“font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;”>Two current issues of grave concern to civic leaders and the fiscal health of the city – burgeoning pension commitments, and the future of the Edward Jones Dome and its putative main tenant, the St. Louis Rams – provide object lessons in failed (or belated) civic leadership. It’s not much compensation, but at least Black St. Louis can console itself that one of our elected leaders tried to steer the city to the right decisions before irresponsible decisions set us on course to the current crises.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Former Comptroller Virvus Jones – as a variety of local media have had the honesty to admit in recent weeks – opposed the lavish and exploitable pension system that city government ended up awarding to Firefighters Local 73. Now in 2012 Mayor Francis G. Slay has taken on Local 73, bolstered by a stinging Post-Dispatch investigative series on abuse of the pension plan by officially “disabled” firefighters who go on working elsewhere while drawing handsome disability pensions from the city. But when Slay was working his way up in city government as an alderman, he contributed to the voting bloc that created the pension crisis.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The same is true of the sweetheart deal the Rams signed with the city for its lease on the Edward Jones Dome. Virvus Jones acted all but alone in the region in objecting to the terms of the deal, but the groupthink among other elected officials as well as civic leadership overwhelmed him, and we can see where we are today. The city entered into a lease that required the Rams to pay only $250,000 a year, control of all of the operating revenue from August to February, but pay no operating expense. This includes ticket sales, concession revenue, any rental revenue from non-Rams football events and 75 percent of all of the advertisement revenue, including naming rights revenue.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>As a sign of the city’s ongoing absence of leverage with Stan Kroenke and the Rams, city officials actually attempted to cheer the Rams’ (essentially unilateral) decision to play three of its home games in London, as opposed to the Dome in St. Louis. Rather than curse a deadbeat, lease-breaking tenant, the city applauded the scheduled absence of the Rams by claiming it will “ “font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>significantly increase booking flexibility.” Yes, when a tenant starts to move out, that certainly does “increase the booking flexibility” you have with that tenant’s space! Why we should be so happy to lose the games we spent so much public money on enticing is a question the city would have difficulty answering with a straight face.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Civic groupthink would still say no mayor wants to be the guy who lost a major league sports franchise on his watch, so the city issues nonsensical press statements attempting to sugar over the Rams’ bad business dealing and Slay refers to Kroenke – apparently one of the worst in a generation of extortionist NFL owners – as “a tenant we like.” However, emboldened by a new truce with the St. Louis Police Officers Association and the Post-Dispatch’s evident political will to go hard against city firefighters, Slay has geared up for a fight against Local 73. We don’t see how the current firefighters’ pension system can be defended as is – we only wish the one elected official with the courage to fight Local 73 when the time was right had been heeded at the time.
