Power & Blight: the Argument to Redevelop Kansas City’s Latest Redevelopment

When the City of St. Louis finds it advantageous to offer Tax Increment Financing for projects large and small, it employs the label of "blight". What is blight? The legal definition in Missouri is: "That portion of the city within which the legislative authority of such city determines that by reason of age, obsolescence, inadequate or outmoded design or physical deterioration have become economic and social liabilities, and that such conditions are conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, crime or inability to pay reasonable taxes."

Having spent several days in Kansas City, I offer this argument to blight and redevelop the Power & Light district. The dress code, the $300M in local subsidies, and concentration of chain bars and restaurants are social and economic liabilities and conditions at P&L clearly are conducive to ill health, transmission of disease and crime. Given subsidies, it's likely that the district is also not paying "reasonable" taxes.