Columnist Jamala Rogers
I have been trying to wrap my head around Paul McKee Jr.’s plan for awhile. The players and situation keep changing. You have to find out who’s doing what and why.
I thought I might get more insight at the TIF hearing at City Hall last week. I arrived to find a line half-way down the block. If this was genuine interest in a community issue, I was about to get excited.
Most of those trying to get into the hearing were serious. I took note of some folks in neon green shirts that read something about more jobs. Romona Taylor Williams said they were homeless people paid to attend and unaware of the issue. She’s with the North Side Community Benefits Alliance and a fierce opponent of McKee’s plan.
The latest happening is that some residents in the 5th and 19th wards are moving on a recall of the two alderwomen, Marlene Davis and April Ford Griffin. A good deal of the plan includes these two wards.
McKee’s whole kit and caboodle includes nearly 1,500 acres of land. The 20-year plan calls to develop housing, retail, offices and parks in four phases. The total cost is $8 billion (at least right now).
What I do know about the redevelopment plan is that it’s the biggest financing request in the City’s history. McKee and his partners are asking us to guarantee half of the $398 million TIF. That’s why I jokingly refer to TIFs as gifts.
The City has given these gifts to some high-risk projects that appear to be failures, so they don’t have a history of placing good bets.
Ballpark Village, once a whole lot of hole, is still waiting for action.
Taxpayers won’t be collecting anything on the St. Louis Marketplace, another TIF gift, because it’s a strip mall that’s stripped of full occupancy.
The once hopeful plan to do something with the white elephant in the middle of Downtown also went down in flames. Developers of St. Louis Centre and the St. Louis Marketplace are likely to renege on their bonds, making taxpayers liable for repayment.
A video recently circulated on the internet of McKee at a meeting. When he discovered a citizen was videotaping, he refused to speak. At one point, he comes from the dais to the back of the room and stands in front of the camera. A little tacky on the part of a big-time developer. If there’s no transparency now, will there ever be in a project of this magnitude?
There is a lot at stake if things don’t go right with the McKee plan and, for a cash-strapped City, we can’t afford such a crap shoot.
Comptroller Darlene Green, always eager for development and jobs, is refusing to put the City’s coffers in harm’s way. She is calling for a more realistic plan with less risks.
Opposition to McKee and his development plan continues to grow. If the plan gets shut down, you will hear accusations that black folks just don’t want development or jobs. What we want are partners who place our interests side by side with their own. We are weary of the trail of folks coming into our community selling dreams that turn into nightmares.