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ST. LOUIS — A revised bill channeling $37 million in federal pandemic aid to revive businesses along 10 major north St. Louis streets won preliminary approval Thursday from the Board of Aldermen.

The board endorsed the bill, 25-0, after aldermen and board president Lewis Reed agreed to changes worked out in advance with Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green. The mayor vetoed an earlier version last summer.

Also Thursday, Black aldermen convinced the full board to revise a previously endorsed $87 million capital improvements bill to shift $7.6 million to several North Side street projects from three major bridge replacements planned for the city’s central corridor.

The two spending bills are both now expected to gain final passage Monday at the last meeting of the board’s 2021-22 session.

Regarding the $37 million business aid bill, Reed, the sponsor, said in a statement that “our residents deserve the safety, stability and access to opportunities these funds will provide.�

A spokesman for Jones said the mayor supports the revised bill and an aide to Green said she is glad to see it move forward.

The measure allows businesses and nonprofits to apply for grants funding expansion or community services, which Reed and other supporters say is sorely needed in an area of the city that has seen disinvestment for decades.

Grants also would be available for a portion of the costs to rehab commercial storefronts and other property along 10 North Side streets.

Alderman Sharon Tyus, 1st Ward, played a key role in crafting the amendments after Jones and Green sought changes to the bill at a meeting last month of the city’s top fiscal body — the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

“We’re right now at a crunch, and we want to get this money spent,� Tyus told fellow aldermen Thursday about the need to advance the bill.

One change will require the city to devise applications for grants by June 1 so the process can begin then; it also will allow city libraries to assist people in submitting digital or paper applications.

Another will route the money for legal reasons through the city Community Development Administration before going to the St. Louis Development Corp., which would oversee the program.

In another change, any grant or project in a ward would have to win the approval of the ward’s alderman, not just those above $100,000 as in the version that was before the estimate board.

But aldermen at Green’s request eliminated a separate requirement that projects also be endorsed by a majority of aldermen representing parts of the entire affected street corridor.

The bill also includes $2 million to bring city facilities citywide in compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines.

Jones in her veto last summer had argued that Reed’s original $33 million plan wouldn’t adhere to federal rules for spending American Rescue Plan Act funds, a point disputed by Reed.

Reed introduced his revised version last month, pointing to final ARPA regulations allowing wide discretion if using the money in low-income census tracts such as the North Side areas covered by the bill.

The modifications in the capital improvements measure were pushed by Tyus and other members of the aldermanic Black caucus, with Reed’s support.

Tyus said the city in recent decades had spent more money on bridges in other parts of the city than in heavily Black north St. Louis. “This just starts making it fair,� Tyus said.

Among items added Thursday were $2.5 million to repair curbs on North Kingshighway, $2 million to pave Goodfellow Boulevard, $1.25 million in “traffic calming� efforts to reduce speeding and accidents on Riverview Boulevard and $1.5 million to repair three medians.

Among those objecting was Alderman Christine Ingrassia, whose 6th Ward includes one of the three deleted projects — replacing the bridge carrying Compton Avenue over the Mill Creek area near Highway 40 (Interstate 64).

She said the $4 million included in the bill had been lined up as the city’s match for a federal grant for the $20 million project and that the bridge could fail if the work is delayed.

“This is a dangerous last-minute move that just doesn’t make any sense,� she said.

Also deleted was $3.6 million for new bridges at Lindell and Union boulevards over Forest Park Parkway and nearby MetroLink tracks.

Tyus responded that the city could tap other money it’s getting in coming months for the bridge work. Over the years, she said, several people have died on Kingshighway because of the crumbling state of curbs and speeding.

At one point during the exchange Tyus called Ingrassia “a little spoiled brat� for questioning the change; Tyus later apologized.

The capital improvements bill’s sponsor, Alderman Tom Oldenburg, 16th Ward, said he agreed to the changes because he was concerned he’d lose votes if he didn’t do so.

The revised bill was endorsed, 18-4. The measure includes $69.5 million in federal ARPA money and the remainder from other city funds.

Aldermen on Thursday also passed Oldenburg’s separate bill assigning $2.5 million in ARPA funds to install nearly 300 more police cameras and license plate readers around the city plus network and fiber upgrades.

The money would be shifted at the police department’s request from ARPA funds allocated last year by aldermen to police overtime which is unlikely to be used.

Board advances NGA bill

Aldermen on Thursday also voted to give first-round approval to creating a 958-acre special district around the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency offices under construction.

The bill would restrict some uses as gas stations and manufacturers using certain processes and chemicals deemed potential threats to NGA operations. It also would impose a height restriction.

Aldermen also approved seven appointees to the city’s new jail oversight board but rejected Jones’ naming of Mike Milton, executive director of the Freedom Community Center. Ten aldermen voted for Milton, 10 voted “present.�

Meanwhile, Joe Vaccaro, chairman of the aldermanic Public Safety Committee, said he was returning to the committee for further vetting his appointment of the Rev. Darryl Gray, a social justice activist, to the oversight board.