Musings from Brian J. Noggle
Saturday, September 13, 2008
 
Who's Blighting Bel-Ridge?
In Bel-Ridge, a combination of the municipality and a rent-seeking developer are contributing to blight in the area. First, of course, the municipality promised the developer land backed by seizure:
    A couple of years earlier, Bel-Ridge had approved a redevelopment plan for a 78-acre swath of the city. The developer, Clayco, can acquire property by eminent domain.
The developer isn't moving on the development because of the economy:
    Matt Prickett, a development manager with Clayco, says the Bel-Ridge project is on hold because of the soft economy. It was envisioned as a major retail center, and retailers aren't in an expansion mode.

    "The market is what it is," Prickett said.
Funny, I don't expect a company that relies on seizure by force of private property instead of messy, meddlesome purchasing through, I don't know, the market, understands what the market is.

As a result, a landowner who wants to renovate his property is in a bind:
    A year ago, the Hood's store on Natural Bridge Road was an eyesore. The windows were boarded up, the roof leaked and the parking lot was full of potholes.

    Mike Hood, the owner, candidly says the city of Bel-Ridge probably could have condemned the building years ago, or at least cited it for multiple code violations. But it didn't, and Hood launched a major renovation after buying the discount home-improvement store in January from his father, Ernest.

    Three-quarters of the way into that $1 million project, Hood's has a new roof, new glass, a repaved parking lot and new bathrooms. A shop being built in one corner will cut countertop materials to customers' specifications.

    Assuming he's right about the market for discounted cabinets and flooring, Hood's investment should assure the store of a long and prosperous future. But, three months into his renovations, Hood learned of a complication: A couple of years earlier, Bel-Ridge had approved a redevelopment plan for a 78-acre swath of the city. The developer, Clayco, can acquire property by eminent domain.

    That means Hood, like owners of other businesses along Natural Bridge and the homes to the north, could have his property taken by force. A court proceeding would determine the property's market value, but Hood might not get back the money he's putting into the store. In all likelihood, he also wouldn't be compensated for what he sees as the store's potential.
Advice from the Clayco mouth:
    As for the wisdom of investing $1 million in a store that Clayco could buy and tear down, Prickett said he'd impart the same advice he gives to homeowners: "We encourage them to make the necessary investments to maintain the health and safety of their property."
That's just precious. Of course, anyone on that land right now is just a squatter with actual responsibilities, according to Clayco and Bel-Ridge.

Meanwhile, the area in question will go to seed because macroplanners prevent individuals from sprucing it up. As a result, Bel-Ridge makes its own blight. As do many of these private/"public" deals.

UPDATE: Thanks to gimlet for pointing out I called Bel-Ridge Bel-Nor in the title and intro paragraph. Crikey, what's with the municipalities naming themselves similarly? Bel-Ridge/Bel-Nor, Vinita Park/Vinita Terrace, etc.


- posted by Brian J. @ 7:24 AM   0 comments
Friday, September 12, 2008
 
When Toohey Runs The Ski Resort
Fed up with the new municipality's continuing red tape with his business, a ski resort owner in St. Louis County plans to close shop:
    The St. Louis region's only ski resort will close after this winter because of a dispute with the city of Wildwood, the resort's owner said today.

    "I would basically characterize it as blackmail," said Tim Boyd, president of Peak Resorts Inc., the company that owns the Hidden Valley golf and ski resort in Wildwood.

    Hidden Valley applied for a permit to build a snow tubing area and parking lot to accommodate it. But the city's planning and zoning commission last week told the resort it would need to meet additional requirements before it could expand.

    The resort needed to get its hours of operation approved by the city, and either pay a nearly $252,000 fee to the city for a new parking lot or dedicate some of its land as public space.

    The resorts hours of operation are not currently restricted by the city because it was built 26 years ago, before the city was incorporated in 1995.
A new story indicates that maybe the city just expected him to roll over and give them what they want, and now it's scrambling to reverse the decision:
    wo City Council members met with the owner of Hidden Valley Golf and Ski on Wednesday in hopes of persuading him to keep the resort open, but the owner says he is still determined to sell the property.

    The council members say Wildwood doesn't want Hidden Valley, the region's only ski resort, to close after this season.
Sadly, the municipality won't learn that it should just get the hell out of the way of businesses; instead, it will learn that it has to ingratiate itself to bigger businesses that threaten to close and continue to stick it to business people too busy doing business to lobby on their own behalf to be left alone by local, state, and federal busybodies.

On the plus side, at least Wildwood isn't forced to pay businesses to stay in Wildwood, unlike the city of St. Louis.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:54 PM   0 comments
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
 
Another Legend Returns
Lance Armstrong returns to bike racing:
    Lance Armstrong is welcome to compete in the 2009 Tour de France, Tour officials have told USA TODAY in an e-mail.

    "Yes, if Lance will have a license and if he is in a team that we will choose for the Tour, L.A. (Lance Armstrong) will be at the start of the 2009's Tour de France in Monaco the 4th of July," race director Christian Prudhomme said."But it's a long way until July 2009."
The bad news? He's biking for the New York Jets.


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:26 PM   0 comments
 
Book Report: The Frumious Bandersnatch by Ed McBain (2004)
This book is one of the last of the series, and quite frankly, it's not of McBain's best. I mean, you've got the 87th Precinct guys looking into a kidnapping, working around the FBI who would use Carella, their liason, as a gopher. Actually, that's it. One crime from multiple points of view. Still, I figured it out awfully early and hoped for a twist that never came. Also, sometime this century, McBain started knocking president by name (Bush). I've mentioned that before, but he brings it out here again as a couple of asides. I could understand a sort of disgust with the Powers That Be in some of his previous books, but now that he's naming names for especial vituperation, I'm saddened and slightly put off.

Also, he probably works to hard to get the title thing working.

Even with those knocks, the book doesn't fall to below the Fair or Slightly Good rating. Better than any Pearson or Randisi novel I've read.

Books mentioned in this review:


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:23 PM   0 comments
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
 
Permission: Granted
You may now confuse the Primitive Radio Gods ("Standing Outside A Broken Phonebooth With Money In My Hand") with The New Radicals ("You Get What You Give").

If you ever happen to think of either, that is.


- posted by Brian J. @ 12:52 PM   4 comments
Monday, September 08, 2008
 
Business Owners Volunteer To Collect More Tax From Their Customers
A new taxing district adds its penny of sales tax to your purchases in the University City Loop:
    When Joe Edwards talks, people listen.

    So when Edwards became interested in developing a trolley line to serve The Loop, business leaders didn't blink — even when talk turned to creating a Transportation Development District.

    The district would use sales tax generated at businesses along Delmar Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue to partially fund construction and operation of The Loop Trolley.By a mail-in vote early this summer, voters approved creation of the district, which will begin collecting one cent of sale tax per dollar of purchase along the 2.2-mile proposed route for the Loop Trolley. The measure passed with more than 97 percent of those voting favoring the tax.
Of course those business owners were in favor of it. They don't pay the tax, they merely collect it. And the shiny trolley will bring them additional customers who don't realize that the rent-seeking business owners favor squeezing extra money from them.

I'd boycott the Loop, but I haven't gone there since I grew up, and, more to the point, since Sheldon's bookstore was gone.

Also, keep in mind, this penny is in addition to the other ones on the ballot. Those two miles of Delmar could have taxes go up as much as 1.75% just this year alone, not discounting any other "districts" sneaking their feather-bedding projects' taxes out of your pocket.


- posted by Brian J. @ 1:38 PM   1 comments
 
I Like Those Odds
Whatever the line is in Vegas that Aaron Rodgers breaks his throwing hand while giving high fives during the introduction tonight, be they like 10,000,000 to 1 or something like that, I'll take that bet. I call him "Mr. Glass."


- posted by Brian J. @ 10:48 AM   0 comments
Sunday, September 07, 2008
 
The Culture Wars Are Over, And Somebody Won
I'm sitting in my sainted mother's living room, and I flip through one of the innumerable catalogs she gets. It's the Carol Wright gifts catalog, from which I and she have ordered many Christmas presents and trinkets for loved ones in years past. An innocuous piece of cataloguery, or so I thought.

Until I hit the page that had the personal massagers, male enhancement products, and Naked Aerobics/Naked Yoga and Tai Chi DVDs.

Crikey, Carol Wright--Carol Wright!--has a sexual aids section (NSFW, probably).

I mean, I'm not shocked on account that these things are available, but I am shocked that I found them amongst the throw blankets, quilted air conditioner covers, and magnetic windshield covers.

What's next? A Vibrating Touch of Class?


- posted by Brian J. @ 7:41 PM   0 comments
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."