FOX 2 News, "You Paid For It" Features Crystal City
Elliott Davis, the investigative reporter for FOX 2 News' popular "You Paid For It" television series, aired a segment that he
prepared about the city government at Crystal City. The segment can be viewed here.
Jefferson County Port Authority Releases First Port Study
There was a meeting at Festus City Hall on Jan. 19, 2010 to discuss the new phase I feasibility study with the Festus, Crystal
City, Herculaneum and Pevely council members. There was another meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 in Crystal City to host an
open house for the public.
Click here (caution - big document) to download the 118 page feasibility study.
Click on the image to the left to see the detail of Alternative number 1 for Crystal City. The Crystal City alternatives begin appearing
on page 61 of the port study. The next step is for the Jefferson County Port Authority to solicit for funding for a phase II study.
The estimated cost of the phase II study is estimated to be around $500,000.
On Monday, November 9, 2009 a citizen addressed the council of Crystal City to express her views about how the State Audit
is being handled by the city of Crystal City. The short video below shows the end of her presentation where she is being
escorted out of the council chambers by the Crystal City police at the request of the Mayor.
The entire presentation can be found in two parts. Here
is part 1 and here is part 2.
EPA Decides Crystal City is Not Classified for Lead Non-attainment Area Boundary
There was a meeting on Wednesday, September 16th in Herculaneum regarding the extension of the lead non-attainment area
boundary.
Here is the presentation
from that meeting.
Here are the boundary maps of the proposed non-attainment areas which would include the northern portion of Crystal City. In
December of 2009 the EPA decided that Crystal City was unclassified.
.
SECRECY CONTINUES IN CRYSTAL CITY
The following video was filmed on the evening of March 5, 2009 at City Hall in Crystal City. What you are about
to watch is a vote by the Crystal City council on whether the financing for the smelter project should be revealed.
Why is this important? There are several reasons. First, it would reveal the
real motives behind the development of the smelter. But more
importantly, the 100 year lease that the city has signed with the smelter developer can be used as collateral for the
financing. You can look at the original Lease Agreement
here (careful it's 2MB) or a searchable MS Word version
of the same document here. Check out
page 11, Section 9.3.
So the real question is "why can't we know who is ultimately in control of a 100 year lease in our city"?
Some council members and the mayor of Crystal City think that you don't need to know.
WATCH THIS UNEDITED VIDEO OF THE PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE SMELTER CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT
The following video was filmed on the evening of March 2, 2009 at the Crystal City Elementary School.
It begins after the Alberici presentation.
LOW BLOWS, THE STATE AUDIT WAS NOT OVER
Part of the Crystal City audit was released. You can find it
here. But it was
still going on as of 4/22/2009.
There were several "low blows" delivered in the final days before the April 7, 2009 election for city council
members. Most noticeable was an ad printed in the local Leader newspaper. Click on the picture to
the left to see a larger version of it. This is a very misleading advertisement that strongly implies our
group (the Concerned Citizens of Crystal City) is wasting city time and money. It is simply not true.
Click HERE for more information on this and other "low blows" the
city administration have done.
Please Help - Click on the Donate Button
The Concerned Citizens for Crystal City is a non-profit 501(c)(4) Missouri Corporation. All
of our funding comes from private donations and public fundraisers. The money that we receive
goes entirely to public awareness campaigns, research activity and for capital to run
fundraisers.
Our awareness campaigns help to inform tax paying citizens of activities in our area that may otherwise have
gone unnoticed. Our research activity often requires money to pay government agencies for record
requests. Click here or on the Newsletter to the left to see the latest of our campaigns to inform the
people of Festus and Crystal City of recent developments.
Your donations are not tax deductible but they do help to insure that your health and property interests
are being protected. Jefferson County is currently one of the most sought after locations for
incoming corporations and industry. The Concerned Citizens for Crystal City group was formed
to help insure that the taxpaying citizens of our area are fairly represented.
If you would like to be informed about upcoming events via email just send us an email.
. Your
email will stay with us and no one else.
There are new lawn signs in Crystal City apparently expressing loyalty to the smelter project and the
industrial zoning that would allow a barge port to be put on Bill Bradley's farm.
But what exactly does the sign mean?
There are a group of arrows that form a circle with the words "Industry", "Jobs", "Progress", "Schools".
The CCCC group couldn't agree more. We have never been against any of these concepts. We are
only opposed to (1) the way the deals were done and (2) the lack of oversight by our governments to provide leadership and to
protect the citizens.
The phrase "We Are Crystal" serves no purpose but to alienate everyone that disagrees with the pro-smelter
group. It implies that all opposition to the smelter is from people outside of Crystal City or, worse
yet, people that live in Crystal City that are not in the pro-smelter circle. Crystal City residents are the only ones that can
vote for Crystal City issues. Let's let the voting record decide who "we" are.
This same theme is made even more obvious by the words
"Our Town Our Voice". These words go further to imply that the city of Crystal City belongs to
and is owned by this group of pro-smelter people. This attitude displayed by the pro-smelter
group should be an indication to anyone about the differences between the pro-smelter and anti-smelter groups.
The CCCC group believes that all citizens of Crystal City deserve an open government and an opportunity to vote for
the direction of the community. The city of Crystal City belongs to all of it's citizens and not just
some of them.
OPPOSITION TO SMELTER MOUNTS
In the Labor Tribune publication dated February 21, 2008 the Jefferson County Labor Club announced that they would campaign for
candidates opposed to the smelter plan.
On January 19, 2008 the Disability Resource Association issued a press release that they would stand with the citizens of
Crystal City that oppose the iron smelter.
See more recent documents in our documents section.
In a letter dated February 11, 2008, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has responded to a complaint of firebrick and glass cullet in Plattin Creek.
In that response MDNR is demanding that PPG sample the firebrick, do a metals analysis of Plattin Creek and investigate the firebrick
and glass cullet for removal or capping. MDNR states that these actions should have been part of the BVCP (Brownfields/Voluntary
Cleanup Program) that was done on the PPG property.
Probably the most important information that needs to be gathered is whether or not the firebrick contains Chromium 6.
Chromium 6 is the substance against which Erin Brockovich campaigned. It is highly toxic even in small doses.
In their letter to PPG, MDNR has requested a work plan from PPG. In an article in the Leader local newspaper published on February 20th,
Wings owner Jim Kennedy stated that this cleanup program will not impact the plans to build the smelter in Crystal City.
Videos from KJFF interviews and a video about why Jim Kennedy should move on.
What better way to spend a holiday than to sit down with your family and watch the latest videos about the Crystal City
Smelter Controversy. Here are the latest videos.
IF YOU ONLY HAVE TIME TO WATCH ONE SET OF OUR VIDEOS - THIS IS IT!
Speechless - Part 1
Speechless - Part 2
TO THE PEOPLE OF CRYSTAL CITY AND SURROUNDING AREAS:
Thank you for taking an interest in Crystal City's recent actions regarding the PPG site. You probably
have a lot of unanswered questions about what the smelter deal means to Crystal City, Festus and the surrounding
areas. Frankly, we have a lot of questions too. But we also have a lot of answers.
And we're getting more answers daily that we'd like to share with you.
We know that an agreement has been signed between the city of Crystal City, PPG and Wings
Enterprises. But it is not too late.
We are a growing group of concerned citizens that just want to be sure that our voices are heard. Our goal is
to stop the smelter. We are not anti-jobs and we are not anti-city. We are not sponsored by
any other organization.
Our justification for our actions is that the smelter will change the very complexion of our community for generations to
come and that this very important decision should not be made by a few in secret. Let your voice
be heard!
If you disagree with this objective you still owe it to yourself and your children to stay informed. There
is a forum for open discussion. All opinions are welcome.
