#88

You don’t get it do you. Reagan had nothing to do with the Dem good ol boys network who have been running this town since the 40’s. No National President can fix a towns problems. That is the point. When we do get visionary people to stand up. They are shut out by the TAX and SPEND DEMS that are only interest in 2 things. HOW to Keep their power. And HOW to line their pockets. Why do you think so many businesses have left the city. When I can get lower taxes and get better service with no attitude where do I will go to do business. ST.louis County etc……. NOW having said that. The County wanted to merge DECADES ago. But guess who thought their toilet didnot stink. That’s right the city. Now you want the county to take on The citiies corruption and politics. What are you smoking
M

[…] The Cardinals and Cordish issue a joint statement…which saves time, I guess. The St. Louis Cardinals and The Cordish Company believe that […]

Don’t blame the Cardinals or the city on this one. The Cordish Co. is impossible to work with, and has a result are losing potential tenants left and right.

I thought that there was supposed to be some sort of financial penalty assessed to the Cardinal ownership group if parts of Ballpark Village were not developed by specific dates. How come no one is talking about that? Was that just political talk so the public would finance the stadium with less yelling? I made a bet with some friends that Ballpark Village would never be built. Looks like I might win that bet.

The problem is St. Louis, not the owners. If anything the Cardinals are trying to help rebuild the downtown area, but they can not do it own their own. They need St. Louis and us to help. What is the point of building new restaurants and shopping center if you can’t fill them? I think one of the problems is the new loft development? Whose decision was to let all these real estate developers develop overpriced $500,000 lofts? I’m not seeing people rushing down there to buy, though you do have the option to rent 2 bedrooms for $1,600 a month…get real people. You can only sell that in desired markets and the last time I check a place with high crime, homelessness, schools system falling apart and very limited restaurants and shopping is not that place. If you want to rebuild downtown you have to start first by targeting your middle class to come back and a good place to start would be Monday 03/31 when there is about 30,000 of them downtown for the Cardinals home opener.

Richmond Heights and Clayton studied merging together–because it might make good sense economically. RH has all the commercial development near the Galleria, and Clayton has all the business downtown. Both places have a range of housing, from low to high. If any two places could merge it would be them.

I don’t remember details from the report (cost savings of merged services wouldn’t be “enough”), but my feeling is the mini powers-that-be within each preferred their positions and wanted to maintain the status quo, damn the potential for growth and regional leadership.

So, there lead the best and brightest of St. Louis. It just shows that unless threatened with losing everything, nothing is going to change. (Many County municipalities are on the brink of bankruptcy as it is–and if they do, they might disincorporate).

How did Indy merge governments? How about Jacksonville? Who made it happen there? Was it one charasmatic politician? A group of wealthy businesses? The “little people”?

We do have extreme regional pride. Imagine a politician telling his community, “we will be better off if we join together as St. Louisans” and make a point of cooperation and partnerships with neighbors. He could be popular. But he would have to be courageous, because it would mean the end of the position he won, in the hopes of gaining a bigger seat in a combined municipality.

Another day and another kick in the ass for STL. This is so funny it can be used for punch lines. This city is a joke, and the laughing stock of the midwest. I’m so glad I moved from STL ages ago. From the loss of Sporting News to Macy’s to now Centene, this city economically is on life support. I guess more red light cameras will do the trick to add a little change to the coffers. It is so sad to see this city just flat out die in front of us.

Problem with STL is simple, to many municipalities, to much LOCAL government, people who don’t give a shit about the city, and why would they since there is squat to do, and in all honesty, way to many “ghetto” americans lurking around each street corner, with some possesing ill intent. Until the bridge of city and county occurs, this will continue. Indy merged and look, Louisville merged and viola, progress baby, it can be done. To Centene’s credit, why pay an extra silly 1% city tax just for the luxuary of working and staring at the God awful STL skyine. Centene may even leave the region, hey we’ll scoop ‘em up in Chicago. STL cannot afford to lose strong viable companies.

This is no surprise. We are a broken city. We cannot even come together to make a no-brainer like this a reality. I love St. Louis from the bottom of my heart, but I must admit– no progressive city would ever drop the ball on this one. It’s not just the city’s fault either. It stems from all the political and economic fragmentation that plagues our town. It seems like the only projects that actually come to fruition around here are the bad ones that call for demolition of historic buildings and parking, parking and more parking! Get it together, St. Louis leaders. You are ruining our once-great city!

That’s funny I swear the Post reported on Monday that the deal was solid and that FOX 2 was erroneous in reporting last week that the deal was dead. Hmmmmm interesting.

#91: “TAX and SPEND DEMS that are only interest in 2 things. HOW to Keep their power. And HOW to line their pockets”

Isn’t that all Republicans do, too? The Republicans in power now have given us the biggest deficit, and Bush used the fearmongering over the “war” to bring Republicans to power in the mid-term elections. Look, I don’t care about anybody’s alignment, but this stereotype-slinging political garbage just wastes everyone’s time.

#96: Clayton doesn’t really qualify as having any low-priced housing. I think the merger decision had something to do with people feeling as though they would lose voice with their council members, as well as some other stuff. The school district was a big bugaboo, also, though it wouldn’t be affected. Small-time thinking, again. Having not read the report, I can’t disagree with the results, though at least they thought about it. (I thought they should have included retail-rich Brentwood, and Wal-Mart and housing-laden Maplewood.)