New Turn in St. Louis Stadium Lawsuit

When the city of St. Louis decided it wanted to build a new downtown ballpark for the St. Louis Cardinals, a group of citizens decided to act, rather than let public money go towards the project. The group, which became the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums, collected 30,000 signatures to get a referendum about stadium financing on the ballot. The measure, dubbed Proposition A, requires a vote of the public before money can be allocated on a stadium in the future, and was approved by 70 percent of the voters.

Now, a group supporting the stadium has filed suit, questioning the validity of Proposition A. While the judge in the case has dismissed as defendants two members of the Coalition that were sued in their individual capacity, the suit continues. The proposition does not affect the $45 million in bonds already sold by the county to finance the stadium, but it could affect the payments on those bonds. The Coalition wants the court to order onto the ballot a decision as to whether the $2.7 million in tourism tax money due May 1 as a payment on the bonds should be approved or rejected.

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