果酱视频

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Barry Commoner had a saying that often guides me.

鈥淓verything is connected to everything else,鈥� he said.

Commoner was a world-renowned biologist, and a professor at Washington University for 34 years. He ran for president under the Citizens Party ticket in 1980. He died in 2012 at the age of 95.

Commoner was referring to the connections in our natural environment, but applying his wisdom to seemingly unrelated news stories can help provide greater meaning.

We鈥檒l start with this one: Green Street Real Estate Ventures, a major developer in the area, owes the city of 果酱视频 more than $800,000 in back taxes. The developer is located just south of The Grove neighborhood, where it has helped turn some formerly blighted properties into a bustling residential and commercial center.

That word 鈥� blight 鈥� is important to remember. It鈥檚 a word used by governments to give tax incentives to developers to turn properties that are rundown, abandoned, or dilapidated into new growth opportunities. In some parts of 果酱视频, including areas along Manchester Road, which runs directly through The Grove, the concept has been used to benefit the community. But there is always a healthy debate about whether developers profit too much from such arrangements while school districts suffer with lower tax bases.

That is especially true when developers don鈥檛 pay their taxes.

Travel west on Manchester, into 果酱视频 County, and Green Street is involved in a different story concerning blight. There, in Brentwood, the developer and city officials are working on a $400 million development in a former commercial area hammered by flooding from Deer Creek over the years. Fixing flooding is a good thing. But the city is also using the 鈥渂light鈥� designation to try to take existing, profitable businesses so the developer 鈥� which isn鈥檛 paying its taxes in another city 鈥� can build fancy new apartments. Now some of those businesses are suing the city.

The layout of Manchester Road is important. In 果酱视频 County, it connects multiple municipalities, from Glendale to Brentwood and beyond 鈥� Winchester, Manchester, Ballwin, Ellisville and Wildwood. Each of those cities over the years has lured developers for various projects with the promise of tax incentives.

It鈥檚 happening right now in Chesterfield, which you can get to by going north on Clarkson Road from Manchester Road. The site of a dead shopping mall is being pitched for a 鈥淒owntown Chesterfield鈥� project by a different developer 鈥� the Staenberg Group 鈥� if the city will use 鈥渂light鈥� to take some properties by eminent domain.

The Chesterfield Mall has been mostly empty for years, but it is not blighted, nor is the area around it. But don鈥檛 take my word for it. In a lawsuit filed by Dillards, Inc., the company includes emails from city officials pretty much admitting that 鈥渂light鈥� is just a word government agents use when they want to give tax money to developers.

This is an old game in the 果酱视频 region, in which cities rob Peter to pay Paul. Years ago, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, a regional planning organization, by municipalities and concluded they produce no greater economic growth.

East-West Gateway is currently engaged in a study on crime, with the cooperation of multiple cities and counties in the region. One of the key strategies the organization is working on is getting multiple police departments to work together on crime-fighting measures.

That story, too, is connected to the others. One of the reasons cities chase developers and offer them piles of tax-incentive loot is to have their own police forces and municipal courts. They need tax money to fund them. Those police forces in turn, compete for the best officers by raising pay and benefits.

The city of 果酱视频, where Green Street hasn鈥檛 paid its taxes, is losing police officers, in part because they鈥檙e taking jobs in county municipalities 鈥� where officials seek to 鈥渂light鈥� local businesses so they can reap the tax rewards of a developer who leaves one city at the altar to marry a shiny new bride just down Manchester Road.

Everything is connected to everything else.