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Let’s face it. Sometimes you don’t do your homework on a consumer purchase. Here are the Top 7 excuses that can get you into trouble down the road according to Star Business columnist Ellen Roseman:

1. `I didn’t read the fine print.’
You may not understand the terms and conditions, but you can ask the company to help you decipher them. Consulting a lawyer certainly pays off when a big-ticket purchase is involved.

2. ‘I thought I had a cooling off period.’
In Ontario, you can cancel within 10 days if you make a purchase in your home. You can change your mind within 10 days of joining a fitness club. But there is no cooling off period when you buy a new car.

3. ‘I didn’t get my bill in the mail.’
You’re expected to pay for phone service, insurance, credit card transactions and so on, even if the monthly statement never arrives. You can call or check your account online to see what you owe.

4. ‘I trusted the sales person’s promises.’
You can’t trust any promises without getting them in writing no fax payday loans. Salespeople will say anything to get you to buy. Their first priority is to earn commissions, bonuses or incentives.

5. ‘I can’t afford to pay any more.’
When taking out a loan or signing a contract, ask about penalties if you lose your job, marriage or health and cannot meet your financial obligations. Are there options besides agreeing to a long-term commitment?

6. ‘I asked my spouse/partner to look after it.’
You have to understand and track the consumer purchases in your household, even if you are not directly involved. Intimate partners can depart or die, sticking you with the bills.

7. ‘I can’t find my receipt.’
Stores are tightening their refund policies to require receipts when you change your mind. Without one, you may get an exchange, credit, gift card or repair. Many large retailers will not give you a refund, even with a receipt, when you return an item after 90 days.

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When it comes to rebuilding American cities, there are two basic approaches: Big, sweeping visions. Or block-by-block rebirth.

And the conflict between those two ideas sits at the heart of the debate over Paul McKee’s plan to rebuild 1,500 acres of St. Louis’ north side.

Is the $8 billion vision — of job centers, and housing, new streets and parks — the kind of plan that St. Louis needs to become a new, more vibrant city? Or is it the top-down imposition of one man’s vision upon its citizens, bound to destroy even as it creates. Is it a shot for the moon? Or too big to succeed?

These are the questions city leaders and residents will be asking over the next few months as they consider McKee’s NorthSide proposal and his unprecedented request for $205 million in city backing and countless other incentives. And as they do, they’ll enter a debate between big and small that has existed in urban planning for generations.

A century ago, the great architect Daniel Burnham urged Chicago to "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood." He then authored a massive plan to rebuild downtown Chicago. It helped transform the city.

Fifty years later, famed urbanist Jane Jacobs urged the organic, block-by-block rebirth of

urban neighborhoods, and warned against ripping out the old to make everything shiny and new. She helped fight off plans to clear Greenwich Village for a highway.

Here in St. Louis, efforts at so-called "urban renewal" cleared the Mill Creek Valley to build Highway 40, then built the doomed Pruitt-Igoe housing complex. More recently, city neighborhoods such as Tower Grove South and Benton Park have revived themselves on a diet of small-scale rehabs, even as downtown silver bullets like Ballpark Village and the Bottle District remain just dreams.

"The areas that have fared best have really been driven by that block-by-block mentality," said Claralyn Bollinger, president of ReVitalize St. Louis, a coalition of neighborhood activists. "It takes a whole community to make projects happen that make a neighborhood strong.

SILVER CANNONBALL

McKee’s plan is much grander than those — perhaps the biggest ever proposed in St. Louis. It’s more like a silver cannonball than a silver bullet. To make it work, he pledges to combine the best of both approaches — the diverse urbanity of Jacobs with the inspiring scale of Burnham.

"You have to engulf that whole huge area with a new sense of belief," he said.

It’s a project on the kind of scope the government used to do, several local planners noted, back in urban renewal days. They didn’t always work out as planned.

Mill Creek, for instance, still generates resentment, said veteran St. Louis architect Andy Trivers, over the thousands of people displaced to build a highway.

"It was a different world," Trivers said. "And that was OK then ‘for the greater good.’ But it really wasn’t good."

Inevitably, there was a backlash. Citizen activists fought off big projects, and the government gradually took a more hands-off approach. Neighborhood-run development groups came into vogue, and public-private partnerships replaced big government projects.

That’s especially true in St. Louis, said Sarah Coffin, a professor of urban planning at St. Louis University. The city has taken a light touch to planning, especially at the neighborhood level. Coupled with a weak real estate market, that opened a window for a developer like McKee to create his own vision.

"The city’s not going to lead," she said. "So the private sector will."

REACHING OUT

And while private development may be more efficient, it raises its own set of thorny issues — like public involvement.

The sharpest criticism of McKee comes from those who say his plan is too top-down, that he hasn’t done enough to engage a community that feels alienated by his five years of silent land-buying fast cash loan utah.

But McKee, chairman of McEagle Properties in O’Fallon, Mo., is a private developer. Until now, he hasn’t had to engage the public, notes Todd Swanstrom, a professor of public policy at the University of Missouri—St. Louis. But he wants the city’s approval for $410 million in infrastructure financing — and its agreement to pay back half that sum if the project can’t — and that will force it into the public realm.

"He’s going to have to be very public," Swanstrom said. "There can’t be too much consultation."

Still, more consultation from the start would have been better, said Bollinger.

Most of the small local groups that have worked to turn around neighborhoods across the city in recent years have focused on community involvement, she said. They’ve woven rehabs and new businesses into the existing fabric.

"And I’m not convinced that putting down a huge-scale development like this is going to be a panacea," Bollinger said.

A DIFFERENT WAY

Just across Florissant Avenue from the footprint of McKee’s project, sits a contrast to that huge scale development — Old North St. Louis.

That neighborhood has seen a wave of rehabs and new homes built in recent years, and the nonprofit Old North St. Louis Restoration Group will finish a 27-building, $35 million redevelopment of the 14th Street pedestrian mall. The once nearly empty plaza will soon house shops and businesses on the street level, with 80 apartments above.

Local residents have driven nearly all these efforts, said Sean Thomas, the group’s executive director. And they’ve focused on building from existing assets of the neighborhood. It takes a long time, though.

"One of the great challenges is we have to do it piece by piece. We just don’t have the resources to do everything," Thomas said. "But it happens at a pace that people can adjust."

Farther west, where McKee is working, there’s less fabric to build on and fewer residents. McEagle’s request for city financing says 44 percent of the 1,500-acre redevelopment area is either vacant land or vacant buildings. About 8,900 people live there, many in apartment complexes or developments that would stay put. And McKee says he wants to build around and include existing residents.

TOO BIG TO FAIL?

While some observers blame McKee for helping tear down that fabric and drive down the population as he has bought land in recent years, others note that the near north side has long been troubled.

"It’s the scar of 50 years of disinvestment," said Rick Bonasch, a veteran of St. Louis community development who has launched a blog that follows NorthSide. "And it’s big.

So big, McKee argues, that the area needs a really big plan if it will ever turn around. Nothing small will do the trick.

"We’re trying to affect something in a big way," McKee said.

That’s why he bought as much land as he could, where he did, he said. And it’s why he’s asking the city for more: To create jobs and build new neighborhoods in a place that’s seen too little organic growth for too long.

It’ll take a lot of land. McKee’s already got some. And that speaks to another truth of really big plans, Bonasch noted. In a sense, they’re too big to fail.

"We all kind of have a stake in him being a success here," he said. "He controls a lot of land, and I don’t think he’s going away."

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Chrysler’s bankruptcy lasted just six weeks, but its next test — operating as a Fiat SpA-controlled company — arguably will last longer.

The road ahead for Chrysler Group LLC remains a rocky one, analysts say, despite being saved from liquidation by Fiat of Italy.

Benefits of the partnership, such as sharing vehicle platforms and dealership networks, won’t surface until mid-2011, when the first vehicles using Fiat platforms arrive at U.S. dealerships, according to one analyst’s timeline.

Until then, the alliance must figure out how to endure a dire market without a strong portfolio of new products. It also must implement its plans to make and sell Fiat vehicles in the U.S.

"The next couple of years are going to be about figuring out the difference between the idea and reality," said Stephanie Brinley, a Troy, Mich.-based analyst for auto consulting firm AutoPacific.

Already, the automaker has taken sweeping steps: It laid off workers, cut production and announced plant closures — including both assembly plants in Fenton — to restructure and survive. It has a new leader, Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who spearheaded a turnaround at the Italian automaker in recent years.

But Marchionne and Chrysler still face worrying obstacles:

— Tumbling sales caused by the global recession and tight credit.

— Consumers’ negative perception of a bankrupt company.

— An aging product line with few new products in the pipeline until the Fiat-based vehicles arrive.

Those issues will push Chrysler’s U.S. market share below 5 percent in the next 12 to 15 months, predicted Erich Merkle, president of Autoconomy.com in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Chrysler had a 13.6 percent market share in 2005 and was the No. 3 automaker in terms of U.S. market share, according to data from J.D. Power and Associates. The next year, Toyota pushed Chrysler into the fourth spot.

Merkle estimates Nissan and the South Korean conglomerate of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group will outpace Chrysler’s U.S. market share in the next six months. That could push Chrysler to the No. 7 spot, he said.

"Every time you find a new partner, the product cadence and product pipeline takes a hit," Merkle said of Chrysler’s new alliance.

Chrysler, for its part, contends it has 24 new vehicles in the next four years. Spokesman Rick Deneau declined to say how many of those were new-name products versus redesigned versions of existing models.

In 2010, it will launch completely redesigned versions of the Chrysler 300, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Charger and Dodge Durango, he said.

Another analyst, Jim Hall, said that for the next few years, Chrysler will need to live off its profitable vehicles — the minivans and the Dodge Ram. Both have had sales challenges.

"They have to play with what they’ve got," said Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics in Birmingham, Mich.

FIAT TURNAROUND

But the automaker will be playing with a new leader, Marchionne.

Marchionne took the helm of Fiat in 2004, when the automaker was at the edge of bankruptcy. By changing its management and elevating younger employees to higher positions, he helped Fiat rebound, said Pierluigi Bellini, an associate director in Milan, Italy, for IHS Global Insight.

"He’s a very strong leader. He thinks very much outside of the box," Bellini said. "He’s very demanding (of those he oversees) but also gives a lot of empowerment to them."

Marchionne also has forged more than two dozen partnerships globally, Bellini added. And it seems he intends to do more: Marchionne told trade publication Automotive News that manufacturers need to make 5.5 million vehicles a year to remain profitable and survive.

Fiat made about 2.4 million vehicles last year among its Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Iveco units, according to IHS Global Insight data. Chrysler made about 1.9 million vehicles among its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands.

Bellini expects that Marchionne will continue to pursue alliances.

Just two weeks into his position as the head of the new Chrysler company, he is using a similar shake-up to the one implemented with Fiat.

Earlier this month, on the day Chrysler and Fiat finalized their deal, Marchionne announced changes to the new company’s leadership classic car insurance. He promoted several Chrysler executives, including Jim Press as his deputy chief executive, but also brought in a few Fiat leaders.

Fiat is "certainly not coming in and taking over," Brinley said, adding that Marchionne kept many responsibilities with North American, not Italian, executives.

A request to talk with Marchionne or one of his executives was not granted. Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said the company is not making executives available for interviews.

WHAT’S NEXT

Fiat SpA took an initial 20 percent stake in the U.S. automaker earlier this month. In exchange, the Italian automaker will give Chrysler access to small-car platforms at a time when the U.S. company’s lineup is skewed toward pickups and sport utility vehicles. It also gives Chrysler another inroad to selling vehicles outside North America — a feat the U.S. automaker has struggled to achieve.

For Fiat, the alliance gives it access to Chrysler’s manufacturing facilities and dealership network. Fiat made a strong push in the U.S. market in the 1960s and 1970s but pulled out after distribution and quality problems, according to IHS Global Insight.

"Fiat has been looking for returning to the U.S. with the Alfa Romeo (luxury) brand for years," Bellini said.

Several Alfa Romeo cars are scheduled for the U.S. market in the next few years, according to a research note by IHS Global Insight. Likely plans include:

— The Alfa 169 sedan will be built in Chrysler’s Brampton, Ontario, plant in November 2011 for the 2012 model year.

— The Alfa Romeo GTX will be built at Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit in July 2011.

— The Alfa Romeo MiTo hatchback will be built at the Belvidere, Ill., plant in July 2011.

Some Chrysler products — like the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Liberty — likely will be built on Fiat-based platforms, the research note said.

The only Fiat-badged model to be sold in the U.S., the Fiat 500 subcompact, will be made at Chrysler’s Toluca, Mexico, plant starting roughly in July 2011, according to IHS Global Insight.

Chrysler’s Deneau said Marchionne told employees a few weeks ago that product plans for the Chrysler-Fiat alliance could be unveiled in 60 to 90 days. He could not provide details about specific vehicles.

Deneau also wouldn’t comment on IHS Global Insight’s report of the mid-2011 timeline for Fiat-based vehicles to be sold in the U.S.

But before those car designs come to the U.S., Fiat and Chrysler will have to address differences in federal vehicle regulations and pricing structures.

"Europeans are willing to pay more for small cars (than Americans), and they’re willing to pay for features in small cars," Brinley said.

Several analysts said American car shoppers may not eagerly embrace the Fiat products for several reasons. First, the reputation of poor quality that Fiat left in the U.S. may dissuade consumers from returning to the automakers’ brands, analysts said.

Second, analysts question whether the U.S. government, and not consumer demand, is leading the push for smaller cars on U.S. roads.

"The U.S. is not (a big market) for small, compact cars," even if gasoline prices go higher and the government implements higher fuel regulations, Bellini said. "I still think the American people like big cars, maybe with smaller engines."

Whether Fiat can sell these smaller vehicles in the U.S. is difficult to gauge.

And some say the Fiat alliance won’t accomplish Chrysler’s most important goal: saving it from an eventual breakup.

Merkle said he was glad a bankruptcy judge approved the alliance because it gives Chrysler a chance to wind down operations versus a quick liquidation.

A possible scenario, he said, is Fiat selling off the Jeep and pickup brands, while keeping some Chrysler plants open to produce its own products in North America.

"I take no pleasure in saying that because I love the Chrysler (brands)," he said. "I just don’t see how they get through this."

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The commercial was a LONG way from Budweiser Clydesdales and Dalmatians.

The plot: A guy stops by a convenience store to pick up a six-pack of Bud Light — as well as lip gloss, batteries and a pornographic magazine. Things quickly go downhill. A cute girl walks up — "Jim? Jim Scott? I haven’t seen you since prom!" — and is instantly scandalized. Jim tries to beat a hasty retreat but is taken hostage by a pistol-wielding robber. TV crews show up, identifying him by name as the "local porno buyer."

You won’t see the ad on TV. Not in this lifetime. Anheuser-Busch, maker of Bud Light, couldn’t get this ad past the network censors, even if it wanted to do so. (It doesn’t.)

Instead, the ad was made to live only on the Web. Quietly unveiled in February after the Super Bowl, "Magazine Buyer" was a "secret" spot, available at first only to viewers who had text-messaged Anheuser-Busch and then logged on to BudBowl.com.

The commercial is a prime example of how companies are using the Web to venture into edgier territory as they try to grab the attention of elusive and increasingly distracted consumers.

The loose, largely unregulated ethos of the Web allows mainstream brands like Bud Light — America’s bestselling beer, backed up by $500 million in measured advertising over three years — to try racier content.

"There are many more vehicles available to advertisers which accept advertisements that push to the edge, if not go off the edge of a cliff," said Dan Howard, professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University.

Numerous big advertisers have used the Internet to explore the boundaries of good taste. In 2006, electric razor maker Philips rolled out a website called shaveeverywhere.com. The site encourages "male bodygrooming," i.e., shaving … but not the face.

Anheuser-Busch has been evaluating its ability to push the envelope online as a way to build buzz among a target audience. For Bud Light, that’s guys ages roughly 21-27.

One Internet-only ad from 2007 portrays "Scott" seeking forgiveness for making a naughty video with a lady friend, and then selling it to a chain of video stores to pay for lap dances. Scott resolves the situation by getting a robot named "Apology-Bot 3000" to deliver a Bud Light to the lady.

But a Bud Light commercial called "Swear Jar" may be the granddaddy of all Internet-only ads. The plot: Office workers have to pay a quarter for every curse word, with the proceeds going to pay for Bud Light. The result: rampant and ferocious — albeit bleeped-out — cursing.

The commercial swiftly went "viral" after its 2007 launch. It has been viewed more than 12 million times on the Web, a level of exposure that a lot of TV advertisers would love to have.

Rather than passively watching, Web surfers seek out or make a decision to click on an online video. Advertisers covet that engagement.

"You’ve got to go on the Internet and look for that ad, find it and then watch it," said Howard payday advance lenders. "Who’s going to do that? People who want to, who have heard it’s a great commercial."

Keith Levy, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement that the "Magazine Buyer" spot carried on the company’s tradition of sending outrageous humor onto the Internet.

A-B tested the "Magazine Buyer" concept extensively to make sure adult consumers appreciated the humor, Levy said.

Apparently, they did. Even though the video began its life as a "secret" spot on BudBowl.com — an A-B website that requires visitors to enter a birth date showing they are 21 or older — it quickly migrated to YouTube. It has been viewed more than 700,000 times.

Of course, testing the bounds of appropriateness doesn’t just happen on the Internet.

Hardee’s, which became infamous for ads featuring Paris Hilton washing a Bentley and another woman riding a mechanical bull, continues to use sexual innuendo. But Hardee’s, the St. Louis-based subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, is not alone. Quiznos’ TV commercials now make risqu

VANCOUVER–The former president and CEO of Southwestern Resources Corp., John Paterson, has settled with the British Columbia Securities Commission after admitting to fraud and illegal insider trading related to the Boka project in China.

The commission said yesterday that Paterson admitted to:

Entering false assay results related to the Boka project into the company database.

Causing the false data to be reported in 24 news releases between March 7, 2003, and Feb. 21, 2007.

Illegal insider trading by selling 50,000 Southwestern shares on July 16, 2007, at a price of $5.96 per share, or about $298,200.

On July 19, 2007, the day Southwestern announced the errors in the previously reported assay results for the Boka project, the trading price of Southwestern shares closed at $2 online cash advance.90. The commission said Paterson avoided a loss of about $153,000.

"He traded with the knowledge that Southwestern would have to issue a news release correcting the gold assay values for the Boka project," the commission said.

Paterson, a geologist, is banned for life from preparing mining disclosure for issuers, trading securities or acting as a director or officer.

Paterson is unable to pay the $3.5 million fine the commission would have imposed.

The Canadian Press

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Federal inspectors are probing the failure of an auxiliary water pump at AmerenUE’s Callaway nuclear plant last month.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday began an investigation into the cause of the pump failure at the 1,190-megawatt nuclear plant and will report its findings in four to six weeks, agency spokesman Victor Dricks said.

The pumps are backup equipment used to supply water to the plant’s steam generators. Water is used to produce steam for generating electricity and also is needed for cooling the reactor.

AmerenUE discovered the equipment failure during routine testing on May 25 while the plant was shut down cash advance lenders. The pump was subsequently repaired and restarted without affecting plant operations, according to the NRC.

"We found it, we reported it, but we haven’t totally determined the root cause yet," AmerenUE spokesman Mike Cleary said.

The pumps being looked at are different from those that led to two plant shutdowns during a three-day period in December.

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Nortel Networks Corp. has reached a deal to sell its wireless unit to Nokia Siemens Networks for $650 million (U.S.).

The agreement, announced late yesterday, specifies at least 2,500 employees "would have the opportunity to continue" with Nokia Siemens, Nortel stated in a release.

Nokia Siemens is buying Nortel technology called code division multiple access, or CDMA, and long term evolution, known as LTE.

The deal, known as a "stalking horse sale agreement," confirms earlier reports that Nokia was among the rumoured bidders for the assets of the now-bankrupt former telecommunications giant.

"This will ensure Nortel’s strong assets – technologies, customer relationships, and employees – continue to play an important role in driving the future of communications," Nortel chief executive Mike Zafirovski stated in the release.

“We really believe this is good for Canada,” Sue Spradley, head of North America for Nokia Siemens Networks, said in an interview business cards on sale. “We absolutely believe this is very complementary for the market, for the employees, and we really want to remain in Canada and be a significant global player here.”

Toronto-based Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States in January after racking up losses of $7 billion over two years. The company, which has announced plans to fire 5,000 employees this year, or about 15 per cent of its workforce, has until July 30 to file a restructuring plan.

A "stalking horse" agreement is designed to coax other potential buyers out of the shadows. If Nokia Siemens were outbid for the wireless assets in a court-supervised auction, it would be entitled to a breakup fee plus expenses.

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Roberts Cos. said Friday it is converting the former Enright School to independent senior living apartments. The building has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation, which began in 2006.

About 20 people living there now will have to move when their leases expire, said Maureen Smallwood, who will manage the converted facility, now called Roberts Place Senior Living. Roberts Cos. spent $20 million to buy and renovate the one-time school as part of the Roberts Place development in the 5300 block of Enright Avenue. The school opened in 1905 pay day loan.

Smallwood said about 70 apartments will be modified with lower cabinets and improved emergency-response systems. Senior residents will be offered "hospitality services" such as meals and housekeeping, she added.

Depending on the success of the senior-living project, fully accessible homes may be built adjacent to the apartments, Smallwood said.

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Texas billionaire Allen Stanford will appear in a federal court in Virginia on Friday over allegations of massive fraud involving his Antigua bank, U.S. officials said after he surrendered to the FBI.

Stanford is expected to be transferred to Houston after his initial court appearance to face criminal charges in a sealed indictment, a federal official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The golf and cricket promoter already faces civil charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that he fraudulently sold $8 billion in certificates of deposit with improbably high interest rates from his Stanford International Bank Ltd, headquartered in Antigua.

Stanford, 59, was spending the night in a Virginia jail and was due to appear before a federal magistrate judge on Friday morning in Richmond, the federal official said.

“He surrendered,” Dick DeGuerin, Stanford’s Texas attorney, told Reuters by telephone on Thursday after speaking with his client. “He’s in FBI custody.”

The Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on Stanford’s arrest.

Justice Department officials, including the U.S. attorney from Houston, plan to hold a news conference on Friday in Washington to announce the criminal charges.

Stanford, who holds dual U.S. and Antigua and Barbuda citizenship, denies any wrongdoing and has said he would put up “the fight of my life” if indicted faxless cash advances.

“If the SEC had not come in and disemboweled a living, breathing strong organization the way they did, there’s no question on God’s green earth that everyone would have been made whole and we would have had a lot of money left over,” Stanford told Reuters in an interview in April.

‘MASSIVE PONZI SCHEME’

In its civil case, the SEC in February accused Stanford, his college roommate and three of their companies of carrying out a “massive Ponzi scheme” over at least a decade and misappropriating at least $1.6 billion of investors’ money.

“This starts to bring closure for the victims,” said Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC enforcement official, referring to the criminal indictment.

Stanford now faces concrete charges and “is no longer swinging at a pinata,” said Frenkel, now an attorney in Rockville, Maryland.

The first American to be knighted by Antigua and Barbuda in 2006, Stanford made his first fortune in real estate in the early 1980s and expanded the family firm into a global wealth management company.

Before the SEC leveled the fraud charges, his personal fortune was estimated at $2.2 billion by Forbes magazine. Stanford was a generous sports patron and owned homes in Antigua, St. Croix, Florida and Texas. 

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If you want to know how the recession is playing out in the average American city, you’ve got a front-row seat right here in St. Louis.

A report out today by the Brookings Institution ranks the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas by their performance on four key economic indicators since the recession began. St. Louis ranked 49th. The only place more average is Nashville.

What it means to be in the middle of the economic pack these days is that 2.3 percent of the region’s jobs have vanished, and its unemployment rate is up by 3.2 percentage points. It means a relatively steep 4.6 percent fall in our "gross metropolitan product" — the sum value of everything that gets made here — and a much shallower 0.2 percent drop in housing prices, adjusted for inflation.

In other words, the economy here is lousy.

But the Brookings report also illuminates where things are lousiest, and where they are less so.

The best performing regions, it found, are largely in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma — the energy belt — followed by Northeastern cities with strong higher education, health care and biotech sectors and manufacturing that’s not tied to the auto industry.

The hardest-hit cities were housing boomtowns in Florida and inland California, and auto-making hubs such as Toledo, Youngstown and Detroit — which sits at the bottom of the list.

Now, as thoughts turn to recovery, those places that have fallen the furthest likely will take the longest to recover, said Howard Wial, a Brookings fellow who co-authored the report.

Meanwhile, a few lighter-hit regions such as Baton Rouge, La., and McAllen, Tex., already are beginning to bounce back.

"This is, regionally, going to be a tremendously varied recovery," Wial said creditreport.

He thinks St. Louis likely will track the national economy, which many experts think will start growing again late this year or early next — though the job market will take longer to revive. Auto sector cuts have hurt here, Wial noted, but St. Louis’ economy is diverse and other, more-stable sectors have helped cushion the blow.

Still, St. Louis long has been slow-growth, and if it wants to jump ahead of the pack coming out of the recession, Wial said, it must build on its strengths in health care, advanced non-auto manufacturing and biotech.

That last one — biotech — is what brought dozens of local business leaders to Creve Coeur on Tuesday for the grand opening of the Bio Research and Development Growth Park. The $40 million building, next door to the Danforth Plant Science Center, will house plant sciences companies that are trying to turn their research into products they can sell.

As the center opens, it is 63 percent leased, said President Sam Fiorello, and two more buildings are planned. He envisions a campus with 400,000 square feet of offices and labs and more than 1,100 scientists, technicians and entrepreneurs, building new companies and making the region a real hub for plant sciences.

"Those are really good jobs," he said.

And it’s the kind of thing St. Louis must do, Fiorello and others at Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting said, if it hopes to get someplace after the recession that is, economically speaking, a little better than average.

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