We had a meeting, after a bit of a hiatus, on Monday night at Vashon High School. Despite the downpour, we had pretty good attendance--we flyered, and were happy to see some new faces. Though we hadn't met many of these folks before, they were more than familiar with the issues facing North Side residents in light of the NorthSide Regeneration development. It was brought up in the meeting that land acqusitions are occuring in The Ville, with buy-up patterns are similar to those that occurred in the early days before developer Paul McKee was unveiled as the face behind "Blairmont." The new people brought some great ideas with them, and we have several who have agreed to help flyer or talk to neighbors in order to raise awareness of the threat of eminent domain in North St. Louis.
North Side Community Benefits Alliance organized in 2009 to advocate for and educate the people of the City of St Louis about real estate development issues in general, community benefits agreements, and eminent domain. This was in response to an $8.1 billion development proposal for a 2.5 square mile area of North St. Louis by Paul McKee, Jr. and his companies McEagle and Northside Regeneration LLC and 32 other companies he used to hide and refinance his purchases. We felt at the time, and still do, that the best interests of our fellow citizens and neighbors were not being taken into account by either the St Louis City politicians who ostensibly represent us, or Mr. McKee and his companies. In 2009, upon the passage of the ordinances giving Mr. McKee his TIF district and Redevelopment agreement for this area, several area residents who are also members of our organization filed suit in state court on the grounds that the ordinances did not conform to Missouri State Law. Another plaintiff filed suit sought to intervene in our case and their cause was joined with ours. In July of 2010 we received a favorable ruling. In effect, we won at the trial level. The ordinances have been invalidated.
Paul McKee and the mayor of the City of St Louis are currently appealing this ruling. We have filed in opposition to their appeal. (To see the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's coverage of the legal proceedings, click here.) We feel we will prevail, but legal efforts cost money. Up until this point, members of our organization have been funding these efforts on their own. This has been a long and exhausting fight for us and we are reaching an end to our resources.
To defend the trial court ruling and make our challenges on points we did not win, we estimate that we need to raise approximately $20,000 to cover legal fees, court costs, and attorney fees. Our treasurer, Keith Marquard, has committed to fund $2,000 toward this appeal, about 10% of our projected legal fees. This is on top of the many thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours that we and others similarly outraged by this injustice have already spent in our efforts to defeat it.
We very much need the financial help of the supporters of property rights, enemies of eminent domain for private gain, residents of the area, and opponents of government interference in private markets. This is why we are seeking your help. Even if you can’t donate funds to our cause, please send any good wishes you may have for our success. This has been a long and emotionally exhausting fight.
We are working on getting our PayPal button operational on this blog, so that donations may be made to our legal battle as it moves to the state level. We will also be having another meeting in early December, time and date TBA. If you are interested in attending, please email us at info@northsidecba.org for more information.
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