Kyle Howerton

📍 northernmost southern city, westernmost eastern city

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@mr1llinois @JulieChangRE …and if incomes did increase enough to offset those costs it simply means the homes would become higher priced due to greater competition.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@DinnerWed How is an apartment building a public project?

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

Ask me why this is terrible for the City of St. Louis and the entire region.

[St. Louis Business Journal @stlouisbiz]

The plaintiffs argue the project qualifies as public works because of the public funding and oversight of the project, triggering prevailing wage obligations. https://t.co/zKL28wCxN3

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@Beganovic2026 @pickle96123 Amen

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

The biggest problem we had was Kim Gardner. The second biggest problem we had was the support Megan Green and Tishaura Jones provided to Gardner when they, for more than two years, publicly defended Gardner while she was quite literally destroying the integrity of the Circuit Attorney’s office. It was hard to watch.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@Beganovic2026 I never said that and what a wild implication

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@Beganovic2026 I’m stupid for not supporting that?

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@EllliotttB Who says there should ever be a “generational buying opportunity” or for it to be obvious when one is occurring?

Whiny.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

Hey Jerry, I’m the developer of these and if you’re angry at how they look you should take it up with Jan Cameron at the City’s Cultural Resource Office. She essentially directed us to what we could and couldn’t build here from colors of brick, material, dimensions, window locations and sizes, etc. I’m not offended by your opinion bc we all have opinions. I’m only hoping you can learn how the design took place and who is to blame.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

It’s probably unfair to say “it’s easy,” but “it’s easy.” The City should promote growth within its boundaries by temporarily forgoing tax revenue growth for any entity adding jobs or building a new project. It would only be foregoing NEW tax revenue (so no loss/reduction in current tax revenue), and only got a specific period of time (I.e. five years, 10 years, etc.). The City still earns net new tax revenue even when providing incentives to growing employers that are relocating to the City because more employees spending time in the City will spend money on food/goods/experiences thereby generating new sales/use tax revenue. Tax abatements on new ground-up projects (especially mixed-use projects) generate a tremendous amount of new tax revenue by adding retailers/restaurants/coffee shops that create jobs (earnings tax) and sales tax revenue to parcels that were vacant and therefore generating virtually new tax revenue before the project was built. Our MOFO project is a prime example of this. It generates 7x the tax revenue the prior biz did, which was a coin-operated car wash, through sales/use/earnings/utility taxes. On top of the commercial tenants, MOFO pays 74% more real estate taxes than the prior use even though MOFO received a 90% real estate taxes abatement. Plus, MOFO’s three commercial bays have added more than 10 full-time jobs. My neighbor is a C-Suite HR executive who said her fortune 100 company wanted to move employees to Cortex, but none of their employees agreed to move bc they didn’t want to pay the 1% earnings tax. Give this company a five-year tax break on earnings tax on all new employees in the City and hopefully that will work to recruit them from the County.

In addition to gaining new tax revenue through incentives, the City will incur less operating cost due to a reduced burden to city services and crime. The reduction in crime is caused by increased density and human activity (crime typically occurs when few people are around). Forestry dept etc. won’t need to mow these vacant lots if they’re built on. Plus, city water would be cheaper for us all bc there’d be more usage on a huge system that’s operating at ~30% capacity (at best). We’ve already seen a 92% reduction in calls for service to police, fire, and EMS in City Commons after our investments there. We need more of that!

This isn’t difficult. The hardest part is the politics. Politicians are too afraid to do the right thing because it’s more politically advantageous to placate truly ignorant “activists” who always decry tax incentives that benefit “wealthy businesses and rich developers.” In reality, the incentives are necessary because it’s expensive AF to build in this town. If only the “anti-TIF” crowd actually did the research, they’d see how hugely beneficial it is to invest into businesses bc that’s how tax revenues grow over time. Schools are funded this way, the population increases this way. Politicians need to be fiduciaries to our City vs worrying about being hung to dry by people who are scared of others’ success.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

There are affordable ways to obtain degrees in the aforementioned fields. It’s irresponsible to freely allow young people to go $150,000 into debt for a degree that averages ~$45,000/year incomes. Interest alone on these, non-BK-dischargeable debt is $1,000/month. The borrowers will never be able to buy a home, even an affordable home due to student loans. BTW, I imagine private lenders will still be able to make these loans, just not government subsidized lenders.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@stlCITYsc City Commons! 😉

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@EllliotttB Best post of all time and somehow I’m jealous of this person. I guess that tells me where the cycle remains.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@s_webber …and it’s going to suck a whole lot less because of the United States being the world’s largest oil producer, which is something you probably fought against bc, shocker, a republican prioritized it.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

I guess we should just let the Iranians and their proxies continue to invest in infrastructure to destabilize the world in perpetuity while allowing China to win. Instead, this can be a moment where the world invests in freeing the entire Middle East of Iran and its terror proxies. Finally, we (the US) have someone in charge who can strategize an entire generation ahead instead of a month or an election cycle ahead. High oil prices suck. and will continue to suck for a while, but this is temporary. I understand you’re a politician, but I assumed you were different and could think for yourself with rational thought vs toeing party lines.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@saintlouispres This is such a disappointing post.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@HixxinSoulard @Beganovic2026 Off-the-record source so can’t quote it.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@HixxinSoulard @Beganovic2026 Yes

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@HixxinSoulard @Beganovic2026 Outside of this F-15 news, Boeing Defense is increasing its workforce by 16,000-20,000 to support the next gen fighter jet. They’re already years behind in hiring and hope they can increase their pace of new hires. This F-15 work is the icing on the cake.

[Kyle Howerton @k_audric]

@HixxinSoulard @McPherSTL It’s not Centene. And I agree it couldn’t have been solely related to the earnings tax, but that’s what she said. And she said they begged the city for relief while committing to a minimum number of new Cortex-based employees, to no avail.