Email from G. Connolly regarding BB 19, sent to the full Board of Aldermen on 7.2.25 (Part 1 of 3)
Honorable Members of the Board of Aldermen,
Request re: Board Bill no. 19 (create Jefferson Arms CID / authorize TDD agreement)
I am writing to urge you to take the following actions on Board Bill no. 19:
1. Send Board Bill no. 19 back to the HUDZ Committee to enable City of St. Louis officials or a consultant for the City to provide an analysis of the proposed Jefferson Arms CID.
At the HUDZ Hearing on 6.17.25, there was no financial analysis of the Jefferson Arms development project CID and TDD provided by an employee or representative of the City of St. Louis. The developer's consultant was the only person to address the financials of the project and supposed need for the creation of the districts and prompt passage of BB 19.
I believe that the petition to create the Jefferson Arms CID is defective, due to the fact that the person signing on behalf of the property owner (Mukemmel Sarimsakci) is not the person listed as the petition signatory on the preceding page of the petition (Emre Terazi).
Refer to the CID petition (below) that was posted on the bill's webpage less than two hours before the HUDZ hearing. Page 12 of the PDF specifies Emre Terazi as the signatory for the property owner. On page 13, the notarized signature is that of Mukemmel Sarimsakci. The petition was not available to the public 24 hours in advance of the HUDZ hearing, rendering a thorough review of the document by the public impossible. See the screen-capture images of portions of pages 12 and 13 that are included at the end of this email.
The CID petition is posted as a "support document" at the bottom of the BB 19 webpage.
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/city-laws/upload/legislative/BoardBills/support-documents/Lrt%20and%20Petition%20Combined.pdf
The petition should have been included in the bill document, as has been the case previously for board bills creating a taxing district.
Email from G. Connolly regarding BB 19, sent to the full Board of Aldermen on 7.2.25 (Part 2 of 3)
2. Amend BB 19 to change the composition of the taxing district boards to ensure that representatives of the City of St. Louis hold the majority of the board seats.
The developer's representatives should not constitute a majority of the board.
Board Bill 19 specifies that the Jefferson Arms CID have five board members; the City of St. Louis should therefore have three representatives on the board. The public will be best served by having representatives of the Mayor, Board of Aldermen and Comptroller comprise the majority of the CID's board members.
Please do not let the appeal from the developer’s representative for speedy action on BB 19 take precedence over your responsibility to serve the public interest by performing thorough due diligence on BB 19. It is important to note that four and a half years ago (December 2020), former Alderwoman Tammika Hubbard introduced almost identical legislation to create the Jefferson Arms CID. The bill did not receive a public hearing.
Please vote to send BB 19 back to the HUDZ Committee.
Thank you for your consideration.
Gerry Connolly (He/Him)
Email from G. Connolly regarding BB 19, sent to the full Board of Aldermen on 7.2.25 (Part 3 of 3)
Pertaining to item 1 in the above letter:
Screen-capture images of portions of pages 12 and 13 from BB 19, documenting what I maintain is a deficiency in the petition to create the Jefferson Arms CID.
See the first three images for my letter to the Board of Aldermen, urging the BOA to send #BOAbb19 back to the #HUDZ Committee.
Image 4: Screenshot from today's BOA debate on BB 19.
#JeffArmsCID
#JeffArmsTIF
#JeffArmsTDD
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![Instructions to register to testify at the hearing. Excerpt from text of notice:
“All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard at this public hearing. Interested persons should contact Janet Harris at the phone number or email above [see below] not later than 24 hours before the hearing to sign up to speak.”
Contact Janet Harris at harrisjan@stlouis-mo.gov or by telephone at (314) 657-3795, or (314) 589-6000 (TTY)
Deadline to register to testify: 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 13, 2025.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:25t3mhejfikggwsuunq6exzf/bafkreihcg5wxqdxs2z4eew4s2yqe3ny2s2kxegozchqxmzl4t3jo4fu5m4)
