THE LOCUSTS ARE COMING...AGAIN

The locusts are descending, and by the time they reach the Missouri Capitol they may well have reached the size and strength to accomplish their hidden agenda.

The point that should cause the most concern, however, is that those in a position of power to repel the approaching hordes may, by next January, be unprepared for the invasion or, worse still, be unable to halt the threat.

Enough about locusts. I must be more specific or you'll have no hint of a major issue that will be facing next year's session of the General Assembly, which begins in January. I mean no disrespect in using the word locust to describe the forthcoming effort in Jefferson City to involve the State of Missouri in a major new urban undertaking.

That project is one which will be euphemistically called a Missouri Transportation Policy, but which in reality will be fashioned to meet one need of the state's largest urban area. And that need is to solve a major dilemma that has attached itself to the inauguration of a rapid transit system in St. Louis called MetroLink.

This proposed transportation policy will be similar to the inspired Urban Tourism Policy of a few years ago, which was fashioned to meet the need, once again, of only one city, St. Louis, which was then in the early stages of attracting another professional football team to its locale.

The Urban Tourism Policy, which originated just before Branson, Mo., became the billion-dollar industry that it is today, had as its principal tenet the argument that Missouri's principal tourist areas were the urban centers of the state, and thus the development of a half-billion-dollar (interest included) domed football stadium was a logical and sound financial investment for all 5.1 million residents of the state.

That policy, which would also answer to such names as subsidy, boondoggle and robbery, brought about a multimillion dollar giveaway to St. Louis and Kansas City, the latter deciding to use its state gift to revitalize its dilapidated downtown area with some kind of hotel. St. Louis used its money to complete an expensive, expansive convention center, but strangely enough the center itself was already financed and so the funds were simply fully utilized to build an indoor stadium. That was the intent all along, but the state did not have a Football Stadium Policy and so a certain amount of subterfuge was used. If you're shocked by this, don't be. Subterfuge is the middle name of state politics.

With the stadium contracts all let and with Missouri's tax dollars fully committed, political and civic leaders in St. Louis have found themselves in another difficult position, a not uncommon spot in urban politics, regardless of its city of origin. City officials in years past eagerly pursued, with the help of the area's leading congressmen and senators, federal grants to build a marvelous new rapid transit system, envisioned to connect eastern Illinois communities with the inner city and the outlying county, including Lambert Airport, Forest Park and other destinations in the metropolitan area.

The federal rapid transit grants were a real gift from the taxpayers of America, who put up 100 cents on the dollar to build a light rail system that was soon to be labeled "the ultimate in wasteful pork-barrel spending." The label is not misapplied, although supercollider and S&L buyouts are projects that also come to mind.

As the system was nearing completion, it dawned on St. Louis officials that while they had initially received $314.5 million to build MetroLink, they couldn't get their hands on any federal money to operate the system. Uncle Sam doesn't pay to operate local projects that he fully funds, a policy that left St. Louis with a projected $10 million operating deficit in just the first few months of operation.

So that's where the need to devise still another new state policy came into being. It's politically risky to head for Jefferson City asking for a genuine handout, even if the need is embarrassing and pressing. Politicians know how to say no to those begging for handouts since they have been doing it for years to people who are hungry and sick. Welfare isn't even politically popular, so naturally, nothing comes easily to folks who are in need.

And asking for a loan is risky, too. After state funds were granted to bankrupt symphony orchestras in St. Louis and Kansas City, it became impossible for Jefferson City to get its money back, even though generous extensions were requested and granted several times. Lawmakers in the two urban areas sought to devise a policy during the delinquency period that would make it legal for the state to bestow these gifts in the interest of cultural enrichment for everybody in the state. But like horses, loan policies are difficult to change in midstream and eventually, Missouri had to forgive most of the loans in lieu of "free" performances by these groups in some outstate sections of the state. It turned out that promises to repay the loans were never made in good faith, and politicians in the urban areas later boasted to voters that they had "saved" the symphonies from bankruptcy.

Under provisions of the Urban Tourist Policy, the state was given partial ownership of the domed stadium in the event any profit was ever realized. But in the meantime, taxes to pay St. Louis County's one-fourth share in the stadium were levied on hotel rooms, so thousands of outstate Missourians find themselves, unknowingly we might add, the principal investors in a limited-use stadium. We have our former Republican governor and a Democratic General Assembly to thank for our excessive investment in what is known in banking quarters as a "lousy loan."

There is no doubt that a new Missouri Transportation Policy will be proposed, if indeed it has not already been written, in the next legislative session. The policy will call for liberal allotments to cities in Missouri to improve transportation. The formula will be so written as to allow St. Louis the $10 million it needs to operate the light rail system that was built entirely by federal public funds.

Get ready, Missourians, the locusts are getting ready to pick your pockets. Again.