While city elected officials and the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) have spent significant time touting their new “guidelines” for the use of tax incentives, it is already becoming apparent that they have little to no intention of following either the letter or spirit of the “reforms” they themselves have put forward.
Resolution 33, which has been proposed by Alderman Joe Roddy, chair of the city's Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee, claims to limit total tax abatement to 75 percent for a term of five years if the development is located in an area that is designated as having a healthy real estate market in the city’s 2014 Market Value Analysis.…