by Margaret Hermes, longtime MCE Member
Our Park Is Not for Sale has to be one of the best campaign slogans ever. And, boy, did it work! In 2007, 69.74% of the voters in the April 3 municipal election of St. Louis City approved a change to the City charter so that no St. Louis park land could be sold, leased, or gifted without a citywide vote. This Friday, October 24th there is a bill before the Board of Aldermen to sell a small downtown City park to be turned into a parking lot. However, the proposed Board vote is not legal.
A private entity, The Starwood Group, which bought the old Post-Dispatch building wants to turn the three-quarter-acre park into parking for its tenants and is offering $275,000 for the InterCoPlaza park, which was built in 1981 with $1.1 million in federal grant money.
While there have been ongoing problems with the park, those problems should be addressed or, if judged intractable by the members, the Board of Aldermen could decide to put the sale of the park to a citywide vote. But, according to the City charter, they do not have the right to sell any park land without that citywide vote.
An attorney who represents Starwood and now the City Counselor as well claim that the InterCoPlaza park is not a park as there has been no ordinance establishing it as such. Henry Robertson, a retired attorney who worked for the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center and who crafted the language for our St. Louis parks amendment, supplied the exact wording of the amendment: Any real estate, now or hereafter owned by the City or any agency or instrumentality of the City, which is principally used or held out for use as a public park, shall not be sold, leased, given away or otherwise disposed of, and shall be used only as a public park, nor shall any structure be built in any such park to accommodate activities not customarily associated with park use or outdoor recreation, unless such sale, lease, disposal, gift or structure is approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon. More than 2/3 of City voters agreed!
In response to the claims that InterCoPlaza is not a park, Henry Robertson also stated that “no ordinance is necessary to create a park.” Alderwoman Ann Schweitzer explored St. Louis park history and discovered that less than half the parks in her ward were created by ordinances and in some wards NONE of their parks were established by ordinance.
The hearing at which this sale is slated to be voted upon is to be held this Friday, October 24, at St Louis City Hall at 10:00 am. Members of the public may attend in the gallery but no members of the public will be allowed to speak, so it’s important that you contact members of the Board in advance of the meeting.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment was a vital partner in the drive to collect enough signatures to put the initiative petition on the ballot in 2007. MCE’s office was a collecting point for petitions and provided the services of a notary. Since we passed the charter change in the City, St. Louis County has also passed a proposition that forbids getting rid of park land without a County vote. St. Charles County is now considering the same. Citizens of Missouri clearly wish to protect our parks, but it will take active participants to save this one.
{Thanks to Austin Huguelet of the Post-Dispatch for providing great reporting:
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/article_5ac16a1a-e2a1-40af-80ad-f8a54bcc8991.html?utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fpolitics&utm_medium=cio&lctg=fef30701bb4becb502&tn_email_eh1=78c6bbee713bf7b2d44427e83d222afa0fb3834966dfc84a95cd7132b1d6accf )
Photo Credit: St. Louis City Talk
sent email to my alder Schweitzer who is against the sale. But she says only 3 she knows of so far oppose it. Green, Browning and her. So I hope your email gets more people to get alders to a no vote.
Do not sell this park