TCB > February 2005

STL Syndicate won third place for Best Web Content in the annual STLWebDev.org contest. It was up against 54 other sites and was probably the only one created for free in a weekend.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Feb 28, 2005 at 9:47 AM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | The Commonspace

Tin Can Tavern & Grille (3157 Morganford in Tower Grove South) is set to open on Monday, March 7. They won't be serving liquor until they get their license, which should hopefully happen by the 16th.

In the St.-Louis-is-a-small-world category, their accountant is the son of my high school trigonometry teacher. Josh Alt, one of Tin Can's proprietors, is the bassist and lead vocalist for Secret Cajun Band.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Feb 28, 2005 at 9:00 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Business District

From Vince Schoemehl:

We had great candidates for SLPS superintendent but (and I speak only for myself) the determining factors were:

      
• "Strong dogs have strong pups" — this is a theory I've often used when recruiting people. Find the best practitioner and raid their team as high up the food chain as you can. In Sunday's Post Paul Vallas, the CEO who has been at the national cutting edge of school change in Chicago and Philadelphia speaks glowingly of Creg. The fact that Creg was promoted through the ranks in Chicago and then recruited to Philadelphia by Vallas meant a lot to me.

      

• He knows his material — This was very clear in every session (the Board had three private sessions with each of the finalists plus two public forums) — Creg knows the methodologies necessary to effect academic improvement and I am hopeful that many of the curriculum and organizational changes we have implemented over the past 21 months will fit with his program.

      

• Great spokesperson — He knows the material and he knows his message and he seems capable of communicating in sound bites that have content; an important skill for this position.

      

• His first CEO position — Some see this as a weakness; I see it as strength. While Creg has been trained by the best and while he has had very expansive responsibilities he’s never been THE superintendent. But he’s energetic and he'll be extremely motivated to make St. Louis a screaming success story. Given our continuing budget challenges the troubles at SLPS are a long way from over and I was influenced by the fact that Creg will be highly motivated to make this work.

You can read more about Dr. Creg Williams at http://www.slps.org/

Posted by Brian Marston on Sun., Feb 27, 2005 at 11:38 AM
Link & Discuss (2 comments) | People

Diversity facilitator extraordinaire, former owner of the Sunshine Inn and man-about-town Rudy Nickens (most recently vice-president of St. Louis 2004) has moved to the helm of the Black Rep, taking over as Executive Director. Their season is in full swing, currently with the production of "Stories About the Old Days."

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Thu., Feb 24, 2005 at 11:39 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

St. Louis-based Beige Records got Slashdotted on Monday for an album they released several years ago. Mmmmm ... geeky.

Posted by Brian Marston on Wed., Feb 23, 2005 at 2:18 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | STL in the News

Some fascinating brain research, that is!

A team of researchers at Washington University, led by Joshua Brown, have uncovered what happens in the "oops center" of the brain (layman's terms, kids; it's really the anterior cingulate cortex, natch), and how learning might help keep us from making mistakes. NPR has the whole story.

Update: More information about this research via Science Blog

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., Feb 18, 2005 at 12:35 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | STL in the News

St. Louis is 35th in Popular Science's ranking of the top tech cities based on 36 weighted variables. Our score was 71 out of 100; the mean was 66.

Posted by Brian Marston on Thu., Feb 17, 2005 at 12:32 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | STL in the News

You remember, perhaps, a fantastic story we ran on the site a while back about the a capella craze sweeping the halls of Webster Groves High School? Well, the kids are at it again: we just got word of the Missouri State Championship of a cappella singing happens this Saturday, February 19, at 8 p.m. at WGHS, 100 Selma Ave. Tickets are 10 clams, which gets you up close and personal for the five-school sing-off action. Winner moves on to the National Championship of High School A Capella in Washington, D.C.

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, the Missouri championship competitors are from Missouri (duh)...and Oklahoma. Hmmm.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Wed., Feb 16, 2005 at 6:16 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Other

Seth Gaines from Rockville, MD has a bunch of nice photos of St. Louis posted on Flickr.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Feb 14, 2005 at 11:06 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Other

Darlene Green for Comptroller signs suddenly popped up in about half the front yards on Arsenal between Grand and Kingshighway last weekend. Her signs are green, natch. First question: Green is unopposed, so what's the point? Second question: How'd she get that many people to agree to put a sign in their yard?

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Feb 14, 2005 at 10:55 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

St. Louis area cyclists Roger Kramer and Kerry Nikolaisen have blogs about rolling on two wheels. Ride on!

If you're a local bike enthusiast, be sure to join the St. Louis Bike Fed.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Feb 7, 2005 at 9:35 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

Interesting read on the decline of ward-based politics in today's P-D, including a name-check for the Arch City Chronicle (or at least, its blog arm....)

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., Feb 4, 2005 at 11:39 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Media

Cee Wisp Communications
Re: Save the Skybridge
Embargo: Thursday, February 4, 5 p.m.

ST. LOUIS — As reported in Martin Van Der Werf's column in the Post-Dispatch today, efforts are afoot to remove the pedestrian "skybridge" from the St. Louis Centre complex, thereby forever altering the scenic streetscape along this burgeoning section of Washington Avenue. In response, a group of concerned citizens is planning a multi-pronged approach to keep the historic skybridge intact.

"Changing the dramatic exterior of the St. Louis Center skybridge would be a mistake," says Franklin Jennings, a spokesperson for the ad-hoc "Save the Skybridge" effort. "Once torn asunder, the views in this area of eastern Downtown would never be the same. We consider the skybridge to be part-and-parcel of the robust nature and dramatic vista of this working neighborhood. It has been a part of Downtown for roughly two decades. Our contention is that it should be serviceable for at least two generations."

With City Hall rainmakers likely favoring the demolition of this structure — which linked the old Dillard's department store to the vibrant commercial hub of the Centre — overtures will be made to insurgent Mayoral candidates Bill Haas and Irene Smith.

"These are people who regularly trade in the ideas market," says Jennings. "No 'isms' apply with them. Particularly age-ism, which is clearly in effect with this anti-preservation move. The thought that the contemporary design aesthetics of the late-'70s and early-'80s can be so wantonly tossed aside, shows that our civic leadership doesn't value Generation X, the people who grew up with the architecture so vividly brought to life by the skybridge. This seems to stand in stark contrast with ballyhooed efforts to woo young residents to the City."

Jennings suggests that those interested become immediately involved, first by purchasing goods and services from the vendors that call St. Louis Centre home.

"Nothing speaks louder than a consumer response," Jennings says. "And the range and scope of commercial endeavors currently taking place in the Centre will surely surprise those who've not shopped there in several years."

Meanwhile, online efforts will be undertaken through the (in-construction) internet portal: savetheskybridge.org.

"We've seen countless Downtown buildings saved through highly-public internet campaigns, featuring sharply-designed, highly-intuitive and dynamically-interactive sites" Jennings says. "Why not here?"

Now that information of the potential demolition of the historic skybridge is becoming public, Jennings hopes to tap into the goodwill built through other, recent efforts to save important Downtown landmarks. He stresses that "outside-the-big-box thinking" might be required here.

"Take the trendy 'windowless condo' idea so prevalent in the American Northwest," Jennings suggests. "It's not necessary for Downtown lofts to have, for example, 40 windows per unit. In our research, windowless condos are increasingly popular in rain-saturated, low-light cities such as Portland and Seattle, where adaptive reuse is treasured, not mocked. To target a handful of units to those with solid incomes and light sensitivity is simply good business."

For more information, contact Franklin Jennings through Cee Wisp Communications @ franklinjennings@yahoo.com.

In memory: Johnathan Swift, 1667-1742.

Posted by Brian Marston on Thu., Feb 3, 2005 at 4:16 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | Business District