ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – A staple bookstore and cafe for one South City neighborhood is closing its doors this month after three years of serving up coffee and community.

“Lately, at the end of the day when I’m closing up, and I’m by myself, I look around, and it kinda hits me,” owner of Spine Indie Bookstore and Cafe Mark Pannebecker says.

“Community has definitely been built here,” Pannebecker tells First Alert 4. “Benton Park has been a nice home to us.”

The closure comes as Pannebecker sees less foot traffic and a landlord demanding higher rent.

“The increase wasn’t much at the end of the day, but it’s a razor thin margin,” Pannebecker says. “That extra rent might mean I don’t pay my electricity on time or something like that.”

Meanwhile, nearby businesses on historic Cherokee Street are set to see less funding after the city cut the taxing district that helped fund local events and draw in crowds.

“It is a shame that they allowed this to happen,” Shirley DeMay, owner of DeMay Ltd., Antiques & Furs, says.

The Cherokee-Lemp Special Business District (SBD), which was established in 1996 and runs east of Jefferson Avenue down Cherokee Street, draws in under $20,000 a year through property taxes, according to district leaders.

Several business owners tell First Alert 4 they fear this lack of funding will mean a drop in foot traffic.

“This is going to hurt the business owners already struggling to make ends meet,” DeMay says.

The reason for the district’s dissolution came at the request of district leadership, citing infighting, general dysfunction and money mismanagement. Board members agreed that throwing in the towel was the best option, so they proposed the dissolution to Alderwoman Cara Spencer.

“Being in charge of tax dollars is an awesome responsibility,” Spencer said at a January Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning Committee (HUDZ) meeting. “When it’s not done to the standard of the law, we have to be ready and willing to dissolve those taxing districts.”

Meanwhile, several business owners along Antique Row tell First Alert 4 they would have rather seen a change in the SBD’s leadership as opposed to a dissolution.

“We had several women apply to the board,” DeMay says, “to try and make a difference, but nobody heard back.”

At the time of the SBD’s dissolution, only five of seven positions were filled, and four of those members were serving over their term.

“It’s not the taxing district that’s the problem, it’s the board,” business owner Shannon Wolf said in a HUDZ committee meeting. “How can people who are not in compliance be the ones to dissolve our taxing district?”

The Cherokee-Lemp Special Business District passed the St. Louis Board of Alderman last month through Board Bill 150.

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