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Historical September–October 2022 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
I’m Mike Gras, the new Alderman for the 28th Ward.
I hope you’ve made it through the summer relatively safe and dry. For those that don’t know, the previous Alderperson for the 28th Ward, Heather Navarro, stepped down in January to take a job as director of the Midwest Climate Collaborative at Washington University.
I was nominated by the St. Louis City Democratic Central Committee to run in a Special Election in April to serve out the rest of her term. Meanwhile, the City’s twenty-eight wards will be reduced to fourteen, and all alderpersons will run with the new boundaries next Spring.
The current 28th Ward is split between the new 9th ward and the new 10th ward. Everywhere west of Union, including Skinker-DeBaliviere, will be in the new 10th Ward.
I live east of Union so I will be in the new 9th ward.
I am running for Alderman of the new 9th Ward, but I will unfortunately no longer represent this lovely neighborhood. One of the more challenging issues I’ve faced in my time as Alderperson is responding to constituent frustration about the trash.
The good news is I believe the problem is slowly getting better.
The bad news is our options to respond are limited.
I have recently learned that all the City’s dumpsters are proprietary and custom made just for the City of St. Louis.
These proprietary dumpsters also require a special, custom, proprietary truck to pick up and service.
This means we can’t easily contract extra trash service and we can’t easily order new dumpsters or new trucks.
In the meantime, the City is doing what they can to add extra shifts to service the trucks we do have to get them staffed and moving.
Please continue to report all trash issues to the Citizens Service Bureau, especially issues relating to damaged dumpsters that need to be replaced.
There are many dumpsters that need to be replaced in the ward, but we don’t know where they are unless they are reported. Also, the City is in the early stages of considering expanding roll cart service to help supplement or replace some of the dumpster service.
These roll carts would still be in the alleys where possible.
If you have thoughts on using roll carts vs dumpsters, please let me know. Traffic safety is a top priority of mine.
This has been a terrible summer for pedestrian traffic fatalities and each one breaks my heart.
I am working with the City to make significant improvements to several intersections along Skinker and championing a project to redo Kingshighway from West Pine to MLK Blvd. That said, folks speeding on our neighborhood side streets continue to pose unacceptable danger.
I will be filing a ward-wide speedhump bill when the Board resumes in September.
If there are specific streets you’d like to be considered, please let me know.
Please signup for my mailing list at mike4stl.com to keep informed of the latest information from the Ward and City.
It is truly an honor to represent each and every person in this wonderful neighborhood.
If there is anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to email me at grasm@stlouis-mo.gov or text/call me on my cell at 314-497-8373.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September–October 2022.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2022_09.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
