City Owns Land For Proposed City Hospital Square Retail Project

Recently sprawl apologists have defended the proposed City Hospital Square (aka Georgian Square) as a property rights issue — the developers should have the right to build what they want on their land (see prior post). I, however, contend the community has the right to set the bar for what gets constructed where through tools such as Land Use & Zoning policies. These tools, like eminent domain, are valuable to municipalities to maintain the health, safetey and welfare of a community.

But what about when it is the community itself that owns the vacant land in question? Yes folks, with the exception of a few parcels, the City of St. Louis through the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) and the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) own the land in question for Phase 1 of the project. Some of the land on the southern edge is owned by the State of Missouri. A few small parcels are owned by individuals in St. Louis and out of state — none in the names of the principals of the developers.
So how is it that we already have an announced project on predominently publicly owned land? Given that agendas for these various boards are only posted in the lobby of 1015 Locust it is entirely possible I missed the announcements of the Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking developers for this land. I suppose it is also possible that I missed the meeting(s) in which the city selected Guilded Age and their associates. But maybe, just maybe, it is possible that a few key steps were omitted in order to give this a “done deal” appearance so that owners of the adjacent blocks would simply roll over and accept the city’s offer to buy their homes from them.

This is the city, through various boards and Ald. Phyllis Young, actively participating in the deliberate demolition and threat of eminent domain without public input. Public input should have been solicited early on as the city began acquiring property across from the long-vacant city hospital. Instead it appears we have an end-run around the public in order to plop down an auto-centric suburban model between two very dense neighborhoods.

Why not have an open RFP to see if a more urban-minded developer would come to the table to bring a decent mixed-use project to the site that works with the existing residential to the East? What about a design charette to get the community interested in the future of the site? Maybe a competition where local architecture & planning professionals (and students) might form teams to develop concepts for how to creatively use the site to enable Lafayette Ave to reconnect the Lafayette Square and Soulard neighborhoods?

I will be making a formal request to see if indeed a RFP was issued and Guilded Age selected as the designated developer for this site.

Old School Pals: Democrat Alderman Fred Wessels Backs Republican Fred Heitert in Re-Election

Local Democrat, Ald Fred Wessels of the 13th Ward, has given $500 of his campaign funds to the campaign of Republican Fred Heitert who is seeking retain the 12th Ward seat he was first elected to in the year in which the following events happened:

• YMCA sued the hot new group, The Village People, over their hit song YMCA.
• Patty Hearst is released from prison after he sentence is commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
• Margaret Thatcher becomes the new Prime Minister for England.
• Iran hostage crisis begins.
• Heath Ledger, a star in Brokeback Mountain, born on April 4th.
• Deaths of stars such as Emmett Kelley (b. 1898), Mary Pickford (B. 1892), John Wayne (b. 1907), & Vivian Vance (b. 1909)
• TV Series such as The Facts of Life, The Dukes of Hazzard, Benson and This Old House all premier this year. Other series such as What’s Happening!!, Welcome Back, Kotter; Good Times and Wonder Woman cease production.
• The top grossing film was Every Which Way But Lose.
• The Sugar Hill Gang introduced the commercial world to rap with “Rapper’s Delight” (video on YouTube, history on Wiki). Currently known as old school rap.
• A first class stamp was a mere $0.15.

You can check out the 1979 Wikipedia for more interesting facts. TV Land is also a good way to catch up on the pop culture from the period for those of you not yet born when Heitert was first elected to office. But I’m getting off subject…

Since when do local Democrats give money to Republicans or vice versa? How would you feel as a donor to a Democrat to have that candidate turn around and give some of that money to a Republican? If we are going to continue to have partisan voting in this city this should be an outrage. To verify the contribution from Wessels see Heitert’s 8 Days Before Primary Report (PDF, p2).

I’m sure Wessels and Heitert are old friends by now considering Wessels has been in office since April 1985 — the year I graduated high school. Yep, well over 20 years of hanging out together at the good ole boy social club known as the St. louis Board of Aldermen.

Since I turn 40 tomorrow I’m going to use this post as a stroll down memory lane. From the year 1985:

• Ronald Reagan was sworn into his second term as President. I didn’t say good memories, just memories. Although at this point we had not had a President Bush (H.W. or Dubya).
• ‘We Are the World’ recorded to help famine relief in Africa
• Nelson Mandela is still imprisoned.
• Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer.
• VH-1 debuts
• First class stamp cost $0.20.
• Coke tries a new formula billed as the “New Coke”
• Rock Hudson dies of AIDS.
• The film The Color Purple premiers.
• Tina Turner wins award after award for song & album, “What’s Love Got To Do With It”
• Wham!’s “Careless Whisper” tops charts. Our very cool high school english teacher uses song in class lesson, writes part of the lyrics on blackboard, “I’m never gonna dance again, guilty feet have got no rhythm”

The sad thing is with this city we can’t just hop into a Delorean and change events, we simply can’t go Back to the Future.

Reminder: Birthday Happy Hour Tonight at The Royale

Just a quick reminder I’m having an informal (buy your own) Happy Hour tonight at The Royale to celebrate my last day in my 30s —- tomorrow I turn 40.  Hope you can make it between 5pm-7pm tonight (2/27/2007).

A Few Endorsements for the March 6th Primary

Below are a few endorsements in the upcoming election. My detractors will say “who cares” which is fine — if my view doens’t matter then simply skip this post. I had hoped to send out a questionnaire to all the candidates but time got away from me between work and grad school (see post with topics from me and readers).

I will be doing another post on the President’s race between Jim Shrewsbury and Lewis Reed. In the meantime here are the challenged races for the even numbered aldermanic seats.

26th Ward – No Endorsement

I’ve not met incumbent Frank Williamson but I have met challenger H. Lee Willis. Willis is young and energetic but I didn’t care for his thoughts on the committee people being the go between with constituents and the alderman. While I tend to favor challengers I did not see enough in Willis to justify an endorsement. Voters in the 26th Ward can vote for Willis to register an objection vote with the status quo.

24th Ward – No Endorsement

Ald. Waterhouse is likely a nice guy but he is just not progressive enough to earn my endorsement. He comes from the establishment end of things too. I must say, his response to Tom Bauer running for the seat that he lost in 2005 was very well written. Still, I don’t feel that I can “endorse” Waterhouse. That said, please 24th ward voters don’t put Bauer back in office!

22nd Ward – No Endorsement

I do not know incumbent Jeffrey Boyd or challenger Jay Ozier. I’m also more familiar with other northside wards than the 22nd. Perhaps you the readers would like to chime in on this race?

20th Ward – Galen Gondolfi

I like incumbent Craig Schmid, he is open and honest and genuinely cares about his ward and the city. He has stood up against his follow aldermen at times and has been punished as a result. I have a great deal of respect for Schmid. Unfortunately, I also think he is stuck in a previous decade where running out the bad element was the first order of the day. Thanks to Schmid, the ward and neighborhoods where he serves have changed for the better. Yet, I don’t feel his strategy has changed with the times. He is opposed to rental units to the extreme yet we’ve all been renters at one time or another. His vision for the ward is likely that every single property is an owner-occupied single family house and the commercial districts are very respectable. Well, this ain’t St. Louis Hills. It is a dynamic area where a mix of residential units and some colorful businesses are entirely appropriate.

I’m not totally cool with Galen Gondolfi, I’m concerned he might go too far and focus only on affordable housing. However, I feel that I have heard enough to think he is not simply a one-issue candiate (alcohol sales on Cherokee). His background in urban planning certainly warms my heart. On March 6th I urge 20th Ward voters to elect Galen Gondolfi.

18th Ward – No Endorsement

Wow, Terry Kennedy vs. Bill Haas.

Neither? Like the bulk of the wards, I don’t see a vision coming from Kennedy. He allows buildings to easily be razed by not including his ward in the preservation review process where the Preservation Board gets to determine if a building should be destroyed or not. New development is happening in the ward but I think that is more a matter of proximity than leadership.

Bill Haas on the other hand is not someone I can fully take seriously. It seems like he has run for nearly every office in the city. This year he filed for both this seat and a school board seat (he has withdrawn from that race).

12th Ward – Matt Browning in the Republican Primary

I’ve not met Browning or incumbent Heitert in person. I’ve seen Heitert at various events, such as the opening of the trail at River Des Peres. I have communicated with Browning via email and feel he is a viable candidate with a variety of civic interests just as most of us do. Yes, he lost his legs while serving as a St. Louis Police Officer — a tragedy indeed but not the reason I feel he should prevail. Age is not really an issue for me but I simply think Heitert has been around too long (elected in 1979) to be effective at bringing a new wave of thinking to the ward. It is time to move on and we need to give Browning consideration to step up to public service.

With the Aldermanic Presidents race on the Democratic ticket, will anyone in the 12th ward take a Republican ballot?

6th Ward – Christian Saller

Like the other races, I’m not totally thrilled with the views of the candidates. Of course, I’ve yet to meet another person with whom I agree 100% so I shouldn’t expect as much from political candidates. Patrick Cacchione is a nice enough guy (unless you are critical of him and then meet him at a downtown Gelato place) but I feel his is too insider, too establishment. His years of public service were spent speaking on behalf of those paying him – a lobbyist. In short, I don’t trust him. To be fair, I don’t trust many in office currently so it is not like he is alone in that. I also don’t think he is going to lose any sleep over what I think.

Kacie Starr Triplett is a great person and outstanding candidate for the Board of Aldermen. My biggest concern here was her acceptance of the city’s charter — I do think it needs a major overhaul. I think her youth and so-called lack of experience actually work in her favor — she is not so entrenched in old world St. Louis politics the way others at city hall are. Still, I am concerned for whom she might learn.
Christian Saller is the best choice in the 6th Ward. Saller is not a perfect choice, but the best choice. On the downside I think he might too easily go along with other aldermen on their projects although that is probably no different than the other two choices. The reason I like Saller is because of his experience. Currently aldermen are playing the role of development middlemen yet only a handful know the difference between good and bad development. Most simply see the dollar amount and think more is better. Saller, when elected, would likely be the most qualified alderman at city hall on good urban development.

4th Ward – No Endorsement

I need to meet Sam Moore, the challenger to O.L. Shelton.

Join Me for My Last Day of My Thirties

Next week I turn the big 4-0.  Since I have class on my actual birthday I thought I’d celebrate the night before, my last night in my 30s.  So, everyone is invited to join me for happy hour on Tuesday (2/27/07) from 5pm-7pm at The Royale on South Kingshighway.  Steve Smith has some good specials on drinks and I’m sure he’d be pleased if you ordered an appetizer or stayed for dinner (gotta watch that food to alchohol ratio you know).

We can chat about local issues, you can tell me I am too radical or perhaps not radical enough.  The point is to come out and have a good time so that I forget about entering my 40s.