Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Online video coverage from the local Fox affiliate: http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages...n=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Excellent news.... I just removed FIRE from list of teams there on the left, and added STL!!!! Uh-oh...... I suppose I just put the Cart before the Horse... but I'm feeling good about it!!
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting congrats on the 1st step to a new team.....i can only hope Atlanta will get one as well
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Oh my gosh, sorry I missed the vote! YOu all had better evenings than I did.....first my wife had a meeting at work, and I needed to watch the baby. Not so bad. Then, the internet went down so I couldn't follow the vote. Annoying. Then, I smelled something burning. It was my computer (I am using my father-in-laws) So I just found out. I will read more in the morning, when I can get more excited!
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Congrats, anyone with expansion knowledge know what major obstacles are left?
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Presumably, Philadelphia. Despite the fact that St. Louis is the first market with approved funding, I believe that the league is watching to see what happens in the PA State Capital over the next 6 weeks. If the state and county approve the funding, the league has a difficult decision. My biggest concern is that Garber noted last week that Philadelphia was in contention to be the 16th team. That seems to prove the assertions of Seattle fans that something is in the works there. With all the scheduling headaches this year, I don't think they ever want to go back to an uneven number of teams. That potentially leaves a city who is building an SSS out. Which would be obviously unprecedented and retarded.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting As a Sounder and Footy, fan I want to offer my sincere congratulations to you St. Louis on getting a step closer to getting your team! I am impressed with your stadium plan, your fans, your passion and organized effort to bring Major League Soccer to your city. Of course I rooting for Seattle. I have supported our Sounders since 1975 but If there is any city in the US that is deserving of a team it is you guys. You have rich soccer history that dates back before the 20th century. We may be from different cities but we all share the passion for the beautiful game. I hope one day to see St. Louis and Philly visitiing Seattle if we are awarded a team in the next couple of years. It looks like things are moving in a very positive direction for you Good luck! I raise a glass to the great footy fans of St. Louis! Cheers mates!
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Just got back from the meeting and from buying Jeff Cooper a pint afterward. He says when they're done building it all, he'll return the favor and buy me one. What more could you ask for in an owner? Also, he was on the phone with the Commish while we were all celebrating. All I could get him to say was that we'd hear from the league "very soon."
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting I would also like to note that I have filed a FOIA brief over the recent trip to Montreal by the city council where they were awarded level 33 membership in the Illuminati. I am expecting a mailed response by Thursday. Otherwise I will be forced to sue the Councilmen Moss and Miller. Failing a lawsuit I will punch a monkey.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Lol, I will admit that old guy had some real balls to actually call out specific councelmen at the meeting with them sitting 5 feet away from him. That was pretty funny.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Ah, what would local politics be without random crazy old dude rambling on about unrelated topics (and trying to move all of the TV and radio mikes out of the way first and accusing the reporters of "disrupting" the meeting). Democracy in action.
Pre-Annexation Agreement Passed 4-1 I drove down to the meeting tonight from Springfield, IL and I would say it was worth it. There was some opposition during the public discussion prior to the vote, which lead up to some nervous tension but the pre-annexation agreement was passed 4-1. After the vote there was a recess, in which Jeff Cooper was walking out to talk to the press. I was there with a buddy of mine whose dad went to school with and played with Jeff Cooper in high school. As he was walking out he stopped to greet my buddy by name and then shook my hand while grinning ear to ear. He is a class act and I wish him all the best as this endeavor progresses...... GO ST LOUIS UNITED!!!!!!!!!
Re: Pre-Annexation Agreement Passed 4-1 I'm trying to determine the best part of the meeting. First, you have Ciampoli voting an strong "no"...to ending public debate. I think she was a bit too anxious to make her stand that she didn't realize what she was voting on. The look Moss shot her was absolutely priceless. And then crazy guy stood up. Enough said. Ciampoli claimed she voted no in part because she wanted to discuss what would happen should the league not award a franchise. Did she expect Cooper to build a soccer stadium even after finding out he wouldn't have anyone to play there. The opposition came from the school board and the teacher's union. I suppose I can somewhat respect their being concerns about this (I think that their fears are unfounded), however I could have dealt without the teachers that sat in front of and behind me that were constantly making unnecessarily loud and snarky remarks during Knabel's presentation.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting He's also one taco short of a combo platter. He does this every meeting, but he still manages to be the highlight of every meeting. Okay, maybe not this one, but he was a close second.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Congrats on the vote. Best of luck with the next steps of the process...
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting More news coverage from last night's meeting: St. Louis Post Dispatch story: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...A8C8B9307539B1D28625735300149873?OpenDocument Belleville News Democrat story: http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/125267.html Alton Telegraph story: http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/collinsville_5721___article.html/stadium_city.html Alton Telegraph Editorial: http://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/soccer_5731___article.html/cooper_stadium.html KMOV 4-St. Louis story: http://www.kmov.com/video/localnews-index.html?nvid=173682 KSDK 5-St. Louis story: http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=129129 Not sure what the next step is now, but my guess is one way or the other we'll here something pretty soon more definitive out of MLS headquarters than Abbott's quote last night. Hopefully it won't be, "That's all nice, but now we need you to do xxxxx also."
Re: Pre-Annexation Agreement Passed 4-1 Speaking as a teacher, I can tell you that no one behaves worse in meetings than teachers. We get so used to running things in our own classrooms that we don't know how to sit down and shut up. Staff meetings are nightmares.
I think as this moves closer to fruition, you will see more active opposition from the school board. Their point that a residential TIF is bad public policy is well-founded. It isn't clear to me why this project needs a residential component. Why isn't the stadium and associated dining/retail sufficient? If they removed the homes, there really wouldn't be any significant opposition.
Maybe that's a point of concession that can be used in the negotiations. I'm unclear on the opposition's reasons for opposing the residential component -- do they think the homes / residents will have some detrimental effect on the school system? Pure speculation here -- I wonder if the residential component is important for securing certian public services for the project? In other words, if the project is purely commercial, would the developers then be solely responsible for the tab ALL the public services, such as the access roads, electric lines and water mains, etc etc ??
They need the resdential component so that Collinsville will actually grow as a result of this deal. This stadium is their edge over towns like Belleville or Fairview. I don't think the opposition will get any more vocal. Last night was their one shot to derail the process, and now it's moving on. I believe that the city/team will find some money somewhere to appease the district a couple of months from now, and it will all be a non-issue.
TIF funds would be reinvested in the project, and not passed on to the local school district. However, if you have housing units in the project, you (likely) increase the student population in the school district. That's the problem. You're adding students, due to the residential component of the project, without adding school district revenue, due to the TIF funding of that project. But I'm sure that something can be negotiated. Cooper is intelligent and capable enough that I'm not worried about it.
Yeah, we're talking about educating an additional, what, 600 kids, tops? And we won't even reach that number until, say, ten years from now? I know it's not peanuts, but I can't imagine that relatively small amount of money will derail this entire project.
I'm not sure what you mean by the 1st paragraph. Whether the city grows in terms of population is of little consequence to the project. The city is (or at least should be) unconcerned with this as well -- its the financial growth (in terms of revenue) that is important. Belleville and Fairview aren't really competitors here - Belleville lacks sufficient highway connections to St. Louis and Fairview doesn't have anywhere to put it. As for the opposition lacking further opportunities, that's not my understanding. From the BND: "City Manager Bob Knabel stressed that the votes taken Monday were not the final decision on the tax increment financing district or the project itself. That will come with the redevelopment agreement, expected to be voted on later this fall." If the school district starts sending home flyers to parents, the city council could start feeling some pressure. That's my question exactly. I'm sure this has been thought about -- so what is the rationale? Why is it not negotiable? Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for an MLS team & really want it to be in the Metro east. But residential TIFs are certain to provoke a negative response - and appropriately so in my opinion. It's just bad policy. If they need a residential component, they need to find a way to make the school district whole. Don't forget, the district is going to be facing an enormous strain from the Forest Oaks subdivision going into Caseyville. Further stressors on the district raise legitimate concern. I'm sure Mr. Cooper is a very bright guy & has contemplated these issues, so let's hear a response.