Read the essay: The Power to Lead.

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Read the essay: The Power To Lead: Analysis Of Superintendent Survey Responses Regarding Teacher Tenure

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This is how Saint Louis City’s demolition specialist described the process of identifying vacant buildings for demolition during a meeting with Saint Louis housing and demolition employees.

Problem properties have long been an issue in Saint Louis, and preservationists question whether some buildings that get demolished are in that bad of condition.

Preservationists fear that knocking down existing houses that could be rehabbed speeds up the process of out-migration and neglect. Michael Allen, of the Preservation Research Office, says, “As many as half the buildings demolished in St. Louis were actually sound under the city’s building code.”

Is Allen’s assessment accurate? It’s hard to know. While the city’s demolition process involves ranking buildings on a scale to determine which are priorities for demolition, there is no specific criteria for each ranking. The demo specialist just drives by and conducts a quick assessment.

Let me be clear: I’m not accusing the demo specialist of doing a poor job. He could be an expert at determining a building’s condition, and only need a quick glance to make a decision.

But this method does leave the process open to influence. Without documenting criteria that determines the need for demolition, what prevents an alderman, developer, or other interested party from getting the buildings in his/her area to the top of the list? Or conversely, out-of-favor aldermen and developers could have high-priority buildings moved to the bottom of the list.

The City of Saint Louis could improve transparency and accountability to its citizens by implementing standards that determine demolition priorities. Or, better yet, make the process easier for private citizens to buy demo-ready properties and tear the building down themselves.

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Engaged citizens continued to speak out against the permit and news stories documented the issue. The Show-Me Institute contributed to the opposition with testimony we submitted to the county and a conversation about the issue on the Big 550 KTRS. I am happy to report that last week, the Saint Louis County Parks Department announced the policy has been completely dropped.

Photographers don’t impose a higher cost to the county than other park-goers and already contribute taxes to use the parks as area residents and business owners. A user fee would have been unnecessary, and I’m glad the county chose not to impose it.

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Saint Louis County should not enforce a permit fee for photographers to use county parks. Photographers who most commonly use the parks are family photographers, spending a short amount of time snapping photos of engaged couples, new babies, newlyweds, and families. They are not setting up an elaborate photo shoot with props and equipment that damage the grass and require extensive set-up and take-down. These photographers do not impose a higher cost to the county than other parkgoers and already contribute taxes to use the parks as area residents and business owners.

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You might be thinking, “Well, duh. I would sell them. Cha-ching!” Seems really simple, but the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) does not appear to have that same mindset.

When I met with Michael Allen, founder of the Preservation Research Office (a private historic preservation and architectural research organization) he remarked at how little advertising the LRA does for its properties. Compared to real estate agencies, LRA advertisement is practically non-existent.

Shouldn’t the LRA function in the same way as real estate agents if its goal is to sell property?

According to Janet McAfee Real Estate’s Marketing Director Chuck Roper, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is the primary source of real estate listing information for approved brokers in Saint Louis. LRA-owned properties, however, are very rarely listed in the MLS.

Besides the MLS, there are a variety of other ways to make information available about properties. Newspaper and magazine ads, online ads, listings on real estate websites, social media, direct mail…you get the picture. The LRA does none of these things. You could drive by an LRA property that is for sale and have absolutely no idea. Two LRA staff members gave me different replies about whether they post “For Sale” signs. One said they are put up on “selected properties.” But the other simply said, “Nope, we don’t do that.”

With the LRA, the onus is all on you, the potential buyer, to figure out the entire process to purchase a home. You have to know that the LRA exists, what it does, find its list of properties, set up your own inspection of the house, and then begin the application process.

Every year that goes by, the city pays more and more to maintain these properties. They sit vacant, collecting no property tax. With 8,000 vacant properties, the LRA cannot afford to have the attitude that these properties can sell themselves. Any real estate agent will tell you that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The post Real Estate 101 appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

So I can understand why Jefferson City officials are planning a fancy new conference center. But as we have said in the past, the government is not the best suited to plan development. There are two proposals for the project; both companies have told Jeff City officials that the government’s request for a facility with 30,000 square feet of exhibit space and an accompanying 200-room hotel is not realistic in this market.

The city has promised $9 million in lodging tax revenue to support construction, and is discussing the details of an operating subsidy.

The News Tribune editorial board has fears, writing, “Worst-case scenarios revolve around a money-losing conference center that must be vacated or infused with a perpetual subsidy of city tax dollars.” This is a real fear.

A Brookings Institution study found that the convention marketplace in the U.S. has been declining for quite some time. Yet, localities have continued to compete with each other for convention business by investing in new construction and expanding existing facilities. The study notes that many conference centers, including those in Saint Louis and Washington, D.C., have operated at a loss.

Why are Jefferson City officials so eager to invest in something for which they have not demonstrated a need? If developers who stand to gain from subsidies are telling the government that their plans will not be profitable  — the government should listen.

The post Conventional Fears appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Columbia’s Downtown Community Improvement District (CID) hopes to update a city ordinance to allow food trucks on downtown streets. CID board members, restaurant owners, and food truck representatives worked together to find a solution that should please all parties.

Hopefully regulations will not look like the 75 pages of food truck rules that the Council of Washington, D.C., recently introduced. Several food trucks staged a protest a few days before the Council hearing (short video here). Trucks parked at their normal lunch spots, but refused to open for business during the lunch rush. These trucks wanted to show what lunch would be like in their absence if the city imposed overly burdensome regulations on the trucks.

Columbia’s food truck business, on the other hand, is only just beginning. The city has two food trucks operating right now, Pepe’s and Sunflower Waffle Co. But the CID is smart in thinking ahead, looking to prevent issues before a problem starts. The CID board members, restaurant owners, and food truck  representatives all agreed on certain public areas that would be best suited to food truck occupancy.

While it is helpful that varying interests are working together, the city can best encourage food truck business by imposing as few regulations as possible. Excessive rules or fees would deter entrepreneurs from starting up new food trucks. Confining the mobile vendors to specific areas of the city may help keep restaurant owners from complaining, but it also may limit the success of food trucks, if they can’t freely go where customers want them.

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At the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, Missouri senators shut down the tax credit that would have opened up millions more to Saint Louis NorthSide developer Paul McKee.

I would like to take credit for this. But unfortunately, there is no one who can really take credit for this happening. Making a bill become a law can often be a confusing and messy process. In this case, the Distressed Area Land Assemblage Tax Credit (DALATC) was set to expire this year, and there were bills proposed to extend the credit. At the last minute, however, the DALATC extension was tacked on to a different bill, House Bill 698. HB 698 was a hodgepodge type of bill including various tax credit provisions.  Eventually, a senator filibustered the bill so it did not pass. (Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Patrick Ishmael has more detail about the legislature’s failure on this bill here.)

Is this going to stop or hinder in any way NorthSide development? Of course not. McKee’s project has already received more than $40 million in state tax credits, and the City of Saint Louis has promised close to $400 million more in local incentives. Plus, the project still has potential to tap up to $20 million in credits from the state before the DALATC expires later this year.

There is no doubt that McKee wanted access to the $45 million more that extending this tax credit would have opened up. But the project will just have to “make do” with the $440 million in government assistance it will receive.

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The headline? The near future of all air service is looking grim. Airlines continue to consolidate service at their largest hubs, consolidate with each other, and will continue further reductions at small community airports.

Columbia has felt this decline over the past several months, and the final Frontier Airlines flight from Columbia took off for Orlando, Fla., on Monday. Columbia is not alone. Data in the MIT study shows that Missouri airports, along with almost every other airport in the country, have lost service over the past five years.

This data shows us that the fate of air travel is not dependent on how shiny your airport is. Airlines have shifted away from capacity expansion because it was not a profitable strategy. They will continue to seek ways to maximize profits; unfortunately, small- and medium-sized airports are disproportionally affected in the process.

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Successful business owners will tell you that paying attention to their customers’ needs is ultimately what drives the business. Yet, sometimes customer desires can be pushed aside, even when they are observable and understandable.

There is strong opposition to the proposed new Kansas City Airport terminal, from both Kansas City residents and politicians. A recent poll showed that two-thirds of respondents were opposed to a single terminal, and groups such as Save KCI are getting involved in the discussion. Despite the vocal opposition, however, the city supports moving forward with a study to lay out plans for the new terminal.

If the study were coming from a completely unbiased source, I would say, study away. But many times these studies report what the strong political interests want, instead of truly depicting the best options for a project.

This case is different from some other public projects because ultimately, the success of the airport depends on how many people use it. If the new terminal is not user-friendly and travelers do not like it — they are less likely to fly as often. Right now, people love the convenience of the airport. If it becomes a hassle to fly, the city must remember that people do have other options. It is counteractive to waste billions, as we did in Saint Louis, on a new terminal that attracts less business than the supposedly outdated one.

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Well, Jefferson City City Council members just decided to hire an outside party to complete an in-depth study of transportation system needs and resources. But a couple of years ago, the city hired a $150,000 consultant to do just that. The mayor aimed to justify a new study, suggesting that things have changed enough to warrant a new study. Yet, when asked whether he had reviewed the last study’s recommendations, he said, “It’s been a long time … I don’t want to go there today … I plan on it.” How does he know a new study is needed, if he does not even know what the last one said?

Apparently, many city council members were not even aware of the previous study. I would think a review of that one is necessary before they, or the mayor, can decide what action needs to be taken next. As Bill McClellan has pointed out in some old St. Louis Post-Dispatch columns, we are not doing anyone any favors (besides consultants) when governments pay for expensive studies that sit on the shelf, only to be duplicated again after they are lost under a layer of dust.

The cost of a new consultant was not mentioned in the article, but the city should evaluate the previous study and other options before throwing money into something that may simply reproduce previous work. I have to wonder, is there no one who works for the city (perhaps the Transit Division director) who is capable of making transit recommendations?

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Do you think that pumping hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to one developer is the key to successful North Side revitalization? I would love to be wrong on this, but can someone please give me evidence (economic, historic, etc.) where this type of huge subsidy to one developer working hand-in-hand with government planners has managed to successfully revitalize a community? Some say that McKee’s dream is worth a shot despite a high uncertainty that it will work; I obviously do not agree in this case. But who knows, maybe McKee will be to Saint Louis what Baron Haussmann was to the rebuilding of Paris.

If you are not familiar with the NorthSide project saga, I recommend reading this short article in St. Louis Magazine to get the Cliff’s Notes version.

The post NorthSide Receives State’s Largest TIF appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

He poses the problem that Social Security and Medicare costs continue to grow as we live longer. In 1935, life expectancy was 59.9 years old for a man and 63.9 for a woman. More than 75 years later, life expectancy has grown to 76.2 and 81.1 for men and women, respectively.

So what is McClellan’s tongue-in-cheek solution? The government should stop encouraging healthy behavior and just let everyone do what they want. If people want to smoke themselves to death, eat themselves to death, drink themselves to death . . . so be it. “If somebody wants to opt for enjoyment over longevity, the government ought to leave that person alone,” McClellan wrote.

While McClellan’s overall tone is a bit morbid, he has a point. What should the government’s role be in our lives regarding our personal health choices? My natural reaction is to want all the people in my life to make healthy choices. Heck, I am a personal trainer. I spend a few hours every week educating people about healthy choices. But I am no Michael Bloomberg — I respect people’s choices and do not believe in forcing behavior that I want. The government should not have the right to do this either.

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Here is a quick recap of recent events. This past year the airport enjoyed service from American Airlines, Delta, and Frontier Airlines. But American Airlines is now the only commercial airline staying in Columbia, as Delta already left the market, and Frontier exits in May.

Consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff will provide design services for the new terminal for $38,000. In a recent press release, Parsons Brinckerhoff hypes the new terminal and defends the need, stating that “Columbia Regional Airport has been experiencing growth and has seen an increase in the number of commercial airline service offerings.”

After reading that, I literally double-checked the date of the press release to confirm that it indeed said March, 28, 2013, and not 2012. While it is technically true that the airport has increased commercial airline service offerings, the statement leaves off the very important second half of that statement — the growth has stopped, and service offerings are much lower than they were a year ago.  It is like saying George Bush is president. It was true, at one point in time, but you are not going to find him at the White House today.

Still, city leaders seem confident with their multi-million dollar plan. The Columbia City Council decided on Monday to transfer $1.2 million away from other city projects to fund the terminal, and plan to allot another $18.7 million to the project in the 2014 Capital Improvement Plan, in hopes that the federal government will agree to contribute a large portion of the total cost.

The post Funny-But-Not-So-Funny Update On Columbia Airport appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

But over the past decade, the “cool” cities have not seen any faster job or population growth than cities dominated by non-creative industries. The fastest employment growth has been in areas such as Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Omaha. The main employment in those cities is not in the cool, creative sector, but in industries such as oil and manufacturing. And, even the rapidly growing “cool” cities, such as Raleigh and Austin, are not transit-centered places.

So why do we keep hearing that transit is what causes economic development and revitalizes downtowns? Transit may attract a certain demographic, but trends over the past several years in our country hint that this demographic is not the economic driver it appeared to be.

Now, it is not to say that transit precludes development. But why keep focusing our efforts (and subsidies) on something that is not an absolute necessity to promote growth in Saint Louis? We have written about our support for toll roads to limit subsidies for roads, but at least those subsidies benefit a majority of the population. With transit, we are taking money from a majority of the population to pay for something that benefits the few. Even Citizens for Modern Transit unintentionally admits this with their statement “You may not ride transit, you may not know anyone who uses the bus or MetroLink; however, Missouri needs transit.”

The post Get Off The Train: Saint Louis Cannot Ride To Economic Growth appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

When the state spends millions of dollars on one potential development, it is taking a huge risk with taxpayers’ money. The state is risking that one developer will transform North Saint Louis and remove all of its societal problems. This is a gamble on a project that does not even have a concrete plan. How can we trust that the bet will pay off? Who is on the line if this project fails?

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Governments often grant public subsidies, tax breaks, and other incentives to powerful corporate interests and other groups at the expense of taxpayers. In Missouri cities, this type of information is not always easily available to the public. But our governments should readily share spending information. Otherwise, taxpayers may not even know when special interests gain unfair advantages through government spending. It is impossible to ensure that government decisions are efficient and reasonable unless information is publicly available.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about Saint Louis’ failing grade in the  U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) report on the largest cities’ spending transparency online.

Saint Louis has major improvements to make, with the 28th lowest ranking out of 30 cities. Kansas City ranked much higher, at 14th, but still only received a letter grade of “C.”

Kansas City has made a more visible effort to show residents how the city spends funds. The city allows residents to view checkbook level spending, which Saint Louis should allow, but does not. This transparency helps keep Kansas City accountable to taxpayers.

But Kansas City does have room to improve. Some other cities have created centralized transparency websites and provide comprehensive information on tax subsidies. New York City’s “Open Book” website is the perfect example of what Kansas City and Saint Louis should strive to implement.

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