The trial has begun for the lawsuit filed by Cheryl Nelson and other property owners who are threatened by the “pie in the sky” NorthSide mega-development in St. Louis, Missouri.  The 1,500-acre, $8.1 billion development project casts whole neighborhoods under a “blight” designation, which allows for eminent domain to be used to seize their perfectly fine homes and businesses.

Nelson says that this blight designation has decreased the property value of her home by 30% since developer Paul McKee announced his grandiose plan to build a shiny new neighborhood overtop the one that was already there.[1]

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the NorthSide project area was just fine before the developer showed up – even the report financed by McKee that found the neighborhood to be “blighted” admits that 75% of the structures in the area were in “fair” or “excellent” condition.[2]

The plaintiffs accuse the city of wrongly declaring their neighborhoods as “blighted” in order to enable $390 million in tax breaks that officials want to hand over to Paul McKee.  Aldermen Kacie Starr Triplet said that declaring a neighborhood blighted is just a “procedural” step the city takes before granting a development project such tax abatement.[3]

She added that eminent domain would not be used for the project… even though the city reserves the power to use it at any time.[4]  Residents are urged to simply take her word for it.  Victims of eminent domain abuse nationwide know not to believe these empty promises.

City aldermen, in the meantime, are looking for a quick-fix for the economic trouble that has affected neighborhoods in the NorthSide area in recent years.  The development already occurring without public subsidies or the threat of eminent domain is just too slow for city officials who want to wave a magic wand and see prosperity and the increased tax revenues that come with it.  “This was an opportunity to have a major development,” said Alderwoman Triplet, complaining that “incremental development” was not on the same scale as McKee’s large but financially uncertain project.[5]

Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr. does not even care that the project is unlikely to work.  “It certainly might be a pipe dream," he said. "Until it actually occurs, you never know. Let's try it. Nobody's going to get hurt.”[6]

Nobody gets hurt, except for Cheryl Nelson and hundreds of other homeowners who may be booted out of their communities, so that a hot-shot developer can bulldoze their neighborhoods to build more profitable and more expensive houses.

Whom do these Aldermen represent?