In a 13-page decision issued last week, a state judge denied the City of St. Louis and NorthSide Regeneration LLC’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the legality of Ordinances 68484 and 68485. These Ordinances–passed nearly unanimously by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen back in October–are the legal foundation for Paul McKee’s appalling effort to extort hundreds of millions of dollars in tax money from both the City of St. Louis and the State of Missouri.
I’ll offer a brief preview of the decision’s colorful language and acerbic tone as an enticement for a complete read:
The Gateway Mall, Mercantile Center, St. Louis Center, Ballpark Village, and now, Northside Regeneration, perhaps the most ambitious of all. The “City of Plans” adopts yet another. How much can or will become reality? Is there more of Burnham or of Barnum in one Paul McKee? Plaintiffs assert that he is the latter, and that this latest plan should be strangled by the Court at birth.
Here is the line likely to send chills through the spines of Paul McKee, his attorneys, and Francis Slay:
…the Court finds that plaintiffs have established a probability of success on the merits…
Needless to say, I am requesting February 16, 2010 off from work, as the trial in Bonzella Smith et al. v. City of St. Louis (No. 0922-CC09379) represents the true vanguard of citizen engagement in the new year.
[It will be interesting to see if those who have steadfastly asserted the opposite position acknowledge the ruling.]
Tags: mayor slay, francis slay, paul mckee, St. Louis Board of Aldermen, Francis Slay and Lewis Reed, TIF, Judge Robert Dierker, Bonzella Smith et al v City of St Louis, NorthSide Regeneration LLC
December 14, 2009 at 8:59 pm |
Thanks for the information. Good reporting. Missed this story in the Post-Dispatch. It must be there somewhere.
December 14, 2009 at 9:41 pm |
Haha, I don’t know if it’s there or not. I rarely read the Post these days, as I find its biased reporting and editing absurd. That said, Tim Logan of the Post is a stand up guy, who does write some balanced pieces about NorthSide Regeneration LLC.
The fascinating thing about this turn of events in Bonzella Smith et al. v. City of St. Louis is that McKee only sought the redevelopment plan and TIF, because both are requirements for his application for Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credits. A separate lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Section 99.1205 of the Missouri Revised Statutes (aka the “Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act”) is pending in Cole County, with its trial scheduled for January 27, 2010. As both Ordinances remain valid and in full effect pending the February 16, 2010 trial to invalidate them, they technically are able to serve as the basis for McKee’s application for Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credits. If McKee sticks to his word, he intends to apply for the credits before the end of this year, and if the State feels like issuing them, the State could!
My fingers are crossed that this doesn’t happen, since I think that slumlord McKee is the last person deserving of public money. Somehow, greedy McKee and corrupt Slay think that spending nearly half a billion dollars on McKee’s nebulous “project”is appropriate, even as both the City and State are laying off employees and cutting public services. At present, there’s a small legal window in which McKee could technically get everything he’s asking for… even if courts in St. Louis and Jefferson City subsequently invalidate all of the laws supporting his scam!
We’ll have to see what news sources choose to report over the next few weeks. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the comments.
December 15, 2009 at 6:41 pm |
Post-Dispatch caught up with the story on 12/15/09 in an article by Tim Logan titled “Judge denies injunction on Mckee project, but raises some big questions.” Excellent story. Logan gets to the good stuff right away. Go to the PD site and put that headline into their search engine. The article is in their business section. The word is that Judge Dierker, the man in charge, doesn’t take a lot of whatever that stuff is called. Thanks, Thomas, for providing the forum.
December 18, 2009 at 12:42 am |
[...] 8, 2009 by attorney Dorian B. Amōne, 22nd Judicial Circuit (City of St. Louis): Challenges the legality of Ordinances 68484 and 68485, which the St. Louis Board of Aldermen passed to authorize taxpayer support for Paul [...]
December 21, 2009 at 4:49 pm |
[...] Unlike her TIF for Paul McKee, which purports to grant nearly $400 million in taxpayer money in exchange for a redevelopment project, Starr Triplett’s “Cooperation Agreement” for Wellpoint rebates the [...]
February 9, 2010 at 3:31 am |
[...] their nearly-unanimous subsequent passage of McKee’s TIF in October 2009, our Aldermen knowingly and willfully set in motion a process that would deny the State of Missouri [...]
February 17, 2010 at 2:39 am |
[...] McKee TIF on Trial, As City Revenues Plummet By thomasaduda Today was a banner day for those committed to equity and justice in St. Louis City, as the lawsuit by North St. Louis homeowners Cheryl Nelson, Isaiah Hair, and Bonzella Smith to invalidate Paul McKee’s TIF and redevelopment plan began its trial before Judge Robert Dierker. [...]
February 26, 2010 at 9:12 am |
I am so looking forward to development and for transformation of the community. Glad some homes were built TEN years ago and individuals decided to invest in the city. Sometimes we have to see the forest for the trees and do what’s for the good of the whole rather than think about our own selfishness. My block does not look like Ms. Nelson’s block. She took advantage of tax incentives herself and took a tax abatement…..hmmmmm. A developed four block area does not make a strong revived community! The naysayers need to sit down and let progress come forth. Our school are jacked up, the majority of the area is replete with vacant lots, raggedy houses that are falling down and lots filled with “ORGANIC” weeds. Oh, but ORGANIC growth is what Ms. Nelson wants. Development can’t come fast enought for me. You can’t fix stupid!!!
February 26, 2010 at 9:14 am |
Thank you for the comment.
You also cannot make private funding materialize from nowhere. Show me the money, Kaylyn.
Cite your sources, now, and show me the money.