Slu let the dogs out?

Gosh dern. How many open spots for the upcoming season now? 2?

The NFL is filled with smaller market teams. In fact, I think there are 13 NFL markets smaller than STL. I don't know how old you are and perhaps being considered an NFL city is more important for younger people, but as an old man in his upper 30s, the size of Buffalo's metro (or my perception of Buffalo's size) and their status as an NFL city has zero impact on my decision to visit and spend money in Buffalo. The only reason I would ever visit Buffalo is if I were passing through on my way to Niagara Falls. Sure, that label is cool but I doubt it generates much of an economic impact on its own. My opinion of Buffalo from 750 miles away doesn't really benefit Buffalo in any way. I doubt San Diego tourism is down because the Chargers left. That's not to say labels can't have an economic impact on cities. Whether true or not, being labeled "most dangerous city in America" has definitely hurt St. Louis. Upgrading the dome and convention center into one of the top conventions centers in the country would bring more money to city and county coffers than any NFL team would.

+1 Definitely wouldn't be the most efficient use of settlement money. What needs to happen regardless of hypothetical settlement money is a complete redesign of Tucker Blvd. between Cole Street (Square office) and Clark (City Hall). 8 lanes of traffic is absolutely insane. Scale it down to 4 lanes at most and make it pedestrian- and biker-friendly. It would reduce traffic (what little there is), traffic accidents, and no more drag racing down Tucker. Area could be used for festivals, markets, gathering space to watch the Blues in their next Stanley Cup in the year 2095, etc. Great example is Lancaster Blvd. in Lancaster, CA: https://www.cnu.org/what-we-do/build-great-places/lancaster-boulevard Obviously some differences between Lancaster/Lancaster Blvd and St. Louis/Tucker Blvd and the built environment around them but endgame is the same. I'm sure @SShoe has even better ideas. Also curious how you’d spend settlement money if awarded

+1 out of likes. Basic services would have an immediate impact and improve the quality of life for many city residents. I like it. Sadly I don't see that occurring...

If we get any settlement money my suggestion would be to spend every dollar and resource convincing Nathan’s to move the hot dog eating contest to the riverfront. If that failed I’d pay off debt on dome and allocate the rest into making the convention center the premier convention center in the country. I know there are already plans to upgrade it but let’s crank this thing to 11. Money maker for city and county.

On the topic of NFL expansion to STL I could have sworn Randy K responded to someone in a tweet that there is virtually no chance STL gets an expansion team because the NFL wants nothing to do with STL and STL wants nothing to do with the NFL which makes sense and is fine with me. Perhaps I’m just back on my crazy pills, perhaps he subsequently erased it, but I don’t see it anymore. I can’t believe there are people in STL that still want an NFL team. Do you guys like getting cucked too?

Interesting, thanks for your insight.

Excellent points. To be clear, I'm not for eliminating TIFs and tax abatements altogether as they are certainly a crucial part of the capital stack for some projects. As you said, these incentives have become ubiquitous to the point that most developers just expect them in every deal. There clearly needs to be some reform in that regard. Don't know the specifics of these Cortex residential projects but the way Jones is going about doesn't seem wise, especially if these developers were promised TIF financing under the previous administration and now have large gaps in their financing. Hopefully Jones can find a way to allocate resources to the northside while also supporting one our region's greatest assets in Cortex.

Wasn't a developer (may have been Kroenke's RE group?) trying to get TIF financing for the old car dealership lot on the SW corner of Clarkson and Manchester? Definitely NOT a distressed area! A lot of these financing tools aren't vital to a development's success. Many projects would be just fine without TIFs and tax abatements but hold those financing tools over cities' heads and threaten to pull out if they don't receive them. My sister is a city council member for one of the inner ring municipalities in St. Louis and recently had a developer come to them asking for tax abatement for their project. After reviewing the financial projections showing the project would start cash flowing immediately they rejected the tax abatement. To no one's surprise the developer proceeded with the project anyway. Historic tax credits, unfortunately, get lumped in with a lot of these other financing tools. But for state and federal HTCs, the majority of historic redevelopment projects just wouldn't happen, as they're risky projects to take on and it's nearly impossible to close the financing gap without HTC equity. Historic tax credits have over a 40 year track record of being revenue positive tax credits. Historic redevelopment projects put more money back into coffers through increased federal and state income tax, state and local sales tax, and significant increases in property taxes. They not only create shovel ready jobs but permanent jobs long after construction has ended. The credit spurs economic activity, creates jobs, especially higher wage skilled trade positions and rehabs the fabric of our country’s tangible and cultural heritage, especially in economically distressed areas. Studies show that for every historic tax credit dollar given, between $5 and $9 of private investment is leveraged. These projects also spur a lot of non-historic economic activity in the immediate area. And it's not just urban cores utilizing historic tax credits. Many small towns and "Main Streets" have been revitalized through the utilization of HTCs. And of course, historic redevelopment is a climate friendly tool. The greenest building is the one that is already built and can be brought back to productive economic use (plus, it won't cost the city thousands of dollars to tear down). I guess that was a long-winded way of saying I agree....a lot of financing tools aren't necessary for the project to proceed and succeed but are instead political and used to squeeze as much out of the city/state as possible to help improve their bottom line. Other financing tools are in fact vital to a project's ability to proceed and succeed and provide many benefits to the community.

Preferably the same weekend the Blues are playing in Vegas. Is this too much to ask? I think not.

Maybe he said "VCU" and my friend thought he said SLU. Of course I also have no idea if any of these kids are involved in some sort of mentoring program.

Definitely a possibility. My friend isn't really a college hoops fan and didn't go to SLU so he didn't really ask many questions.

Stopped by a friend's house on Sunday to kill some time with the dependents while the wife was at a baby shower. My friend had just finished a conversation with his neighbor (not associated with SLU in any way) and had declined an invitation to play golf at his club. He told me his neighbor (whose son plays DIII hoops) was heavily involved in the high school hoops scene via some sort of mentoring program (I think?) and that his neighbor had invited him to play that day with himself, his son, and "a highly recruited Vashon player committed to SLU". I told him no such player existed. Unless we are about to get a big time recruit who hasn't publicly announced? I didn't think there were any big time Vahson recruits in the 2021 class, are there? The only thing I can think of is 1) it's not a 2021 recruit; or 2) this kid doesn't go to Vashon (was thinking Nesbitt).

Stu has good taste in music so I have no issue at all. If I did not agree with his music preferences I would be very angry and unable to sleep at night.