St Charles Community

Growers in Southwestern Illinois are finding good growth in their orchards, and this year's apple crop was not harmed by the overly wet weather in June or brutally hot weather in August.

The first apples are now being picked. Growers are picking a variety of different kinds of apples that grow to be different sizes and shades of red, yellow and green.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/09/03/1386517/perfect-timing.html#ixzz0yUWMYWNU

Philip Langdon, of the New Urban Network, argues that if the U.S. is going to shift toward compact, less resource-consuming patterns of development, Americans will have to rely increasingly on mass transit. and at a cost that doesn't drain the coffers dry.

Langdon talks with Ken Archer, who writes for "Greater Greater Washington" blog and is an outspoken critic of Washington, D.C.'s deteriorating transit system. Archer says the way MetroRail decides when to replace a part is to wait until the end of its "useful life."

"Is 'useful life'-based replacement really the solution?" Archer asks. Maintenance based on the "useful life" of infrastructure typically relies on scheduled maintenance, which seems at first glance to be a good thing but which has, in Archer's view, "one fundamental weakness." It boils down to this: "because maintenance is based on a calendar and not the objective condition of an asset, it is almost always either too late and a breakdown has already occurred, or it is way too early and thus wasteful."

Read the entire article on New Urban Network

Movers rolled carts of evidence across temporary plywood bridges Thursday under the watchful eye of St. Peters police officers.

The evidence, along with computers, files, furniture and other trappings of the old police headquarters next door were headed for the new buliding, a 75,000 square-foot facility that also will house municipal courts and chambers for the Board of Aldermen. David Fults, a spokesman for the city, said the $21 million project is nearing completion, and a formal dedication may be scheduled in October.

Story and Video on STLToday

On Aug. 31, the City Council of St. Charles, Mo., voted to allow the launch of a new flea market at 2045 S. Old Highway 94, one half mile south of Truman Blvd., at Exit 2 off Highway 370. “We got our approval just last night,” says market developer Jim Zavradinos, speaking with FleaMarketZone yesterday. “We’re underway!”

The Truman Markets project faces a short timetable to get ready for its Sept. 17 opening. “We have to finish up the rock and the pavement, the electrical, the tents, the portable toilets, the office, the Internet, and stuff like that,” says Zavradinos, “And we should be able to get it done.”

The market is not what he originally planned for the property. Zavradinos had expected to develop the land for commercial use. “It was going to be an industrial park,” he says, mentioning office warehouse, retail, some service, storage, and so on. “It is well located, and there are other neighboring industrial developments, but after the economy turned — unfortunately very shortly after we purchased the property — as with other developers, we’ve been struggling,” he says.

“After the past two years that we’ve been struggling with the business center part of it, we realized that we had to think outside of the box, and do something,” Zavradinos says, “or otherwise the project was going to fail.”

Read the rest of the story and see diagrams on fleamarketzone

The official Truman Market website is at http://www.trumanmarkets.com/