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MORE CITY HALL LEGAL VIOLATIONS: Alleged over CoMo subdivision next to state park

MORE CITY HALL LEGAL VIOLATIONS: Alleged over CoMo subdivision next to state park

Another development approval under fire

COLUMBIA, Mo 4/23/14 (Beat Byte) -- More allegations of state law and City Charter violations have landed on Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid's desk, this time from attorneys at a St. Louis-based environmental law center. 

A controversial ordinance that would have approved the Parkside Estates subdivision next to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park violates a City Charter requirement that no bill contain more than one subject, claims attorney Kathleen G. Henry president of the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center .   "Missouri State Law also prohibits bills from containing more than one subject," Henry wrote in an April 21 letter to McDavid and the City Council.  

Like a Congressional bill loaded with pork, Ordinance B229-13 "contains four or five subjects," Henry explained : ...

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THE TROUBLE WITH OPUS: Bankruptcies, lawsuits, fraud charges mar history of student apartment developer

THE TROUBLE WITH OPUS: Bankruptcies, lawsuits, fraud charges mar history of student apartment developer

A comeback trail through Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo 4/22/14 (Beat Byte) -- A Minneapolis-based student apartment developer threatening to sue the City of Columbia "for millions" is no stranger to tangling with government. 

The Opus Corporation once sold a subsidiary's failed interest in a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research center to a company Opus leaders unaffectionately dubbed GAMD, LCC -- " Government Assholes in Maryland ".       

Opus East, once one of five Opus Corp. divisions, had a contract to build the near-300,000 square foot facility in College Park, Md.   But construction disputes prompted Opus to sue the Federal government and helped land the division into one of several bankruptcies that tore the company apart.  

Court records say Opus East left 2,000 credi...

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THE MYTH OF THE PRICELESS VIRTUE: Why education and healthcare cost so much

THE MYTH OF THE PRICELESS VIRTUE: Why education and healthcare cost so much

A myth that poses a real threat
 
COLUMBIA, Mo 4/21/14 (Op Ed) --  An article in The Atlantic this month explores a new "myth":  paying your way through college.   It used to be possible but now, not so much. 

One credit hour in 1979 at Michigan State University (MSU) cost $79.23 in today's dollars and took roughly eight hours of minimum wage work to pay for, the Atlantic piece explains.   One MSU credit hour in 2014 costs five times as much:  $428.75 , and takes 60 hours at a minimum wage job to buy.  
 
"We should be outraged," people say.  Outraged the American Dream is crushing instead of buoying our young.  Outraged that a once-vaunted ticket to prosperity -- a college education -- is becoming a ticket to penury .   Outraged that college presidents and university football coaches have become a new br...

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"IRRESPONSIBLE, RECKLESS, DANGEROUS": Mayor McDavid ramps up rhetoric over student apartment repeal

Pot calling the kettle black? 

COLUMBIA, Mo 4/19/14 (Analysis) -- Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid has joined city manager Mike Matthes and Opus Development Group representatives in a rhetorical war against supporters of a petition to repeal City Council approval of a six-story downtown student apartment.  

But facts and laws suggest the rhetoric applies to City Hall rather than to the over 3,600 people who signed the Repeal 6214 petition .

"I believe the effort to run Opus out of town is dangerous .  I think it's reckless , and I think it's irresponsible ," McDavid told KOMU yesterday .    "If we go that road, we're going to be in a multi-year legal swamp from which the outcome is unclear."

Earlier, Matthes called petition suppporters "short-sighted and foolhardy."   Attorneys for Opus now say the petition "violates the C...

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MIDKIFF: When CoMo development trumps public interest, a state park suffers

MIDKIFF: When CoMo development trumps public interest, a state park suffers

A priceless park's future suddenly clouded

 

by Ken ...

CoMoTOWN: Where wealth, power, greed, land, and City Hall converge

CoMoTOWN: Where wealth, power, greed, land, and City Hall converge

Are one man's secretive holdings influencing city ...

GLADIATOR: CoMo city manager spars with public about sewers, student housing

GLADIATOR: CoMo city manager spars with public about sewers, student housing

Calls opposition to student apartments "shortsight...
A HUMANE CHOICE, Pt. 2: Records suggest CoMo feral cat regulations an abject failure

A HUMANE CHOICE, Pt. 2: Records suggest CoMo feral cat regulations an abject failure

A humane and simple thing becomes hopelessly compl...
A HUMANE CHOICE: CoMo regulations force feral cat caretakers to choose life over law

A HUMANE CHOICE: CoMo regulations force feral cat caretakers to choose life over law

The unintended consequence of a well-intentioned o...

NONONO: Yes Yes Yes, says music reviewer, about Swedish trio coming to Blue Note

NONONO: Yes Yes Yes, says music reviewer, about Swedish trio coming to Blue Note

A modern pop anthem comes to Columbia

By Hilary Sco...
A CONTAGIOUS VIBE: Jenny Teator and the Fevers, a music review

A CONTAGIOUS VIBE: Jenny Teator and the Fevers, a music review

Catch the Fever

By Hilary Scott

COLUMBIA, Mo 4/10/14...

THE REPEAL IDEAL: Real leadership pushes back on student apartment hustle

THE REPEAL IDEAL: Real leadership pushes back on student apartment hustle

The People have spoken

COLUMBIA, Mo 4/9/14 (Op Ed) -...
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