"....but Gondolfi is one of the local business owners who believe Schmid has done a good job guiding the neighborhood out of a bleak period, but that his protective nature may be stifiling new growth."

let's see...

"guiding the neighborhoood out of a bleak period..."

"protective nature stifling new growth..."

Which is it? He's either "doing a good job guiding" or "stiflng new growth", but I don't see how could be doing both.

Do you?

Schmid's treatment here sounds more like a case of "no good deed going unpunished".

"It's a celebration of financial ruin." - The Liquor License Candidate to St. Louis Magazine regarding his business.

@Just Saying

There's no contradiction here. Gondolfi is saying that Schmid has done a good job guiding the neighborhood through some rough spots, but now that some of those problems have been mitigated it might be time to loosen up some of those policies--because now they might be stifling growth. Things change, leadership needs to change and adapt too, sometimes not changing policies that have worked well in the past can be detrimental to the future. It's kinda like if you break a bone you'll need to wear a cast--wearing a cast in that situation is good, it allows the bone to set and heal. But at some point you need to take the cast off--because if you don't the muscles might atrophy and become unusable. Schmid might have been right to put the cast on to begin with, but now it’s time to take it off.