Historical Fall 2007 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
As I frequently remind people, I grew up in Michigan.
A temperature of 80 was considered very hot. Once every few years, there would be two or three days of 90s for the whole summer. Here, during the height of our worst heatwave of the summer, I had two very discombobulating experiences.
I went to Dierberg’s after dark for necessary provisions and exited into the worst traffic jam I’ve ever seen here.
It was when the car and tanker trailer collided and they closed 170.
It was a mess.
I of course worried about all the perishables in my trunk (the reason I’d shopped after dark in the first place!) and I am not a patient person.
I made it home and everything was ok but I would suggest that St. Louis County and Brentwood and Richmond Heights have someone directing traffic during such an event. Many of us made a right to nowhere and lost 20 minutes of motor running.
The second calamity was the power outage. Mine went about 5pm and did not return till 6:20am. Luckily my house remained relatively cool and my pets (dog and cat) never let me down.
I always knew I would be bad in a more extended outage and I was.
In addition, Ameren never gave an accurate projection of when power would return. Do we really know what happened? But, as one friend said, 13 hours was nothing; she lived through 7 days last summer.
On the first really hot Saturday, I attended a birthday party in Manchester.
There were many trees, a clubhouse and pool for neighbors and quiet. But, I didn’t relax till I returned to our hood.
I could never be a suburbanite. There’s the traffic in the city . . .
As a segue, our Delmar Commercial Committee has learned that METRO has (finally) begun planning the construction of the longdelayed transit plaza at the Delmar Loop Station.
The committee will be meeting with Metro soon to give some feedback about their plans. Although excited about this progress, I would be remiss in not reminding METRO that their current upkeep of the station leaves something to be desired.
It should be free of debris etc. James Q. Wilson coauthored a very famous article about the “broken windows” theory. Neglect, waste etc. lead to disturbance and crime.
If things appear to be well-kept, it will be safer. So, let’s urge METRO to get on the stick now and clean up the station so many neighbors use.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Fall 2007.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2007_09.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
