Dear Editor:
A new deal is being proposed for the Eastside of Jefferson City. It's not a good deal. The public notice was in the Sept. 29 edition of the News Tribune. A development company from Kansas City wants to build a 50-unit apartment complex at the northeast corner of Lafayette and East McCarty. It seems that the project would be 80 percent funded by Missouri public tax credits (MHDC). That's your money. You should be concerned if this is a good or bad plan. It's a great deal for the developers because they get public money to use and profit from. If they didn't who would build this project?
Fifty units is a large complex to locate on a very busy intersection. Lafayette has been improved at great expense from the new interchange at Highway 50 to the federal courthouse and old prison. McCarty and Lafayette are heavily traveled now. Can you imagine putting this complex at the corners of Dix and Missouri Blvd? It doesn't make any sense. It's a bad combination of heavy traffic and more congestion.
Secondly, who is going to fill this complex. Presently the neighborhood is mostly low-income citizens but not entirely. There are a mix of businesses and mostly rental properties. Actual home owners in the area are small in number. Many of the renters are low-income citizens. Is this the blend of potential renters for the project, loftily called the East McCarty Lofts?
The developer states that nine of the 50 units will be
at market rate aimed at median income renters who might have incomes of $40,000 or so. The other 41 units are for low-income renters with the potential of some rent subsidies.
A key down-side is in the impact on an already overcrowded public East School district. The school is using trailers for classrooms. Ninety percent of the students receive reduced lunches. With a projected population of 200 residents including up to 50 children, many children would be forced into a difficult education setting.
Is any of this good public policy? It might work but I think concentrating low-income citizens in large complexes does not have a good track record. Think of Cabrini Green in Chicago or Pruit Igoe in St. Louis.
On Oct. 17 there is a public hearing in Columbia for the developer to secure public funding. I think you should be concerned.
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