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Libertarian Attorney Sues to Stop Aldermanic Courtesy in St. Louis | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

June 27, 2023

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click to enlarge BRADEN MCMAKIN Members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen are sworn into office on April 18, 2023. President Megan Green has vowed to crack down on abuses of aldermanic courtesy — but a lawsuit would go much further.

Aldermanic courtesy, already a target of reform by some St. Louis progressives, now has a foe of an entirely different political stripe, who says he wants to do away with it completely.

Libertarian attorney Bevis Schock announced earlier this month that he had signed onto a lawsuit against the city with the intent of having aldermanic influence over tax abatements and zoning variances declared illegal.

Aldermanic courtesy refers to a set of norms — not laws — that have long allowed individual members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to influence development in their wards. For years, developers seeking tax incentives have had to get the support of the alderperson who represents the site.

Likewise, according to the Post-Dispatch, the Board of Adjustment maintains an informal process which requires aldermen to sign off on variances in their wards.

Long a source of controversy, the practice came under intense scrutiny last year after three aldermen were federally indicted for taking bribes in exchange for favors, including procuring tax abatements. (A fourth aldermanic indictment, of now-former alderman Brandon Bosley, dropped on June 12.)

Last session the Board of Aldermen passed legislation seeking to limit the potential for such corruption in the future. Now, proposals for incentives worth more than $1 million must also be accompanied by a fiscal impact analysis, says Yusuf Daneshyar of Aldermanic President Megan Green’s office. Aldermen must also now complete a form disclosing conflicts of interest.

“Aldermanic courtesy is changing and doesn’t carry the weight it has in the past,” Daneshyar says.

But no reforms approved by the board thus far have proposed to do what Schock is trying to do — remove the Board of Aldermen from the development process entirely.

Two weeks ago, Schock announced that he’d be providing “financial and other support” to a business owner who is suing the city after failing to get a conditional use permit for his business. Schock’s ultimate aim, he says, is to have the entire notion of aldermanic courtesy declared illegal. “If the alderman runs his or her ward like a feudal kingdom, back in ancient Europe in the medieval time, the whole thing doesn’t work. I mean, there’s a reason that the Dark Ages were a period of poverty,” Schock tells the RFT. He adds, “[Aldermen] should be removed from the process.”

The attorney says the process violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers, because the same government entity — the Board of Aldermen — that created the law is also administering it.
click to enlarge RYAN KRULL The Double AA Market had sought a conditional use permit to operate in the 4700 block of Morgan Ford.

The lawsuit that Schock signed onto had previously been filed in November by the Double AA Market, a business that applied for a conditional use permit to operate a convenience store on the 4700 block of Morgan Ford in the Bevo neighborhood.

The Board of Adjustment denied the application, and the lawsuit claims that was because then-Alderwoman Carol Howard wrote a letter opposing it.

However, Howard, who left office this year after 13 years as an alderwoman, says there was good reason to oppose the application and that, furthermore, the market in question is a good example as to why aldermen should be involved in variances and development incentives.

The Double AA market, Howard says, had been shut down after being declared a problem property. The application for the conditional use permit was part of the business owner’s attempt to reopen.

Howard says that most of the people who lived nearby were opposed to the business reopening. She said the property didn’t have a dumpster and there was constantly trash in the alley. She also alleges she heard reports of the store selling liquor to minors.

One Google review gives the store kudos for selling single cigarettes, which would be illegal under federal law.

Howard adds that the owner didn’t live in the ward, nor did the vast majority of the people who signed a petition in favor of his getting the permit.

“I shouldn’t be the only voice, but if that’s part of the reason I was elected,” Howard says. “Why take the teeth away from the elected officials?”

Asked about Howard’s allegations against the Double AA Market, Schock says, “It’s my understanding the guy didn’t have a perfect record; very few people do.”

Beyond that, one of Schock’s stated motivations for signing onto the suit may make a few city residents recoil.

“Doing business in the city is difficult,” Schock says. “One would say, ‘Well gee, why is St. Charles booming? Why is wet Wentzville booming?’ It’s because they leave people alone. You want to open a gas station, open a gas station. Who are we to say? You decide.”

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

12 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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