Ms. Sheila Rendom, President of the New North Side Community Benefits Alliance
Disclaimer:
The OPINIONS of Ms. Rendom do not necessarily reflect the views of RiverCity Publications, its staff or its Board of Directors.
This month I'm very appreciative that the Northside Community Benefits Alliance (NSCBA) treasurer, Keith Marquard, CPA wrote this month's NSCBA update. He is also a plaintiff in the suit challenging the constitutionality of the state Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit...
By Keith Marquard, CPA
Robbing From the Poor and Giving to the Rich
Today as I was driving east on Market Street from city hall past the new City Garden, Keiner Plaza, the beautifully landscaped plantings down the center of the street, and the Old Courthouse I started thinking about fairness and an equitable division of civic resources. Sure, all of the things I was driving by are very nice. They did an excellent job with the City Garden. It truly is a beautiful thing and adds much to downtown. But why does the city spend so much money downtown and in South St Louis when the need is so great in the North?
This fact repeatedly perplexes me. Why indeed do the North St. Louis Aldermen allow this to happen? I mean it's not as if North St Louis gets much in the way of help from the Imperial Palace on Market (think of Slay as a tin-pot emperor and the Aldermen as the very petty kings he rules over). But really, wouldn't you expect that most of the community development block grant money that comes from the federal government to aid cities in dealing with poverty would be spent on poor people in the poorest part of the city? I would. But it isn't. 30 of every 31 dollars in Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds are spent south of Delmar. It doesn't seem very fair does it?
CDBG funds are repeatedly spent by the city government on things like the City Garden. It truly looks very nice, but as nice as it is ask yourself, "What is it exactly that this mini-park does?" There are two things City Garden does. One, it dresses up the city so that the city leadership have a nice place to drive by when they venture out into downtown from the Imperial Palace on Market. Two, it makes downtown real estate more valuable.
My opinion is that number two is the real reason City Garden was built. So why shouldn't the owners of downtown real estate pay for City Garden instead of using the money that should go to poor people? Compounding this is that Mayor Slay, Board President Reed, and the Board of Aldermen are giving away tax breaks to downtown businesses and owners of downtown real estate like candy at Halloween.
Lowering taxes on commercial real estate and on the businesses that inhabit this real estate can do two things. One it can increase the profits of the owners of that real estate. Two, it can increase the profits of businesses and individuals who rent that real estate. It does this on a sliding scale depending on the relative bargaining power of the building owner and tenants and on who gets the tax breaks or subsidies and what form they take.
The simplest way to put this is that:
o If the building owners get tax breaks or other subsidies their costs are lower and the difference between their expenses and their income is greater. They can pass on this decrease in costs to their tenants in the form of lower rent and have happier tenants, or they can keep rents the same and keep the profits.
o If the building tenants get the tax breaks or subsidies their costs are lower and the difference between their expenses and their income is greater. Again, they can pass on this decrease in costs to their customers and have happier customers, or they can keep their prices the same and keep the profits.
Keep this information in mind when you read about the city giving a tax break to Peabody Coal for their downtown headquarters, and then in the next news story the Mayor and various other city politicians are blaming the pensions of fire fighters and police for the deficit in the city budget. This is truly an insane thing to do. On the one hand, Slay and Co. cut, and cut, and cut the taxes, or wrangle other subsidies for, corporations and individuals doing business mostly in downtown and on Pestalozzi Street. On the other hand, they complain bitterly that the real culprit in the city's budget woes is the exorbitant amount the city has to pay for the pensions of the people whose job it is to keep those businesses, their employees, and their property safe from harm. It's enough to make an honest city employee want to leave and go elsewhere.
Now in the first weeks of June we have seen the Mayor, President of the Board of Aldermen, and individual aldermen taking up the issue of new fees for trash service and increases in water rates. This follows a long tradition of tax cuts for the wealthy and special interests in the city (especially the special interests who donate heavily to the campaigns of Mayor Slay and the Aldermen) and tax increases or cuts in services for the rest of us. This started with Mayor Slay and the Board of Aldermen exempting stock options from income taxed by the city earnings tax. They are now further shifting the tax burden from the very wealthy corporations and real estate barons to us, the individual citizens who make the city function.
If I didn't know better, I'd swear that the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen were 100% Republican. After all, isn't that what the Bush II years were all about, tax cuts for the wealthy? It's no wonder that Slay and Governor Blunt got along so well. They have much more in common than Slay and anyone I would consider a Democrat. If you follow politics at all, I think you'll agree that this sounds just like the standard Republican party platform of doing everything for the wealthy and their business interests while squeezing the poor and middle class.
So when we vote for Mayor Slay and almost any of the current members of the Board of Aldermen we're voting for tax cuts for their biggest and steadiest campaign contributors. We're voting for decreased pensions and pay for the people who protect us. We're voting for keeping city resources and federal or state funds out of North St Louis.
Why? Why are we doing this to ourselves and our neighbors? Ask yourselves that when you walk into the voting booth next time. Better yet, ask yourself that a year before you step into that voting booth. Then go and find someone competent who will represent your interests honestly unlike the current Democratic establishment who don't seem to represent anyone but their campaign contributors. Maybe that person is you, your neighbor, or the guy down the street.
I'll tell you this, anyone honest, decent, and reasonably intelligent can do a better job than just about all of the current crop of aldermen. Don't sell yourself or your neighbors short. I am certain of it after seeing the incompetence and dishonesty of our current officeholders. They really don't know what they are doing. You won't either at first, but if you are honest, hard-working, willing to learn, and willing to listen you will learn the job and eventually get good at it.
I urge my fellow citizens to get angry at the mis-management and incompetence of the current city leadership. They continue the policies of the past that are rooted in racism and fertilized by hate. North St Louis was cut-off from resources for a reason. It's an awful and hateful reason. Our current leaders, even those in North St Louis, do lip-service to equal rights and equity in the division of resources and do almost nothing to remedy the current injustices that continue from the past.
We can and we must improve all of St Louis, not just downtown, not just South St. Louis, not just North St Louis, and certainly not just the city of St Louis. The machine politics of the past are not up to the task of doing this and we must stop voting for the cogs of that machine. We can do this, but not with Slay and Company on our backs and certainly not if we continue to be divided by the sins of the past and the legacy of hate they birthed. We must all unite and then we can talk about all of us succeeding and making a fairer future for our children and grandchildren. But the first step in that process is change in ourselves so that we make the effort required to bring government back to serving we the people.
The North Side Community Benefits Alliance meets the 2nd Monday of the Month at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass. You can read the monthly update of the North Side Community Benefits Alliance in the RIVER CITY EXAMINER NEWSPAPER. Check our website for contact information - NorthsideCBA.org and e-mail to information@northsidecba.org. We are also on Twitter and Facebook. For meeting times or other information you can call
(314) 398-5478.
Home
Home