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Feeding Frenzy

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Verges, who had been battling Bowser for several months, organized Berkeley Citizens for an Honest Government and began a petition drive to recall Bowser. Verges alleged that Bowser had used a city cell phone for sex calls and that he rarely attended council meetings. Bowser denies this and says the recall was payback for his support of Trammell Crow. The citizens' group also started a recall effort against Mathison.

According to records at the Missouri Ethics Commission, Berkeley Citizens for an Honest Government received $8,250, most of it from TriStar and its friends. Between April 14 and July 15 of this year, TriStar gave $5,000; Forum Studio, an architectural arm of TriStar, donated $1,000; and Martin O'Basuyi, brother of Patrick O'Basuyi, donated $750.

Chapman defends the recall effort, saying it was simply to "support the people who are most likely to make good decisions about the development process. Do I want people who honestly sit down and review the merits of TriStar? Absolutely. I want people who will sit down and absolutely say, 'I am not committed to this developer or that developer. What I will do is judge it on the absolute merits of the proposal in front of us.'"

Says Branstetter: "It seems the sole purpose of this organization appears to be a takeover of the council so one particular developer could be voted in."

Sure enough, that happened. Bowser resigned in February, and Verges was elected to his seat. Last month, with Mathison's recall pending, the City Council rescinded the decision naming Trammell Crow the developer. Verges insists that the Trammell Crow vote was illegal anyway because under state statute, a TIF commission must be in place before a developer can be named. Chapman agrees: "I told them from the beginning that the process was flawed. The state statute is very clear."

Others, however -- including Westfall -- don't believe the law requires this.

After Berkeley's Sept. 5 vote to rescind Trammell Crow's selection, its City Council established a TIF commission. It also slipped in a curious deal, approving a $35,000 contract to hire Centro Consulting Co. to help negotiate the purchase of the land with the city of St. Louis and the airport. Mathison, who had never heard of Centro, inquired about the company. According to the minutes, McClendon said: "I just really went down the phone book and just asked different people." When Mathison pressed McClendon about Centro's credentials and who referred the company, McClendon said: "A consulting group referred them to me, and I'd rather not give their name."

Centro was set up by J. Kim Tucci, co-owner of the Pasta House Co., former airport commissioner, longtime player in local Democratic politics -- and good friend of Luther Boykins. At the time of the vote, Centro was not registered with the state as a company. A week later, on Sept. 12, Centro sent a letter to Deinbo, thanking him for the business. Thirteen days after that, Centro registered with the state. Tucci was unavailable for comment.

Asked last week who recommended Centro, Deinbo says he got Tucci's name by calling the office of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. "I can't remember who I talked to at the mayor's office," says Deinbo. "I just asked who had good connections with St. Louis."

Deinbo also says Griggs recommended Tucci. That comes as a surprise to Griggs. "You just told me something I don't know," says the airport director. "I had no idea Kim Tucci was a consultant for Berkeley."

With all the infighting in Berkeley and with Kinloch facing financial ruin, county officials clearly had their hands full trying to put together a package deal to cover all 438 acres. Westfall met with representatives of both Trammell Crow and TriStar to see whether he could get the two developers to work together. "I tried to bring these parties to the table," he says. "But these developers are obviously very successful and well financed and feel strongly enough to fight for development rights. I think they are both jockeying for political support. I told them I would love to see this development effort go forward and believe there is enough room for everybody at the table."

Speaking for Trammell Crow, Branstetter says: "We offered to Buzz Westfall an attempt to find some compromise so the project wouldn't be unnecessarily delayed, but not in a joint-venture format. To date, we understand that TriStar seems to be uninterested."

Chapman says TriStar believes that the cities must decide on any such development partnership, not the developers. "Why would we pretend to say we have the ability to engage in a negotiation like that when it's not up to us?" he asks.

After the meeting with the developers, Westfall turned his attention to Kinloch. He knows that Kinloch is fading fast. Kinloch's bleak revenue picture will place any development project in jeopardy, he says. "I seriously doubt that a bank is going to finance a project in a municipality that can barely provide service to its existing 449 residents," Westfall says. "I just don't see it happening. It would be too much of a financial risk."

Last month, Westfall set up a meeting with Conway and Pulliam-Jones.

"He said he wanted to meet about the future of Kinloch," Conway says. "We thought, 'Finally they are going to give us some real help.' I tried not to get my hopes up because of my past dealings with the county, but I went in trying to be optimistic."

Conway's optimism didn't last long. "First thing he [Westfall] said was that he had a meeting with Col. Griggs and Francis Slay and that they had decided to lift the moratorium on the buyout," Conway says. (In 1999, the airport voluntarily agreed to stop buying properties in Kinloch, at the city's request.) "They decided. Hell, I'm the mayor of Kinloch -- how come I wasn't invited to that meeting?" he asks. "How come you are discussing the future of a city without its mayor and residents?"

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