urbanSTL

The unnamed developer surely has to be Steve Stogel. I'm dubious of this storyline, though, and in the end if there is any blame, it has to be put on the Republicans who didn't get the bill passed.

^^To be clear, I have no fear of posting Steve Stogel's name.

If this is true, I hope the writers at the P-D aren't intimidated by his power. It would certainly make for a hell of a story

Beacon article with some more comments from Nixon...

http://www.stlbeacon.org/voices/blogs/p ... al-session

Says it still needs "broad" consensus. It's being held up by a just a handful of people right? Do the rest not constitute a broad consensus?

It doesn't make sense to call a special election if there is no indication that the senators who killed it during the regular session will work productively.

gone corporate,
we're kinda on the same page. The things you are saying need to be done are what trigger a special session. Again, a governor isn't going to call a special session if the two houses don't have things relatively worked out beforehand. If the Senate leadership has its former dissidents in line, then by all means lets go forward. But it doesn't sound like we're there yet.

Latest from my source is that they are in a 60 day holding period right now, but are mostly guaranteed a special session in either August or September.

bchao524 wrote:Latest from my source is that they are in a 60 day holding period right now, but are mostly guaranteed a special session in either August or September.

Isn't "mostly guaranteed" an oxymoron?

Alex Ihnen wrote:Why is no one saying it? Steve Stogel. Will he rain fire and brimstone upon our homes? Will I never work in STL again?

[edit] ^^ Thank you.

Was wondering the same thing. Lord Voldemort?

bchao524 wrote:Latest from my source is that they are in a 60 day holding period right now, but are mostly guaranteed a special session in either August or September.

I guess you can look at this one way, being true to the state motto, someone wants to see the Chinese land an airplane at Labmert.

Of course that is oversimplistic, but you have to love the Show ME state. Finally getting over the politics for the moment. But anxious to see what comes from the May 23rd visit. Hope everybody has their game on for next week.

Is Nixon going to hold out until both houses are unanimously in favor of the bill? Why not just call a special session if there are clearly enough votes in favor of passing it? I mean, both houses agreed on $360 million, and it seems like it went down because it was attached to completely unrelated bills.

stlwriterman wrote:

bchao524 wrote:Latest from my source is that they are in a 60 day holding period right now, but are mostly guaranteed a special session in either August or September.

Isn't "mostly guaranteed" an oxymoron?

Probably. Had to had that in there because nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to politics!

Colby wrote:Is Nixon going to hold out until both houses are unanimously in favor of the bill? Why not just call a special session if there are clearly enough votes in favor of passing it? I mean, both houses agreed on $360 million, and it seems like it went down because it was attached to completely unrelated bills.

its more complicated than that... the way the MO Senate works is that just a couple of Senators can hold up just about any bill. And the fundamental question seems to be will the senate holdouts agree to Aerotropolis w/o new limits to other tax credits. If not, is there a new consensus among both houses on what will happen with those other credits? There are sharply different points of view on this, and it takes awhile for things to settle down and progress to emerge. The special session last summer for KC Ford incentives didn't happen until July.

That's what I figured. I guess I'm still just venting my frustration

Mike Jones makes harsh comments......

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/05/23/ ... china-hub/

First, I greatly admire the insight of Mike Jones. Second, I'm really starting to enjoy the St. Louis American. Lastly, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Jones' comments as they pertain to the China Hub. It is very refreshing to hear a member of the political structure openly admit the ugly situation in St. Louis.

As per usual, people (both in power and in general) will defend St. Louis by making comments in line with Slay's response. "Hey check out this old building that was rehabbed; we are making the tough decisions in this City." Meanwhile, we've all conveniently stepped around the "structural obsolescence" of our political structure, our endemic "financial bankruptcy", and our slow, apparently palatable trajectory of decline.

So sad and so frustrating.

Truthfully, this situation is part of the reason why we had to leave the City. It is completely illogical to continue to support failure. As I much as I love this place, my family would honestly have to consider leaving if St. Louis boffs the China Hub. If we can't hit this slow pitch out of the park, what can we do right? And, I'm sorry to say, that no level of "grass-roots" "organic" initiative at the "ground-level" would ever compare to a calculated, coordinated approach by a healthy political structure on any of this issues that plague this place. It makes me want to scream.

Now, I'm sure this post will elicit the usual "stop bagging on this place" or "if you hate is so much why don't you leave" responses. But seriously, how will we ever facilitate the broad-sweeping change we need here? How will we reverse the decline that one day will greatly affect everyone that decided to "hold fast" and sink with the ship?

While ttricamo’s post may seem like an overreaction, I hate to say that I largely agree. As much as I love St. Louis, I sense that my career prospects here are rather limited. In fact, older lawyers often tell me to get out of this city as quickly as possible, which is advice I really don’t want to heed. Although I don’t think that the China hub is necessarily some silver bullet, the failure of regional leaders to effectively advocate for incentives that would advance this prescient and potentially lucrative initiative is indicative of a stunning lack of foresight and leadership. Put simply, it doesn’t augur well for St. Louis going into the 21st Century.
I’m about to leave for a summer internship in DC, and I’m becoming increasingly attached to the idea of moving to the District permanently after graduating from law school next year. Although my particular situation is insignificant, I know that I’m not alone. In fact, each of my friends with any sort of ambition has already left the city. Failing to even step up to the plate to swing at this perfect pitch just reinforces the argument that St. Louis is a failing city that lacks meaningful economic opportunities for young people.

Sidebar: DC rocks! I've spent a lot of time at Boeing's office in Arlington (at the Rosslyn stop on the DC Metro). I would highly recommend the Northeast corner of the city (using the White house as the point of reference.)

Notable restaurants:
Ben's Chili Bowl - classic chili house in North eastern D.C.
Old Ebbitt Grill - best crab cakes ever and a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant (I figure a lawyer type may appreciate that). Very old world.
Of course, Georgetown is crazy sweet!

I also agree with you on the career outlook. I'm a 28 yr old dude with a young family. What is St. Louis doing to keep me here? Not much at this point.