[ballwin]
It seems that someone dumped a broken-down boat in the south city/county borderland wilds near the River Des Peres. It sat there on the side of Idaho Avenue for about two months, whereupon neighbors called the cops. (I mean, what’s the rush?) Anyhow, thanks to a mix-up in the administrative depths of county government, a law-abiding, starched-shirt-wearing sportsman from Ballwin received a ticket for the derelict watercraft. Natch, it didn’t belong to him, nor was he the dumper. Still, he had an order to appear in court on the charge almost immediately (hey, what’s the rush?). All his efforts to resolve the issue were for naught. But a call from an enterprising TV reporter somehow cut through the red tape. Our businessman didn’t have to return from a busy work week on the road to appear on a Wednesday night; the ticket was dropped. The boat is no longer aground in the 8500 block of Idaho, anyway. Perhaps someone mercifully scuttled it in the dry River Des Peres channel for it to sink or wash into the Big Muddy and eventually out to sea, come the next cloudburst. And, next relaxing weekend, our businessman can fish for crappie from that nice bass boat he really does own.
[brentwood]
In time, Chick-fil-A and its silly cows (‘Eat Mor Chikin’) could take over the world. Well, OK, maybe the barnyard. This rooster from Atlanta is really puffing out its breast and strutting its stuff: The fast-fryeries have cropped up so rapidly throughout the metro that one has to wonder where else in the nation the pious poultry purveyor (closed on Sundays) has such aggressive expansion plans. Word on Eager Road is that Chick-fil-A may assume the lease of the Romano’s Macaroni Grill location there. Brentwood’s planning and zoning body would need to take up the issue before it could be kicked up to the city council. Meanwhile, it’s macaroni as usual at the Grill, 8590 Eager Road. A manager there says they’re doing just fine, and that reports about the chicken guys leasing from the pasta guys is inaccurate, as Romano’s doesn’t own the building. Guess we’ll have to watch and wait as the gears of local government and corporate real estate slowly turn. At any rate, the Houston-based make-your-own- pasta place apparently has not fared so well in a region renowned for its Eye-talian: namely, everywhere on The Hill and at mom & pop places all over. At any rate, Macaroni Grill in Creve Coeur closed about this time last year.
[chesterfield]
As far as longevity among area municipalities is concerned, the City of Chesterfield is but a pip-squeak. But according to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Chesterfield is a giant when it comes to stewardship of natural resources by creating wildlife habitat. Collin O’Mara, NWF president and CEO, visited Chesterfield last month to recognize the city for its 10th year as an NWF Community Wildlife Habitat. To become so designated, a city, town, county or neighborhood must make a commitment to become ‘wildlife-friendly’ by creating multiple wildlife habitat areas in backyards, schoolyards, corporate properties, community gardens, parks and common areas. Habitat-rich communities like Chesterfield must also commit to educating citizens about how to garden for wildlife in a sustainable manner and provide the four key elements for wildlife to survive—food, water, shelter and places to raise young. In 2005, Chesterfield became the ninth community in the country—and the first in Missouri—to become a NWF Community Wildlife Habitat. Now, the area is positively bursting with habitat: From the milkweed planted at city hall in Chesterfield (migrating monarch butterflies love it) to larger areas in parks and along waterways throughout the metro, there are more than 2,000 NWF-certified habitats, including schools and homes, places of worship and corporate campuses. (Pictured above)
[creve coeur]
They’re like moths to a flame. Something draws knuckleheads to gas stations and C-stores in the middle of the night. For criminals, of course, it’s the promise of quick cash. Never really all that much, of course; maybe a few hundred dollars. Or maybe it really is that the places are bathed in light—at night they’re brighter than hell itself, and maybe they do make perps go all zombie-like. Fortunately, the robbery that occurred last month at the Circle K, 1100 Olive Blvd., was of the ‘strong arm’ variety. Nothing was smashed, except maybe a pastry, nothing but money was grabbed, and nobody was hurt. Although the cops apparently haven’t shared surveillance video, there’s a strong likelihood that this crook got caught on camera before he got away. Maybe that’s the attraction—the thrill presented by a good chance of getting caught for real. If he’s successful, he’s got some pocket change—or, more likely, a fistful of dollars to spend on booze, cigarettes and strippers. Quite an accomplishment.
[kirkwood]
The ‘pigeon drop’ scam—it is real, and it happened recently outside the Hobby Lobby on South Kirkwood Road. Sounds like it’s right out of Dumb and Dumber: Suspect approaches an unwary victim and shows her a substantial amount of cash in a bag. Then the suspect (also female) says she’ll split the proceeds with the pigeon—and, another participant (read: accomplice) if they’ll pony up some of their own cash and help verify the money isn’t counterfeit. Suspect proposes to do this by bringing some bills into the store for scanning. If the potential pigeon hasn’t beaten feet by now, she belongs in the aforementioned movie’s sequel, Dumb and Dumberer. Details of this particular drop include the trio then visiting Lowe’s to have a manager verify the money’s authenticity. Of course, before it all gets resolved, the two suspects are long gone with the pigeon’s $10,000. If it sounds like something out of vaudeville, this old con game still happens all the time, authorities say. Surveillance video from Lowe’s and Hobby Lobby helped the cops ID and issue warrants for two women from Mississippi. But at this writing, they had yet to locate, much less put cuffs on, the two slippery gals.
[sunset hills]
A multimillion-dollar expansion and improvements are in the works for two Friendship Village senior living communities, in Sunset Hills and Chesterfield. The project at Friendship Village Sunset Hills is budgeted at $57 million and is slated to wrap up next September with two independent-living apartment complexes of 200,000 square feet apiece. The expansion will include five new duplex villas, two new dining venues and will interconnect with apartment buildings already on campus. In Chesterfield, the expansion will entail creating a number of larger apartments by combining two existing apartments into single units of approximately 1,200 square feet. In addition, a new triplex villa will be built.
[university city]
Neighbors have filed suit to derail the project. Delays of one sort or another have hampered its progress. But proponents of the Loop Trolley line from U. City to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park still tout it as ‘The Little Engine That Could.’ When bids for a number of contracts came in higher than expected, Loop Trolley Transportation Development District officials say, bid language was revised to make it more clear to respondents what exactly the district is asking for. In essence, say civic leaders Joe Edwards et al., the project should be held up only a month or two as they await new bids, but the bells on the trolley cars still should be ringing by spring 2016, with public access by that summer, as originally planned. Officials did not specify which bids came in too high for the $43 million line, which was jump-started in May with a long-awaited $25 million federal Urban Circulator grant.
In 1915, Webster University was a small Catholic school founded by the Sisters of Loretto. It opened that year as Loretto College—with five students. What a difference a century can make. Webster University, in kicking off its centennial celebration, is rolling out a variety of events (some even with food trucks! In the Lou, you know it’s a big deal if there are food trucks) to mark its growth, not the least of which is in size: Today the institution has 60 locations and more than 20,000 students. Webster’s centennial celebration includes a film series, ‘A Century Through Cinema,’ which launches Oct. 17 with The Roaring Twenties, the first of several award-winning films that capture decades, define generations, and evoke nostalgia. This 1939 Raoul Walsh classic depicts three World War I vets, played by Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Jeffrey Lynn, who turn to bootlegging and organized crime to make a living during Prohibition. The next feature in the series is It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934), a screwball comedy starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, which reveals disparity in the social classes of the early ’30s. Other epics in the centennial series include The Grapes of Wrath and Rebel Without a Cause. The series is held monthly through next September at various venues, including on campus at Winifred Moore Auditorium and at Schlafly Bottleworks. All films start at 7:30 p.m.