Sunday Poll: Any Hope of Reviving North St. Louis Without Paul McKee?

Developer Paul McKee had a bad week last week.

In a letter filed Tuesday, city officials say it’s time to face facts.

“After a decade, the promised redevelopment has not come, nor is there any indication that it will,” the letter states.

“Land lies fallow. Taxes go unpaid. Vacant buildings remain dangerous and unsecured….these are not the results the City bargained for when it granted Northside redevelopment rights for the Area,” the letter reads. 

The letter says that McKee and his entities have failed to fulfill numerous promises to the City and claims that McKee is in default.(KMOV)

The following day it got worse:

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed on Wednesday a lawsuit against developer Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration LLC, alleging the company kept $4.5 million in state tax credits despite failing to complete the purchase of more than $5 million worth of properties in north St. Louis.
Hawley’s suit brings three civil counts against the company: tax credit fraud, breach of tax credit application and unjust enrichment. (Post-Dispatch)

Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration is the subject of today’s non-scientific poll:

This poll will close automatically at 8pm tonight.  Come back Wednesday for my thoughts.

— Steve Patterson

St. Louis Board of Aldermen: New Board Bill Week 9 of 2018-2019 Session

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will meet at 10am today, their 9th meeting of the 2018-2019 session.

Today’s agenda includes just new bill:

• B.B.#87 – Murphy – Pursuant to Ordinance 68937, an Ordinance authorizing the honorary street name, Robert Prager Way, to begin at the intersection of Morgan Ford Road and Bates Street and run west on Bates Street to the intersection of Bates Street and Gravois Avenue.

The meeting begins at 10am, past meetings and a live broadcast can be watched online here. See list of all board bills for the 2017-2018 session — the new bills listed above may not be online right away.

— Steve Patterson

Readers Supportive of Mayor Krewson’s Advocating for a vote on DACA

Many of you might think of immigration issues and those who came here as kids as something for border cities/states — like San Diego, California. The numbers are smaller, but it’s an issue right here in Missouri:

In Missouri, 3,500 young people have registered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. They want Congress to pass a long-term solution that would allow them to stay in the country. (St. Louis Public Radio)

When mayors have residents who are fearful of authorities it is good to find a way to reduce that fear — they’d be more likely to talk to the police about crimes they might have witnessed, for example. Not having families torn apart if one or both parents are detained/deported.

Here’s more:

What is a “Clean” Dream Act and Why Should You Support It?

1. A clean Dream Act would keep more families where they belong?—?together, by excluding any provisions that would harm our immigrant communities by increasing immigration detention, enforcement and deportation.
2. A clean Dream Act honors the voices and lived experiences of those in border communities by refusing further militarization of the U.S. southern border, including the use of drones, more agents or the expansion of a wall.
3. A clean Dream Act promotes the reunification of families by avoiding any changes in immigration law that would reduce current immigration pathways by expanding grounds of inadmissibility and removability or radically changing family-based petitions and the diversity visa lottery.
4. A clean Dream Act would uphold our values of offering humanitarian aid to those fleeing persecution or other dangers by safeguarding protections for unaccompanied minors, asylum seekers and others in need.
5. A clean Dream Act rejects any attempts to further scapegoat and demonize the immigrant community, whether through increased funding for policing of immigrant and communities of color, provisions falsely claiming to address gang violence that actually provide a license for racial profiling of immigrant youth, and the creation of new grounds for inadmissibility and deportation. (Medium)

A clean Dream Act would help St. Louis and other cities. In the recent non-scientific Sunday Poll less than a third didn’t think Krewson should be adding her name to 100+ other mayors in support of a vote on the Dream Act:

Q: Agree or disagree: St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson shouldn’t be pushing for changes to federal immigration policy.

• Strongly agree 9 [31.03%]
• Agree 0 [0%]
• Somewhat agree 0 [0%]
• Neither agree or disagree 2 [6.9%]
• Somewhat disagree 2 [6.9%]
• Disagree 1 [3.45%]
• Strongly disagree 15 [51.72%]
• Unsure/No Answer 0 [0%]

These people have been here since they were kids, they don’t know how to live in the countries they came from. Let them stay and work toward citizenship. Keep their families intact.

— Steve Patterson

New Book — Sustainable Nation: Urban Design Patterns for the Future by Douglas Farr, Forward by Janette Sadik-Khan

After I met Douglas Farr at a St. Louis event in 2012 I traveled to Bloomington-Normal to experience some of his work, see What Is Normal? A Small College Town In Central Illinois. Being a fan off his work I was delighted when I received his latest book: Sustainable Nation: Urban Design Patterns for the Future:

As a follow up to his widely acclaimed Sustainable Urbanism, this new book from author Douglas Farr embraces the idea that the humanitarian, population, and climate crises are three facets of one interrelated human existential challenge, one with impossibly short deadlines. The vision of Sustainable Nation is to accelerate the pace of progress of human civilization to create an equitable and sustainable world. The core strategy of Sustainable Nation is the perfection of the design and governance of all neighborhoods to make them unique exemplars of community and sustainability. The tools to achieve this vision are more than 70 patterns for rebellious change written by industry leaders of thought and practice. Each pattern represents an aspirational, future-oriented ideal for a key aspect of a neighborhood. At once an urgent call to action and a guidebook for change, Sustainable Nation is an essential resource for urban designers, planners, and architects.

I’ve had the hardcover book since April but haven’t had a chance to look at it until yesterday. The volume of detail is substantial. As usual. I like to show the contents so you can see how the book is organized:

• Part One Our Default World
  • Chapter 1: Where We Are
  • Chapter 2: Case Studies: The Future Ahead of Schedule
• Part Two Our Preferred Future
  • Chapter 3: Where We Want to Go
• Part Three Theory of Change
  • Chapter 4: Theory of Change
  • Chapter 5: Time
  • Chapter 6: Acceleration Strategies
• Part Four Patterns of Change
  • Chapter 7: Collective Effervescence
  • Chapter 8: Self-Governing Neighborhoods
  • Chapter 9: A Theater of Life
  • Chapter 10: Vibrant Density
  • Chapter 11: Mobility in Walkable Places
  • Chapter 12: Neighborhood Economy
  • Chapter 13: Urban Waters
  • Chapter 14: Stranded Carbon
  • Chapter 15: The New Health, Safety, and Welfare
• Index

It’s part four where Farr lays out the specifics on getting to a sustainable future — building patterns to get us there. A year ago Farr discussed some of his research for this book at CNU25 (Congress for the New Urbanism):

As I haven’t studied the book and what it advocates, I can’t say if he’s on the right path or not. What I do love is he’s working solutions ro serious problems that need to be addressed — especially in St. Louis.

This looks to be a great book for anyone studying or working in related fields, unfortunately the hardcover lists for $80.  You can view a preview on Google Books. It’s available via Left Bank Books, Amazon, and others.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should Mayor Krewson Be Pushing For A Change To Federal Immigration Policy?

Last week Mayor Lyda Krewson posted the following on Facebook:

This week I joined more than 110 mayors calling on leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives to bring the #DreamAct up for a vote and pass a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. Read the letter:

Here’s the text of the letter signed by Krewson and over 100 other mayors & county officials at the U.S. Conference of Mayors:

Dear Speaker Ryan and Minority Leader Pelosi:

We, the undersigned mayors and county executives, urge you to move expeditiously to pass a bipartisan solution with a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers that does not further harm immigrant communities—the DREAM Act. We are gravely concerned about the futures of Dreamers, hundreds of thousands of whom know our cities and counties as home. We are equally concerned about the increases in immigrant detention and non-criminal arrests over the past year. Congress can and must provide permanent protections for Dreamers without increasing enforcement measures against immigrants at large.

As local leaders we work closely with our residents. We know first-hand that immigrants are cornerstones of our communities who contribute with their diverse perspectives and ingenuity to ou

r local economies and participate robustly in civic life. This is why we are members of Cities for Action, a national coalition that advocates for inclusion of immigrants into our communities to create stronger, safer, and more prosperous cities. Our coalition includes over 175 mayors and county executives, representing over 70 million residents, including 17 million foreign-born residents. The 1.3 million young undocumented immigrants enrolled or immediately eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program contribute an estimated $2 billion a year in state and local taxes to economies like ours. DACA-eligible residents pay an average of 8.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes.

Recent federal court decisions currently allow DACA recipients to apply for renewals but DACA recipients are hesitating to renew because of the uncertainty over the future of the program, despite our robust efforts at the local level to conduct community outreach. We are concerned that Dreamers without DACA status will be in danger of deportation. Every day that Congress fails to pass legislation, more young lives are thrown into chaos.

DACA recipients have done everything the government has asked of them in good faith: they have proven that they are not public safety threats, submitted to regular check-ins, earned degrees, served in the military, and paid their taxes. They deserve a permanent place in this country they call home. We commend the bipartisan efforts on House Resolution 774 which already has the support of over half of the House of Representatives. We urge you to listen to these Members of Congress and bring legislation that protects Dreamers up for a vote. This is an opportunity to pass the DREAM Act, and finally provide Dreamers the protection they deserve.

This is the subject of today’s poll.

This poll will close automatically at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson