The offices of Mayor Francis Slay and Aldermanic President Lewis Reed had very different reactions to our report yesterday that the city was being asked for $215 million more than previously reported for a proposed new NFL stadium.
Mary Ellen Ponder, Slay’s chief of staff, said the information in our blog post was “dated, inaccurate, and not in play.” Asked for more specifics, she said the plan was received “three to four weeks ago” and that it became dated “basically on the day it arrived.”
See also: St. Louis NFL Stadium Plan Could Cost Taxpayers Millions More Than Anticipated
As to accuracy, she termed the $215 million as “misleading” and that the proposal was not under consideration. She said the mayor’s office is “looking at other tools we can use"—in addition to its annual $6 million debt-service commitment—"that would not raise taxes, but would come from the people who go to the games.”
Tom Shepard, Reed’s chief of staff, said pretty much the opposite. “The plan didn’t become 'dead on arrival' until you wrote your story,” Shepard said. “We were discussing it with the stadium people last week, and we were supposed to meet last Friday to get some answers from their financial people, but that meeting was canceled.”
See also: Setting the Record Straight About the St. Louis NFL Stadium Proposal
Shepard said it was his understanding that the mayor's office has been actively pushing for aldermanic support of the plan as recently as this week. He said Reed was open-minded on the subject of city support for the stadium, but that Reed wanted to protect taxpayers.
SLM co-owner Ray Hartmann is a panelist on KETC Channel 9’s Donnybrook, which airs Thursdays at 7 p.m.
