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Saint Louis CitySide - an overview of the City Government of Saint Louis
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 St. Louis Front Page presents St. Louis CitySide, an overview of the City Government of Saint Louis. From time to time, we will take an indepth look at many of the projects in which the city is involved and how these projects will affect residents and visitors.
 Saint Louis Art Museum Donates $10 Million to 'Heart of the Park' ImprovementsSt. Louis Lands 2004 U.S. OlympicWomen's Marathon Trials Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing Site DedicatedMississippi River Trail DedicatedMayor Slay, Multi-Faith Religious Leaders Encourage Religious ToleranceTaking Stock of Our City and Our RegionMissouri Attorney General Stops Internet Auction FraudSt. Louis/East St. Louis Joint Economic Development Initiative Receives Nearly $3 Million in Funding |
By Bob Moore, SLFP.com Last June at St. Louis City Hall, Governor Bob Holden joined St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive George R. "Buzz" Westfall, St. Louis Congressman Dick Gephardt and other city officials to announce an agreement with the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals to jointly fund the $646 million development downtown. The project would include a new 49,000 seat publically-owned ballpark; world-class aquarium; and a baseball museum. The initial agreement called for the ballpark to be completed in time for the start of the 2005 baseball season. A Ballpark Village would include offices, residences and parking. The new stadium would replace the aging stadium built in the mid-sixties. On Friday, February 15, Ward 7 Alderwoman Phyllis Young introduced an ordinance which would allow the city to invest up to $4.2 million per year over a 30-year period on the proposed ballpark to replace Busch Stadium. While the public forum was in progress in Room 208, Jeff Rainford, mayoral chief-of-staff, explained to this reporter the significance of the Cardinals' commitment to the Ballpark proposal. "Yes, this deal is unprecedented. There are two provisions in this deal," stated Rainford. "One is the penalties they would pay if they don't build the Ballpark Village in the first phase. They would pay a total of $100 million dollars. Second is the level in which the public would share in the proceeds if the team were sold." According to the agreement, if the team were sold, the public partners would share in the proceeds of the sale. "After they sign this agreement, the state, the city and the county would get a percentage of the sale on a sliding basis going from 10 - 15 percent. The more profits the Cardinals make, the higher the percentage the public gets," stated Rainford. "As a matter of fact, the Cardinals have agreed that if they sell the team in the first four years after this deal, they will give us $2.5 million," he said, "even if they don't make a profit." When asked why the team would make this kind of commitment, Rainford commented "I don't think they are building the stadium to flip the team. They are building this stadium for the purpose of generating more revenue and keeping a competitive team on the field. Everybody assumes that they are building the stadium to sell the team. I think that they have demonstrated by agreeing to this that's not their intent, that's not their purpose," concluded Rainford.  
The following information is from HOUSE BILL NO. 1889, introduced by FOLEY, HANAWAY, OTOOLE, TREADWAY, BONNER, GAMBARO, SCHEVE, RIZZO, BOWMAN, THOMPSON (Co-sponsors), OSTMANN, SHELTON, OCONNOR, MONACO, VILLA AND CARNAHAN. 67.2012. 1. A board of commissioners composed of nine members shall govern the authority created hereunder. The commissioners shall be appointed as follows: (1) Two commissioners shall be appointed by the mayor of the city with the advice and consent of the governing body of the city; (2) Two commissioners shall be appointed by the county executive of the county with the advice and consent of the governing body of the county; (3) Five commissioners shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. Of the five commissioners appointed, the governor shall designate one who shall serve as the chair of the board. The "Taxpayer Protection Provisions" of the bill included the following: 67.2012. 2. The lease shall be for an initial term of at least thirty-five years, and shall include at a minimum substantially the following provisions, which shall apply for the periods, and be subject to such terms, conditions, limitations, and remedies as shall be agreed to by the authority and specified in the lease: (1) The team shall play its home games at the stadium and shall not relocate outside the boundaries of the city in which the stadium is located; (2) The team shall make available at least six thousand tickets per regular season home game in the stadium at a price of not more than twelve dollars per ticket in year 2000 dollars; (3) The team, in conjunction with the sponsors, shall distribute at least one hundred thousand complimentary tickets per year to youth and other charitable organizations; (4) The team shall contribute at least one hundred thousand dollars per year to the development, construction, or refurbishment of neighborhood recreational facilities that will primarily benefit or serve disadvantaged youth in the city and the county which have established an authority; (5) The team shall pay all operating and maintenance expenses of the stadium, and shall pay the costs of necessary capital improvements to the stadium in accordance with the terms of the lease; (6) In the event of the sale of the team, the team or its owners shall pay to the authority and the sponsors a portion of the sale price which is attributable to the lease and the stadium, calculated in accordance with such formula or criteria as shall be determined by the authority and the sponsors in their sole judgment and agreed to by the team and provided in the redevelopment contract relating to the stadium; and (7) The team shall make payments in lieu of taxes in each year to the city and other taxing districts in which the stadium is located in an amount equal to the amounts of ad valorem property taxes paid in the calendar year immediately preceding the calendar year in which the ordinance was adopted by the city approving the sports center redevelopment plan less the amounts of any ad valorem property taxes paid in each such year to the city and other taxing districts with respect to the stadium, the lease, and the mixed-use facilities. 3. The team shall guarantee the acquisition, construction, and equipping of the stadium in accordance with the sports center redevelopment plan, and shall be responsible for paying any cost overruns in connection therewith, subject to such commercially reasonable force majeure provisions as may be agreed to by the authority and the sponsors. 4. The team shall provide to the state and the sponsors guarantees or other assurances or undertakings satisfactory to them as to the commencement, acquisition, construction, or equipping of the mixed-use facilities, which shall include aggregate penalties in an amount of one hundred million dollars which penalties shall be payable over the anticipated term of any obligations and in the manner and on such terms and within such times as are prescribed in the sports center redevelopment plan, for the failure to accomplish such commencement acquisition, construction, or equipping of the mixed-use facilities. 5. The team and any developer of the stadium shall comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and executive orders regarding contracting, hiring, and employment, and shall set a goal for the acquisition, construction, and equipping of the stadium of twenty-five percent for minority-owned business participation and five percent for women-owned business participation. 6. The authority shall not issue any obligations payable from an appropriation by the state or any sponsor in support of a stadium included in a sports center redevelopment plan unless such stadium is owned in fee simple title by the authority. 7. The authority, as owner of the stadium, shall own the right to name the stadium, subject to the right of the team to approve the name. 8. Any stadium constructed with the proceeds of obligations for which the state is providing an annual appropriation pursuant to subsection 3 of section 67.2033 shall contain a luxury suite which is available to the public through a lottery or other fan selection process, as designated by the authority in the stadium lease, which ensures that the public at large has access to such suite for all home games played at the stadium. No rent, fees, or charges of any kind shall apply to the use of such suite. Construction would begin the end of 2002. If construction stays on track, the Cardinals would host the 2006 All-Star Game. That game would generate an additional $100 million for the state. Downtown Map
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