Local News

St. Louis Finds Common Cause in a Divided World: Anger at Schnucks | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

February 5, 2024

[ad_1]

click to enlarge VIA GOOGLE MAPS Since February 1, this place has increasingly been a scene of human suffering. Too often, our differences can seem insurmountable. In these divided times, we tend to function as a fractured society almost by default, one that pits us against each other over the most inconsequential of differences — red vs. blue, woman vs. man, west of I-270 vs. those who prefer to live adjacent to such novel things as “culture” and “civilization.”But once in a while, some unifying force comes along with a pull so strong it can’t help but bring us together. Like a pair of magnets of opposite polarity joining as one, we unite — and we are stronger for it. This past week has offered the St. Louis area one such moment, as citizens of all stripes set aside the things that make us different and embrace that which makes us the same. That’s right: We’re talking about our collective hatred of Schnucks’ new self-checkout guidelines.St. Louis’ largest homegrown grocery chain unleashed its new policy (henceforth dubbed The Calamity) upon an unsuspecting St. Louis on Thursday, February 1. The fine print of The Calamity limits self-checkout purchases to just 10 items or less — fully half of the previous limit, and now also rigorously enforced.Union leadership touted the change as a win-win for both employees and customers.“A more full-service operation has the benefit of being good for our hard-working union partners and will help Schnucks conduct more efficient business,” said UFCW Local 655 President David Cook in a statement on February 2. “Our partners in these stores enjoy interacting with customers and making connections, and it gives those shoppers a greater overall experience.”A more full-service operation does sound nice! Some of us even remember the days when we didn’t have to deal with any sort of self-checkout whatsoever at the grocery store, a time when a full force of actual people were instead employed to scan our items and bag them for us. A return to even a fraction of that experience would indeed surely be welcomed by both customer and employee alike.The situation on the ground, however, has not lived up to the promise of its implementation. Ever since The Calamity was introduced, Schnucks shoppers across the St. Louis region have taken up arms in a show of unity not seen since back when we collectively ran Stan Kroenke out of town on a rail. Social media has been in an uproar, with neighborhood groups abuzz with dissatisfied customers who were forced to shuffle through the overcrowded full-service lines to make their purchases. Even as I type, the top post on St. Louis Reddit is one titled “Schnucks lines,” with 284 upvotes and 279 comments. “This new policy is a total disaster,” that post, by Reddit user burritofan41, reads. “There is still no one checking people out and the self-checkout sits empty. Just waited 1/2 hour to check out. Looks like it is Dierbergs or Fresh Thyme from here on out until the policy changes.”The responses to that post are similar. Simply put, the reviews are in — and the people are not impressed.”Here’s me at Schnucks Arsenal around 2:00pm with a 16 item cart, staring longingly at the 7 open self-checkouts,” writes madanthony. “I got shoo-ed out of self-checkout. By the time I checked out, the full-service line had ballooned back to the red sign where the self-checkout line starts. Shockingly, 5 out of 7 full-service lanes were staffed. Still not enough.””This whole thing has been strange,” a Redditor identified only by a string of numbers adds. “Obviously if they are clamping down on self-checkout they need more staffing but it seems some of the locations didn’t get that additional staffing. It’s almost like they don’t want this to succeed.””Oh, it makes total sense,” allenkcrain writes. “They don’t want people to steal things from self-checkout, but they also don’t want to hire more employees to make regular checkout lanes go smoothly, so their clever solution is simply to give their customers an extremely bad experience.”That last poster in particular seems to hit the nail on the head. It’s true that self-checkout aisles have been notoriously bad for loss prevention efforts in stores where they’ve been introduced. (In my defense, I have not been properly trained on these machines.) Scaling back on those would certainly make shoplifting far more difficult, but that comes at a price, and that price is the cost of labor for a proper workforce. And while the union did indeed celebrate The Calamity upon its implementation, we have to think they’d be even happier with more jobs for their workers. The haggard looks on the faces of the poor employees forced to police the new policy tell us that the rank-and-file is less enthused than advertised as well. Things would be a lot better for everyone if corporate would just loosen up those purse strings.A full-service force of trained employees getting paid a fair wage for their important work? Now that’s something we can all unite behind.
Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

[ad_2]

Source link