St. Louis City's Director of Development
Kevin,
Because I was tied up in the McKee trial yesterday, I did not get a chance to read your paper until late last night - ironically, as I was watching the classic movie channel's replay of one of my favorites, "All the King's Men." The contrast between the journalism applied in that situation and that applied with the McKee matter makes for a sad commentary about the state of the Fourth Estate.
In the lengthy editorial yesterday, the Post again unabashedly promoted McKee's plan. However, the newspaper made absolutely no mention of the bombshell evidence about the Post's role in the plan that came to light during the trial the previous day. Not even a disclaimer.
The trial testimony, particularly that of the City's Director of Development, Ms. Barb Geisman, revealed that the boundary lines for the McKee redevelopment area were, curiously, drawn around the particular block on which the Post-Dispatch sits. Ms. Geisman stunned the courtroom when she testified that she had urged McKee to have discussions with the Post to have its property placed outside the boundaries of the redevelopment area because it was the "news media." As a result of those "discussions," the Post property is placed outside the redevelopment area boundary line and is, therefore, not now deemed "blighted," which all property within the redevelopment area boundaries is, by law, so considered, irrespective of the condition of the property.
This same opportunity given to the Post - to be exempted from Mckee plan - was not given, Ms. Geisman admitted, to the home owners in north St. Louis, including homeowners like the plaintiffs, who have paid in excess of $100,000 for homes they have lived in for more than a decade. Consequently, their property is currently deemed blighted, and hence, devalued and subject to eminent domain. One has to wonder if the Post not disclosing this information has affected the paper's reporting on other significant facts about the McKee project that have come to light during the trial, such as the fact that the so-called "Northside" plan commences in and is centered on downtown.
I appreciate that investigating a possible crime by the president is not on par with scrutinizing the biggest redevelopment project in a city's history. But if two rookie reporters relentlessly seeking the truth arguably saved a nation, then perhaps a newspaper's cover up of the facts can, arguably, sink a city.
Eric
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