Here are some factual updates regarding the land acquisition and development by Paul McKee in the North St. Louis Area:
- He is requesting a $410 Million TIF district, of which he wants the State of Missouri and the City of St. Louis to guarantee half of that to him for infrastructure updates, etc.
- The development project spans over 1200 acres, McKee owns 550 of them. The others are to be developed either by a deal with the St. Louis Housing Development Corp. or by use of eminent domain, although McKee publicly says that's the last resort.
I cant help but think there is some common middle ground in this whole thing. Everyone can probably agree that infrastructure improvements, especially green infrastructure construction would be a great thing for the neighborhood. I would assume most people would agree that the area is in desperate need of redevelopment. One of the many things I aim to find on the upcoming trip is what fears the residents have with what seems to be impending development.
I went to Nick Bigelow's going away party this past Saturday and met with another former NDSU alumnus Jeff Deitner. As it turns out Jeff did and internship in St. Louis before his 5th year, and he is setting me up with a contact that is an expert on the history of the St. Louis area. I met with Nicole Crutchfield at the Fargo Planning Dept. picnic and it turns out she knows some people in their planning department and seemed willing to help me make those contacts. This type of random networking seems to be happening quite a bit to me lately and I think it will prove to be a positive tool both for the success of the project and in the subsequent job hunt.
Goals for the trip:
- Document the site area
- Try and get a pulse of the community and neighborhood
- Meet people that I can contact throughout the process and can be beneficial if I need some quick information.
I will update this when I get back.
Cheers.
i like the addition of "brainchildren" to the blog. nice touch...
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