[chesterfield]
Can anything stop a marauding shopper? If you thought the two outlet malls down yonder in Chesterfield Valley were sucking away all the business from Chesterfield Mall, think a
gain. The pie slices aren’t getting smaller, the pie is getting bigger. CBL Properties, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, based owner of Chesterfield Mall and others—St. Clair Square in Illinois, South County Center, Mid Rivers Mall and West County Center—is adding retailers everywhere. When you take into account the six new stores coming to the mall or already there, Chesterfield is 96 percent leased, which causes one to wonder what the heck else could fit in there—a shoelace store? The lights are already on at Hibbett Sports and Test America, a market-research company. Lindbergh and 4evermen, two boutiques that carry men’s European fashions, are slated to open this month. Never heard of them? Reportedly they’ve set up shop so far only in Las Vegas, and what happens in Vegas … oh, never mind. By spring, Encore Shoes and an Ooh La La boutique also will have joined them.
[kirkwood]
Last issue, we celebrated the academic exploits of the Parkway student who got perfect scores on her ACT and SAT college placement exams. Well, the young lady may have to share pantheon space with Cameron Kell of Kirkwood, who kicked major booty on an AP exam. The KHS senior is one of only seven students in the world to earn every point possible on the AP exam evaluating prowess in topics germane to U.S. government and politics. Looking across approximately 4 million AP exams in multiple subjects taken in 2014 by 1.5 million U.S. public high school juniors and seniors, only 285 students earned every point possible on an AP exam. That is, they had to answer every multiple choice question correctly and receive full points on the essay section. AP courses are college level, count toward college credits, and are taken seriously in terms of scholarship monies. Way to go!
[olivette]
Jake Zimmerman of Olivette is running for state Attorney General. ‘Who?’ some may say. Why, he’s the fellow who became St. Louis County Assessor, a position that hadn’t existed before. And he has made some impressive changes, ruffling feathers along the way. We reported awhile back on the flap between Aberdeen Heights and the county over property taxes. As a nonprofit affiliated with a religious denomination, the well-to-do Kirkwood senior living center claimed exemption from property taxes. An attorney by trade, Zimmerman maneuvered the company into a settlement whereby the portion devoted to skilled nursing care, about 20 percent of the property, would be exempt and the other 80 percent would be subject to property taxes. Kirkwood now has about $1 million a year flowing into its coffers, and Zimmerman has his sights on other concerns that claim one loophole or another. Perhaps we should hope he loses the 2016 election for the statewide office? We need his influence right here at home.
[sunset hills]
He. Just. Won’t. Go. Away. A jury trial for Mark Furrer, the Sunset Hills mayor indicted for felony assault in last summer’s altercation with cyclist Randy Murdick, is set for December. That is a long way away for a city administration distracted from conducting regular business by trouble stemming from the man in the swivel chair. So, several aldermen looked into hiring an attorney to help them negotiate the process of impeaching Furrer, and last Tuesday (Feb. 10), the city council voted 5-3 in favor of the measure. Furrer is accused of running Murdick off the road in July after a verbal exchange. Murdick asserts Furrer swerved toward him, after which he tumbled, hurting his leg. Murdick says more than $700 damage was done to his bicycle. Both parties admit to yelling, at least. But hizzoner maintains his innocence, claiming Murdick was not obeying traffic laws and grabbed on to his car.
[town & country]
First she was charged with selling fake tickets to a Bruno Mars concert. Then, she faked an illness after her arrest, wriggled away from authorities at the hospital, and was arrested a short time later. Now she’s accused of stealing cash from the Town & Country doctor’s office where she worked as a receptionist. Suffice it to say, this is one slippery knucklehead. Desiree—let’s use only her first name since she has already threatened to sue a TV station for defaming her— is accused most recently of making off with patients’ cash co-payments to the doctor. She must have been pretty busy at the doc’s reception desk, because she’s on the hook for stealing more than $500 from the practice. Reportedly her rap sheet includes ripping off a pharmacy and forging checks. If she walks like a duck and talks like a duck, doesn’t that make her a duck? We wonder how she managed to finagle the job, much less scam about a half-dozen Bruno Mars fans on Craigslist, with about a half-dozen photocopied tickets to the very same seat at Scottrade Center. Well, isn’t it said that there’s a sucker born every minute? Ahh, Craigslist. I was going to buy a ladder on the site for $20, but when I called, somebody else already had snagged it. So it’s a legitimate business, of course. But many of the sellers are shady. So, caveat emptor, people. Note to self: Don’t ever buy anything on Craigslist from anyone named Desiree.
[webster groves]
It must be tough to be Cornealious ‘Mike’ Anderson of Webster Groves. You might remember Anderson as the fellow who was convicted of an armed robbery in 2000, yet never went to prison because of a clerical error. By the time the mistake was discovered, Anderson was a churchgoing man who had started a business and a family. Nevertheless, he went to prison until a judge applied his sentence to the time he had been living as a law-abiding citizen. He got out in May. A lot of luck and not a small bit of serendipity, you may say. But not for long. In a regrettable case of mistaken identity, Anderson appeared in the news again in November when he was jailed, suspected of a purse snatching at a White Castle in St. Louis. The victim and her boyfriend identified him as the perp. Anderson’s alibi? He was at another restaurant at the time of the crime. But the cops were so convinced by the couple’s positive I.D. that they didn’t consider further investigation. In the end, Mike Anderson can thank heaven for surveillance video. It was determined after a thorough investigation by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office that The Lou’s finest had collared the wrong guy. And the office plans to go further than just saying, ‘Oops,’ on behalf of the cops. Owning that the case never should have been filed, Jennifer Joyce, the city’s circuit attorney, has said she wants to apologize to Anderson in person. Meanwhile, if Anderson is so inclined, a suit over these egregious circumstances is one of the rare pieces of civil litigation that might actually make some sense.
[maplewood]
For anyone else who still mourns the passing of Memphis’ Best, the pulled-pork place long gone from Hanley and Manchester near Maplewood, a moment of silence please. (Hey—was that someone’s stomach rumbling?) A new BBQ restaurant, Lampert’s Q-Shack, has come to the ’Wood for good, let’s hope, and you can smell that heady smoke wafting from near Walgreen’s at Manchester and McCausland. Again. The shack once was home to BJ’s, a quick ’cue place that always looked like it was going to close tomorrow. Well, tomorrow came one day last year when the folks who ran it just stopped showing up. The Lamperts have added a deck and covered patio seating, and serve the savory stuff from a walk-up counter Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. For now. Come longer days and warmer weather, it will be open Monday through Saturday. Meanwhile, the lot once occupied by Memphis’ Best is still vacant. For years, the derelict restaurant building languished there looking much the worse for wear, its awnings hanging tattered. That seems like a choice parcel of commercial real estate. So, what gives?
