Blog > Blog > Archive by category 'Rants and Raves'

March 28, 2009 at 12:14 pm

Owning a commercial storefront and living along a busy street in an urban area can be quite the eye opening experience. The noise ceased to bother me a long time ago, but there is one thing I just can’t just and probably never will be able to tolerate: TRASH. Read more

March 24, 2009 at 11:32 am

Just say no… to Bradford Pear trees! They might grow quickly, and might be full and lush, but that comes at a price: They are are as fragile as glass (a slight exaggeration). Read more

February 3, 2009 at 7:51 pm

It’s no secret that far too many quality buildings in the City of St. Louis fall victim to the wrecking ball. With some buildings, only the most die-hard preservationists take notice and offense. But every once in a while something is torn down that raises the “What were they thinking?” flag. Read more

January 13, 2009 at 2:25 pm

I have always felt a defined hatred for the concept of eminent domain. The thought that the government can forcefully take your property from you seems to be the definition of Un-American. In St. Louis City we have seen eminent domain used Read more

October 17, 2008 at 10:18 am

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but the looting in our area seems to be getting worse all the time. Whether the target is scrap or antiques, its running rampant. Most of the time, the cost is economic, but sometimes the cost is much higher. Unfortunately, this is a pretty egregious case of the latter. Read more

September 4, 2008 at 3:58 pm

The South Side Journal just posted a story about “No left turn” signs that I found interesting. I understand the need to prevent left turns at many intersections, but there are a few that are just ridiculous. I just moved near the intersection of Gravois and Jefferson and it drives me crazy that I can’t turn left on these streets. It might seem like I’m nitpicking, but I really think the prohibition negatively effects businesses in the area and deters people from moving in. Am I alone in this?

July 22, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Ever since Anheuser-Busch and InBev came to terms on their merger/takeover, I have been thinking a lot about St. Louis’ future. Whether or not St. Louis retains an important role in the Anheuser-Busch InBev corporate structure, there is no doubt that changes are on the way. Read more

June 25, 2008 at 9:05 am

Having moved back to South St. Louis a year ago, after a long hiatus in the suburbs, I have really enjoyed being back. While I recognize that “city life” isn’t for everybody, I think that St. Louis has made some real strides in terms of winning back people lost during the mass exodus era of the 80’s and 90’s. Both commercial and residential sectors that had long been neglected, are seeing new life. Even North City is starting to see a significant turnaround in areas such as Old North St. Louis. Read more

June 4, 2008 at 2:29 pm

This is a piece of trash. Intimidating isn’t it. Well don’t worry. If the St. Louis Board of Alderman has it’s way you won’t have to see this stuff anymore. According to an article recently published in the South Side Journal (Business owners want trash bill canned), Alderman Steve Conway, D-8th Ward, has sponsored a bill requiring convenience stores and carryout restaurants to pick up all trash originating from their place of business within a 300 foot radius at least once a day. Read more

April 15, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Some days of the year are cherished. These holidays allow us to relax and enjoy ourselves. Then there are days like April 15th: Tax Day. For those of you getting money back, this might be considered among those cherished days. For others it is as bad as it gets. Read more

March 5, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Not to be too repetitive in my rants (see Ugly roadside trashcans), but the landscaping around the interstate highways in St. Louis City is just god awful. Whether you’re on Interstate 44, 55, 70 or 64-40, there is so much missed potential. For example, the picture above shows the state of Highway 44 between Jefferson and Grand. Those aren’t planted trees and shrubs, they are overgrow weeds and brush. And you don’t want to see what the fence looks like. This is the heart of our urban area here; can’t we do more?

Obviously, the roadsides can’t be a lush garden from one end of the metro area to another. Grass with an occasional tree or flower bed is and should remain the norm. Costs would just be too prohibitive to do too much more. We should also address the fencing that borders the highway system. Bent, buckled and rusted chain-link fencing overgrown with weeds doesn’t really give people a sense of pride in the area. It just seems like there is no effort to beautify the area. Just maintain the inadequate current infrastructure.

With clever planning and a slightly increased budget, eyesores link the highway stretch displayed above could become assets. If the goals were modest and improvements were gradually made over a 10-year period, I see no reason why things couldn’t realistically be improved. Is anyone aware of any current efforts on this front?

February 27, 2008 at 1:23 am

They say that without order their is chaos. Then I guess the world of real estate is one of chaos. Or at least it feels like it at times. I have noticed a recurring theme in the real estate world that is becoming impossible to ignore: Nobody pays attention to contracts anymore!

Contracts seem to have gone from being legally binding agreements to mere pieces of paper. Have no contingencies left and decide you don’t like the deal anymore just days before closing? Just walk away from the contract. Pass your inspection contingency and decide a week later that you want to bail by fraudulently claiming that you can’t get financing? Just walk away from the contract. Decide that you want to sell your property to someone after you already have it under with someone else? Just walk away from the contract. Nobody seems to pay attention to these things anymore. Deadlines come and go and agents, lenders, buyers and sellers take no notice.

There was a time when businessmen, shady as many of them were, had a strong enough sense of follow-through that a mere handshake agreement was sufficient. Nowadays, I can have a legally binding agreement put down in writing only to have one of the parties spit on it as if it were meaningless. I don’t know if this is a sign of the world we live in today or something isolated to the world of real estate.

I am probably making the situation sound worse than it really is, but I often find myself quite frustrated during transactions. I often think we have come to this state due to the influx of unqualified or uninterested buyers that popped into the market over the last few years during the era of 100% financing and questionable appraisals. Hopefully with those days gone this trend will begin to dissipate. Hopefully.

Or maybe if more people would sue buyers or sellers that violate contracts we could curb this issue. Perhaps people are becoming emboldened due to the fact that it is very unlikely that they will face any repercussions from breaking a contract. I’m not advocating that everyone in the real estate world become sue-happy, but it’s a perfectly acceptable recourse in certain situations.

These issues probably play a role in the lack of respect shown to contracts, but in the end there is probably something less tangible at work. We all just need to remember that a contract is a contract is contract. Once you sign on the dotted line, you can’t just change your mind and walk away if there are no loopholes or contingencies. There is an endless amount of money to be made in this business if we all just learn to keep our heads. A well-written document protects the interests of all parties to our mutual benefit, but only if we can all have enough integrity to show these documents the respect they deserve.

February 20, 2008 at 5:24 pm

Apparently Post Dispatch writer Paul Hampel really likes his parking spaces. At least that’s what his article in today’s paper leads me to believe. One would think that Montgomery Bank building a 120,000 sq ft mixed-use development in downtown Clayton would be a positive thing. But all Mr. Hampel seems to care about is that the project will displace his favorite parking lot. That’s all his 596 word, joke of an article, focuses on. Am I the only one that find such short-sighted blabber ridiculous? I wish we had a true alternative newspaper in this town. Its thinking like this that’s going to keep our area from ever making real progress.

February 13, 2008 at 8:56 pm

There are just so many little things that I come across in the City that bug me. Individually these things aren’t major issues, but when they start adding up, their impact can really be felt.

One of those “little things” that always gets on my nerves is the trashcans found at the on and off ramps of the interstates in the City. Every time I am sitting at a stoplight getting on or off the highways I see these monstrosities and can’t help but be disgusted. Many times they are overflowing with trash laying all over the ground, but thats not my biggest problem with them.

My issue with these trashcans is their design. Just look at this thing. I don’t think you could build a more unsightly, utilitarian refuse container if you tried. What ever happened to beautification? I’m not asking for a $10,000 trashcan; just something that doesn’t look like it was put together by a local boyscout troop from donated materials.

When County residents or out-of-towners pay a visit to St. Louis, this is the welcome mat they see. It leaves a bad first impression. If we want to bring residents back to the City to fill our apartments or buy our rehabs, things like this have to be addressed. City officials are always looking for big high-dollar projects to transform the landscape. If only they would put as much emphasis on the small, affordable touches. We might might get more bang for our buck.

If anyone knows who to contact to comlain about this issue I would love to hear from you.

January 28, 2008 at 10:15 pm

Oh how I hate sitting at traffic lights. I understand why they exist and can’t think of any better way to manage traffic, but I still hate them. And traffic lights in the City of St. Louis are some of the worst you’ll ever come across.

I live in Benton Park and workout at the Fitness Factory on Washington Avenue Downtown. My rage just increases every time I make that trip. My route takes me down Tucker Avenue and I swear that there are times that I hit ever light on a red. That half mile run from Chouteau to Washington can take forever under those conditions. Long enough to open even the most patient person’s eyes to this horrendous problem facing St. Louis: non-synchronized traffic lights!

Obviously, you feel the impact of this problem most significantly in areas with many intersections such as Downtown, but the problem is city-wide. The City has been talking up and “studying” plans for improved synchronization for years, but there has been little action. In early January, the Downtown St. Louis Partnership claimed that traffic signals Downtown, east of Tucker, will be synced by this April. That’s great, if true, but what about the rest of the City?

Just another one of those little things that leaves people with a bad impression of our fair city. How is it that virtually every county in the metropolitan area can have sensors in the ground to detect if a car is waiting at an intersection, but St. Louis can’t even sync the traffic lights of major transportation corridors without studying the problem for ten years? Unfortunately, nobody in City Hall seems to have a good answer to that question.

To be fair, I’m probably being overly dramatic about the situation, but there is not doubt that there is a problem. Feel free to share your displeasure with your local alderman if you feel particularly passionate. If there is a particular light you have had problems with, the City actually has a special website to report the issue. Let the complaints begin: light synchronization complaints.

Next Page »