It Has Been a Great Week for Economic Development Agencies in Missouri
This has been a fun week for those of us who feel that economic development agencies in Missouri are the...
Velda City and Northwoods Are Basically Stalking Their Citizens
What do we call people (usually men) who keep asking women out again and again and again despite repeated rejections?...
TIF Decisions Should Be Made at the County, Not City, Level
The simplest thing Missouri can do to improve the decision-making process for tax increment financing (TIF) is move the responsibility...
St. Louis County Municipal Use Taxes Should Expand the Tax Base, Not the Size of Government
A version of this commentary appeared in the St. Louis Business Journal. Use taxes in Missouri are simply sales taxes...
Tax Subsidy Spurious—St. Louis Grift
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones is giving me hope with her more disciplined approach to tax subsidies in the City...
An Update on the University City Development
On Friday, March 12, David Stokes joined The McGraw Show on The Big 550 KTRS to discuss a judge ruling...
A Big Win for Taxpayers in Maryland Heights
As far as I know, the biggest defeat of a tax increment financing (TIF) package or similar tax subsidy (and,...
Government Sues Government over Government’s Common-Sense Decision
Truth is stranger than fiction. The Post-Dispatch recently reported that the City of Maryland Heights is suing the St. Louis...
A Win for Economic Development Sanity
There isn’t enough good news about economic development policy in Missouri. But a recent vote in Maryland Heights, just outside...
Man versus Machine in Saint Louis
We’ve written about the encroachment of machines into the workforce previously. From fast food kiosks to the advent of workplace...
Why Subsidize It Once When You Can Subsidize It Twice?
There is so much demand for hockey in the Saint Louis region that officials and special interests want to subsidize...
Will TIF Reform Slow Development in Maryland Heights?
Developers, including Stan Kroenke, are seeking millions in TIF to build a vast retail, commercial, and residential district in a...
TIF in a Flood Plain–A Recipe for Trouble
High noon approaches as the Saint Louis region awaits Stan Kroenke’s development proposal for Maryland Heights. For those unfamiliar with...
Brenda Talent on Donnybrook
On February 4, Show-Me Institute CEO Brenda Talent appeared on Saint Louis Public Television's Donnybrook to discuss TIFs in Maryland Heights,...
Great Idea Will Be Hard Sell In Olivette
I think the proposal by BWB Sports to build a privately operated athletic center on leased public land in Olivette,...
Squaring the Circle on Parents as Teachers
As our regular readers know, we blog a lot about the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program here. It tends to generate...
“We’ve Got a Lot of Great People Who Live in Houses With Carports”
The Maryland Heights Planning and Zoning Commission sounds just a little bit defensive about the city’s ban on new carports:...
Permits for Temporary Signs
A Post-Dispatch article about a “Help Wanted” sign provides anecdotal evidence that supports my opinion of permits: Permit requirements are...
I Found the Holy Grail at the End of the Rainbow
Knowing, as my dedicated readers do, that my two favorite things to blog about are the nanny state and the...
