|
The St. Louis Independent Media Center is a cooperatively managed, non-commercial website whose mission is to empower people and communities to tell the news and stories that are important to them, independent of large and small economic interests and governments. We believe that compliance is a virtue only when its intent is supported by legitimate logic and ethics. We report to incite action by the public with strong, task-taking language, photos and videos. Part of our editing criteria is that items posted on the website must not be weakly written, meekly written or undersupported.
Current Features
There will be another public hearing on the proposed closing of St. Louis City schools on Saturday, February 7, starting 10 AM at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass Ave.
Several hundred people turned out last night at Roosevelt High School in south St. Louis to voice concerns over the plan to shut down or relocate up to 29 city schools. Members of the state-appointed Special Administrative Board (SAB), which controls the district, listened for four hours as parents, teachers, staff and students lined up to give testimony . Almost all of the speakers spoke out against the school closures.
AmerenUE and other nuclear advocates tout enriched uranium as a safe, clean, alternative fuel source. Our region's electrical monopoly has drawn up plans to put an end to the nation's nuclear building drought by erecting a new reactor right here in Callaway County, Missouri. Ameren is apparently so bent on blazing this trail that they are seeking to change the laws, reverse predominant national precedent, increase rates during a deep recession, and overrule a super majority of Missouri voters to do so. The CWIP Truth Tour currently being put on across Missouri by Missourians for Safe Energy and Missourians for Fair Electric Rates rolled into the Ethical Society's auditorium in Clayton last night where concerned citizens gathered in hopes of learning more about how Ameren intends to propel Missouri into a nuclear Renaissance.
Nuclear power has become a hot button issue recently, as prices of other fossil fuels have shown extreme volatility, and the public outcry for energy independence is nearing fever-pitch.
There have been no new nuclear construction projects started in the US in over 30 years and some call this imprudent. During the same time-span nearly 400 new coal plants were built.
On Thursday, Jan. 22 Sen. Delbert Scott introduced SB 228, the bill that AmerenUE is pushing to force ratepayers to underwrite the construction of their massive, proposed Callaway 2 nuclear reactor. If this bill passes, Ameren could begin raising rates almost immediately, passing on the costs they've already incurred (more than $50 million) just planning and applying for a license for Callaway 2 as well as all future costs associated with construction.
On Thursday, Jan. 22 Sen. Delbert Scott introduced SB 228, the bill that AmerenUE is pushing to force ratepayers to underwrite the construction of their massive, proposed Callaway 2 nuclear reactor. If this bill passes, Ameren could begin raising rates almost immediately, passing on the costs they've already incurred (more than $50 million) just planning and applying for a license for Callaway 2.
A description of events of the solidarity demonstration in the loop Saturday Night.
On Saturday December 20th, about 30-40 people gathered in the University City's Delmar Loop district, an area that is mostly a busy yuppie financial district but seems to be a melting pot for all walks of life, also the location of the most recent fatal shooting of a cop.
As people gathered, a small business owner saw masked people gathering about in the cold night and reminded us that we we're on his property and once we abandon the role of isolated atomized individuals then the property is no longer available for us to use.
Most St. Louisans drive to work, by themselves, every day. This ubiquitous ritual demands 38 minutes out of the average American's day, according to a June, 2007 US Census report. It's grossly ironic that the American capitalistic market economy—a model which reveres cold efficiency as a virtue of the highest order—accesses the lion's share of its workforce through such unproductive, wasteful means. And it's not only the nine-to-fivers who are affected by sprawl and the prevailing petro-culture: Across all demographic lines, we have come to think of the custom of so often traversing such distances as necessary and nearly inevitable. However, until we collectively recall the benefits of living in proximity to our frequented destinations and make cars obsolete, walking or biking everywhere will continue to be unrealistic. In the meantime, we need to rethink the model we currently support (with its soaring costs in time, money, and environmental hazard) and create alternatives that challenge the ethic of personal and private ownership of cars.
Surprisingly enough, the self-proclaimed "largest rental car company in North America," St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car, may be introducing our city to one such solution: carsharing. As San Francisco-based nonprofit City CarShare outlines, the model "converts automobile use from a product to a service" allowing members 24-hour on-call access to a bank of cars, from small to large, without the hassles of car ownership. Formalized carsharing is a popular and growing trend around the country, and elsewhere in the world.
Old STLIMC FeaturesOlder St. Louis IMC Features (May 2005 - Feb 2007) may be viewed here on the archive site.
|
