults ages 22 to 55, delivering a consistent message that St. Louis has the housing, education, employment and cultural resources that encompass a great place to live, work, visit, and play.
The tools the program leverages include:

• Digital centerpiece: While the Regional Chamber has tried, there’s no digital centerpiece or website that represents the region in a way that makes you want to stay on the site for more than 30 seconds. It’s an ADHD world people, and to keep an audience — especially today’s 21 – 35-year-old young professional — you need engaging and fresh content that is comprised of the people and entities that enrich the region telling the story in first person.  No one really wants to read, “Situated at the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers, we have a tradition of leadership in transportation, distribution, and logistics.”

• Video speaks volumes: A strong message in 60 seconds can potentially say far more than 1,500 words of text. Let’s see CEOs George Paz of Express-Scripts, Hugh Grant of Monsanto, Energizer’s Ward Klein talking about their vision. How about young employees from Arch Coal, HOK, or Brian Cave showing people their favorite haunts around town?  Remember the “I’m a Mormon” campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints? Very strong stuff.

• Social media: Yes, have a Facebook page. Sure, a Twitter account is nice. More important, however, you’ve got to understand how to use these tools other than to simply have an account or page, like the Regional Chamber’s Facebook page that has 140-some fans. How about livestreaming a free concert from the Pageant music venue on Facebook; or get a group of CEOs from mid-size companies engaging in a Google Hangout with some top college students talking about what they are looking for from the local workforce; or take suggestions from city residents via Twitter (and actually use one of them) on how to improve a public park.  Just spend some time looking at how Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak engages constituents on Twitter. It’s not your standard press feeder.

• PR: Once you’re doing some of these things and there’s an actual a story of change to tell, take some leaders of influence on the road in tandem and visit some national media. And by “leaders of influence,” I don’t necessarily mean the Mayor and head of the Regional Chamber. It’s about the sum of the city’s parts — a coalition of leading CEOs, the heads of the five local angel investors group,  a handful of leading entrepreneurs.  Or, how about pitching a recurring HuffingtonPost column from the mayor or a collection of local CEOs. Why not ask InBev CEO Carlos Brito or one of his top lieutenants to write a column on beer.

• Mobile: There are more cellular phones in the U.S. than there are people, and at the very least any centralized website for a coordinated effort should be mobile enabled. But think bigger: an app that serves as a virtual tour guide, has push notifications for events, and includes searchable capabilities for activities meeting specific criteria.

• Paid media: Look at a small, controlled program of paid media — traditional and digital. How about a Letter to America ad in the Wall St. Journal about the needs of American business co-signed by a group of local CEOs, but more important use Google Adwords and Facebook cost-per-click to drive to engaging video content telling first person stories about the region.

• SEO: I saved this for last because online search is the magic bullet. It’s what everything drives towards. And if you don’t have an SEO component as part of an integrated marketing plan, you lose. Think of it this way: you own a business in Miami and you’re tired of all of the fair weather sports fans there so you tell your director of facilities it’s time to find a new headquarters town. What does that director do? He puts together a due diligence committee and they all start doing research — online — using search engines and terms like “best cities to work” and “best cities to live” and looking at tax incentives and quality of life, etc. In short, all the other stuff you’re doing in the marketing channels are filling the SEO funnel that needs to be filled, stacked, stuffed and overflowing with good news.

St. Louis isn’t perfect — the local  style of pizza is horrendous, our NFL football team should not be playing in a dome, the airport is an embarrassment, and the traffic lights aren’t timed.  More important, we still struggle to create, attract, and retain more skilled workers.  It’s an old-time, Mississippi River-based manufacturing economy that’s yet to fully reinvent itself that last year lost 14 percent of its professional services companies (law firms, architects, ad agencies).
 Without question, St. Louis does not suck. But with the exception of one very smart tourism campaign developed by the CVB, we typically do a terrible job of externally articulating what those offerings are.
Perhaps by stepping out of our comfort zone, moving beyond silly turf battles, and developing a comprehensive approach to marketing the area, St. Louis can better promote a region that has much to offer.
Happy holidays.

via blogs.forbes.com

Great read by Aaron Perlut on Forbes.com. I agree with him on most points, and know that sometimes the region's worst enemy is itself. He lays out a great marketing program for the region, and I agree that its something that should be done. But will it ever happen? Probably not because of the powers that be around here. But we can dream, and for now keep our little secret about how, believe it or not, St. Louis (County) doesn't suck.  For more, check out the article and my comments there.

Posted via email from Mark Edwards 3.0

Metro Bus Restoration Is Here-Is Everybody Ready? Metro May Not Be

St. Louis Metro Transit Missouri System Map 08 30 2010
 St. Louis' Metro mass transit agency will roll out the final phase of bus service restoration since the passage of Proposition A, a sales tax increase to fund the agency, today.  The service restoration will bring bus service to thousands who lost it after the disastrous mishandled campaign and defeat of a much needed tax increase in 2008. It will also make getting around on the bus more difficult for some, as Metro had to make some hard decisions as to what changes would serve the most people the best.

 I've written much in the last few weeks about the challenges facing Metro and the immense number of hurdles they face in getting service restored today.  They have accelerated their original service restoration schedule and added more routes than even they thought they could have up and running by now.  Of course, that means they have issues of scale to deal with.  Not enough buses, not enough drivers who are fully trained, and a less than stellar promotional effort all are potential problems the agency must face and fix in order to make the transit restoration work the way the Metro brass wants it to.

I'll spare you the details, as you can find them elsewhere on my main blog, Mark Edwards Uncensored.  But as Metro has been ramping up for the restoration of service today, I've personally experienced reckless driving, new operators getting lost while transporting passengers, and drivers speeding 10 to 15 miles above the speed limit on a winding St. Louis County road on numerous occasions.  None of that bodes well for an efficient or pleasurable customer experience.

Metro has spent considerable time and effort educating its current users to the changes, but has done only a marginal (and I think that's generous) job of  informing people who DON'T use their system that there will be all this new service.  They've put up a few billboards that simply say GET ON BOARD, but doesn't even say something like "New Service Starts August 30".  They could have taken the billboard money and put a Mylar balloon on EVERY  bus stop sign that is on a new or changed route and gotten the attention of riders AND non-riders that a bus would be available for them to ride.  The agency's outreach to those who are not their customers already or who have a negative feeling about Metro was simply dismal. 

Metro COO Ray Friem said in a recent STLToday.com chat that the agency was some fifty buses short of what they need to operate and that they are aware of the problems with all the new operators they have hired.

Regarding the safety of our bus operators... we are very selective in those we accept into training. Then we put the potential operators through a rigorous training period. Included are defensive driving and customers service. All operators must obtain a commercial drivers license issued by the State and must pass written and on-the-road tests. We continue to monitor and supervise all operators. The new drivers may not be able to give you all the Metro system information immediately. That will take some days/weeks/months of on the job training.

Metro's own blog NextStopSTL wisely acknowledges that there might be problems as the transit restoration kicks in today.

What to do if you get lost or miss a connection?

Even with careful planning, there is always a chance you could get lost or miss a connection and need to figure out what to do next.  Here are some options to help you find your way.

1. Customer service. The Metro Customer Service line will be open as usual from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Missouri: 314-231-2345
TTY: 314-982-1555
2.  Email transit information questions to transitinfo@metrostlouis.org.
3.  Via Twitter use “@STLMetro” with your question. We will be available with a Google Maps app and transit information to help Twitter users.
4.  Locate a Transit Service Manager throughout the system. TSMs and other available personnel will be out Monday to help customers.  TSMs wear yellow Metro polo shirts, and Metro ambassadors have white Metro polo shirts.
Also, please help one another.  If you find someone on your bus who is confused or needs some help, please consider reaching out and lending a hand.  You may just make someone’s day.

Please don't get me wrong.  I'm happy that the new schedule is now in effect.  I personally will benefit from the schedule, with the bus I take to work coming almost a mile closer to my home than it did before.  I'll have a bus that actually passes my office for the first time in two years, and that's a good thing as well.    But again Metro has failed to adequately prepare for the service changes and has done their usual amateurish half-baked effort to let the masses know what is going to be happening starting today.

I hope the buses are full, drivers don't get lost, nobody gets hurt, and the system, partially changed to make transfers easier as long as the buses are running on schedule, runs somewhere close to the schedules Metro's very devoted Planning Department has issued.

But I'm a realist, and this is Metro we're talking about.  Be ready for anything today.

St. Louis Returns Public Transit To The 20th Century

Thank you, voters of St. Louis County, for passing Proposition A and funding public transit in our region!

After a heated and sometimes ridiculous campaign, it looks like the voters of St. Louis County passed Proposition A, a half cent sales tax that will fund public transit in the St. Louis region.  I for one could not be more happy about this, as my very poor vision prevents me from driving and I rely on public transit to get to and from work, as well as to other business and personal destinations around St. Louis.

Metro tried to get a similar measure passed in November of 2008, but it failed miserably due mostly to the incompetence of a soon to be indicted old school political hack who had no idea how to get the people of St. Louis to understand the importance of mass transit.  That resulted in draconian cuts in service and complete removal of transit service to thousands of people, including me.

 
By passing this measure, the people of St. Louis County have begun to see the importance of public transit, not just for people like me or people who can't afford an auto, but for the region as a whole.  Metro, the region's mass transit agency, has been struggling to provide even a bare bones level of service due to the often provincial attitudes of people who most likely have never set foot on a bus and the tunnel vision of local radio talk show hosts. 

Yes, the agency has made some simply horrendous mistakes over the years and has not been a good steward of the public's money.  But a new administration, led by Ray Friem and Jessica Mefford-Miller, have made substantial changes and improvements in the way the agency does business and improved what was a horrible situation considerably. 
This measure would not have passed without the tireless efforts of Chesterfield, MO Mayor John Nations, a rare visionary who saw the importance of mass transit to the entire St. Louis region.  He should be commended for everything he's done, both before this campaign and while leading the push to get Proposition A passed, to keep the buses and trains moving in St. Louis.

But most importantly, the measure couldn't have passed without the voters of St. Louis County (OK, 22 percent of the registered voters in St. Louis County) coming out and voting for this very important initiative  I thank you, both as someone who needs public transit every day and as someone who sees the potential for the St. Louis region to be better than it can be now.  No region can prosper without a good mass transit infrastructure, and it looks like St. Louis is about to begin to make up for years of neglect, partisanship, and ignorance and come up with a practical, affordable, and workable plan tor a much needed public transit system.

Posted via web from Mark Edwards 3.0

TODAY IS THE DAY TO VOTE YES FOR PUBLIC TRASIT IN ST. LOUIS

You have been invited by The St. Louis Region to Vote Yes On Proposition A For Public Transit.

The St. Louis Region needs your YES vote on Proposition A on April 6th.  Please read the invitation for all the details.  On behalf of everyone in the area who needs the lifeline of public transit, I thank you for taking the time to vote Tuesday.

VIEW INVITE

If the link doesn't work, please click here.  And please share this with everyone you know who lives in St. Louis County!

Posted via web from Mark Edwards 3.0

More Reasons To Vote YES on Proposition A in St. Louis

Some things about the upcoming St. Louis County Proposition A vote from The St. Louis Beacon http://www.stlbeacon.org/content/view/101349/74/

Please plan now on voting YES on Proposition A on Tuesday in St. Louis County.

John Nations: The facts support 'Yes' on Proposition A, the one-half cent sales tax for Metro

By John Nations, Special to the Beacon

Posted 11:30 a.m. Wed., 03.31.10 - An unbiased review of the facts surrounding Proposition A in St. Louis County on April 6 will lead to a fair and obvious conclusion: The public-transit system in the St. Louis region benefits all of us, but cannot continue operations or make improvements without the new, long-term funding source provided by the half-cent sales tax in Prop A. But opponents of Proposition A are desperately attempting to kill public transportation in St. Louis by misrepresenting the issue and misquoting its supporters. Opponents appear to be hoping that you do not find out the truth about Proposition A. John Burns wrote an article in this space a few days ago, which misleads the voters. It's time to cut through the political rhetoric and get to the facts that you need when you go to the polls in St. Louis County on Tuesday, April 6. BURNS: "Only 10,300 St. Louis County residents use mass transit." FACT: Burns's numbers come from an old census questionnaire and not from the actual Metro verifiable ridership figures. Which would you rather rely on? The numbers for 2006-2007, before the service reductions last year, showed 15.6 million boardings of Metro vehicles a year in St. Louis County. Further, Burns' numbers do not count the thousands of daily riders in St. Louis County who are not county residents but who rely on public transportation to get to their employment in the county. Nor does the include the thousands of students, disabled, and elderly. We will not have successful businesses in St. Louis County if we do not allow people from outside the county to get to their jobs. BURNS: "Metro has ... repeatedly asked for tax increases." FACT: Metro has been in operation for 60 years and has had only two small sales taxes in St. Louis County during that entire time, during which there has been tremendous change in the St. Louis region. The last increase was in 1994 -- 16 years ago -- and the only other tax levied to support public transportation was in 1974. Since then, federal funding for operations was eliminated and in the last four years, the cost of fuel has quadrupled. The St. Louis County Council voted to put Prop A on the ballot in April because so many citizens were distressed by service reductions after the defeat of the sales tax in 2008. Read more from beacon How much will Prop A for Metro cost county residents? TRANSITion: Who rides Metro? Low-income workers need Metro to get to their job TRANSITion: Without state or federal help, Metro depends on sales taxes to pay for operations TRANSITion: From horses to high speed, the history of the region's mass transit TRANSITion: Metro explains what Prop A's half-cent sales tax would buy BURNS: "Metro made the disastrous decision not to apply for federal funding" for Cross County MetroLink expansion. FACT: Metro did not, and in fact could not, make that decision. That authority legally resides with the East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCG), the region's planning agency. Also note that EWGCG, the St. Louis County Council and the Metro Board have all agreed to pursue only future expansions that are supported by federal funds. BURNS: "The plan doesn't contain simple information such as where a new light-rail route will be built and by what date." FACT: After more than 30 regional public meetings, Metro has produced a long range plan which has been adopted unanimously by both the Metro Board and by East-West Gateway. The plan's priorities are (1) restore service cuts implemented in 2009, (2) expand the bus system and improve service throughout St. Louis County with expanded Metro Bus, Call-A-Ride for the elderly and disabled, and new Bus Rapid Transit, and (3) plan for future light rail expansion, which will only happen if economically feasible and with continued extensive public participation. Metro is not empowered to decide where a future light rail would be; that decision belongs to East-West Gateway. BURNS: Metro "hasn't proven to voters that it can successfully manage itself." FACT: More than 20 independent reviews and audits over the last two years have given Metro's new management team a clean bill of health. In fact, Metro has won awards for excellence in financial reporting, budget practices and risk management. The region's political leadership and more than 250 endorsements confirm that there is a "New Metro" which has definitely earned the public's trust and support. BURNS: "Metro doesn't allow the public to look at its books." FACT: Metro is a public agency and its financial statements, audits, budgets and nearly every other document it has are open to public inspection -- many of them online -- and are discussed in public meetings by the Board of Commissioners. Visit MetroStLouis.org and click on the "Inside Metro" tab. BURNS: "With all of this oversight, why are they $50 million in the red?" FACT: Oversight does not create revenue. Only revenue from fares, which Metro has increased four out of the last five years, is keeping pace with inflation. Federal funds for operating systems like Metro ended in 1999, leaving (in today's dollars) a $30 million annual gap. Many regions filled that gap with state and/or local support; ours did not. Missouri contributes about 1 percent of operating funds while the national average from states is about 23 percent. Revenue from regional sources has been flat or declining. Those are the reasons Metro needs more revenue. Opponents want you to believe that the funding situation began with the latest light rail extension, but the truth is that Metro has been talking about this for more than a decade. BURNS: "Metro has demonstrated it doesn't care about its employees or the poor." FACT: Metro's employees and the poor, who are among the highest number of Metro riders, are among the biggest supporters of Prop A. They all know how essential public transit is to them and to the region as a whole. Metro took many steps to avoid layoffs or service reductions, but it can only go so far when costs increase and revenues decrease. All one has to do is look at the many groups who are supporting this issue to realize how shameful Burns' political tactics are. Those are the facts and they're readily available to anyone interested in the truth. And they clearly support a "yes" vote on Proposition A. John Nations is mayor of Chesterfield, chairman of the Advance St. Louis campaign supporting passage of Proposition A, and a long-time advocate on employment and transportation matters in the St. Louis region. To reach him, contact Beacon features and commentary editor Donna Korando.

Posted via web from Mark Edwards 3.0

Can St. Louis Compete? A Truly Depressing Series From The Post-Dispatch

Despite the tone of some of my posts, I do not hate St. Louis.  I actually LOVE the region and raising my children here.  However, I've seen the area decline in so many ways that it pains me to think about what will become of the region if something doesn't change, and soon.  That's why I think making transit a priority is important.  That's why I think funding our schools is important.  And that's why I share this story from the March 28th St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 The sign posted on the side of the former Chrysler plant in Fenton boasts 5 million square feet for sale.

Can St. Louis compete?

By Tim Logan

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Sunday, Mar. 28 2010

> First of a three-part series

For a long time, St. Louis has been falling behind.

You know the story. The long, slow drift from grand Gateway to the West to the
faded outpost of flyover country. The shuttered factories and the departed
corporate headquarters. The bleeding away of the best and the brightest.

It's almost a cliché.

But it is true. And it is real. And it is threatening to get worse.

As we turn the corner out of the Great Recession and into whatever new economy
comes next, our region is struggling to keep up. Our population is growing
slowly. Our work force is aging rapidly. And we have a hard time cultivating
the sort of innovators, entrepreneurs and bright minds who will build the
economy of the future.

These challenges are not new. But facing them is more important than ever if
our region hopes to grow in the years to come.

For we are no longer just competing with Memphis or Milwaukee for jobs and
economic relevance. We are competing with Rio and Bangalore and Guangzhou. And
to compete, we need a world-class work force, the sort of people who can make
sure that the ideas that drive the new global economy are conceived and carried
out here, not halfway across the world.

"People with just a high school degree aren't going to cut it anymore," said
Richard Longworth, a fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and author
of a book on the Midwest in the global economy. "Those jobs are gone."

TALENT DEFICIENCIES

When it comes to the size and skill of our work force, St. Louis is slipping on
several fronts:

— If current trends hold, our working-age population will soon begin to shrink,
and will decline by 85,000 between 2018 and 2028, leaving 5 percent fewer St.
Louisans to power area companies and compete with faster-growing cities.

— Our high school dropout rate is among the highest in the nation. One in eight
students region-wide drops out at some point in high school, according to data
compiled by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.

— Although the region is adding college graduates, it is doing so at a slower
pace than many other places, especially among young adults who are deciding
where to launch a career. One-third of St. Louisans age 25 to 34 have at least
a bachelor's degree, compared with 48 percent in Washington and 53 percent in
Boston.

These trends have direct, measurable costs, said Joe Cortright, a Portland,
Ore.-based economist who studies work force and regional economies. Such trends
slow growth. They dampen productivity. And they can deter big companies from
locating in St. Louis and small ones from growing here.

"Employers are increasingly putting emphasis on their ability to find and
attract talented employees," Cortright said. "They tend to grow more in places
where those people are easier to find."

He even puts a number on it, a figure he calls a "talent dividend."

Research, said Cortright, shows a clear link between a region's rate of college
graduates and its economic health. Boosting the percentage of St. Louisans with
bachelor's degrees by 1 percentage point would generate an additional $2.1
billion a year in economic activity. That's $746 per person.

DEAL FALLS THROUGH

Richard Fleming cast the problem in another light: in terms of jobs that didn't
come here.

As president of the Regional Chamber and Growth Association, Fleming spent a
year just before the recession trying to woo a major employer to open a data
center. Fleming wouldn't name the firm, but said it was "a Fortune 50" company
that wanted to hire 1,500 people at good wages. Forty cities wanted the
facility, and the company narrowed it down to two finalists — St. Louis and
Raleigh, N.C.

The firm's consultants recommended St. Louis, Fleming said. But the company was
worried about the region's slow growth, concerned that it couldn't get the
workers here it would need over the years to come.

"Perception became reality," Fleming said. "And we lost the deal."

Whether real or perceived, the importance of talent is hardly a new idea.
Cities have been trying to cultivate it for a long time.

But that effort has taken on a new urgency in a global economy where anything
that can be done more cheaply somewhere else probably will be. Economic growth,
the thinking goes, lies in doing what no one else can. And that takes brains.

Compounding the urgency for St. Louis is the long, grinding recession, which
has wiped out nearly 60,000 jobs here in the past two years, including those of
many highly skilled professionals at companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev,
Macy's and KV Pharmaceutical. Those are 60,000 people who could leave the
region for greener pastures, and take their skills with them.

So far, there has been little of that kind of movement — the recession is
hitting hard just about everywhere. But as the recovery takes hold, many
experts expect that to change; high-skilled workers will flow to the places
with good jobs.

RETENTION WORK

Keeping skilled workers from flowing out of St. Louis is a full-time job for
Blair Forlaw.

She oversees talent development programs for the RCGA, which, Fleming said, has
stepped up its focus in those areas since losing that data center. Forlaw leads
an effort to help laid-off information technology workers find new jobs in St.
Louis. And after Pfizer, a major pharmaceutical company, said last fall that it
will cut nearly 700 jobs in Chesterfield, she is helping to launch a similar
effort to keep science workers here.

With Pfizer's cuts, there will be roughly 2,200 scientists and skilled
technical workers who have been idled in St. Louis since the start of 2009,
Forlaw said. If the region hopes to keep growing its biotech and medical
industries, keeping them in town is essential.

"These folks who are being let go, they have not only skills but experience,"
she said. "We don't want to be in a position of having lost them, and then
trying to bring in companies that need that kind of talent."

The science-worker program is just starting, and it got an early boost from an
unrelated decision by St. Louis University to hire 12 former Pfizer employees
for a new health research center. But the RCGA program will focus mainly on
connecting the jobless with companies, or startups in need of talent, and on
helping people shift into new science-related industries. Anything to put them
to work here.

"This is all about the economic strength and vitality of the region," Forlaw
said.

And these high-skilled workers will generate more than just high-end jobs.
Their ideas will provide a range of opportunity for others, said Roderick Nunn,
vice chancellor for work force development at St. Louis Community College.

"Look at Austin, Seattle, the Research Triangle. You see a cluster of highly
trained professionals, and a lot of other jobs being created," Nunn said. "For
every scientist, you've got to have lab techs. For every surgeon, there are
nurses and aides."

SEEDS FOR SUCCESS

These sorts of workers are the people most likely to launch innovative
startups, or use their talent to help small firms grow. This, too, generates
jobs.

Startups may not make as big a splash as luring a corporate headquarters or an
auto plant, but there is far less competition to attract them, said Longworth,
of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. And once established in St. Louis,
startups are more likely to plant deep roots.

"We're not talking about landing a Fortune 500 company," he said. "We're
talking about launching 500 little companies and hoping some of them grow."

That has been the recipe for some of the region's most-touted success stories,
such as World Wide Technology, a supply-chain management firm that has grown in
20 years from startup to $2.2 billion in revenue; or Express Scripts, which has
become one of the largest pharmacy-benefit management companies in the U.S. But
all sorts of cities are trying to attract the kind of people behind companies
such as those. And there are only so many to go around.

Many regions, including St. Louis, have poured millions of dollars into
amenities — from parks to loft apartments to event centers — designed to
attract footloose young talent. Results have been decidedly mixed, and skeptics
abound.

What really draws talent, Longworth argues, is opportunity. Smart people want
to use their brains and will go where their talents can be rewarded. No amount
of amenities will change that.

"It takes more than bicycle paths and coffee shops," he said. "You need jobs."

I LOVE TRANSIT

An important message for the people of St. Louis County, where the future of the area's mass transit system will be decided in a vote on April 6. Please plan now to vote YES on Proposition A to keep mass transit running in Sr. Louis.

As a mass transit user, I personally thank you.

A Glimmer Of Hope For St. Louis Public Transit

For the next few months, you'll be seeing me write about the public transit situation in St. Louis and the need to pass a modest tax increase in order to continue to provide even bare bones service to the area. This is a topic that's critically important to me as I rely on mass transit to get around (due to a visual handicap) but its also one of the key things that will determine how the St. Louis area develops. Without an effective public transit system, the region will atrophy and ultimately lose even more jobs and residents.

I found a piece of what could be great news today in regards to the upcoming ballot issue, thanks to my co-workers at KMOX Radio.

Posted: Wednesday, 02 December 2009 4:25AM

Metro sales tax officially resurrected; message in focus
Michael Calhoun Reporting
mrcalhoun@cbs.com
CLAYTON (KMOX) -- Last spring, Chesterfield opened its wallet to prevent transit cuts in west county. Now, the
town's mayor is heading up efforts to find permanent funding for Metro.

"After what happened this year, people are now very aware public transportation and the cuts and what it meant to the region," John Nations says.

St. Louis County Councilmembers Tuesday officially resurrected that half-cent sales tax to fund Metro and introduced it for consideration. A tentative vote will happen next week.

Nations says there's little federal help and no state funding, so it's all on Saint Louisans.

"A lot of people rely on businesses which rely on public transpiration even though they themselves don't ride it," he says of the message to come ahead of April's election.

The half-cent sales tax would generate about $80-million each
year.

Look at the campaign finance reports, he says, and you'll find
both Republicans and Democrats agreeing on that.

In the face of $45-million deficit, Metro earlier this year slashed service to parts of the region. A state bail-out helped restore some of those routes.
Copyright KMOX Radio

Why is this good news? Four words. JOHN NATIONS GETS IT. In a region where so few politicians and their stooges have no appreciation for mass transit, Mayor Nations has distinguished himself as someone who understands why transit in St. Louis is important, not only to people like me who use it, but to everyone in the region.

After the disastrous campaign to get more money for Metro, the St. Louis transit agency, in November of 2008, a monkey could run a better effort for the upcoming ballot question. The people behind the measure went a quantum leap over that and got one of the region's most visionary leaders to lead the charge and hopefully convince enough people to spring for the half cent tax to fund mass transit in St. Louis.

This isn't a partisan thing, its about what's right for the region as a whole and the patrons of mass transit as well. I hope to share objective information about how the campaign is run, the chances of passing the ballot measure, and call out the creeps should they rear their ugly heads. If you're not from St. Louis, please bear with me as this is an important issue. If you are from St. Louis, watch this space for updates.

FROM THE DESK OF ST. LOUIS MAYOR SLAY

[ Mayor's Desk Home | Search the Archives | RSS/Syndication ]

Saturday, September 26, 2009 Bob Baer and Metro In December 2007, I wrote here that I had every confidence that interim Metro president Bob Baer would do a great job of restoring public trust in Metro’s direction that had been lost by its previous managers. Looking at a new study of public opinion about Metro, it is clear that Bob’s leadership has done that. People’s concerns about Metro’s future have once again focused on issues other than its management. Instead worrying as much about its litigation strategy and lack of fiscal oversight, people now are talking wanting the region’s public transportation system to go more places, to be more convenient to their homes and offices, and to be safe. That’s Bob Baer’s mark at Metro so far: he has reassured us that the transportation agency in back on track. To my surprise and pleasure, Bob Baer has agreed to become Metro’s permanent president. As its top official, he will be very prominent in the public discussion of Metro’s request for additional revenues to maintain and expand public transportation in the region. St. Louis County voters will be the first to weigh Bob’s arguments, most likely at an election this coming year. But, voters in St. Charles County , Jefferson County , and in southern Illinois will not be far behind. (City voters have already approved additional funding.) The stakes are high: a useful and efficient system of public transportation is one of the keys of the region’s economic prosperity. The panic of suburban employers over recent budget-related cut-backs in service surely reminded everyone of the stakes. I do not envy Bob Baer the challenges ahead. I cannot think of anyone else more likely to overcome them. He will have my strong support.

via mayorslay.com

Some observations to the actual words of Mayor Francis Slay's own words (because he would never use a professional PR person to write the blog) are here:

TO MY SURPRISE AND PLEASURE????????? Surprise because Mr. Baer, who is not a bad guy, has accepted the second worst job in St. Louis, the worst being in charge of attracting major national conventions here. But he's pulling in 190K a year, so he should be able to afford enough antidepressants to make the job worth his while.

THE PANIC OF SUBURBAN EMPLOYERS OVER RECENT BUDGET RELATED CUT-BACKS IN SERVICE SURELY REMINDED EVERYONE OF THE STAKES. Yeah, nobody within the city limits must have cared about the gutting of the bus system. Is that what you're trying to tell us, Mr. Mayor? When's the last time you've been to where the buses used to run in South City, or perhaps at AG Edwards/Wachovia/Wells Fargo on Market Street? I forgot, the city is wonderful and the county is EVIL and that's why you want to combine them into one completely dysfunctional unit of government.

HE WILL HAVE MY STRONG SUPPORT. Until I have to tell all the suburbanites on TV or Charlie "I Hate Metro" Brennan's show that I support a tax increase that will not build a nice new Arch Grounds, Sculpture Garden, or Ballpark Village.

Personally, I think Bob Baer, Jessica Mefford-Miller, and other very dedicated people really do want the system to improve and better serve its customers. The problem is that County Executive Charlie Dooley, Mayor Slay, a posse of legislators in Jefferson City, and tens of thousands of citizens are working hard to make sure the St. Louis region STAGNATES because nobody with political and public opinion influence will properly explain the benefits of a good mass transit system and how a small tax increase will benefit everyone in the area, even the elected officials who wouldn't be caught dead on a bus unless it was for a photo op when unused buses are turned into cooling shelters.

COMMENTS ARE WELCOME AT HTTP://MARKONTHEWEB.BLOGSPOT.COM

Posted via web from Mark Edwards 3.0

MASTERMIND OF FAILED ST. LOUIS TRANSIT FUNDING CAMPAIGN "RESIGNS"

From the Tuesday, September 22 St. Louis Business Journal:

St. Louis County lobbyist Cline to resign

St. Louis Business Journal

Darin Cline

View Larger

Darin Cline plans to resign as St. Louis County’s chief governmental lobbyist.

Cline’s duties include acting as liaison to the state of Missouri.

Cline also was County Executive Charlie Dooley’s campaign manager in 2006.

“He had an opportunity to get back into full-time political consulting, and it was an opportunity too good to pass up,” said Mac Scott, Dooley’s spokesman. “The county executive wishes him well.”

Cline did not return a request for comment.

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

Here's the story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Curiouser and curiouser...

Home "> Blog Zone "> Political Fix "> Political Fix "> As the rumor mill turns: Dooley aide resigns amid political frenzy

09.22.2009 9:18 am

As the rumor mill turns: Dooley aide resigns amid political frenzy

By Jake Wagman

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Cline

As our St. Louis County beat reporter Paul Hampel reports in today’s paper, there was intrigue out of Clayton last night, where an aide to County Executive Charlie A. Dooley abruptly resigned.

His departure has nothing to do with persistent rumors of a federal probe into county government, Darin Cline, Dooley’s director of intergovernmental relations said.

Nor, Cline added, was he leaving because of a pending IRS inquiry into his personal finances, though that at least is real, Cline acknowledged.

“My attorneys and my accountant are handling that matter on my behalf,” Cline told Hampel.

Welcome to St. Louis politics, circa August/September 2009.

Since the guilty pleas of two state lawmakers that straddled the city limits — former State Sen. Jeff Smith represented St. Louis, ex-State Rep. Steve Brown calls Clayton home — suspicions have run rampant among Democrats across the region.

Adding to the frenzy is that Smith was caught on a wire worn by Brown, who in turn was busted with the help of recorded conversations he had with now-jailed Democratic strategist Milt “Skip” Ohlsen III.

In other words: You never know who is listening.

Cline’s departure may have more to do with politics than justice — with Dooley gearing up for what could be a tough re-election campaign, he does not need any distractions on the Ninth Floor.

That’s not to say the feds are done with their crackdown of political corruption. But it’s anybody’s guess if the next conviction, should there be one, will finally temper speculation — or add to the paranoia of who might be on deck.

Tags: Charlie Dooley, Darin Cline, Jeff Smith, Skip Ohlsen, Steve Brown

I've written about this gentleman many times before in this blog, and from everything I've been able to ascertain, this is the person behind the embarrassingly amateurish and woefully unsuccessful campaign to add a one half cent sales tax in St. Louis County to fund mass transit. The campaign was run out of St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley's office because Metro, as a public agency, can't conduct a political campaign.

Cline seems to have been the henchman, I prefer the term HACK, charged with running the campaign, and his efforts were so horrid that a freshman PolySci student would have been sent home with his tail between his legs after having proposed a campaign that so underestimated the needs of the people and the importance of the issue. In a real business, this guy would likely have been fired for blowing the campaign, endangering the economy of the entire St. Louis region, and not carrying out his duties on behalf of the people of St. Louis County.

I don't know Darin Cline, but not for lack of trying. I've tried to link to him on Facebook and LinkedIn, but clearly this man wants nothing to do with me. I've written him asking to meet to discuss how I can help the disaster that is mass transit in St. Louis County. Not a word in reply. Maybe its the whole thing about me caring about the St. Louis region. Whatever the reason, it looks like Cline's days are numbered and he might be taking up residence in lovely Terre Haute, Indiana.

As of now, a tax to help raise money for mass transit in St. Louis is due to go on the ballot in April of 2010. County Executive Dooley is in for a major battle for re election, as he has proven once and for all that he is no Buzz Westfall, someone who would have NEVER let Proposition M fail in 2008.

Dooley, and EVERYONE in St. Louis, needs someone with an understanding of the importance of public transit, the economic value to the future of the St. Louis region that comes from a complete transit system, and the ability to communicate a message that will get people to vote for a small tax increase in April. Darin Cline is all but gone, what's the chance Dooley and his cronies can do better and actually get the ballot measure passed?