St. Louis News - "All The News That Is Saint Louis"

St. Louis Front Page

Community Info

St. Louis Job News

St. Louis Restaurants

How To Reach Us:
St. Louis Front Page
P.O. Box 1354
St. Louis, MO 63188

Voice: 314-771-0200
Fax: 314-771-0300

To submit news, contact:
editor@slfp.com

To advertise, contact:
advertising@slfp.com

ST. LOUIS NEWS TODAY - Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The St. Louis Organizing Committee anticipates the 2009 Women's Final Four will generate approximately $20 million in direct spending and attract more than 20,000 visitors to the region.

NCAA® Organizer's Hope for Slam Dunk Success
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), March 29, 2009 - As the nation deals with the current economic slowdown, St. Louis can expect to receive a financial shot in the arm from the 2009 NCAA Womens Final Four, which takes place April 5 and 7 at Scottrade Center.

The St. Louis Organizing Committee (SLOC) hope the event will have a big impact on the St. Louis region and its business community.

In a statement, Karen Foss, civic chair for the SLOC, said, "Even in strong economic times, events like the Women's Final Four are very meaningful to the region and particularly Downtown St. Louis. So in a period now when the economy is slumping, the Women's Final Four is tremendously important as it will bring a much-needed economic boost to area hotels, restaurants, merchants and workers."

Based on recent high-profile sporting events, the St. Louis Organizing Committee anticipates the 2009 Women's Final Four will generate approximately $20 million in direct spending and attract more than 20,000 visitors to the region. A study conducted for the NCAA by Performance Research at last year's Women's Final Four in Tampa found the event created $19.1 million in new spending and $1.8 million in incremental tax revenue. The 2008 event brought 22,595 visitors to the Tampa Bay area.

When St. Louis last hosted the Women's Final Four in 2001, the event's economic impact on the region - using multiplier effects - was $20.9 million. With Missouri State University playing in the national semifinal game that year, as many as 30,000 visitors traveled to St. Louis for the event. An economic impact study also found that the 2001 Women's Final Four was responsible for:

$2.61 million in direct spending on local hotels and lodging
$2.44 million in direct spending at food and beverage establishments
$1.43 million in direct spending at retail outlets
$440,600 in parking expenditures
$148,220 spent on MetroLink tickets

"The Women's Final Four has shown that it is a proven winner on and off the court," said NCAA Vice President for Division I Women's Basketball Sue Donohoe. "Our corporate champions and partners enjoy the strong outreach provided by our championship and our loyal fans continue to support our game. We encourage the business community of St. Louis to get behind the effort of hosting this true celebration of the 'best of the best' in women's basketball as the community will feel the residual benefits for years to come."

Metro Transit System to Implement Service Changes

The Metro Transit System will implement service changes on March 30, 2009 that will affect MetroLink, MetroBus and Metro Call-A-Ride. To reach Transit Information, customers may call (314) 231-2345 from Missouri or (618) 271-2345 from Illinois. Transit Information may also be reached through its TTY numbers at (314) 982-1555 from Missouri or (618) 875-1200 from Illinois.

Metro Riders Can Turn to RideFinders Vanpool Groups for Alternate Commutes
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), March 31, 2009 - As many Metro riders still struggle with finding an alternate commute to work, hundreds of others have found a viable solution through RideFinders, which provides a free ridematching database to help commuters in the St. Louis region team up in carpools or vanpools.

Participation in the RideFinders program is easy. Commuters first register with RideFinders free ridematching service at www.ridefinders.org or (800) 847-7433 with their home and work addresses, work hours and preferences.

Commuters who do not own a vehicle or are unable to drive can sign up to share the ride with someone who does. Next, commuters receive a list of other commuters or vanpools with similar commutes to theirs to contact. Once they make arrangements to carpool or vanpool, they register with RideFinders for free to receive the Guaranteed Ride Home benefit.

Employers also are encouraged to join RideFinders at no cost to help employees who may be impacted by Metro's service cuts or simply are seeking a more affordable workday commute. In return for their free participation in RideFinders, these employers provide their employees with ridesharing information and incentives to drive them to carpool or vanpool to work.

New #98 Clayton Chesterfield MetroBus Route to Serve Key Employment Centers
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), March 29, 2009 - On Friday, Metro's Board of Commissioners directed the Metro Staff to negotiate an agreement with the City of Chesterfield that will allow creation of a new bus route to serve key employment centers in West St. Louis County.

The new route, the #98 Clayton Chesterfield, will be created through a public-private partnership between the City of Chesterfield and Metro, with the added assistance from a Federal grant.

The #98 will serve the areas previously traveled by the #258X West County Rapid, but will not serve the branch of the route that formerly traveled to Wildwood. The route will proceed west from its origin at the Clayton MetroBus Center to the Ballas MetroBus Center, and then to key employment centers including St. Luke's Hospital, the nursing care facilities along North and South Outer 40 Roads, Chesterfield Mall including the MetroBus Park-Ride lot, Spirit of St. Louis Airport and Chesterfield Commons. Buses will run every half-hour during rush hour and every hour during mid-day and evenings. The new route begins on Monday, March 30, 2009.

"This does not replace the service that is being discontinued on Monday," said Ray Friem, Metro's Chief Operating Officer of Transit Services. "It's a scaled down alternative to what had been offered to one of the fastest growing corridors in our region. But it does provide a vital link between the rest of the Metro system and the largest concentration of employment centers that the new smaller system would not have been able to reach."

This route is made possible by a Federal JARC (Job Access Reverse Commute) grant, funds committed by the City of Chesterfield and area businesses, and Metro. Metro received JARC funds to respond to traffic mitigation caused by construction on I-64.

"I have been very impressed with the responsiveness of the businesses in my community who say that public transportation is a priority and is important for our workers," Chesterfield Mayor John Nations told Metro's Board as he made the proposal today. "Many commuters use public transportation to get from the City of St. Louis, even from Illinois, to get to jobs in Chesterfield. I have had employers tell me over the years that we would have even more job growth in Chesterfield if we could find even better ways to get people to the jobs in Chesterfield."

Metro President and CEO Robert Baer thanked Mayor Nations for his leadership in organizing this effort to connect people with jobs. Baer also noted that the Metro made a request to the State of Missouri for emergency funds to cover the transit service deficit for one year. "If the Agency receives the requested funds from the State of Missouri, service would be restored, but not before at least July," Baer said.

Consumers Warned About Acai Berry Products Scam
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), March 29, 2009 - Attorney General Chris Koster is alerting consumers to beware of internet businesses advertising free trial offers for Acai berry products and other nutritional supplements. Koster warns that responding to these "free" offers on the internet poses a substantial risk of excessive charges.

Companies entice consumers by offering a 14-day free trial of the product. According to the offer, unless you notify the company that you do not want to continue to receive the product, and return it during the trial period, it will automatically be sent and charged to you. Consumers are complaining that companies are impossible to contact for a cancellation both during and after the trial period, and their credit cards are automatically charged for an additional month's supply that can cost $80 or more.

"Most of the benefits from these free supplement offers go to the scam artists in the form of healthy incomes at the expense of unsuspecting shoppers," Koster said. "Free offers are a common tactic used by unscrupulous businesses, and should send up a red flag to consumers."

To date, the Attorney General's Office has received more than 100 complaints concerning the deceptive tactics being used by companies marketing the Acai berry products on-line. Consumers can report fraud at Koster's Consumer Protection Hotline, 1-800-8222.

STL-News is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group as a special feature of the Saint Louis Front Page for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Saint Louis area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 1996 - 2009 Moore Design Group.