News on the Clayton/Hillcrest/Aberdeen/MISSOURI Front

A smaller house on the far East side of Aberdeen Place (my home street), recently sold for about $850,000.

This is surprising because A) houses on Aberdeen two years ago were selling for $300-$400k (Saint Louis has a much lower cost of living) and those prices were considered HIGH at the time. Run-down fixer uppers on and around South Grand Blvd. (where I live now) could sell for as low as $3k a couple years ago; now they are selling for $300-$400k. and B) the house that sold for approximately $850k was not located IN THE GOOD SCHOOL DISTRIC OF CLAYTON, but the city of Saint Louis, a "bad" school distric (Roosevelt High School is the public high school allotted to this house, THE WORST SCHOOL IN METRO SAINT LOUIS).

The fact that a house in the city, approximately 2500 square feet, has sold for $850k is alarming. Experts think prices for houses located in the school district of Clayton (a blue ribbon public school system), on the same block, Aberdeen place, will balloon.

But in fact... houses in the city are going up, up, up! And houses in places like Clayton, Ladue, and University City are leveling off, despite being just a few hundred feet away. What is the cause of this phenomenon?

TAX BENEFITS FOR THE WEATLTHY, and the "back-door voucher" laws being passed underhandedly by Governor Blunt.

Wealthy Saint Louisans now send their children to private college preparatory schools like Borroughs, MICDS, Whitfield, TJ, and Crossroads, NOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Governor Blunt's plan for public education actually only increases higher education funding (i.e. high school and collegiate levels) by 2%, to match its previous level in 1998, far below its level in the 80s and early 90s, and is only 15% of the expected plan he promised during his election campaign. And how did he fund the extra 15%? By removing medicaid from the state budget! Several deaths of illnesses like cancer and diabetes have occurred following the recent medicaid cuts, and what is worse, despite MO's balanced budget ruling, GOVERNOR BLUNT HAS PUT MO INTO A $1 BILLION DEBT.

He also is planning to pass laws that allow pharmacists to refuse to distribute the morning after pill; lying and deceiving his supporters into believing the morning after pill is the same as RU-486, the emergency abortion pill. RU-486 is only available by medical prescription by a licensed physician.

When a woman takes the morning after pill, she is not necessarily pregnant, and it works the same way as a regular birth control pill, blocking the uterus and preventing pregnancy BEFORE IT STARTS.

What's next in MO? With cuts on medicaid and anti-gay (marriage) discrimination encoded into our state constitution, will we soon have no access to birth control? Will Saint Louis sit idle as governor Blunt passes a bill that would put impeachment of the majoritively DEMOCRATIC JUDICIARY into the REPUBLICAN SENATE's hands? Two such bills are already running through the system, HJR 31 and SJR 2.

City house prices are getting higher, which is good - BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSES THEY PRESENT FOR OUR STATE.

Missourians, mobilize!

We have to fight Governor Blunt's mad EMERGENCY ABORTION of medicaid, education, fair justice, and equality before it's too late.

So let's go smoke a big fat Blunt: Abort Blunt in the first term!

Resources

What's the Difference Between RU-486 and the Morning After Pill?

Democratic Missouri State Representative Margaret Donnelly's Issues Page - Margaret Donnelly serves my district of Missouri, Saint Louis City, and is one of the only democrats in MO Congress

PROMO - An Organization For the Personal Rights of Missourians

Fired up! Missouri - Concerning Missouri's Political and Budget State

Key Saint Louis Facts
*The number of gay and lesbian identified people living in Saint Louis is approximately 56% above the national average, and 78% above the national average for gay men (note: this statistic does not include bisexuals).
*Saint Louis is 51% African/American, 2% Asian, 2% Hispanic, and 2% Biracial (and 43% White/Caucasian); compare that to 84% White in MO, overall.
*The Missouri County of Saint Louis City went over 70% for Kerry in the 2004 Election.