Metropolitan Rural

… ask what you can do for your country.

A truly great sentiment from the beloved President John F. Kennedy during his inaugural address.  Yet, where is that belief now?

• “Why doesn’t the government do something about gas prices…”  (so I can drive my SUV 35 miles each way to work.
• “Why doesn’t the government do something about the food prices…” (so I can continue to eat too much, go out to eat, and throw away food that is still good)
• “Why doesn’t the government do something about the high energy prices…”  (so I don’t have to consider the impact of my energy consumption on the environment)
• “Why doesn’t the government do something about the mortgage and credit crisis…”  (so I don’t have to feel bad about making a bad financial decision for myself/my corporation)
• “Why doesn’t the government do something about the high price of health care…”  (so I can get as much care as I want without considering the cost)

It seems so much is going on today asking the government to fix our problems from the top down.  What’s wrong with real people making real changes to their own lifestyles that lead to real changes in our country.  Let’s try things from the bottom up.  Sure, each of us as individuals make a minuscule impact on each of these things.  However, there are over 300 million Americans today. 

If each American saved just 1/2 gallon of gas each week this year, that would add up to 7.8 BILLION gallons that would not be used over the course of a year (at the DOE estimate of 388.6 gallons per day consumed in the US, that is 20 days of gas savings for the year).  For an SUV that gets 18 MPG, that amounts to driving just 9 miles less each week, just over 1 mile less per day.

Let’s not forget, we have a government OF the people, BY the people and for the people.  Let’s stop emphasizing the for and think about that it’s not an Us against Them when it comes to government.  We ARE the government.  Each of these problems above can be solve quite simply by changing the behavior of ourselves and expecting the same of our neighbors.  We are 300 million strong and can have a huge impact when we start to do things that might not be pleasant for us, but that we know if for the greater good of all. 

Let’s stop thinking about “what our country do for us” and get back to thinking about “what we can do for our country.”

I was talking with some co-workers on Friday who were discussing the high cost of gas.  I did some math on our new car and discovered this.

We’ve had the car 20 weeks now.  During that time, we have bought just over 160 gallons of gas.  Average gallons per week is just over 8. 

My co-workers, on the other hand, were buying somewhere in the neighborhood of 20+ gallons per week because of longer commutes, multiple cars and both spouses working. 

With gas currently being around $3.50 a gallon, I’m spending $28 per week and $1,456 per year on gas.  The suburban commuting co-worker(s) is spending $70 per week and $3,640 per year (and one of their cars is a Prius, the other I believe is a Corrola, imagine the 2 SUV family!).  That means I save $2,184 each year on gas.  Not to mention that I don’t have 2 car payments, 2 sets of oil changes, 2 insurance payments or 2 sets of new tires to buy either.  Sure, I spend $60 a month on a bus pass, but that pales in comparison to the extra costs they are paying.  

What else I don’t get is that this co-worker lives southwest of Fenton.  She works downtown here and her husband is a teacher at some school in south county.  A home in south city or county would save them quite a bit in gas alone I’m sure.   

After all, I can buy a LOT Of Ted Drewes with my extra $42 a week!

Mayor Slay gave his annual state of the city address to the board of aldermen and guests this morning.  A transcript of the speech can be found on his website here.

While I don’t always agree with the methods our mayor and city government goes about the ideas of progress and development, I do have to give him some credit here.  Yes, there are many things he talks about which are better about the city than 7 years ago when he took office.  Yes, as he says, there is still a lot of work to do as well.  Also, he recognizes that the effort has much to do not just with his office, the aldermen and other city employees, but has a lot to do with citizens and private organizations as well.

Could another mayor have lead the city to the same growth and improvements seen under Mayor Slay?  Of course.  If he really is a smart man (which I’m pretty sure he is), I’m sure he’d agree that he’s not totally 100% unique in that. 

While he has been at the helm while the city has undergone recent growth, much of the growth surely would have happened with or without him.  My issues with our city government still lies in their approach to creating new opportunities and development.  Of course, we are not alone in that respect.  Many cities follow each other on the same paths we lead.

To be more fiscally responsible as a government, we should put into place a more well defined zoning ordinance as stated by Steve Patterson on a number of occasions over at Urban Review St. Louis.  It is a view shared by many in the historic preservation circles of the city.  A comprehensive zoning ordinance will let the city grow even faster by shortening the time for plan review and approval for all city developments.  No longer does a developer need to deal with the alderman and/or mayor in order to get plans approved for large development.  Many individuals are reluctant to do some projects for that very reason. 

However, the zoning is only part of the fix.  We’ve also seen millions of tax dollars thrown at pet projects such as Loughborough Commons and new downtown Schnuck’s both being developed by Desco (the development arm of Schnuck’s).  There are numerous other projects that we could go on and on about.  I won’t argue that sometime economic development needs some added incentives in order to encourage developers.  Mayor Slay speaks about a new initiative to have $150 million dollars of investment in the predominantly black neighborhoods of north city.  How do we go about using that to encourage the development?  Should we hand pick some “friendly” developers and give it away to them in exchange for re-election campaign contributions (which Mayor Slay mentioned his own fundraiser in his speech, how tacky).  I think not.  With comprehensive zoning, we would know exactly what kind of development needs to take place, so it’s about dividing up the spoils of tax payer money to get development started.  Why not make it available more broadly and let the real competition of development come out to make the best use of property based on the zoning code?

We see this same sort of thing going on with the historic preservation tax credits.  Anyone working on buildings withing the preservation area meeting preservation guidelines qualifies.  There is no need to be a campaign contributor or friend of specific government officials to qualify.  It’s a much more democratic way to do things.  While the dollar amounts may be lower in a residential neighborhood, the rate of development is surely to be higher with the competition of more developers in an area. 

So, let’s take a step back and appreciate this wonderful city for all our architecture, parks and (most of all) residents.  Looking ahead lets think about how to best encourage general growth without constant meddling by elected officials.  Instead of spinning our wheels doing one deal at a time, lets create the structure to let things happen on a broader scale at a much faster pace.  With the recent housing market drop and rise in gas prices, the city could be poised for massive investment for those interested in moving closer to work into affordable homes.  Unfortunately, because we missed our chance to have a better system in place, we may be left behind once again with a trickling growth rate that seems impressive when you talk about only the dollars of investment, but compared to the grand scheme of things is still rather puny.

Do you get sinking feeling every time you pull into the gas station to fill up?  If so, I’ve developed a fool proof solution to help you save some money.

STOP DRIVING SO MUCH!!!

Oh sure, you might not like my solution, but it’s guaranteed to work, 100% of the time.  I would offer a money back guarantee, but I’m not charging you for my advice.

I read the other day that Presidential candidate John McCain was going to propose a holiday on the gas tax for the summer driving season to give US consumers a relief.  Great, just what we need, another excuse to use more gas because it’s not so expensive.

You see, economics works from 2 angles called Supply and Demand.  If the suppliers of gasoline can continue to reap large profits by raising prices, they should be not only allowed, but expected to raise prices.  Honestly, if you ran a business and knew you would make more profit by simply raising prices you would too. 

If, on the other hand, the Demand becomes too inelastic (meaning demand falls enough when the prices is raised that the Supplier makes less revenue and thus less profit) they will stop raising prices and lower them in order to make more money.  Yet, as much as I hear people complain about gas prices, few people are changing their behavior around it.  I don’t hear those people talking about moving closer to work, cutting back on the kids activities, taking fewer driving vacations or even going out to eat less.  Instead, they’d rather complain and ask the government to fix it so they can continue on their merry way.

High gas prices excite me personally.  I just wonder how much farther we’ll go before people finally get the idea and conserve gas.  How much higher before alternative fuel cars like fuel cells, hybrids or even electric start to make financial sense for the masses?

I’ll be mostly gone for a few days while I complete my civic duty as a juror.  Will write more later this week.

I came across some free material recently on the FDIC website for teaching basic personal finance and banking to adults.  With all the pay day loan places in my neighborhood I thought it might be a good way to help teach people some alternatives.  I was wondering if any of my many readers (okay, it’s many to me even if I can count everyone on my fingers and toes) has any experience setting up a not-for-profit entity? 

Drop me a line on my contact form if you think you might be able to point me in the right direction.  Even better, if you might want to help (cause I know I can’t do all this by myself)!

Yesterday morning while half asleep and not ready to roll out of bed, I heard this story on NPR about a teenage girl in Maine who is taking on the challenge of Global Warming.  It’s not what you think though.  Her website, Ponder the Maunder, grew out of an honors class assignment in high school.  She did some pretty extensive  research to pull together some well thought out and well presented facts from scientific studies that are contrary to the global warming craze.

Most notably, she published an extensive review of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and pointed out where he was right and where he was sensationalizing.  Evidently, the article was so well received, that the family’s Internet provider sent them a warning letter about excessive bandwidth usage!

It is really cool to see someone who is willing to take the time to do research and see both sides of science.  So often the media presents only the most sensational version and glosses over all the other research that is done.  This includes the fact that she was not afraid to take on the Nobel Prize winning Al Gore.

My wife and I had a discussion about this last night as well.  It’s a shame that so much of science is allowed to be published without realistically reviewing the contrary opinion (or null hypothesis).  From my first basic science classes in school I was taught that you can never prove something to be true unless you can prove all other possibilities are false.  Yet, so much of what we read in the paper and hear in the media presents one researchers viewpoint showing that one thing and another are highly correlated.  The media picks up on this and assumes one causes the other. 

This is another HUGE mistake in statistics and science.  Proving a cause and effect relationship is nearly impossible outside of a highly controlled laboratory.  The phrase, “Correlation does not mean Causation” comes to mind.  Yet, our society is so inundated with news and media constantly giving us tidbits of information that we tend to take things at face value and never do the real research ourselves.

I’ve long been a sceptic of the global warming thing.  Of course, that’s not to say I believe we don’t need to conserve (I even had a recent post about how we are Going Green around our house).  Just like sensationalizing the ideas of global warming does a disservice to the intellect of the public, choosing to ignore environmental care is just as bad.  If only we could find some more moderation in the media and accept that people will make better decisions when faced with real information rather than bombarding them with sensational and contrary views and forcing them to decide.

I’m in the midst of getting ready to teach a class on building your own birdhouse.  It’s part of the homeschooling co-op we are in here.  The parents all offer classes once a semester and it gives a wide variety of offerings for our son to learn lots of stuff we wouldn’t necessarily have time to learn ourselves.  I know I had fun at the candle making class we went to in February.

It’ll be a fun time with just a few other kids this Saturday.  I’m busy cutting all the pieces so that we have pre-made “kits” to assemble with hammers and glue (all kids are required to bring their own hammer and safety glasses).

My only problem so far is that my miter saw crapped out last night.  I’m not ready to buy a new one as the one I want is too expensive to buy right now and I don’t want to buy or rent something in the interim.  So, tonight it’ll be finishing up the cutting by making do with the table saw.  Still, it shouldn’t be too bad.

I had planned on trying to get all this cutting done over the weekend, but it was just too cold to be working on them outside, there is still no power in the garage, and I didn’t want the noise and dust in the basement. 

Anyway, hopefully everything gets done tonight and all will go well this weekend!

I spent a couple of hours yesterday installing/uninstalling ceiling fans around the house.  I had put a new one in the living room last year after finding a really good deal on a nice one with a remote and everything.  I decided not to use the remote then because the fan was already on 2 switches, so  figured I wouldn’t need it.  I was shocked when I got done and realized there were no pull chains to adjust anything!  Thus, the fan was either off or on full blast!

So, we found another one this weekend (with pull chains) and the work began.  Had to uninstall the living room fan first.  That was pretty quick and painless.  Installing the new one there also didn’t take much time.  It would have been faster if I had looked at the direction and hadn’t gotten the wires hooked up before I realized I had forgot to put the cover on the post ahead of time!

Then it was off to the computer room.  The fan there worked, but the lights would always blow whenever you turn them on.  Plus, it was a rusty old brass and wicker version that just didn’t fit with the woodwork of the house.  Getting it down wasn’t much trouble, though I noticed it was about twice as heavy as the new ones.  The tough part was installing the new mounting bracket.  The old boxes were smaller than the new electrical boxes, but once that was done the rest went pretty smooth.

Now we have two great fans that are usable.  We’ve also got CF bulbs in both of them to boot.  Though the one with the remote flickers from time to time.  I’m wondering if the RF signal from the remote receiver messes with them or something. 

Notice I didn’t mention how many times I dropped screws when trying to screw the blades onto the fan!

Yesterday morning in the rain at the bus stop, waiting….

5 minutes late…

10 minutes late…

15 minutes late… the local bus driver lets us know the express we were waiting for was in an accident and wasn’t showing up.

Another 15 minutes and the next express was there and we got on.  Had we taken the local and transferred, this bus would still have passed the next before we got down town.

This morning, the bus was right on time with our regular driver.  He’s telling everyone, “It wasn’t me!  It was this bus, but it wasn’t me.”

Evidently, he had gotten called for the random drug testing and they sent a different driver out on our line yesterday morning.  That driver got in an accident.  Perhaps they tested the wrong driver?!