Projects
Development is a Distraction
An op-ed Dan wrote about how development in the city of St. Louis is looked at differently than most places. It's also to our detriment.
Development Is a Distraction
Development holds a special place in the minds of St. Louisans—a place more important than in most American cities. It’s strange when you look closer. Even people struggling for basic survival after decades of intentional neglect want this undefined thing called “development.” The truth is, we’ve been conned. We don’t actually want development—we want what we think development will bring us: the basics of city living. Trash picked up. Potholes filled. 911 calls answered in seconds, not minutes. Decent public schools. Streets and sidewalks that won’t kill us.
These are the operations our taxes already pay for. Yet, instead of fixing them, city leaders keep promising that if we just build enough new stuff, everything else will follow. That’s wrong. The way to attract new residents isn’t to bribe developers—it’s to make St. Louis a place where people already living here want to stay.
This “development at all costs” mindset has failed. While we keep approving incentives for every project that crosses St. Louis Development Corporation’s desk, our population keeps falling. Living here takes effort. Staying takes even more. Instead of selling outsiders a fantasy, we should make this city livable for the people already here.
The last general plan St. Louis adopted by ordinance was written in 1947—a time when only rich, white landowners had real power. That plan was built on keeping Black residents out and maintaining segregation through zoning, deed restrictions, and land-clearance laws. Those policies may look different today, but the outcomes haven’t changed. They still decide who gets investment and who gets ignored.
For decades, city government has delivered less and less. Since the 1970s, leaders have chosen which neighborhoods to save and which to sacrifice—maybe thinking things would “get better” later. It’s been fifty years. They haven’t. We don’t need development to attract people; we need a government that works. But development is the perfect distraction—from accountability and from despair. Every new tower is a photo-op dressed as progress. We’ve swallowed the cruelest lie of all: keep doing this and it’ll finally work. Instead, we just have fewer people and more broken promises.
When city officials talk about “certainty” and a “clear process,” they don’t mean for us. They mean for developers. In practice, that kind of “clarity” means fewer questions, fewer hearings, and fewer chances for residents to intervene before the deal is done. Public engagement becomes the enemy of efficiency. Certainty for them is silence for us.
They say certainty what we need is accountability.
Every deal looks the same: a developer swoops in to “revitalize” a neighborhood that City Hall let crumble in the first place. The neglect creates the crisis, and the crisis justifies the giveaway. We could fix streetlights, pave roads, stop illegal dumping—tomorrow—without a single dollar of private investment. But that would require patience, equity, and long-term political courage.
Instead, our leaders prefer the quick hit of private capital—money that comes with ropes attached. The public pays the cost through displacement and higher taxes, while the politicians get the ribbon-cutting photos.
We can’t fix a century of harm in one term, but we can stop pretending development will save us. It won’t. We don’t need new towers; we need working services. St. Louis doesn’t need another rebirth. It needs repair. If our leaders want growth, start by growing trust. Pick up the trash, pave the streets, teach the kids—and stop telling us we need something we already have—people.
It’s not “If you build it, they will come.” It’s already built—dammit, just fix what’s here.
We need reform. Now. Here’s where to start:
- Scrap the opaque three-member E & A.
- Replace Ward Capital with participatory budgeting.
- Fix the LRA—12,000 publicly owned parcels collecting dust and costing taxpayers’ money. - Make its data transparent and accountable.
- Hold all public meetings outside work hours, post agendas four days prior, and provide childcare.
Some Recent Mentions
Used without permission:
From the St. Louis Business Journal:
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/08/12/midtown-tif-advancesaldermen.
html?j=47012697&senddate=2026-08-12&empos=p3
SUBSCRIBER CONTENT:
Government & Regulations
St. Louis board backs $39.5M TIF district for
Midtown infrastructure improvements
By Kate Marijolovic – Reporter , St. Louis Business Journal
Aug 12, 2026
St. Louis approves $39.5M Midtown tax-increment financing district - S... https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/08/12/midtown-tif-adv...
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A St. Louis board voted Wednesday in favor of a proposed tax-increment
financing district that would redirect up to $39.5 million in future tax revenue to
fund public infrastructure improvements across a large swath of central St. Louis
encompassing parts of Covenant Blu-Grand Center, Midtown and Downtown
West.
The St. Louis Tax Increment Financing Commission voted four to one, with two
abstentions, to recommend approval of the Midtown Public Infrastructure
Redevelopment Area plan. The plan, which would establish the TIF district, will
now go before the Board of Aldermen, which must decide whether or not to
approve it.
The proposed Midtown TIF would cover roughly 350 parcels stretching south
A rendering of what the intersection of Washington Avenue and Compton Avenue could look like
if the Midtown tax increment financing distrtict is approved and streetscaping improvements are
made.
CITY OF ST. LOUIS
St. Louis approves $39.5M Midtown tax-increment financing district - S... https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/08/12/midtown-tif-adv...
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The proposed Midtown TIF would cover roughly 350 parcels stretching south
from Samuel Shepard Drive to Olive Street and east from Theresa Avenue to
Jefferson Avenue.
The Kranzberg Arts Foundation submitted an application for the TIF to the city on
March 2. Sponsors of the proposed district include the Midtown Alley Business
Alliance, Grand Center Inc. and the Locust Central Business District. Alderwoman
Laura Keys has also expressed support for the proposed TIF.
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The boundaries of the proposed Midtown tax increment financing district. If created, the TIF
would span over 100 acres.
CITY OF ST. LOUIS
St. Louis approves $39.5M Midtown tax-increment financing district - S... https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/08/12/midtown-tif-adv...
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A TIF captures incremental tax revenue, the amount above what was generated
before it was formed. Designed to function as an alternative to traditional
development subsidies, the Midtown TIF would be used to fund public
infrastructure, including street redesigns, lighting, pedestrian infrastructure
additions and accessibility upgrades. A "pocket park" could also eventually be
built through the TIF.
The proposed Midtown TIF would return half the new tax revenue generated
within the district to taxing jurisdictions, while the other half would be
reinvested locally. The total value of improvements is projected to be about $39.5
million over the 23-year life of the taxing district.
Some TIF board commissioners on Wednesday questioned whether anticipated
future development would generate enough revenue to support the TIF.
Supporters of the proposed TIF district say it would help attract private
investment to the area. A TIF redevelopment plan created by the Kranzberg Arts
Foundation projects the Midtown TIF could attract over $445 million in private
investment over its 23-year lifespan.
Chris Hansen, CEO of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, said at a public hearing for
the proposal on Wednesday the organization did not originally plan to seek a TIF
district, but the city suggested it might be a good vehicle for making
infrastructure improvements in the district.
"This is not about incentivizing developers or paying people to make their project
cheaper. This is for streetscaping, landscaping, other public-serving
improvements," Hansen said.
Steve Smith, CEO of development firm New + Found, and Shirley Emerson,
president of housing-focused nonprofit Metropolitan Village Inc., also spoke in
support of the project Wednesday.
Opponents to the proposal argued the TIF district will unfairly divert resources
St. Louis approves $39.5M Midtown tax-increment financing district - S... https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/08/12/midtown-tif-adv...
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from the rest of the city, and asks taxpayers to bet on development that has not
yet occurred.
"We have wicked problems in this city, and unfortunately, to deal with that it
seems like the city allows alphabet soup to happen. We get SPDs and CIDs and
TDDs and a couple PIDs. WTF are we doing?", said Dan Pate.
The TIF must be approved by the Board of Aldermen before it can go into effect.
The board is currently on summer break, and its next meeting is scheduled to
begin at 10 a.m. on Sept. 11.
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St. Louis approves $39.5M Midtown tax-increment financing district - S... https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/08/12/midtown-tif-adv...
5 of 5 8/12/26, 18:55
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