Home On the (Driving) Range

Posted on by David Stokes

There is a very interesting, yet controversial, proposal to install a lighted, modern driving range in Ruth Park in University City. The Post-Dispatch has a good article on it here. As a U. City resident who has played Ruth Park many times, I am going to try to get to the city council meeting tonight to listen to the debate and see the vote.

There are many good arguments for the driving range: 1) There really is a need in the mid-county area for one; 2) It would absolutely make money for the city; 3) It is just improving an existing driving range — one of those small ones where you hit and collect your own balls. 

There is really, to my mind, just one argument against it, but it’s a good one: Would you want to live right next door to a lighted driving range operating at night?  So, no doubt there is a little bit of NIMBY involved, but I can certainly understand the homeowners’ concerns. (For the record, I don’t live near Ruth Park.) People made this investment in their homes with Ruth Park as a 9-hole course, not a nighttime driving range.

My favorite part of the article though, was about the other objections to the proposal:

Some critics also oppose allowing a privately operated business in the public park and question the financial arrangements. Currently, the golf pro operates a private business and gives a return to University City. Officials are considering making him a municipal employee."

I don’t know whether the opposition to a private business in a public park is a knee-jerk anti-business attitude, or opponents reaching for any argument they can use, but it’s just silly. Businesses operate within parks all the time. We can probably all agree that Forest Park is the crown jewel of parks in our area, right? Let’s count the private businesses there: The Boathouse Restaurant, the 27-hole public golf course now operated by a private business that leases the land from the city, Triple A golf club is a semi-private club that has operated in the park for years, and Steinberg Skating Rink is operated by a private company. There are probably several more. The MUNY is a private business, but it might be non-profit, so I don’t know whether that counts. Anyway, there is nothing wrong with private businesses providing services within public parks and paying governments for the right to operate within those parks.

The current business arrangement with the golf course and U. City is a terrific example of innovative government. Operate the golf course like a business and lease the land from the city — sounds good to me. If the money is not there to operate the course without a subsidy, perhaps the potential of making the course fully run as a business, with all the attendent risk and reward, should be considered. Making the golf pro a city employee is a terrible idea — with that comes pension requirements, benefits, etc.  Not a good deal for U. City taxpayers. I have no idea how the council will vote tonight, and as I said, there are good arguments on both sides. I just hope the vote will be based on actual issues and not false arguments. Knowing the councilmembers as I do, I am confident it will be (based on the real issues).

No Excuse Left Behind

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

Thanks, Combest, for linking to an article in the St. Joseph News-Press about the St. Joseph School District’s response to No Child Left Behind:

Several other district subgroups didn’t meet goals this year. Black students, Hispanic students, students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches and non-English-speaking students didn’t meet the goal. If any of those subgroups miss the target again next year, the district could again appear on the “needing improvement” list. […]

Of the district’s overall scores, Cheri Patterson, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said, “We are darn proud of those scores. They are good scores.”

The implication is that a few unteachables are causing trouble for everyone. And I agree that 100 percent proficiency is not a realistic goal. But let’s see how good those “good scores” really are. The Post-Dispatch website shows that out of all the different grade levels and subjects, only for 3rd-grade, 5th-grade, and 6th-grade math did more than 50 percent of St. Joseph students achieve proficient or advanced scores. One hundred percent may be too high a bar — but is 50 percent? In fact, at the 3rd-grade level, the Special School District of St. Louis scored higher than St. Joseph in both subjects tested. If a special school district, in which 100 percent of students enrolled have disabilities or challenges, can teach more than half of its 3rd graders to read at their grade level, why can’t St. Joseph?

University City’s Residents Are Teed Off!

Posted on by Maurice Harris

In today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an article discusses University City’s attempts to keep the municipal golf course profitable by adding a driving range. This is upsetting many residents, though, because of concerns that this will negatively impact their quality of life:

The residents, organized as the Ruth Park Preservation Committee, are
telling their neighbors about the project. The committee members say
the plan would harm the quality of life of their peaceful family
neighborhood. They say the driving range would make the neighborhood
less safe and would drastically increase traffic, decrease available
parking, lower property values and shine lights into neighbors’ homes.

The golf course has been funded through a subsidy because it has not been profitable. I understand that University City is trying to turn this around, but doing so at the expense of its citizens is a little unfair, espically when the golf course is zoned in a residential area. If the course cannot be profitable, the city should shut it down and save some of its taxpayers money, which can go toward more important uses, such as police and fire.

A Change of Schedule

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch article reports on a tactic Wentzville students used to protest their high school’s switch from block to single-period scheduling:

Last spring, some district students filled out their MAP tests with gibberish, while others
simply left them blank. They said they wanted to send a message to administrators about their discontent with a new high school schedule. Administrators said it was unknown how many students intentionally failed the tests.

As usual, education requires the cooperation of those being educated. We see this happen again and again, although it’s usually less dramatic. Kids might ignore their homework, skip school, or stay home on the first day of classes.

In this case, the students found a very effective way to get the administration’s attention. MAP test scores aren’t reported to colleges or scholarship organizations. As one student said, "It was the only type of test that would affect the administration and not us."

Private schools don’t usually have this problem, because families choose to send their kids to them. If they don’t like one aspect of the school, such as the class schedule, they can either put up with it or find another school. But in a public school, many students have few other options. If the school adopts a policy they disagree with, they can’t vote with their feet. So, in this case, they voted with their MAP test scores.

Why We Don’t Need More Regulation of Drug Ads

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

This past legislative session, Missouri was one of 27 states to file legislation that would restrict pharmaceutical advertising. And a column in the Post-Dispatch a few weeks ago complained about pharmaceutical advertising’s possible adverse effects:

Pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers are traveling the country, armed with presentations they say will educate sophisticated consumers responsible for more of their health care dollar.

But the effect could be the same as it has been with pharmaceutical commercials — more patients begging for the latest in medicine even if the science isn’t as good or a less expensive option would work just as well.

Now, Christie Raniszewski Herrera is blogging about the issue at StateHouseCall.org:

A Cornell study compared magazine advertising data with the reading habits of smokers and found that the more magazine ads smokers saw for the nicotine patch and other quit-smoking aids, the more likely they were to try to quit smoking and be successful — even without buying the products.

Reading this reminded me of another study demonstrating the benefits of prescription drug advertising. This wonderful paper by Alan Sorenson (who’s now at the Stanford business school) provides evidence that consumers use advertisements to shop around and save money on prescription drugs.

The Missouri Plan, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lawyers

Posted on by David Stokes

Missourians amended our state constitution in 1940 to change the ways judges were selected for the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and the circuit courts of Jackson County and Saint Louis City. This was done in response to public concerns about the power of political machines in electing judges under the previous system. Dubbed “The Missouri Plan,” it has been expanded to include circuit judges in Saint Louis, Clay, and Platte Counties. The amendment’s provisions replaced elections with a judicial commission, which reviews applicants for open positions and narrows the list down to three choices. The governor then selects a new judge from that panel. The system has worked very well for Missourians, taking some of the politics out of judgeships and efficiently filling vacancies. However, a few important changes could make the plan work even better.

The recent Supreme Court opening has raised to new prominence the simmering dispute over the true non-partisanship of the Missouri Plan. Allies of Governor Matt Blunt feel that the current appellate judicial commission has not fairly recognized the fact that he, not the commission, is the elected leader of Missouri. The current make-up of both the commission and its recently selected panel, which many conservatives feel is tilted toward the left, seem to substantiate this charge. This has led to calls from some legislators to do away with the Missouri Plan. While changes need to be made, doing away with the plan entirely would be going too far.

The most important change for the Missouri Plan is the elimination of six-year, staggered terms for governor-appointed positions. In theory, staggered terms might allow for more independence and less partisanship, but in reality they have served to allow outgoing governors to load up commissions with their supporters beyond their terms in office. For example, former governor Bob Holden made six appointments to various judicial commissions during the time between when Governor Blunt was elected and took office two months later. Stacking the deck with supporters of your own party is, I am confident to say, not what the framers of the Missouri Plan had in mind. Making the appointed positions’ term coincide with the governor’s own term would serve to respect the wishes of voters and whatever candidate they choose to elect.

The second change I recommend is to add one appointed position to each commission, making the number of appointments equal to the number of judges and attorneys on the commission. Currently, the appellate commission is made up of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, three lawyers elected by the bar association, and three gubernatorial appointments. Each of the county commissions is made up of that circuit’s chief judge, two elected lawyers, and two gubernatorial appointments. Adding an additional appointment to each commission would make the landscape for selection more balanced. Let us not delude ourselves about the goals of the lawyers who run for judicial commissions via bar association elections. They, particularly the activists within the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, are not always looking for the most qualified people to elevate to judgeships. Many of them are looking to support candidates who agree with their legal opinions.

Supporters of the Missouri Plan can point out that the retention votes appointed judges will face in the future act as a check and balance for the system. The retention vote is a good practice, but electoral history has shown it is almost impossible to get enough people to focus on the issue. Last year in Saint Louis County, a judge was handily retained by voters when an overwhelming number of lawyers, in a bar association survey, had advised against retaining her — a recommendation echoed by area newspapers. Perhaps we could improve the retention vote system by taking a page from Illinois and mandating a 60-percent vote in favor of retention in order for a judge to remain in office. I believe that is an idea worth debating.

Finally, the Legislature should take steps to make it clear to all that the various judicial commissions’ actions are covered by the state’s sunshine law. It astounds me that an appointed commission thinks it does not have to comply with Missouri citizens’ basic right to know what their government officials are doing. With these changes, I believe we can reach a fair compromise and retain the best parts of the Missouri Plan for judicial selections, without returning to the electoral problems that led us to create the plan in the first place.

David Stokes is a policy analyst for the Show-Me Institute.

 

Finally, Some Push-Back on Red Light Cameras!

Posted on by David Stokes

It appears that some brave aldermen in the St. Louis County municipality of Northwoods are resisting efforts to install red light cameras within their city. They see cameras for what they really are: a naked attempt to collect more money for municipalities. I say bravo to the aldermen for resisting this attempt, and wish them all the best in their efforts!

School Choice Goes Way Back

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

How old is the modern school choice movement? If you’ve visited the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation website lately, you know it’s 52. Here‘s Milton Friedman’s original voucher proposal of 1955:

The arrangement that perhaps comes closest to being justified by these considerations — at least for primary and secondary education — is a mixed one under which governments would continue to administer some schools but parents who chose to send their children to other schools would be paid a sum equal to the estimated cost of educating a child in a government school, provided that at least this sum was spent on education in an approved school.

The Friedman Foundation has a lot of great information online, including research publications, the ABCs of School Choice, and the Advocate archives. But the best part of the site is the updated newsroom, where you can compare school choice programs and proposed legislation across states.

If Friedman himself were still alive, he would have just turned 95. The Show-Me Institute celebrated his birthday in partnership with the Friedman Foundation by cosponsoring a luncheon in Columbia. Here you can read William Poole’s speech about Friedman’s legacy. 

Ethanol Wins Out, Unfortunately

Posted on by Maurice Harris

An letter to the editor in today’s Springfield News-Leader laments the decision by Gov. Matt Blunt to keep a $42 million subsidy for ethanol production, rather than shifting that money toward water conservation in Southwest Missouri. The worst part of this state funding of ethanol production is that it would cause more water to be used by the plant, damaging the region’s groundwater:

The proposed Rogersville ethanol plant, just a few miles east of Ozark,
if built will use 1.3 million gallons of water a day! As will each new
subsidized plant built in Missouri.Hundreds of reliable Internet sources condemn ethanol production: for
its toxic emissions and effluents; as an ineffective gasoline
alternative; for dramatically raising food prices; but most
frightening, for its contamination and horrific waste of ground water.

Some politicians seem as though they’ve been led to believe that ethanol is the cure-all solution to our energy crisis. In reality, ethanol is more costly than gasoline; it takes more fuel to make a gallon of ethanol than that gallon produces for consumers. Also, ethanol’s environmental repercussions, as pointed out in the op-ed, make ethanol production a poor strategy for solving our foreign oil dependency. Instead of wasting tax dollars on a fuel that does more harm than good, let’s use it to conserve a substance we all need in order to live … water.

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