Page 415 – Show-Me Institute

Map Series: VII. Second Most Used Transportation Mode for Commuting in Saint Louis, After Cars

Posted on December 29, 2014May 5, 2026 by Joseph Miller

The map above shows the second most used transportation mode for commuting to work in the Saint Louis area census tracts, after cars. As the map demonstrates, for much of Saint Louis County and a few parts of the city, working from home (or telecommuting) is the most used mode for commuting after cars. In much of the city and North Saint Louis County, transit is the second most used. However, in the city’s central corridor, where transit is most abundant, the dominant mode of getting to work (after cars) is actually walking, not transit. Read more from the Show-Me Institute on transit and commuting in Saint Louis here.

Map Series: VI. Second Most Used Transportation Mode for Commuting in Kansas City, After Cars

Posted on December 27, 2014May 5, 2026 by Joseph Miller

The map above shows the second most used transportation mode for commuting to work in the Kansas City area census tracts, after cars. As the map demonstrates, for much of the city and surrounding counties, working from home (or telecommuting) is the most used mode for commuting after cars. In much of the center west of the city and southern Clay County, transit is second most used. However, in the city’s downtown area, where transit is most abundant (and the streetcar is opening), the dominant mode of getting to work (after cars) is actually walking, not transit. Read more from the Show-Me Institute on transit and commuting in Kansas City here.

Map Series: V. Saint Louis Area Travel Time to Work

Posted on December 26, 2014May 5, 2026 by Joseph Miller

The map above shows the mean travel time to work in minutes for residents of Saint Louis City and County census tracts. The lighter the color, the lower the average commute time, and vice versa. The map shows how travel times tend to be shortest in the central corridor and in the county along Route 67. The longest travel times are in North Saint Louis City and the fringes of Saint Louis County. While the distance from major work centers makes the later fact unsurprising, North Saint Louis City’s mean travel times may come as a surprise to some readers. The reason is that many North Saint Louisans are transit-dependent, which results in much higher commute times than those who drive personal vehicles to work. Read more from the Show-Me Institute on Saint Louis transportation here.

Santa Choice

Posted on December 23, 2014May 5, 2026 by Brittany Wagner

I’m wearing a red-and-green checkered velvet dress with a large white lace collar. My face is distorted, fear and excitement and starstruckenness all jumbled into one expression. It is the quintessential 1990s posing-on-Santa’s-lap picture. I’ve got at least six just like it, but this one stands out. It wasn’t snapped at the mall or at a children’s party, but at my public elementary school, where Santa visited once a year for Christmas breakfast.

As I grew older, Christmas parties became Holiday parties, Christmas Break became Holiday Break, and Santa no longer made an appearance at the Holiday Breakfast, not because I was too old for jolly St. Nick, but because my public school had de-Santa-ed.

In a recent incident in Massachusetts, Santa was removed from an elementary school’s annual Christmas concert. Though many have decried Santa removals as examples of the public school system’s rejection of religious freedom, to me, they are reminders of a need for more educational choice.

In a 2014 survey, 49 percent of Missourians reported that if they could choose any type of school for their child, they would choose private or home school. However, only 9 percent are actually enrolled in private school, while home school data is not available. Why do so many parents want to send their children to schools of choice?

For at least some parents, the desire to send their children to a private school reflects a desire to send their children to a school that shares like-minded values. Unfortunately, school choice, in the absence of legislation and financial means, is impossible for many parents, as actual enrollments show.

In the New Year, I hope to see educational choice expanded for families across Missouri, for both Santa believers and non-believers alike.

Urban Neglect: Kansas City and TIF

Posted on December 22, 2014May 5, 2026 by Patrick Tuohey

My colleague Michael Rathbone and I authored an essay titled “Urban Neglect, Kansas City’s Misuse of Tax Increment Financing.”

In the essay we examined Tax Increment Financing (TIF) project data provided by Jackson County and census data on household income. We found that in Kansas City the majority of taxpayer subsidies go to parts of town that are relatively wealthy and economically vibrant, rather than to the poor and economically depressed areas for which TIF was ostensibly designed.

Mike Mahoney of KMBC filed a story on our report. In it he interviewed Councilwoman Cindy Circo, who offered:

But it is the private development that drives the actual project itself. The city doesn’t go through the TIF process itself and be the developer.

This is an odd statement because Burns & McDonnell, and every other company that seeks a TIF subsidy, argues that the project could not go forward without public investment. So while Circo may be correct that the city does not choose the individual projects that apply for TIF, the TIF Commission and the city have demonstrated time and again that they aren’t really vetting applications, which has created an “anything goes” environment. One need only study the Citadel project to know that this is true.

If the city’s appointees on the TIF Commission were better at approving only legitimately blighted properties—those that truly require public investment—public subsidies might more often be used in the parts of town that really needed it. Instead, the subsidies flow to well-connected business leaders and their development lawyers, and public dollars unnecessarily go to projects such as Country Club Plaza and River Market.

Map Series: IV. Kansas City Area Travel Time to Work

Posted on December 22, 2014May 5, 2026 by Joseph Miller

The map above shows the mean travel time to work per census tract in the Kansas City area. The dark black outline is the city itself. This map shows how mean travel times tend to be lowest on the border within Kansas City as well as within eastern Johnson County. Longer travel times are experienced by those living in northern Clay and southeastern Jackson County. Read more from the Show-Me Institute on Kansas City transportation here.

If You Like Your Preschool, You’ll Be Able to Keep-Not Again!

Posted on December 22, 2014May 5, 2026 by Brittany Wagner

Advocates of universal preschool are up in arms, as Missouri lost a bid for a federal grant that would have gone toward the expansion of public preschools. Missouri was one of nine states to apply for the competitive grant, which is part of a $1 billion Obama-led initiative to expand early childhood education programs.

For universal Pre-K supporters, this was a major loss, but for Missouri taxpayers, our “failure” to get the grant is actually a win. Federal grants have a history of costing states more over time—Race to the Top is a recent education-related example.

Missouri already has doubled its expenditures toward expanding early childhood education. The Department of Economic Development (DED) made $10 million available to promote the expansion of public Pre-K programs just last year.

Preschool education is where Missourians already have the most school choice. Expanding public options will only duplicate existing services, likely shifting some students from the private to the public sector, where there is no guarantee the services will be better.

Nationally, 74 percent of four-year-olds already are enrolled in Pre-K or home-based programs. Using listings from Great Schools, the table below highlights the number of private Pre-K options versus public ones in several of Missouri’s cities.

Frequency of Schools Offering Pre-K Programs: Private v. Public
City	# of Private Schools	# of Public Schools
St. Louis	163	34
Kansas City	81	21
Columbia	111	21
Jefferson City	47	15
Springfield	90	18
Kirksville	12	1

Research on the benefits of early childhood education has yielded mixed results. Even those studies showing significant benefits of preschool expansion touted by Gov. Jay Nixon as “proven” are subject to criticism. One comprehensive study on the effects of Head Start showed there was no long-term increase in cognitive abilities of children who participated in the early education program. Yet, Nixon gave the organization $7 million just last year.

Missouri taxpayers should not pay for services that already exist, especially if the research backing those services is shaky. There are better solutions to addressing the educational needs of children in poverty, ones that don’t include government mandates.

Angel’s Story: What the Transfer Program Is All About

Posted on December 20, 2014May 5, 2026 by James V. Shuls

If someone asked you what you thought about the controversial law, which allows students to transfer from unaccredited schools to accredited ones, what would you say? Would you talk about the rights of the local taxpayer in the receiving school district? Would you talk about the logistics of transporting students? Would you say that those students deserve to have good schools in their own communities?

We asked Shaunna Matthews that question and her answer was clear:

The opportunities that we are getting out of this program are awesome. We would be wrong to deny any kid this opportunity.

Last year, Shaunna’s daughter, Angel, transferred from the unaccredited Riverview Gardens School District, to the high performing Kirkwood School District.

Here is Angel’s Story.

Map Series: III. Proposed MetroLink and Bus Rapid Transit Routes

Posted on December 19, 2014May 5, 2026 by Joseph Miller

The map above shows the proposed MetroLink expansion, along with the prime candidates for the first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines in Saint Louis. One of those routes runs through North Saint Louis along West Florissant and Natural Bridge Road (West Fl-NB), while the other BRT route runs along I-64/40. The proposed MetroLink expansion would mostly mimic the route of the West Fl-NB BRT, but it also would serve South Saint Louis City. None of these proposals run cheap. The proposed BRT routes would cost around $40 million to implement per line, but they have funds from Proposition M, passed in 2010. The proposed MetroLink expansion would be much more expensive, between $1 billion and $1.6 billion, and would almost certainly require additional tax revenue from Saint Louis City and County. Read more from the Show-Me Institute on the MetroLink plan here.

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