In the Company of Bloggers

This weekend, Columbia's Director of Community & Economic Development, Paul Ellis, will be travelling to Chicago for the 2009 National Main Street Conference, where he'll be part of a group presentation entitled: "Blogging, Multi-media & Bunnies: Three Things You Need Not Fear."

His co-presenters are Rob Voigt, author of Civic Blogger, and Cac Kamak, a planner with the City of Oak Harbor. The National Main Street Center is making a big push this year to demonstrate the value of social media as marketing and communications venues for revitalization efforts in smaller communities. As the practitioner in the group (although Columbia's Main Street program is only Introductory as yet), Paul will relate experience with blogging in Tacoma, Washington and, subsequently, deploying three blogs in Columbia.

This is not his first experience covering this ground at a national conference. In 2007, Paul presented at the annual conference for the International Downtown Association (IDA). That group is where the larger metropolitan districts get together to compare notes, while the current conference is the national gathering for smaller cities, towns and villages.

One very cool element of this conference is the live conference blog that Rob and Cac have set up. Main Street participants from around the country can catch the conference via this venue from the comfort of their storefronts--even their homes!

Palmer/Quarry Rd. Wins ARRA Dollars

The East-West Gateway Council of Governments decided today to award $350,000 to the City of Columbia for improvement of Palmer/Quarry Rd. from DD Rd. to Ghent--one part of the $58 million in federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to 75 transportation projects across the St. Louis region.

The decision was made during a board meeting today at the agency's headquarters in St. Louis. Columbia Mayor Kevin Hutchinson represents the city on the board, and participated in today's meeting.

City Engineer Ron Williams reports that the project has been designed and is ready to go, and he expects that work will begin within ninety days.

ARRA Signed--What's Next?

President Barack Obama signed the $787-billion American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law today amidst controversy over what the bill really includes and how it will benefit the ailing economy.

The legislation will create or save 69,000 jobs in Missouri and 148,000 jobs in Illinois, and Missouri will receive at least $10.33 billion and Illinois will get at least $22.74 billion from the package, according to pro-Obama sources. The mammoth piece of legislation includes funding for infrastructure, education, health care, unemployed workers and state aid, as well as some new tax breaks.

The City of Columbia is submitting a list of "shovel ready" infrastructure improvements today to the East-West Gateway, which is coordinating regional requests for stimulus funding. City officials have been told to expect an amount roughly equal to what is receiving during a normal annual cycle.

Some city and village leaders in Illinois are concerned that bottlenecks in state government will keep funds from being deployed in time to help the recovery. While Missouri officials began work to replace a dilapidated bridge over the Osage River today, no similar announcement was forthcoming from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Some Bull With The Bear

Notwithstanding a challenging national and regional economy, the prognosis for real estate in the St. Louis region is cautiously optimistic, especially in comparison to seriously overbuilt and consequently now deteriorating markets in the New York metropolitan area and other regions. That was the theme as Colliers Turley Martin Tucker (CTMT) presented "The State of Real Estate St. Louis 2009" last Thursday evening.

Dean Mueller, CTMT's managing principal, served as emcee for the upbeat presentations by the firm's leading office, industrial, retail and investment brokers. Despite the current national economic downturn, St. Louis office and industrial markets performed remarkably well in 2008, the presenters noted. Absorption was positive for both property types and vacancy rates ended the year lower than where they began, whereas office and industrial markets for the U.S. as a whole posted negative absorption and rising vacancy rates.

Although the St. Louis region cannot expect to escape the economic recession's consequences completely in 2009, the effects on office and industrial markets will likely be subdued when compared to the U.S., presenters predicted. And, they projected, if past trends are any indication then St. Louis will maintain its reputation for having less severe market swings than the U.S. overall.

That Sinking Feeling May Be...Karst

The East-West Gateway has just published a map showing sinkhole and karst areas across the metro region, a precursor to their first edition of a regional Environmental Atlas which is currently nearing completion. To appreciate the importance of this information, one has to know something about karst areas and how they are integral to resource management in Monroe County.

As defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a karst area is a geologic formation of irregular limestone deposits with sinks, underground streams, and caverns. These karst areas can be hazardous, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): “Though often considered a benign nuisance, sudden, catastrophic collapses can destroy property, delay construction projects, and contaminate ground water resources.” Karst areas are susceptible to aquifer
contamination and may also lack the stability required for certain land uses.

The thin soil and porous limestone bedrock present challenges for effective operation of septic tanks as a means of waste disposal, especially in the southern half of the region. The caves of the Sinkhole Plain in Monroe and St. Clair counties--found in areas with major limestone and dolomite outcrops--are the most numerous and interesting in the state of Illinois.

Can Landmark Status Be Preserved?

Last evening, the Columbia City Council approved seventeen historic buildings for landmark status--action which they believe will help maintain this city's rich heritage. Recent court action elsewhere in Illinois, however, may be setting the stage for a significant challenge to historic preservation.

An Illinois appellate court has struck down the city of Chicago’s landmarks ordinance, saying it is unconstitutionally vague, putting in jeopardy that city’s protection of more than 250 buildings and 50 historic districts. The ordinance, which was enacted in 1968, prohibits any demolition or alteration of properties that are designated landmarks by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, an eight-member body appointed by the mayor.

The commission, whose decisions can be overturned by the Chicago City Council, makes landmark designations based on seven standards that the court found violated the Illinois Constitution because they were too vague. The three-judge panel found terms such as "value," "important," "significant," and "unique" to be "vague, ambiguous, and overly broad," according to the ruling.

While the ruling technically involves only two of the city’s landmark districts, the decision could be applied to all of the city’s landmark areas, leaving them vulnerable to legal challenge and, by extension, open the door to challenges to similar ordinances in other jurisdictions.

Are Incentives Failing to Spur Growth?

An interim report from an ongoing study by research staff at the East-West Gateway Council of Governments has concluded that commitment of more than $2.5 billion in public money over the last 15 years for local development incentives has not resulted in real economic growth, and that focusing on expanding retail sales is a losing economic strategy for the region. The interim report was presented to the organization's Board of Directors last week.

In addition to those findings, the interim report suggests that the provisions for uniform reporting of revenues, expenditures and outcomes for all types of incentives are “remarkably weak,” and that there is no mechanism to require a private project sponsor to deliver economic outcomes, or to allow taxpayers to recoup the value of local tax incentives if those outcomes do not happen.

While the report is well-researched, it is still interim and East-West Gateway staff are seeking further input from cities and developers who actually deploy the incentives. The report makes little distinction between wide differences in how incentives are disbursed and reported in Illinois as compared to Missouri, for instance--a failing that should be corrected in any final document. It should also be noted that use of incentives in Columbia--such as Tax Increment Financing for redevelopment of the Admiral Trost Redevelopment Area--have been made and reported in a manner that the report, even in this interim stage, would support.

Established in 1965 to provide a forum for cooperative planning and problem-solving, the East-West Gateway's programs are continuously evolving in response to a changing region. Gateway’s 21-member policy and decision-making board is comprised of chief elected officials in Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis Counties and the City of St. Louis in Missouri and Madison, Monroe and St. Clair Counties in Illinois, six regional citizens and the chair of Metro. Columbia Mayor Kevin Hutchinson currently serves as a director.

Here's One Place the 'Help Wanted' Sign is Still Out

As reported in an earlier post for this blog, the City of Columbia is assisting the local real estate community in the search for a new family-style restaurant in the Admiral Trost Development.

A feature article in today's edition of the Belleville New-Democrat quoting Terry Johnson of Johnson Properties--one of the investors who helped bring the local Hampton Inn to reality--gives some insight on part of the reason why the search may be so difficult:

...restaurants are a tough business; their survival depends on good management, which is difficult to find because there are few people willing to work nights and weekends.

"Most restaurant chains could probably grow at a faster rate if they could find good managers that wanted to live that lifestyle," Johnson said. "That's what a lot of the chains are facing. It's not a question of finding good locations, but a question of finding good talent."

People spending less money on dining out because of the recession is only part of the equation. Let's hope that some individuals with the appropriate skills and the willingness to work nights and weekends come to the fore--Columbia needs them.