City leaders pitch local control of Arch grounds:
Mayor Francis Slay and former Sen. John Danforth, hoping to revamp the city’s riverfront, want to convince the public and the federal government there is only one way to do it: obtain part of the Arch grounds.
Taking land from the National Park Service would be rare, if not unprecedented. It would require not only an act of Congress, but also broad political and public support.
Because Mayor Francis Slay and the “city” of St. Louis cannot give away land that it does not own to a land developer whose no-risk loan the “city” has co-signed.
Maybe I am being too hard on Mayor Francis Slay and the “city” of St. Louis; perhaps they want that land to solve its Lucas Park problem; after all, if the homeless are sleeping under the Arch, they’re only bothering tourists, not voters. Think of it as a sort of non-monetary tax upon visitors to the city; I know municipalities like to stick it to the middle class transients.
