With the news that there will be no public vote on the proposed tax-payer funded
stadium for the St. Louis Rams, there are many questions about the stadium
deal and the city's development and investment priorities.
Mayor Slay publicly restated his support
for the proposed stadium, saying that although the Stadium may not
break even on costs or bring revenue to the city, it is a necessary
investment because a football team is “one of the things that make living in a
big city fun.”
After the last year in the St.
Louis region, it is hard to hear that “fun” is Slay’s top priority for the
city. Police teargassed and arrested residents en masse and were found guilty
of countless civil rights violations. There is a clear call for the city to
pursue change that will bring about racial justice. It is almost laughable
that our elected officials and civic elite think that a $1 billion stadium,
paid for by taxpayers, is what this city needs right now.
So who, besides Mayor Slay, supports the stadium
deal? The above web shows that members of downtown corporate community
and other St. Louis elites are the active advocates for (and profiteers
of) the project. In particular, Doug Woodruff, the President of Downtown STL
Inc. and Downtown Now! (who recently left that position but will continue working with the stadium task force) has played a key role in pushing the project on behalf of the 200 businesses Downtown STL Inc. represents.
The stadium deal has already cost taxpayers
almost $6 million. And much
of that $6 million has gone directly into the pockets of the very people
advocating for the deal. The St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports
Complex Authority has awarded contracts to Doug Woodruff's Downtown Now!,
Downtown Now! board members including Thompson Coburn and Environmental
Operations Inc., and Blitz, Bardgett, and Deutsch--the law firm of Robert
Blitz, one of the members of Governor Nixon's two-man stadium task force.