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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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on lawmakers, their policies, and those that have influence upon
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All of these producers were given the same prop (a shopping bag), the same character (Leo or Linda Garren, a bank manager), the same line of dialogue ("Is that all I am to you?"), and just 48 hours to make a short movie. Here are some of the results:
"IN THE BAG" Produced by: Andrea Dixon Genre: Disaster Winner of "Best Use of Prop"
"I HATE ZOMBIES" Written and Directed by: Matt Stuertz Genre: Horror
"FROM THE HIP" Directed by: Phil Voissem Genre: Western
"SPACE BETWEEN US" Co-Produced and Directed by: Ezra Hubbard and Jonathan Eberle Genre: Family Film
"ROVER" Directed by: Jeff Chamberlin Produced by: Joshua Hawkins Genre: Road movie
And as a special treat, here are some outtakes from another film also called "In the Bag." This one was produced by a group called Section Six.
Oh, wait! Here's a late entry... and it's animated!
"ROMANTIC INTEREST" Directed by: Joe Millitzer Written and Voiced by: Peter Wilberding Art by: Katie Johanness Genre: Film Noir
UPDATE: Here's "IN THE BAG" by Section Six Productions:
Today marked the one-year anniversary of the controversial Kelo v. City of New London Supreme Court decision which upheld the right of governments to take private property for the purpose of giving it to other private interests.
To mark what some have called "a dark day" in personal property rights, members and supporters of the Missouri Eminent Domain Abuse Coalition (MEDAC) rallied in front of City Hall today.
Some in the crowd carried signs calling for the recall of aldermen that have used eminent domain in the City of St. Louis. "Recall Roddy," some shouted, referring to 17th Ward Ald. Joe Roddy. Third Ward resident Maxine Johnson carried a sign calling for the recall of 3rd Ward Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr.
A group of seven to ten residents of the 17th Ward have organized an effort to recall their longtime alderman, Joe Roddy.
Kim Jayne, a longtime ward resident and one of the organizers of the recall effort, sat down with PUB DEF yesterday afternoon to explain why she and other are ready to see Roddy go.
Sitting at her living room table, with a large map of the ward hanging on the wall behind her, Jayne said Roddy is unresponsive to the needs and wishes of the ward's residents and instead focuses on its corporate citizens, like BJC Hospital and Washington University, which owns lots of property in the ward.
On Wednesday the St. Louis City Board of Adjustment heard testimony from people for and against a proposed new McDonalds drive-thru restaurant on South Grand Ave. In a closed session after their public meeting, the members of the board voted to deny the opponent's appeal to an earlier ruling granting the hamburger chain a conditional use permit.
This controversial development has been the spark of an on-going effort to recall Ald. Jennifer Florida, in whose ward the new McDonalds would be built. Florida, who has expressed her support for the plan, was not at this week's meeting.
Alderman Craig Schmid was at the meeting. He continues to break with the longstanding tradition known as "aldermanic courtesy" -- when aldermen usually bow to the wishes of other aldermen as it relates to issues in their wards -- and again testified against the development.
Also testifying against the McDonalds was blogger and "urbanist" Steve Patterson. Patterson has been a vocal critic of this plan for months on his Urban Review blog.
No private citizens spoke in favor of the development, but two representatives from McDonalds did. Attorney Gary H. Feder told the board the development plan for that area (which forbids drive-thru restaurants) does not preempt city zoning ordinances which do allow for conditional use permits to be issued.
A source from Jeff Smith's state senate campaign said someone was arrested this morning after attempting to break into their campaign office on Olive at 3:15 a.m. this morning.
Developing...
UPDATE: A spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department tells PUB DEF they have no record of an attempted break-in at the address of Smith's office.
People in Smith's campaign say when they showed up this morning, the building's owner was there and he told them he received word early this morning that someone had been arrested after trying to break in. A phone call to the landlord was not immediately returned.
Here's the latest print(able) edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Download it, print it, share it with friends. Just don't wipe with it or smoke it. Fanning with it is okay. That's allowed. But only because it's hot.
The St. Louis Police Board held a public meeting tonight in south St. Louis. One of the things on its agenda was to hear public comments on the issue of maintaining a department policy requiring most civilian employees to live in the city.
The almost all-white audience was filled mostly with people supporting the idea that department employees should be able to live wherever they'd like. They pointed to the state of the city schools, the rise in property values, and even crime as reasons all employees of the Police Department should be able to move out of the city.
Only a handful of people spoke in support of keeping the requirement. One elderly woman said she felt safer with police living in her neighborhood. At the conclusion of her statement, she was booed by some in the audience. Another older woman said city jobs should go to city residents. She was also booed.
The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners will be be holding a public meeting on the southside tonight in the Word of Life Lutheran School gymnasium, 6535 Eichelberger, at 7:00 p.m.
"I think this is a perfect opportunity to hear how the residents of St. Louis feel about civilian residency," said Chris Goodson, president of the police board, in a press release sent to media today.
"It gives citizens who work during the day the opportunity to attend a board meeting and to voice their concerns to the body that represents them,” said Goodson.
A district spokesperson said the board will also hold its July and August monthly meetings away from its usual location of the downtown police headquarters. No dates and locations for those meetings yet.
This video was shot less than 15 minutes ago. In it, Joe Edwards, the owner of such cool businesses as Blueberry Hill and The Pageant, asks the City's Board of Adjustment to grant a variance to allow a flashy neon sign for his planned new bowling alley, The Flamingo, on Washington Ave.
UPDATE: According to Steve Patterson, Edwards got his variance.
A few people have emailed me or posted comments about them having trouble watching our videos. Here are some things that might help:
First, make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed on your computer. Flash is the program that allows you to view animated websites and sites like ours that have lots of multimedia. Download it for free at www.adobe.com/downloads
Second, you may not be able to see the videos because your computer is behind a firewall that blocks video from YouTube.
YouTube is fantastic. Millions of people view and share content everyday on this rapidly growing service. But some companies worry about the "wrong content" being shared and they block everything from YouTube all together. Locally, I know the St. Louis Bread Companies block the service. That's a shame because I really like blogging from BreadCo.
Third, if the video keeps starting and stopping while it's playing, most likely your Internet connection is slow. The best way to deal with this annoyance is to click the play button to begin the download, then press pause. The video will continue to download (which you can see by the shaded meter moving to the right). When it's done downloading, click the play button again and enjoy a smooth video.
The St. Louis City Teachers' Union Committee on Political Education (COPE) has recommended that the union endorse State Rep. Amber Boykins for state senate.
COPE also recommended former school board member Bill Haas be endorsed in his campaign against State Rep. Rodney Hubbard. We are told that Hubbard never showed up for his scheduled interview with the teachers.
Local 420's executive board, which is not bound to accept the committee's recommendation, is expected to announce its full list of endorsements later this week.
Committee pushes back vote on cop residency bill to June 30
By Antonio D. French
The Legislation Committee of the Board of Aldermen met this afternoon to discuss a bill to again ask voters whether they prefer cops to be required to live in the city.
Board bill 47, sponsored by Aldermen Freeman Bosley, Sr. (3rd Ward), Ken Ortmann (9th), Steve Gregali (14th), and Jennifer Florida (15th), would be non-binding since by state law St. Louisans have no say over STLPD policies. Backers say it is meant simply to "assist the Missouri General Assembly in their deliberations regarding the residency requirement."
City voters approved similar language about ten years ago. Since then, the St. Louis Police Board, whose members (except for the mayor) are appointed by the governor, voted to allow some officers and civilian employees to move out of the city.
Today's meeting did not have the necessary quorum for a vote. The committee will likely vote to pass the bill out of committee on Friday, June 30.
All five of the candidates running for the open 4th District State Senate seat showed up early this morning for a debate sponsored by The St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA).
Before an audience of people who don't have to be at work on a Tuesday morning, Kenny Jones, Amber Boykins, Jeff Smith, Derio Gambaro, and Yaphett El-Amin answered questions on topics ranging from the upcoming Stem Cell ballot initiative and a possible toll bridge crossing the Mississippi River to education funding and whether St. Louis' business community pays its fair share in taxes.
In one of the most spirited parts of the debate, former State Rep. Derio Gambaro attacked the record of professional educator Jeff Smith's Confluence Academy charter schools.
Gambaro pointed to the fact that 3rd grade students from the schools scored far below most students from St. Louis Public Schools on the state's reading tests [67.5 % of Confluence's 3rd graders tested "Unsatisfactory" in 2005 versus 24.7 % for SLPS].
Gambaro said he prefers a voucher (or tax credit-funded scholarship) system that would allow parents the choice of taking their kids out of SLPS and sending them to a school that is fully accredited.
Smith said it is unfortunate that people "who have just talked about doing things for the city schools are attacking people who have done things to improve the city schools."
He said that majority of the parents at Confluence gave the school an A or B grade last year and that there is currently a list of hundreds of families on a waiting list to send their kids to the charter school.
Trouble viewing this video on YouTube? Click here to download it to your computer.
Check back later for more videos from today's debate...
VIDEO: CRB Flap Again Shows Police Should Be Under Local Control
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, June 19, 2006 at 9:55 AM
Alderman Terry Kennedy (18th Ward) was the original sponsor of the bill that was passed earlier this year by the Board of Aldermen to create a civilian review board to investigate reports of abuses of power by city cops. Mayor Francis Slay vetoed that bill and proposed a weaker version, which the state-controlled police board approved.
Last week, we reported that supporters of Kennedy's bill noticed significant changes between the version the police board approved in public and what actually became policy with the signature of police board president Chris Goodson.
Kennedy sat down with PUB DEF to again express his belief that the citizens of St. Louis deserve the same right to control their police department just as citizens of most other American cities.
