St. Lou Jews & How Prop A Came Together

"Nice Idea, But We Can't Afford It"

That sums up what Batya Abramson-Goldstein, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of St. Louis, expected to hear from the voters of St. Louis County when they were asked this year to invest in Metrolink with a half-cent sales tax hike.

Proposition A, as it was called, instead passed with a comfortable margin, almost sixty-three percent of the vote.

"That's a remarkable showing in the middle of a bad economic climate," says my friend Larry Handlin, a local political junkie and blogger. Tax initiatives had been soundly beaten twice before, most recently just in 2008, when fifty-two percent of St. Louis County voters said "no."

"A Vote of No Confidence"

Tom Shrout, Executive Director of Citizens for Modern Transit, spent a good part of 2008 in frustration. The campaign for Proposition M, that year's sales tax hike, was being run by a staff member in the office of County Executive Charlie Dooley, and its message was mostly about how Metrolink needed more money.

That was unfortunate, since tales of perceived overspending and mismanagement by Metrolink had been grabbing headlines for much of the year.

Many had assumed Prop M would pass, but looking back, the outcome was pretty predictable.

"What happened at the ballot box was a vote of no confidence," explains Batya Abramson-Goldstein.

But even before the Prop M vote in 2008, Tom Shrout had been part of a group that started putting together a coalition, the Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance, that kept working, kept meeting, kept reaching out.

The JCRC was part of the effort all along but radically stepped up its game as well, holding community forums and building advocacy as early as March of 2009.

The Secret Is in the Sauce

Jews are as prominent in St. Louis public transit issues as we are in most other areas of civic engagement. Maybe more so. Going back decades, some prominent names are those of former Clayton mayor Ben Uchitelle (who I study Torah with at Central Reform Congregation), or Les Sterman, head of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, or Fred Epstein, part of the leadership of the Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance.

But from the start of the campaign for Prop A, even before anyone knew which letter it would have, the Jewish organizing machine seemed to go into overdrive.

Tom Shrout recalls that Bob Baer, Metro's President and CEO, reached out to Jewish organizations as far back as December of 2008, leading to a meeting with over forty people that focused on the implications of losing mass transit for less fortunate people.

Four months later, the JCRC put together a community forum that drew almost two hundred people, more than a year before election day.

"The bus lines were being closed down," Abramson-Goldstein recalls. "We had a couple who live in a nursing home, and they were no longer able to get to their synagogue let alone other activities. There was a blind woman, President of a state organization, who was completely dependent on Metrolink. There was a young Muslim man unable to get to work or his mosque."

"It was a community concern," she concludes. "A social justice concern. The whole community was affected, and the issue resonated on all those levels."

Jewish volunteers and organizations networked with labor unions, social welfare organizations, African-American churches, and disability advocates such as the Missouri Organization for the Blind. The editorial board of the Jewish Light prodded the community with strong endorsements. A massive absentee ballot effort was launched to enable observant County residents to cast their votes on election day, April 6th, which fell on a Yom Tov, the eighth day of Passover.

It All Came Together. And How.

Numerically, the differences between 2008 and 2010 are eye-popping. In spite of the worst economic conditions in recent memory, supporters of Prop A delivered more votes in almost every precinct.

But Tom Shrout saw one particular pattern right away.

"You saw a big turnaround in Olivette, Creve Coeur, and other parts of the region," he recalls, indicating areas with high proportions of Jewish voters.

"In those places, it was eighteen to twenty percentage points," he points out. "That's huge."

The St. Louis County Board of Elections crunched the numbers and came up with the images below, which you can see in greater detail here.



Overlay these maps with your minds-eye view of the Jewish geography of St. Louis, and you begin to see the picture.

"I Think It Shows the Power of Community."

In fairness, Prop A was carried by hefty margins in plenty of decidedly not Jewish precincts.

But all in all, the Jewish community arguably deserves a pat on the back for keeping the engine of transit running in St. Louis.

"I'm grateful to the Jewish community," says Tom Shrout. "I have been for twenty-two years."

Batya Abramson-Goldstein would certainly agree.

"It's terrific when the community comes together," she says.

Michael Getty is a freelance writer who blogs at almostjewish.wordpress.com and tweets at twitter.com/shimonides

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Inspiration and Hope from the Nation's Capitol

Just got back from a whirlwind 36 hours in DC, and boy does St. Louis have a few things to learn...but so does DC


Y and I spent the weekend (or at least 30 hours) in DC this weekend, doing some undercover research versus St. Louis, venn diagram style. My initial, gut-reaction thoughts on the comparison between the two:

Transportation: Our gripes have been well documented here, but St. Louis doesn't stand a chance. For anyone wondering what a world-class transportation system does for a city, take a weekend riding the Metro in DC and you will find out. As a kid, I could't get over the cool machine that took your ticket, spit it back out and opened the space-age gates. Now? I can't get over a public transit system that goes wherever you want it to go, comes when you want it to come, and has stations that look so cool. Seriously, riding the Metro can be a night all its own, it's that good.

Options: This is another place where DC reigns above supreme. In St. Louis, you choose the kind of place you want to go, and then from there choose between the three places that fit that bill. In DC, choosing the kind of place leaves you with dozens of NEIGHBORHOODS to choose from, each which have multiple places you could go. And if you get tired of the 20 bars in the neighborhood you chose? Hop back on the Metro and you will be somewhere else in 10 minutes.

Cost: Same for transportation (possibly even a little cheaper in DC), DC drinks a little more, DC food a lot more, DC gas a lot more... No surprise here when I say St. Louis is a cheaper city

Convenience: Started drinking at 4pm, stopped drinking at 1am, never had to think about a driver or how I was going to get home. Enough said.

The Clientele: By this, I just mean the people in general that I interacted with throughout the weekend (strangers, not my friends) in the Philly airport and in DC. Maybe I have been in the Midwest too long, but I tried to help a man with his bag down from the overhead bin, and he glared at me like I was going to steal it and disappear, despite the fact we were crammed into an overcrowded airplane. I'm just trying to help dude. Guess I forgot we don't do that out East.

Cool Factor: This is the biggest gut reaction of all, but it's the feeling that, wherever you are, whenver you step outside you are in the middle of the action. I'm talking Sunday morning, walking down Mass Ave from Dupont to Gallery Place, more was going on around me than in the middle of the Loop on any given night. I will admit, this could just be a DC bias showing through, but there is just an energy surrounding everything you do and everywhere you go that St. Louis is sorely lacking. DC is the hot girl who knows how hot she is, while St. Louis is the mousy girl with glasses who is afraid to let her hair down because maybe someone will notice and talk to her.

Ultimately, that is what it comes down to... Yeah, you are going to pay a little more in DC and the people are going to be a little more abrasive. But you get all the perks that come along with big city life while being able to get anywhere you want with relative ease. Now if St. Louis could just get that transporation thing down, couple it with some more choice for entertainment and keep the low prices and Midwest charm, maybe we could get to work on that cool factor. Whaddya say?



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Big Things Happenning

Your opportunity to help St. Louis and the environment (and save money!).
Plus, UJC reads our blog, you should too.
And, St. Louis makes its case for legitimacy.

So first and foremost, if you remember, in an earlier post, I bemoaned the public transportation here in St. Louis and made a personal commitment to get involved. Turns out that I'm not the only 'concerned citizen', and in fact, there is a large group in St. Louis, called Citizens for Modern Transit, that is working with employers and other citizens to get people to use the Metro system. In conjunction with Thursday June 19th's Dump The Pump day (to encourage people to drive less by riding bikes and taking public transportation), they are offering free metro rides! I couldn't be more excited to ride around all day and night. The trick here is to get people to ride who normally wouldn't, make them comfortable with the safety and ease of the Metro, and then convince them to lather, rinse, repeat.

The second order of business is that our Israel Correspondent's last post, which is certainly worth the read, was discovered by someone at the UJC, and she was offered the chance to participate on another expedition with journalists to the areas affected by constant bombardment from Gaza. Who says blogging can't change lives. (Consequently, if there is anyone out there that wants to give us a grant to write full time, feel free).

Finally, an update to Summer in the City. Yes, St. Louis might have just become a city in my book. What is it, you say, that pushed it over the edge? Was is population growth? An increase in government funding for development?

No, in fact my opinion was changed by two events. The first was meeting the ensemble cast of the upcoming production of The Producers at the Muny at Kim Massie's weekly show at Beale.
The second was my experience at the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday. Every Wednesday, the Botanical Gardens opens up and people flock to see music, have picnics, and just hang out outside. The sheer number and diversity of people there, as well as the general atmosphere, and absolute beauty of the gardens made me feel more at peace with St. Louis perhaps anything has previously. I know, I know, its not that profound, it doesn't seem that special, but do be there and just see the density of sights and sounds, which I generally associate with Chicago or New York, and to have it almost literally in my back yard. . .fantastic!

Check out Kim Massie:



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Reflections on Chicago

I got back late last night after a wonderful weekend in Chicago, filled with camp friends, abundant Jewish females, family, and public transportation. So the question that follows this is:

---edit---What do I need to do to get make that a part of my life in St. Louis?

First, I'm going to make a commitment to start taking public transportation, advocating for it, and finding out how to make it work. Rosh dropped me at the Grand station this morning, cuz the brilliant designers forgot a park n' ride.

I managed to get there just as the train pulled up, but I didn't have a ticket, and the ticket machine was hard to find. I had to decide between hopping on with out a ticket and waiting for the next train. . . hey, I may be cheap, but I have morals, sometimes.

I hopped off at Clayton, a relatively short ride, then walked another 10-15 minutes to the office, cuz I don't know which bus to take.

So now there are three major issues that have come up in this one experience with STL metro transportation.
A. Where is the ability to drop my car off?
B. Why is the ticket system so backwards. Its like Amsterdam, really. Put in a turnstile system like NYC or Chicago, it works, people pay.
C. Why is the metrostl website not super user friendly. I would want to streamline the whole thing so that it comes down to stops, times, and travel planning. Show me an interactive map that isn't from 1995.
D. This didn't so much come up from this one ride, but really, add more lines/stops. Read More......