SCENE THE
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Spring Issue 3
April 28, 2023
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St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
Illegally parked cars keep electric cars from charging By Theodore Geigle The Scene staff
St. Louis Community College spent thousands of dollars installing four electric-vehicle-charging stations on the Forest Park campus in 2019. But the stations have been underutilized due to network-connectivity issues and drivers with gas-powered vehicles parking in spots designated for electric vehicles. Ethan Curtis, who owns a 2022 Chevrolet Bolt, has frequently reported problems with the Forest Park stations on PlugShare, an informational website and app for drivers of electric vehicles. “Zero enforcement of EV only parking or even handicap parking,” Curtis wrote earlier this month. “None of the vehicles parked in the handicap parking had handicap placards. Two of the three spots for EV charging were not EVs.” Lt. David Berryman, STLCC police commander for the Forest Park campus, declined to comment, saying he didn’t have authority to speak on the subject. Berryman referred questions to his supervisor, Capt. Benjamin Talley, who didn’t return multiple phone calls. Talley’s supervisor, A.J. Adkins, director of STLCC police, didn’t return multiple phone calls and didn’t respond to emailed requests for an interview. Curtis isn’t a student at Forest Park, but his girlfriend lives in the area, so it’s convenient for him to charge his Bolt on campus
Staff photo
Three gasoline-powered vehicles are parked in electric-vehicle spots outside the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences building. while visiting her. “I think that the charging stations are important not just for students, but for the community because apartment buildings don’t have charging stations, and if places like Forest Park didn’t have them, that would leave a lot of people behind, people who don’t have the time or the money to go out of their way to the stations.” STLCC built a new Center for Nursing
Photo by Jerrell Phillips
Spring spruce-up A worker uses a scissor lift to touch up trim on a West Wing window as part of the college’s effort to deal with deterioration on the Forest Park campus.
and Health Sciences on the Forest Park campus in 2019. The college installed three electric-vehicle-charging stations directly west of the center and one to the south along College Drive. They’re operated by the company ChargePoint. Each is designed to deliver 6.6 kilowatts of electricity per hour. The stations were installed to help the center get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, according to Jason Young, coordinator of marketing and communications at Forest Park. Bob Smith, executive director of STLCC facilities, estimated that the college spent $24,000 to install them. “I have only been around for 12 months, so I wasn’t here when they were installed,” he said. “I know that they worked unreliably until recently, when we fixed them in the last few months. I haven’t gotten reports since then that they don’t work.” Throughout 2021 and 2022, multiple drivers reported on PlugShare that one or more of the electric-vehicle-charging stations at Forest Park were out of order. Police have issued tickets to drivers of gas-powered vehicles parking in spots reserved for electric vehicles, but it’s not known how often that happens or whether violators pay the fines. Berryman declined to give the cost of fines when tickets are issued to drivers who park in either handicapped or electric-vehicle spots on campus. Joshua Walker, associate professor of automotive technology, has noticed an increase in the number of students, faculty and staff members driving electric vehicles in recent years. “There used to be one or two around campus, but lately I’ve seen around 10 to 20,” he said this month. “We’ve worked on two of them, a Toyota Prius and a Chevrolet
See Charging page 2
Former student gets praise for short film By Precious Kenney The Scene staff Kevin Coleman-Cohen was employed as a St. Louis youth worker when he saw a homeless teenage boy performing oral sex for money on an adult male under a highway overpass. Fifteen years later, Coleman-Cohen made “Pretty Boy,” a short film inspired by the disturbing encounter. “I wouldn’t have been able to make this movie in 2007,” he said. “I wasn’t ready mentally. Now I am ready.” Coleman-Cohen is a former Forest Park student and faculty member who now lives in California. He returned to St. Louis last month to show his film to friends and family members at 24:1 Cinema. Coleman-Cohen also gave a presentation in the Mildred E. Bastion Center for the Performing Arts at Forest Park and appeared on local TV and radio shows. The Forest Park audience included sociology professor Andrea Nichols, who wrote a book in 2015 on sex trafficking in the St. Louis region. “I would recommend the film to others, with the warning that anyone who experienced child sexual abuse or sex trafficking may be triggered by the film,” she said. “(Kevin) created a sense of anxiety and dread and ominousness through his creativity as a director. His film also draws attention to the issue of sex trafficking experienced by vulnerable youth in the St. Louis area, based on his experiences as an outreach worker with Youth in Need.” “Pretty Boy” is 17 minutes long. Coleman-Cohen served as writer, director and producer through his production company, Coleman Entertainment.
See Filmmaker page 6
Photo by Precious Kenney
Filmmaker Kevin ColemanCohen is interviewed by local TV personality Gary Boyd, known as “Mr. Gary,” at 24:1 Cinema in Pagedale.