Picture This

Big Picture photographer Mike DeFilippo sent me this image of the City-owned property BJC leases for its parking garage.

Here are some of the facts:

•The hospital in the background of the image already employs 16,000 people in the City of St. Louis who pay millions of dollars in local taxes, and it wants to expand its operations

•The property in question is 12 acres east of Kingshighway directly behind the hospital complex

•The property isn’t natural parkland; it’s the top of a parking garage

•The property is already under a 90-year lease to BJC Healthcare — of which 44 years still remain

•BJC Healthcare currently pays approximately $150,000 a year on its lease, while the new proposal is for $1.8 million a year

For the newspaper’s view of the situation, read this.