How has the project worked out? Did the promises of redevelopment of this part of the city and a great return on the public tax investment pan out? Or did the warnings and concerns of people like Institute analyst Audrey Spalding prove correct?

Of course, Northside has been a total failure, and Audrey and others were correct.

The latest update on almost 20 years of policy failure is that a batch of McKee’s properties (which taxpayers bought for him) is being seized by the city via eminent domain. More of his properties may face the same fate soon. In this particular case, the properties are needed for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) project, so the eminent domain seizures are for legitimate public use. The city tried to buy these properties from McKee, but no agreement could be reached on price, so the city is taking them. The final price paid for them will almost certainly be determined by a court.

Everything you need to know about why economic development using subsidies is a road to failure is wrapped up in this story. The entire project began not based on market forces, but on the forces of lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians. It was sold as a way to save parts of north St. Louis from decades of poverty and blight—conditions that were created in part by government policy in the first place. The entire Northside redevelopment project has been a colossal failure from the start, and the city and state should never have authorized tax subsidies for it. In the state’s case, it created a brand new law just for McKee to do this.

I would hope the city and state would learn a lesson from the failures of tax incentives and subsidies from this project. I doubt very much that they will. As Orwell said, to see the things in front of one’s nose requires a constant struggle—a struggle that politicians rarely have any incentive to engage in.

The post Live By the Sword, Die By the Sword appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The City of Saint Louis has an agency, the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), which manages more than 10,000 of these vacant and abandoned properties. The LRA has an enormous responsibility. Its actions, past and present, can play a major role in determining the future of this city. In a 2011 Show-Me Institute Policy Study called “Standstill: How City Agencies Have Hindered Development In Saint Louis While Waiting For Large-Scale Miracles,” then-policy analyst Audrey Spalding examined the actions and decisions the LRA makes that heavily affect the city of Saint Louis. The study found that the LRA was not fulfilling the responsibilities of the organization as created and defined in Missouri statute.

The LRA has the ability to increase private investment in Saint Louis neighborhoods, which can help create a better Saint Louis. But it cannot do that if it does not sell properties.

By building on the work presented in “Standstill,” this case study will provide insight into how the LRA has changed over the last couple of years and whether it has started to achieve the original goals tasked to it more than 40 years ago.

Read the case study:

See also the Show-Me Institute’s previous research on land banks:

• Standstill: Is Saint Louis Hindering Development by Waiting for Large-Scale Miracles? — April 19, 2011
• Land Banking: An Old Idea With A Poor Track Record — March 26, 2012
• Kansas City Land Bank Proposal: Learning From Failures Of The Saint Louis Land Bank— March 05, 2012
• Land Banking Is No Miracle — February 29, 2012
• Land Bank Recommendations — February 28, 2012
• Legislators Should Seriously Consider the Failings of the Saint Louis Land Bank before Creating a Kansas City Land Bank — February 08, 2012
• What a Difference a Year Makes: Saint Louis City’s Land Bank, the LRA — October 03, 2011
• Why Is There So Much Vacant Land in Saint Louis? — February 22, 2011
• Paper Questions City Landholding Policy — February 21, 2011

The post Promoting Private Land Ownership In Saint Louis: A Data Update On The Land Reutilization Authority appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

So it is not surprising that Aerotropolis supporters are coming back to the state for more moolah in 2013. On Saturday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Lambert would now be gunning for a new $60 million cargo tax credit from the legislature this session.

Gone this time are $300 million in credits to fund real estate development around Lambert. Gone, too, is the lofty name; this version is dubbed the bureaucratic Missouri Export Incentive Act. What remains is an eight-year, $60 million tax credit strictly for air cargo flights from St. Louis.

“We want to keep it simple, and focused,” said Dan Mehan, chairman of the Midwest Hub Commission. “It’s very much slimmed down from what you’ve seen in the past.”

I’ll say it is slimmed down. Back in 2011, Aerotropolis supporters told the legislature that they needed nearly a half-billion dollars in state support for the project to work. When that failed, supporters came back and said $360 million in state funding would be enough to get the project off the ground. (Pun intended.) When that proposal failed in the face of fierce opposition, supporters revised their figures again and concluded that $60 million would do the trick. They received nothing.

The only reason the Midwest Hub Commission has resigned itself to delivering a “slimmed-down version” of Aerotropolis is because no one in Jefferson City has an appetite to fight another long battle for this handout. Audrey Spalding and I were deeply critical of the Aerotropolis plan two years ago because its economic arguments were highly flawed and its marketing was highly questionable. Case in point: some legislators who supported Aerotropolis were talking up Missouri beef exports to China as an Aerotropolis selling point — despite the fact that American beef is banned in China. Indeed, the organization Mehan leads, the “Midwest Hub Commission,” was formerly called the “Midwest China Hub Commission.”

New bill name, new organization name . . . same stuff.

Supporters can call Aerotropolis whatever they want, but it is still Aerotropolis. Now on its third time before the legislature, and after an utterly failed dry run for Saint Louis County to fund it, it is time for Missouri to close the book on Aerotropolis. Instead of centrally planning Missouri’s economy, the legislature should focus on broad-based tax reforms that reduce taxes for all businesses, not just the chosen few. Enough is enough.

The post Part 1: It Is Time To Close The Book On Aerotropolis appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Read This Post-Dispatch Article On Charter Schools appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Read Audrey Spalding’s case study on blended learning here.

The post Blended Learning: A Solution for Public Schools? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post A Bankrupt Idea? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Click here to watch video of the event.

The post Donnybrook: Audrey Spalding Back on KETC appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Two different stories on Aerotropolis are now circulating. The first came out Tuesday and dealt with efforts in the state legislature to once again drive state tax credits to the project. It looks like House leaders may try to tuck Aerotropolis back into an economic development package that the chamber is preparing.

The second story was published this morning and is the more fascinating of the two. It reveals that Saint Louis County may apply $3 million in casino tax revenues to support the Aerotropolis project. If true, the funding source would certainly be apropos, given that Aerotropolis almost certainly is a gamble. Over the last year, Audrey Spalding and I (as well as Chrissy Harbin) have discussed at length the merits (or lack thereof) of Aerotropolis, a project that originally clocked in at a cool $480 million when it was first proposed. That figure is worth keeping in mind as proponents of the Aerotropolis plan pine for state money. Taxpayers have been told that Aerotropolis “needed” a half billion dollars to take flight; then $360 million; and then just $60 million. Maybe Aerotropolis should not receive any money from taxpayers?

This also may be a case of life imitating art, as this Show-Me Institute PSA (narrated by our own Rick Edlund) makes clear.

No doubt, a plethora of interest groups are still actively campaigning to resurrect Aerotropolis, but proponents have still failed to make the case that 1) the Aerotropolis plan will work, and 2) public money is required to resolve some market failure standing in the way of the project’s success. Last year, it looked like private parties just wanted to gamble with the public’s money. “A game changer at $480 million! A bargain at $360 million! Just $60 million will do the trick! How about $3 million?”

It sounds like we have a problem gambler on our hands. Maybe the best thing to do is to simply cut them off.

The post Place Your Bets: Proposed Aerotropolis May Be Funded In Part With Casino Tax Revenues appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Related Articles

Op-ed: Teacher Tenure: Why Should Educators Be Different? By Audrey Spalding and Ben Barnes

Blog Post: One Hundred Days of Bad Teaching (Or More)

The post Teacher Tenure: Time for a Change appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Click here to watch the video of the event.

The post Donnybrook: Audrey Spalding Once Again on KETC appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The state legislature is currently considering legislation that would create a land bank in Kansas City with much the same power and authority as the Saint Louis land bank, the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA). Audrey’s policy study on the LRA, “Standstill: Is Saint Louis Hindering Development by Waiting for Large-Scale Miracles?” (published last April) provides important insight into the potential pitfalls of a land bank with expansive authority to acquire and hold property.

The lessons of the LRA are well worth considering for any proposed land bank. Lofty public policy dreams often run afoul of the law of unintended consequences, and the long history of the LRA may serve better as a cautionary tale than an achievement to be repeated.

The post Standstill Part Two? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post School’s Out: Closing Bad Schools appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Click here to watch the video of the event.

The post Donnybrook: Audrey Spalding Returns to KETC appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Click here to watch the video of the event.

The post Donnybrook: Audrey Spalding on KETC appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Aerotropolis Victory – Audrey on KTRS appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Congrats to Audrey! appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Aerotropolis Progress Report: A Panel Discussion appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Why Can’t They Say “No” to Bad Public Policy? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Aerotropolis by Another Name? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Wednedsay, Patrick Ishmael was on with Mark Reardon on St. Louis’ KMOX in a 5-minute radio hit. That segment follows:

The post Talking Aerotropolis: Audrey Spalding with Greg Knapp on KCMO, Patrick Ishmael with Mark Reardon on KMOX appeared first on Show-Me Institute.