Booker Proposes Rental Tax Credit
www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/us/politics/booker-renters-credit.html
How will he pay for it. Also his program does not have income restrictions. Credit should only be for low and moderate income households
The St Louis Contrarian
Providing Independent and Intelligent Insight on St. Louis Public Policy Issues
Archive for the category “legislative affairs”
Merger of Governments in St. Louis County
There has been quite a lot of talk recently about merging governments in the St. Louis region. There is a proposal led by Better Together to have a statewide vote on the issue, putting all the communities in St. Louis County into one government. This has fostered a statement by local government leaders to develop their own plan.
I believe the fragmented governmental structure of the region is so poisonous to our development that something needs to be done. I don’t know if one government is the answer but we need to eliminate all the small inefficient units of government. Written by Paul Dribin
THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS REENTERING ST. LOUIS COUNTY – Cities Strong
THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS REENTERING ST. LOUIS COUNTY – Cities Strong
— Read on citiesstrong.com/hello-world-4/
A challenging article by Terry Jones in the difficulties of St Louis City joining the county
Trump administration doing nothing to increase affordable housing
an excellent article from New York Times
Missouri State Tax Credits
The ouster of Greitens may improve the chances of reinstating Missouri credits. Jeff Smith, Executive Director of MOWAHA is quoted in the article saying the credits are efficient and effective. They are neither. Written by Paul Dribin
Missouri River Bluffs
Whittaker Development is planning on building single family homes on an environmentally sensitive site over looking the Missouri River near the Katy Trail. The St. Charles County Commissioners need to vote on the proposal which is opposed by environmental groups. I would recommend voting against this project. We don’t often have these environmentally beautiful sites and need to preserve them. Written by Paul Dribin
Historic Tax Credits and Trump
President Trump has proposed in his tax plan to eliminate the Federal Historic Tax Credits. This would be a disaster for most cities, and most significantly, St. Louis. Federal and state credits have been effectively used in St. Louis for years to rehabilitate and develop housing that is historically significant. The dollar value has to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The value to the community is even higher. This for a tax plan that increases the deficit and simply lines the pocket of already very wealthy Americans. Second, this does not even get at the possible cuts in the State of Missouri Historic Tax Credits proposed by Governor Greitens Written by Paul Dribin
Blues Ice Rink Again
The federal government has refused to allow construction of an ice arena on a environmentally fragile site in Creve Coeur Park. Last week officials from the federal government were in town to hear grievances from local politicians. The lawyer for the ice arena played the oldest game in the world when facing a negative decision from the feds. He argued prejudice on the part of the federal officials based upon newspaper articles they had received. The only way to attempt to win this is to argue that the feds acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
Enough of this nonsense. Let’s find another site and get on with things. Written by Paul Dribin
HUD to Defund Fair Housing Grants in Missouri
Missouri passed a law about six months ago which made filing a discrimination or fair housing complaint more difficult. Many in the know advised against it primarily for moral reasons, but also because of the potential for lawsuits and possibility of listing federal funding. Well, the predictions have come true. HUD has written that if the law is not changed by March 2018 federal funding for fair housing enforcement will be terminated. That is because the state law is no longer “substantially equivalent” to the federal law. It would be just deserts if Amazon opted not to come here due to our redneck ways. Written by Paul Dribin
Recent Comments
The St Louis Contrarian 