Editor鈥檚 note: Our previous endorsements to date are listed at the bottom.
St. 亚洲无码 voters on Nov. 5 will consider four local ballot measures that seek to address some of the most urgent issues facing the city: neglected properties, the proliferation of short-term rentals, the future of local transportation and top-heavy control of the city budgeting process.
Most of it hasn鈥檛 received much media coverage, but these are issues that can more directly impact everyday life in St. 亚洲无码. All four measures deserve passage.
Proposition V would remove the $500 cap on fines the city can charge owners of vacant and non-owner-occupied properties for code violations.
Scofflaw property owners are a huge problem in St. 亚洲无码, where the dramatic population drop in recent decades has meant thousands of structures across the city standing empty 鈥 and, too often, being allowed to deteriorate. The current $500 fine cap was created in the 1970s and hasn鈥檛 been raised since.
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Many of the city鈥檚 most decrepit properties are owned by corporations or other entities that are sitting on them in speculation of future projects. In the meantime, instead of keeping the buildings up to code, they have let them crumble, paying the $500 fines rather than making repairs that in most cases would cost more.
Prop V is a first step toward reversing that perverse incentive structure. It will allow the city to create a fine system that will be more expensive and harder for slumlords to shrug off. This should be an easy 鈥測es鈥 vote for any St. 亚洲无码an who is tired of watching the slow decay of entire neighborhoods.
Proposition S would authorize a 3% fee on nightly rental rates for short-term rental housing 鈥 Airbnb and the like. That would be on top of the existing hotel taxes the rentals pay now.
The short-term rental business has a legitimate place in St. 亚洲无码鈥 economy. But here, as in other cities, the market has exploded to such an extent that it can affect availability of affordable housing for families (not to mention carving into the hotel market). Additionally, there have been issues downtown with short-term rental units harboring disruption and even violence.
Pumping the brakes on this market with an additional fee would make sense in any case. The fact that at least half the income would be earmarked for the city鈥檚 Affordable Housing Trust Fund, directly addressing an issue that the short-term rental market has exacerbated, is an additional reason for support. Vote 鈥測es.鈥
Proposition T would create the city鈥檚 first Department of Transportation, consolidating the current city Streets Department and transportation-related duties that are currently under other departments.
The proposal is a recognition that modern cities need transportation coordination that goes far beyond street maintenance. Its sponsor, Alderman Michael Browning, has said the consolidation of transportation-related duties would better take into account the needs of pedestrians and cyclists, as well as other considerations that modern cities should prioritize.
鈥淚t struck me that there was no department at our city that was primarily concerned with the safety of our roads,鈥 Browning told in September. 鈥淎nd what that means is that, over and over again, roads are designed for cars and not for people.鈥
Opponents have expressed concern about staffing and other issues with ramping up a new department with a wide array of duties. But the long delay in implementation (the new department wouldn鈥檛 go online until 2029) provides plenty of time for the city to work out the issues. Vote 鈥測es鈥 on Prop T.
Proposition B would give the Board of Aldermen the power to propose budget increases and additional items as the city puts together its annual spending plan 鈥 powers that currently reside solely with the three-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
It may sound like technocratic minutia, but the current system concentrates spending power among the three Estimate and Apportionment members (the mayor, the city comptroller and the president of the Board of Aldermen), effectively blocking active participation in the budgeting process by aldermen, who most directly represent average citizens.
That鈥檚 not how it works in most cities 鈥 and it鈥檚 not how it should work in St. 亚洲无码. Vote 鈥測es鈥 on Prop B.
Previous Post-Dispatch endorsements to date:
U.S. Senate from Missouri:聽Democrat Lucas Kunce.
Amendment 2聽鈥 Legalizing sports betting: Yes.
Amendment 3聽鈥 Restoring reproductive rights: Yes.
Amendment 5 鈥 Lake of the Ozarks casino license: Yes.
Amendment 6聽鈥斅燙ourt fees for sheriffs鈥 retirement fund: No.