At the Friday, October 30th meeting of the Board of Aldermen, mine and Alderman Terry Kennedy’s (D-18th Ward) were the only NO votes on the massive 1,500-acre redevelopment deal known in the media as “NorthSide” and spearheaded by developer Paul McKee.

I took the opportunity Friday to explain why I could not support Mr. McKee’s proposal. Watch that video here:

In addition, I submitted the following statement for the official record of the Board of Aldermen:

Under Rule 47 of the Board of Aldermen Rules, Mr. French explains his vote with the following:

Alderman French voted NAY on Board Bills 218CS and 219CS because of the particular developer’s treatment of the community in the five years he has been assembling land in poor neighborhoods. With much respect to the co-sponsors of these bills, Alderwomen Griffin, Triplett, Young, and Davis, and Alderman Bosley, who have crafted a very good redevelopment deal with many new safeguards to protect the community moving forward and makes requirements of the developer to finally force him to be a responsible partner, Alderman French stated in his remarks on the floor that the unanimous passage of these bills would send the wrong message to future developers also planning projects on a similar scale. It is Alderman French’s position that the manner in which this developer has acquired and not maintained his hundreds of parcels actually does more to damage communities in the short run.

I was also interviewed on KMOX radio on Friday to discuss my vote. You can listen to that interview right here: Listen to Alderman French’s KMOX interview.

Chesterfield developer Paul McKee appeared on a radio show this morning promoting his 1,500-acre development plan which includes areas of downtown and the near north side of St. Louis City. During the show, host Demetrius Johnson, a McKee supporter, attacked Alderman Antonio French because of a quote that appeared in today’s Post-Dispatch.

McKee is asking for the largest TIF in the history of the City of St. Louis for his project. But that in itself is not the most alarming thing about McKee’s request. McKee is pushing for city taxpayers to guarantee — effectively co-sign — his risky bank loans. To the tune of $200 million dollars.

From the Post-Dispatch:

They’ve only backed three other TIFs in recent years, and wound up on the hook each time. And with a tight budget and pension obligations looming, there isn’t much room to pay down bonds if new tax revenue from NorthSide can’t.

Even if Mayor Francis Slay’s office agrees, it’s not clear that there are enough votes on the Board of Aldermen.

“I’m not more of a financial expert than the banks that are looking at this,” said Alderman Antonio French. “If they’re still passing on it, who are we to say it’s a good deal?”

Listen as McKee’s pitbulls attack French for pointing out the risk to city taxpayers.

CLICK TO LISTEN: Paul McKee’s pitbulls attack Alderman French

In these times when civility in public debate seems to be eroding by the hour, and the investment of every tax dollar should be thoroughly examined, make a donation today to show your support for Alderman French.

For the second week in a row, hundreds of people have filled O’Fallon Park on a Wednesday evening to listen to the sounds of live jazz music and enjoy one of the largest and most beautiful parks in St. Louis.

“This event is about families reclaiming this wonderful park,” said Alderman Antonio French, who organized the O’Fallon Park Jazz Concert Series along with the Sheldon Concert Hall. “It’s great to see so many people enjoying the park. Events like this create the sense of community that many of us thought was lost. We see tonight that it is not.”

St. Louis American Editorial
Thursday, August 13, 2009

Urban preservation and politics

It says something about the City of St. Louis that some of its youngest leaders are showing, in the early days of their leadership, an interest in preserving what has been here for some time – or, at least, instituting some formal controls over what is and isn’t preserved. As 21st Ward Alderman Antonio D. French, age 31, celebrated his first 100 days in office recently, he had sponsored exactly one bill, which was passed and signed into law, making his North Side ward a preservation district. The City’s preservation ordinance, which was amended by French’s bill, makes demolition permits in designated areas subject to review and rejection by the Preservation Board, a group of mayoral appointees chaired by Richard Callow, a communications operative for Mayor Francis G. Slay.

Former Landmarks Association Assistant Director Michael R. Allen – who at 28 is even younger than French, and even more focused on preservation – has pointed out on his influential Ecology of Absence blog that almost all of South St. Louis is protected by preservation review, while very little of North City is. In fact, the only areas south of Highway 40 not covered by the City’s preservation ordinance are the Downtown 7th Ward, Stephen Gregali’s 14th Ward and the long southern leg of Marlene Davis’ 19th Ward. On the other hand, all of the heart of North St. Louis – other than, now, French’s 21st Ward – is not covered by the preservation ordinance and thus more vulnerable to demolition. As Allen wrote, “Loss of buildings means loss of residents, loss of jobs and loss of a sense of community – adding up to conditions that make wards vulnerable for land-banking.”

Allen is perhaps the best informed of a growing number of activist non-black city residents who are showing interest in the future of all of the city, including areas of North St. Louis with largely African-American demographics. The City’s youngest black aldermen – French and Kacie Starr-Triplett, in the near South Side 6th Ward – move comfortably in this crowd. As developer Paul McKee Jr. learned to his chagrin after Allen uncovered and published his North City land holdings, it is an energetic, connected and media savvy segment of the urban electorate that has shown ability to attract attention – and, with attention, influence – greater than its actual voting strength.

Of course, urban preservationists applauded French’s securing of the 21st Ward Preservation District. And those of us who are deeply concerned about racial disparities in St. Louis have to look at Allen’s map of a South City with almost total preservation review and a North City with almost none and suspect that this is yet another area where white St. Louis has been taken care of – and taken better care of itself – than black St. Louis has.

At the same time, it would take someone with a keen eye for what Allen calls the “ecology of absence” to want to preserve as they are many of the North City neighborhoods in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 18th, 19th and 22nd wards that currently have no oversight by the Preservation Board. It also is worth questioning how much a board of mayoral appointees chaired by a core Slay operative like Callow can be counted upon to wield any genuinely independent judgment about which demolition permits should be granted in the city. These factors suggest that an instinct for leveraging and playmaking, as well as for preservation, might be in play in the formation of a new preservation district. No harm, necessarily, in that – North St. Louis needs a new generation of playmakers who know how to create and wield leverage.

Surely we can all agree that North St. Louis should not be preserved precisely as it is. The question then becomes how can French and other aldermen use preservation review to improve their neighborhoods. There is very much in dire need of improvement – and this improvement depends almost entirely on attracting more investment that leads to the creation of more jobs. We must not forget the need for greater economic development and job creation as we put in place standards for preserving the elements of our neighborhoods that deserve to remain standing in the city of our future.

There is legislation being debated today in the Missouri State Legislature that would put a cap on a program, that more than any other state program, has contributed to the revitalization of the City of St. Louis over the past decade. The attacks on the state’s Historic Tax Credit program are short-sighted and threaten to put the brakes on development activities in neighborhoods and downtowns all over the state.