The St. Louis Rehabbers' Club listserve has had a string of posts questioning whether you need a business license to be a part-time landlord.  Apparently the recently reinvigorated License Collector's Office is finally enforcing this. 

Here's the start of the thread:

This might be hidden away in the some unenforced ordinance somewhere,
but has anyone heard about needing a business license to rent your own
properties. The city has come at me out of the blue on this saying I
need to pay $200 a year because I don't live in a building I am
renting. The say that is tantamount to running a property management
business. But this is MY property.

When calling the city for more information they admitted that this
hasn't been enforced for years, but that they are looking for new
revenue streams. They actually said that they are tracking down
landowners they can find, but that those that are hidden away through
LLC's and such will pretty much be ignored. What kind of system is that?

And when I asked for an ordinance number to actually verify that this
wasn't totally bogus, nobody was able to produce it. I was transferred
from one phone to another for 15 minutes and finally someone said that
they would call me back today. This is insane. I'm an avid supporter
of the city, but I think that through income and property taxes,
occupancy inspection and building permits, the city is already taking
enough money from me and my building.

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Rep Rodney Hubbard offered three amendments.

The first was adopted. It strengthened the language requiring the Board of Aldermen to approve the deveopment.  Instead of the vague "municipal authority," it now says the "governing body of the municipality."

The second amendment failed. It would have reduced the size and scope of the project bringing the development area down to 30 acres and minimum amount to qualify for the credits to two acres. 

The third amendment failed. It would have mandated three public meeting with reasonable prior notice.

From organizers of today's tour:

Below please find a reminder about tomorrow's tour of the controversial
McKee properties in north St. Louis sponsored by Alderwoman April
Ford-Griffin, Alderwoman Marlene Davis, Rep. Jamilah Nasheed and
myself.
Interestingly enough, announcing the tour has touched off a flurry of
activity. Today City trucks arrived at the 29xx block of Montgomery and
commenced to mow, trim, and board up windows and doors at a mighty
rate.
Interesting timing......

Reps. Jeanette Mott Oxford and Jamilah Nasheed have offered an invitation to their fellow St. Louis representatives to tour the area that would impacted by the "McKee" tax credit proposal in the Governor's economic development bill.

ST. LOUIS – Pilots of St. Louis-based Trans States Airlines held a
rally Friday in Forest Park to draw attention to their negotiations
with their airline company, saying their employer was being greedy and
featuring a 25-foot tall money-grubbing rat.

The pilots, represented by the Airline Pilots Association, or ALPA,
want discussion on several issues including schedules that will result
in more rest for reserve pilots, better healthcare coverage, and
improved grievance processes.  ALPA representatives accused Trans
States Airline executives of dragging their feet with current
negotiations and creating another airline, Go Jet, to circumvent their
contract requirements.

One of the keynote speakers, Captain John Prater, president of the
Airline Pilots Association, or ALPA, announced the authorization of $2
million in contingency funds for negotiations between pilots and the
airline.  Trans States Airlines has more than 600 ALPA-member pilots
who are working with an indefinite, amended contract.

Another ALPA representative, Captain Tom Wycor said if contract
negotiations with Trans States didn't improve, the union would begin
hosting job fairs for pilots, luring them away from their current
airline.

Regional jet carriers are having trouble recruiting and retaining
competent pilots.  With the average salary for a Trans States first
officer being a little over $20,000 a year, the airline was recently
forced to lower their minimum required flight hours to a mere 250 to
attract new pilots, some of its most recent hires having less than a
year of experience flying an aircraft.

Story and Photo by Chuck Miller.

Mike Evans, Democrat for Lt. Governor, released the following statement
about Governor Matt Blunt's decision to veto HB # 327.

"Governor Matt Blunt stood with the people of the state. There was a
message from the people of Missouri that HB # 327 is not going to fly. It
is also clear that Lt. Governor Peter Kinder by his lobbying and State
Representative Sam Page with his vote stood with the special interests and
the lobbyists, not the people of Missouri. I now call on Governor Blunt to
do the right thing and call the legislature back into session to give us
an economic development bill that is fair and does not give lucrative tax
cuts to wealthy campaign contributors. I also challenge the Governor to
use the special session to find a way to restore health care to the
700,000 Missourians who lost it with the NO Health Net scheme, including
120,000+ Missouri children."

Governor Matt Blunt

Office of the Governor

Room 216, State Capitol Building

Jefferson City, Missouri 65101

Dear Governor: