Metropolitan Congregation United will host a public forum featuring developer Paul McKee on Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 PM at the Holy Trinity Church at 3518 North 14th Street. McKee will speak about his plans for the near north side.
McKee owns the Blairmont properties that were at the core of the Land Assemblage Tax Credit Debate.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:47 am
McKee is a big donor to Catholic run charities. Isn’t he the benefactor behind the new Barat Academy Catholic High School in St. Charles County? It’s interesting that he’s engaging the community though MCU.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:37 am
This is hardly community engagement. MCU and neighborhood organizations in the project area that know about the event have done little to mobilize people to attend this forum. What is most likely is that McKee will make a feel-good speech before a crowd of solicited TV reporters and MCU regulars without taking questions.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Will Rodney Hubbard and Jeff Smith be there to do nothing but get credit for the action?
October 15th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Maybe MCU could do something to heal the racial divide in St. Louis. That’s more important to our region than McKee’s northside plans.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Please don’t impersonate elected officials.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Correction to original post:
Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) is holding a public meeting on October 25th at 6:30pm. The meeting will address three issues: north city redevelopment, school drop-out prevention, and workforce development. Paul McKee is one of the invited guests; he has not confirmed that he will attend. MCU has not asked him to give a presentation.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Jenny Heim’s comments provide little consolation or answer to questions about MCU is about on this issue. The reality is that 1) MCU supported the McKee tax credit at a time when other community organizations were asking for clarity about McKee’s project 2) MCU has met with McKee privately in order to bolster their position as a “facilitator” between McKee and neighborhood residents. These role comes despite the fact that MCU has done NO community meetings in the area nor asked residents or community organizations about how to proceed on this issue. If fact, most are asking them to stay out of the debate until McKee is honest about his intentions.
Heim’s comments are also at odds with some statements by MCU staff that McKee will be there and that he has agreed to the conditions that MCU has set on him.
Instead of crafting a spun public event to demonstrate McKee’s supposed good will, MCU should be telling him that they and other community representatives will not work with him until he either commits for a total rethinking of his approach (pretty unlikely at this point) or deals honestly with residents and tells them the outlines of his plan for the neighborhood. After all, what most people want to know is whether they are in the project area or not.
Finally, it seems interesting that Pub Hub continues to present the meeting as a community debate even after that term has been repudiated by the meeting’s organizers.