Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting I heard 7:30 PM, so I guess it's in progress as we speak. I wish we had informants posted there or something...and couriers waiting outside the gates. Or a well-developed correspondence system of homing pigeons, at least.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Good luck guys! Hopefully we get some news this evening!
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting I thought so. I talso thought it was on TV here in Collinsville (Well Maryville, but its the same channel), I guess not.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Should be on public access, according to Collinsville city website
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Can't vouch for accuracy, but this link appears to be posting information from tonight's meeting if I'm reading it right: http://respublica.typepad.com/respublica/
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting I posted before I read it -- according to this: The pre annexation agreement passed by a vote of 4 to 1, Lisa Ciampoli being the lone no vote.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting I second Mitch -- it looks like tonight's vote went 4-1 in favor of the annex . . . which I think (?) greenlights Cooper to begin the site development?? Anyone know these specifics?
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Play-by-play from the blogger-in-attendance, linked in Mitch's earlier post . . . Annexation agreement between the city of Collinsville and St Louis soccer Another full city council chamber as the council opens a public hearing on a pre-annexation agreement with the devlopers of a proposed MLS soccer stadium. After the hearing is opened the room will hear a staff report followed by a time for public input. After that the hearing will be closed and the council will discuss and vote. There is even more St Louis media here than a month ago when this project was first presented. Every local TV news station has a camera and on air person jockeying for room space. City manager Robert Knabel gave a summary of the plan using a powerpoint presentation. This will be a 400 acre complex with a projected strong economic impact. 42,800,000 dollars in annual sales is anticipated not including big box sales. . City officials believed it needed to see a benefit more than just a break even situation. . Although the residential development is not part if the current discussion, city officials have been meeting with the school district and when the time comes for homes to be built, the city plans to partner with the schools in or to make sure money will get to the school district. In summary it is important for the city to see this project in full build out, not merely the soccer stadium but in the business and housing which is part of the projected development. Members of the public speaking tonight was 3 to 2. The 2 who spoke mildly against were from the school board and the collinsville education association. They were most concerned with the future prospect of a residential TiF. The pre annexation agreement passed by a vote of 4 to 1, Lisa Ciampoli being the lone no vote. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted by Diane Meyer at 08:29 PM | Permalink
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting She says all local news affiliates are in attendance, so surely there will be some soundbites at 10, I would think.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting If this is true, then it could be a great day for St Louis !
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Just watched the channel 2 news and saw some live coverage of our boys out there yelling and chanting. I'm jumping up and down right now. One step closer!!!! Great job at representing us guys!!
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Wasn't on, it said it could be seen on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting F***ing A! That's great news of a significant step forward. Any reliable reports of the next steps? Did Cooper make comments to the media following the vote?
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting I can confirm the approval of the stadium proposal. I talked to Sport Billy, who was at the meeting, about 15min ago. He informed me that the proposal was approved. The vote was 4 to 1 in favor, as reported previously. We are one step closer to getting a MLS team in the STL.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting As if we needed any more evidence that Cooper is orchestrating this thing masterfully, there is already a news story hailing the approval on the SLSU web site, complete with a quote from the MLS president. http://www.stlouissoccerunited.com/content/view/39/81/ Obviously teed up ahead of time just waiting for a positive vote to be released, but the fact that he's able to get quotes from MLS officials is obviously a good sign that they're involved in the process.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting As others have pointed out, there was a nice segment on Fox 2 about the stadium and the vote. Positive tone and lots of boisterous supporters behind the reporter. I expect that the other local channels will have additional coverage at 10. So stay tuned. We should also know significantly more by tomorrow morning, as I expect Cooper will update his blog and the papers will have a more detailed writeup - so keep an eye open for all that. Wow. This is absolutely great news. I'm off to the liquor cabinet for a stiff celebratory drink (followed by a second stiff drink to help me forget that Cardinals game today; ugly). Edit: apparently Cooper has already updated his blog! Thanks mitchs3.
Re: 9/10/07 Collinsville City Council Meeting Good question. Tomorrow's Post will probably have an article addressing that . . . www.stltoday.com There's a dude posting elsewhere in the St Louis boards claiming that Seattle is "a lock" for the next expansion slot, but Garber will withhold the anouncement until MLS Cup (?). It sounds like Cooper is convinced St Louis (NOT Seattle) will be next if this passed . . . I'm eager to know more.