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I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day! Last week's newsletter was called the "Twelve-Pete Newsletter" based on what I had read in the Webster-Kirkwood Times, but it seems that last week's 46-6 victory was Kirkwood's 11th-straight, not 12. Apologies! Unfortunately the Varsity team lost to Nixa in the state semis last weekend, but I just want to say I played varsity football for SLUH for four years and didn't beat CBC once. A Turkey Day win, beating CBC in the playoffs, and making it to the semifinals is a hell of a season for the program. Congrats to Jeremy Maclin and all involved!
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- I'm incredibly close to finishing a piece looking at one of the public hearing items on tonight's City-Council meeting's agenda. The full story should be out later this morning, but in short, the topic at hand is a Council-initiated zoning text change that would seek to reduce the costs of large additions by eliminating sidewalk requirements. If my argument convinces you, I encourage you to comment in person at tonight's meeting or email your comment to City Clerk Laurie Asche (ascheLB@kirkwoodmo.org) so she can include it in the public record. A couple of additional highlights from tonight's agenda:
- In another public hearing, City Council will hear testimony on a proposed amendment to outdoor lighting regulations intended to reduce light pollution. If approved, outdoor lighting would have to be dimmer and yellower in hue than the bright blue-white LED lights that have become popular in recent years (Waterway's and Plaza Tire's lights would be about 25% above the new legal limit for example).
- It is important to note that these changes would not apply to street lights (where the tradeoff between dimmer lighting and public safety is more acute) nor would it apply to single-family homes (which are exempt). Some people —I call them the "pastoral environmentalists"— have gotten really fired up about light pollution in recent years, so this seems like a decent attempt by the council to address their concerns without sacrificing too much in the way of public safety/walkability, but I don't know why single-family homes would be exempt. That seems like a political calculation more than an outcomes-oriented one.
- Downtown Kirkwood SBD sells annual parking permits to Downtown Kirkwood employers for distribution amongst their employees. It's not much, but it's the closest thing Kirkwood currently has to my dream of priced parking. Each year, the City has to decide how much to charge for those permits based on expectations of supply (how much parking we think we'll have) and demand (how much parking we think people will consume). This year, some of that supply will be curtailed because one of the city parking lots has to be used for the temporary train station. Unless we're expecting demand to go down that should mean the price needs to go up! But instead we're keeping the price unchanged for the second straight year. Instead of trying to centrally plan our economy like the USSR, I wish we would utilize the free tech we got and let the market determine the price of our parking.
- A few highlights from last week's edition of the Webster Kirkwood Times:
- This article on KSD's teachers' efforts to get paid parental leave included in their next collective bargaining agreement made me think of the City Council's decision to reject the development of the two city-owned Jefferson lots. That's partially because everything reminds me of those two lots (I'm obsessed), but it's also partially because I estimated keeping them as surface parking lots costs the school district nearly $120k in forgone tax revenue each and every year. That's not enough to fund a full parental leave policy for the entire district, but again, it's only two lots! There are thousands of lots in the city, and if the council allowed a bit more development on any small portion of them, the district would be able to afford parental leave, which would allow it to recruit better teachers, which would make the schools even better, which would increase property values and so on and so on.
- The Eye on Kirkwood section featured a new survey for you to take, this time regarding the city's stormwater survey. Pleas take any of the following you have yet to complete!
- Last week's newsletter was called the "Twelve-Pete Newsletter" based on what I had read in the Webster-Kirkwood Times, but it seems that last week's 46-6 victory was Kirkwood's 11th-straight, not 12. Apologies! Unfortunately the Varsity team lost to Nixa in the state semis last weekend, but I just want to say I played varsity football for SLUH for four years and didn't beat CBC once. A Turkey Day win, beating CBC in the playoffs, and making it to the semifinals is a hell of a season for the program. Congrats to Jeremy Maclin and all involved!
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That's it for today! The December events calendar looks jam-packed so check it out if you're looking for something to do! Have a great weekend everyone!
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