As most everyone knows, BJC Hospital is seeking control of 12 acres of Forest Park located East of Kingshway. Many are content letting BJC lease this land through 2096 in exchange for roughly $2 million a year to help offset maintenance costs in Forest Park. Currently maintenance costs are in the $4 million per year range.
I attended the meeting last night conducted by Alderman Joe Roddy and, as you might expect, have some opinions.
Current Lease
BJC has had a lease on 9 of the 12 acres since 1973 when they constructed an underground parking garage. The current lease payments are only $150,000/year according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Under the 1973 lease, which expires in 2050, BJC is responsible for maintaining the 9 acres of parkland and does not allow them to construct any buildings on the site.
While much of the park looks great the Hudlin Tennis Courts are in poor repair with the exception of two courts that were resurfaced last year. See park photos on Flickr.
Park Usage
At 7pm last night I saw about 25 people in the park. Some were playing racquetball & tennis, one woman was just sitting along on a bench reading a book while several families were at the playground. I asked Ald. Roddy if a usage study had been conducted on the park and he said he was not aware of any. When I parked on Clayton Road last night to visit the park the first I thing I realized is that due to the terrain I couldn’t really tell if anyone was in the park or not. It was not until I was walking through the area that I could see people in all parts of the park.
It seems highly negligent to take away park space without first determining who uses the park, how often and at what times at the day. At the very least you want to know where the users come from so that as alternatives sites for the facilities are considered these could hopefully continue to serve the existing user base.
Clayton Road
While I have zero proof it is my suspicion that BJC’s ultimate goal is to close Clayton Road West of Euclid Ave. If done, this would create a very large parcel for them to build on. Ald. Roddy said closing Clayton Road was not part of the plan and that doing so would require amending the Forest Park Master Plan again. Pressing the issue he conceded that, in the future, that was entirely possible.
Closing Clayton Road would give BJC about 13 acres (assuming 1 acre for the current road right-of-way) in this area. I can just hear it now, “In looking at our logistical needs to serve our patients we’ve determined we need to close Clayton Road.” Then I can hear Ald. Roddy like he did last night, “BJC is the area’s largest employer.” Translation: what BJC wants, BJC gets.
If this goes forward I’d like to see language that prevents the closing of Clayton Road during the duration of the lease. Ironclad off the table language that a lawyer can’t get around in the future.
The Money
Wow, BJC to cover nearly half of the maintenance of Forest Park. Sounds like a good deal. But what will the maintenance costs be in 20 years? Or fifty years? Ninety years is a very long commitment. Citizens of St. Louis that are not even born yet will have to deal with the end of this lease. Does it renew automatically? I say the lease payments need to keep pace with inflation or the cost of park maintenance. In 2096 $2 million will probably just buy you a starter home.
The Money Part II
Through a 1/10th cent sales tax in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County we’ve funded the Great Rivers Greenway District to the tune of about $10 million annually:
Great Rivers Greenway work for a clean, green, connected St. Louis region. To achieve its mission, the district is developing The River Ring, an interconnected system of greenways, parks and trails. Through the creation of The River Ring, Great Rivers Greenway will provide economic, environmental and social benefits across St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.
Big plans are underway to create the Chouteau Greenway project that will connect Forest Park to the riverfront. With $10 million annually you’ve got to get it spent right? So, the City of St. Louis is struggling to maintain its existing park lands and we are looking to create more green space we can’t afford to maintain? Someone please tell me the fiscal logic in all this.
The Process
Ald. Roddy said that BJC’s lawyers have been working on this for about a year. We get weeks to react. You may have read that the Forest Park Southeast Development Corporation, partially funded by BJC, had a letter of support for BJC taking this land for development. Well, it turns out that isn’t exactly true. Forest Park Forever and BJC asked FPSEDC Executive Director Irving Blue penned the letter of support without the consent of the organization’s board of directors. Neighborhood residents at the meeting were visibly and vocally upset.
Blue’s answer was that he had to respond quickly and did not have a board meeting scheduled until next month. How very convenient. Also convenient was the fact Ald. Roddy didn’t bring any of the drawings or maps of the area due to the short notice. I’ve been to enough of these meetings now that I think the Board of Aldermen have a secret manual on manipulating citizens on done deals. It might go something like this:
Step 1 – Never bring any documentation to a meeting since you don’t want them to actually know anything concrete about the project.
Step 2 – Apologize at length about not having materials. Good reasons for not having them are coming from another meeting, they are still being finished for a future meeting, or it was just short notice you didn’t get them together.
Step 3 – Let them have their say. Be sure to listen and nod. Go along with what they say but offer a counterpoint that supports the deal. Never, under any circumstances, let them know the deal is done and their input doesn’t really matter to the final outcome. See Step 4 for more help in this direction.
Step 4 – Since the basic deal is already done your job at this point is to act important and go to bat for your constituents by “leveraging” the deal. Get them to make a list of trivial concessions that won’t blow the done deal. Don’t promise anything but that you’ll do your best for the ward. Make it sound difficult even though you know this is easy since this low-hanging fruit stuff has already been assumed as part of the PR strategy.
Step 5 – If anyone brings up valid reasons why the deal can’t or shouldn’t be done go back to things like it is hard to tell the Mayor and others no at this point in the process or mention how important they are to the city. Make sure the individual citizen feels small relative to the project.
Next Steps
The Forest Park Advisory Board is meeting next Thursday afternoon at the History Museum at 4:30pm to consider amending the Forest Park Master Plan. I’m not certain if public input will be taken. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on amendments to the Forest Park Master Plan as well as the City’s Strategic Land Use Plan. The hearing, where the public may offer input, will be May 3, 2006 at 5:30pm in room 208 of City Hall (see public notice).
What I’d Like To See Happen
The lawyers have had a year to get everything in place and now it is rush, rush rush. While I’d prefer the city to tell BJC a big firm “NO” I’m willing to give this some serious thought. Say about a year? I want BJC to fund an independent usage study of the park space so that we all know how and when his park area is being used. The Forest Park Advisory Board and the Planning Commission need to tell BJC, “we’ll let you know.”
– Steve
Saturday’s design charrette in The Ville neighborhood was a tremendous success. The residents of the area are ready for change and, with a few exceptions, most understand the concepts of recreating a walkable neighborhood. The sheer number of residents participating in the all-day charrette organized by the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects was encouraging. 