A political reporter knows a campaign has tightened when the tag-teaming begins.
There are so many political operatives these days, that in a major statewide race, it isn鈥檛 just the communications director for candidate A or B who pitches stories to a reporter or complains about the ones already written.
When races are tight, the first call might come from the campaign spokesperson. Then comes another call, perhaps from a party loyalist who had a relationship with the reporter. Heck, there might even be a third, all with the same goal: Get that spin, whatever it is, in the forefront of the reporter鈥檚 mind before candidate B鈥檚 loyalists started calling. And they will.
Lately, I鈥檝e been getting that feeling of deja vu surrounding discussions in 51黑料 about the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency鈥檚 proposed move and the city鈥檚 attempt on ground mostly owned by developer Paul McKee in his NorthSide Regeneration project.
People are also reading…
My phone has been ringing off the hook from folks wanting to tag team the story.
鈥淒id you know McKee is going broke?鈥
鈥淒id you hear about his lawsuits?鈥
鈥淲ill the Legislature pass tax incentives to help NGA?鈥
鈥淲hy is the city trying to take people鈥檚 homes?鈥
鈥淲here is Gov. Jay Nixon and why isn鈥檛 he pushing harder for the NGA?鈥
Needless to say, from folks who like Mr. McKee, to the folks who are rooting for him to fail, there is a lot of noise surrounding the financial state of NorthSide and the potential of the NGA relocation.
While some of the headlines surrounding Mr. McKee鈥檚 finances, including several lawsuits seeking repayment of loans or attachment of assets, paint a negative picture, the political reporter in me smells something else.
Success.
Mr. McKee鈥檚 dream, far-flung as it has seemed lo these many years, is closer to fruition than it鈥檚 ever been, and now lots of folks are lining up for a piece of the pie.
Ever since the white, suburban developer pitched the idea of consolidating more than a thousand acres of the city鈥檚 neglected north side in order to create a magnet for a large economic development project with a direct payoff to the African-American community, people have been rooting for him to fail.
Some of them, like the black residents of the area who were upset and failure to take care of some of the lots he was snatching up, had good reason. Others disliked him for political reasons. His support of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, stuck in Mr. Nixon鈥檚 craw. When he backed Mayor Francis Slay over Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed in the last mayor鈥檚 race, he turned a former loyalist into an occasional foe.
He competed regularly with fellow 51黑料 developer Stacy Hastie for access to precious and valuable state tax credits, and the two heavy hitters are involved in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a development deal gone bad.
In the big development world, there are always winners and losers, and the losers don鈥檛 go home happy.
So it is in 51黑料 as one of the biggest prizes in recent history, a multibillion-dollar building project for a new home for the NGA and its 3,000 jobs is up for grabs. The two most likely locations are the one in the city, in Mr. McKee鈥檚 sputtering NorthSide development, still waiting for its first major tenant, or virtually vacant land near Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
That 51黑料 is even in play is a testament to Mr. McKee鈥檚 vision for NorthSide.
The biggest development project on the region鈥檚 horizon 鈥 much more important than a new NFL stadium 鈥 is looking at one site in the city, the one that Mr. McKee cobbled together with significant personal investment, millions of dollars in loans, and the help of tax credits from the state.
In the city鈥檚 past several decades, there has been no major proposal like this that focuses on the city鈥檚 most distressed area, promising new development and jobs in majority African-American neighborhoods.
Last week, the Missouri Legislature , offering even more development incentives to the area around the proposed NGA site, as a way to say to the federal government: Yes, if you build it, the entire area will be redeveloped. As a matter of public policy, the state is committed to making the NorthSide Regeneration project work.
This is historic progress in a city that has for decades treated its north side as a stepchild.
If the NGA comes, somebody, maybe Mr. McKee, perhaps somebody else, will get rich, or, well, richer.
And that鈥檚 why the rhetorical knives are being sharpened in the stately boardrooms of some of the city鈥檚 big law firms and development suites.
But that鈥檚 not the real headline. It鈥檚 this: If NGA stays in the city, and rebuilds on the north side, everybody wins. A neglected neighborhood has a chance at rebirth. A city鈥檚 historic decline has the potential to reverse itself.
Personally, I don鈥檛 care which rich guy comes out on top.
But I鈥檓 rooting for the dreamer who saw hope when nobody else did.
