A major new project proposed for the Central West End will include many new residential options and a new grocery store. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the developer is asking for $10 million in public assistance. Saint Louis crossed the rubicon of authorizing TIF far too frequently many years ago. (There are currently 124 TIFs within the city.) But this is an excellent opportunity to reconsider that approach. There is nothing about this project that should involve public assistance. The project is proposed for an enviable location in a wealthy part of an economically vibrant area. The idea that a new development at the corner of Euclid and West Pine needs public subsidy is preposterous. Redevelopment can go forward in this area without subsidies. The fact that many new developments have a subsidy is a testament to the ease of getting them, not the necessity of them.
About the Author
David Stokes
David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.
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