We hope you enjoyed the discussion of the Show-Me Institute’s just-released eminent domain study, which ended a short time ago on KMOX’s Charlie Brennan Show. We will link to the podcast as soon as it is available.
As part of the discussion, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay’s chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, claimed the study had two factual errors. (We are not going to even get into his contention that this is an opinion piece, rather than a study. Go read it and decide for yourself.) Rainford erroneously stated that Tim Lee, a co-author of the study, wrote that eminent domain was used in Gaslight Square in order to increase sales taxes. Having rechecked the study, I found absolutely no mention of sales taxes anywhere in the Gaslight Square section (pages 21-22). While Dr. Erondu in Gaslight Square is mentioned as part of a discussion of tax revenues on page 19, the study never states that the Gaslight Square eminent domain program was used for the purpose of sales taxes. Dr. Erondu was included because he, like Dr. Tourkakis in Arnold, is a dentist, and Dr. Tourkakis was most certainly targeted in Arnold because his office did not produce sales tax dollars. We look forward to Rainford’s forthcoming correction.
Rainford also claimed the study made a "factual error" concerning its assessment of the McRee Town neighborhood. While people’s opinions may differ on this issue, two callers to the show backed up Tim’s contention that McRee Town was improving before the use of eminent domain. This can hardly be termed a "factual error."
Tim Lee has written a great study on eminent domain abuse throughout Missouri, and we encourage you all to take a look at it.
