St. Louis Seeks State Support for NGA
Date Posted: February 4, 2016
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Efforts to keep a federal spy facility in St. Louis moved to the state Capitol Tuesday.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was among a contingent of business, labor and government officials asking the Missouri Senate to support plans to relocate the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from its longtime home near the Anheuser-Busch brewery to a 100-acre site on the city’s north side.
“We certainly are working hard to keep the 3,000 jobs there,” Slay told members of a Senate panel considering a resolution in support of the move. “I think the site works well for the organization.”
The resolution is part of a full court press to keep the agency on the west side of the Mississippi River.
St. Louis is competing against a site in Illinois, where 400 acres has been offered on land near Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County.
The NGA, a combat support branch of the Department of Defense, would keep thousands of jobs in St. Louis and generate thousands of construction jobs during the construction phase, said the sponsor of the resolution, Senate Minority Leader Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis.
“This is the preferred location for the NGA as we seek to rebuild north St. Louis through jobs, safety and more economic development opportunities,” Keaveny said.