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First Ward face-off
(by Rebecca S. Rivas - March 24, 2008)
Only one city council member for the city of University City will have competition in the April 8 election. Incumbent 1st Ward Councilmember Stefany Brot will run against lawyer and businessman Terry Crow.
The 1st Ward covers University City south of Delmar Boulevard, as well as a portion north of Delmar bounded by Groby Road/Gay Avenue, Olive Boulevard and the western city limits.
Councilmember Lynn Ricci of the 2nd Ward and Councilmember Arthur Sharpe Jr. of the 3rd Ward will be up for additional four-year terms but do not face challengers.
The primary concern for most University City residents this election is the growing budget deficit. Over the next five years, expenditures are projected to grow at a higher rate than the city’s revenue, said Deputy City Manager Janet Watson.
“If no changes were made to either expenditures or revenues, in five years there would be an annual deficit of $3.8 million,” Watson said. “The city is taking, and will continue to take, steps to assure a balanced budget occurs.”
The city manager’s office established the Citizens’ Financial Advisory Task Force last June and charged it with the task of generating ideas from citizens about how to balance the books. In the group’s December 2007 report, the members made many recommendations, including: cutting park and forestry programs that don’t recover costs, establishing a 10 percent floor for capital improvements, determining which businesses don’t pay their annual fees and stopping trash collection for those who do not pay their bills for the service.Both candidates said they are concerned with the growing financial strains that University City has been facing.
Brot agrees with the city manager’s plan to review every program and try to do it better at a lesser cost, she said.
“Many things that [the task force] looked at are very important, but every one is very complicated,” Brot said.
One of the most complicated items is the pension-fund program, she said, and she was disappointed the city didn’t revise the way it handles pension plans. She would like to research the task force’s recommendations before commenting on them, she said.
She agrees with the task force in supporting the Ruth Park driving range, she said. Some members of the community argue that the city is rushing to build the addition to the golf course without sufficient research into its effect on neighbors and the environmental impact. The task-force report argues that the range provides the “opportunity for long-term financial viability of the entire golf course, which is a valuable.
Although the report recommended cutting parks programs that don’t make money, Brot said the city is already doing a better job of promoting those programs it does have. However, she said, sometimes these programs take a couple years, not just one, to get people involved.
The city could get more out of its Centennial Commons fitness facility at Heman Park, she said. “I intend to have more programs for senior citizens because few people are working out in the afternoons at Centennial Commons,” she said. “I think I could do a good job at getting seniors to try them.”
Brot’s main suggestion for addressing the growing deficit is to create new multi-use developments that would encourage people to live above a restaurant or near their workplaces or businesses, she said.
Over the past 100 years, the way the city generates money has changed significantly, Brot said, and the city needs to keep up with the times. University City was one of the first suburbs outside the city of St. Louis.
“We wanted it to be residential because 100 years ago, property tax made up most of the budget,” she said. “Today, it’s only 11 percent.”
In the ’70s, it became a pooled city, which means all of the sales tax collected in the city is pooled with St. Louis County’s sales tax revenues and doesn’t go directly into University City’s coffers. The county then appropriates money according to population, Brot said, and University City’s population has been declining.
“As the population decreases, our funds decrease. To take full advantage of it, we need to get more people here. In University City, we have little vacant space; the only thing we can do is go up. We want to bring back the same idea that they had 100 years ago — mixed-use living.”
Crow would also like to see smart economic development. He attended University City’s Second Century Commission meeting, where participants discussed city planning and development.
“The businessman in me wanted to know, ‘OK, how are we going to get these things implemented?’” he said. Crow said that as a lawyer and owner of multiple businesses, he pays close attention to financial issues and important documents.
“There’s no question that I’m well versed and well qualified to look at a balance sheet and to look at numbers and tell what they mean,” Crow said. “I think University City needs someone who has business experience.”
Crow was hesitant to talk about his current business involvement. “I don’t want everybody to know all about my businesses,” he said. “That’s private.”
Crow is a partner at the Crow, Takacs & Texier law firm. He is also a partner in Bridge Partners, a real estate development firm that owns the Compton Gate Condominiums on South Grand Avenue. In 2006, the condos were destroyed by arson and have since been rebuilt. He also owns a Great Clips franchise.
Crow has served on the boards of many not-for-profit organizations, including Doorways on Maryland Avenue, which offers supportive housing for people with HIV/AIDS.
In 2004, Crow ran in the Democratic primary for the Missouri House of Representatives’ 64th District seat. He lost to Rachel Storch, who went on to win that seat.
One of the incidents that motivated Crow to run for city council occurred at a business meeting with a mayor, whose name he wouldn’t mention because he and that mayor are involved in a business negotiation. Crow asked him about the hurdles that he faces, and the mayor said, “I can’t get young professionals like you to get involved in my city.” Crow said that made a lasting impression on him.
“First thing we need to do is spend more time on how we’re going to communicate with our neighbors,” he said. Currently, decisions are made in a reactionary way, he said.
When Washington University bought homes in West Portland Place with plans of expanding its commercial strip on the corner of Big Bend Boulevard and Forest Park Parkway into the neighborhood, “the neighbors were caught off guard,” he said.
“There’s no question that the city council members reacted to it, but the communication needs to be more diagnostic,” he said.
In January, the university abandoned its plans under pressure from residents and council members Bob Wagner and Brot. However, some residents said that council members, particularly Brot, did not react quickly to their concerns.
“What I did was speak the truth, which is that the city legally has to [allow the sale of] a home to any buyer; we can’t discriminate,” Brot said. “It’s the neighbors’ perception that I wasn’t as vocal as Bob Wagner. There are two council members in each ward, and we both resolved the controversy and wrote the resolution together.”
Brot said she communicates with residents via an e-mailed monthly newsletter. Before the city’s budget decreased last year, the city distributed a printed newsletter.
Crow said another motivator causing him to run for city council is to learn more about the city and meet new people. He’s having fun meeting new parents in his children’s school district, he said. Crow and his partner, Tom Peters, have a son in the first grade and a daughter in preschool.
“No doubt I’d like to make University City better for my children,” he said.
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