Categories
Missouri Legislature Northside Regeneration

Kennedy, Hubbard Support Tax Credits for North Side Mega-Plan

by Michael R. Allen

The Missouri Senate Newsroom has slow-to-download audio and video files of Sens. John Griesheimer (R-26th) and Harry Kennedy (D-1st) stating their support for the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act. Griesheimer even goes so far as to state that if he thought the proposal was a bad idea, he “wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.”

State Representative Rodney Hubbard (D-58th) spoke in favor of the proposal on the house floor and dismissed critics by insinuating that they did not care about the needs of north St. Louis. Hubbard’s July 2006 Quarterly campaign finance report shows contributions from several upper-level McEagle Properties employees (including Chris McKee and Bruce Sokolik) as well as development attorney Steve Stone and his firm Stone, Leyton & Gershman. Stone testified in favor of the Distressed Areas proposal at a special House hearing this week.

The Distressed Areas language is found in a version of HB 327 that the House approved 146-9 on Tuesday, with St. Louis representatives Mike Daus (D-67th), Connie Johnson (D-61st) and Jeanette Mott-Oxford (D-59th) voting against the proposal. Please give them your thanks.