BLIGHT NIGHT 2: Mayor's blight bill "amendment" may be meaningless

McDavid "amends" section that doesn't exist!

COLUMBIA, 2/9/12  (Beat Byte) -- A much-reported Mayoral "amendment" to a Columbia City Council resolution declaring nearly half of Columbia "blighted" to qualify for a development tax incentive may be meaningless if the resolution's final wording follows Mayor Bob McDavid's oral instructions.

What's more, to qualify for so-called "Enhanced Enterprise Zone" status, state law requires the blight declaration.  Moves to amend language to the contrary are not permitted. 

Before comments about the resolution, McDavid "proposed an amendment to delete the phrase 'blighted area' from the measure and replace it with 'an area which contains inadequacies," the Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

But that's not what happened.    The Mayor amended a section the of the Resolution that doesn't exist -- Section 8; and then amended Section 7 to add the alternative wording.   

He did not amend any other part of Resolution R20-12, which declares Blight in multiple places, from the title to the preamble to various other sections.   Section 6, for instance, reads:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 6.   The area described in Exhibit A is hereby certified by the City Council of the City of Columbia, Missouri as a blighted area.

The preamble reads: 

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Columbia have examined the above described areas and find that it presents some or all of the following characteristics which warrants it being considered a blighted area, or containing inadequacies which lead to blight within the meaning of the RSMo. 135.950,(2):

a.  Defective or inadequate street layout;

b.  Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;

c.  Deterioration of site improvements;

d.  Improper subdivision or obsolete platting; or

e.  Conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes; or

f.  Any combination of such factors, retards the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social liability or a menace to the public health safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use.

Compare the video of Mayor's amendment, which starts about 1:30, to Resolution 20-12.  

VIDEO  (Under "New Business")

Blight Resolution R20-12