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ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on Tuesday called for using more than half of the city’s remaining $249 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to revitalize the city’s North Side.

The $150 million proposal, made during Jones’ State of the City address at Harris-Stowe State University, received a brief standing ovation among many in the crowd of about 150 people. The plan would help bridge the racial wealth gap that splits the city in two, Jones said, listing three priorities for accomplishing the goal: economic empowerment, development incentive reform and neighborhood transformation.

“Imagine a grocery store with healthy food options just down the block, affordable child care on the way to work, stable housing for families,� Jones said. “That is what economic justice feels like for St. Louis families.�

Jones did not provide additional details for the $150 million North Side proposal.

Other plans that Jones announced included:

• The city Refuse Division expects next month to resume separate collection of recyclables in neighborhoods with alley dumpsters. That service was suspended in July, partly because of a shortage of trash truck drivers.

• A 3% pay raise next year for the city’s approximately 5,000 civil service workers to help keep St. Louis competitive in hiring and to try to fill the city’s many vacancies.

The salary hike, part of a proposed city budget for the fiscal year that begins in July, would be on top of an already-scheduled step increase of 1.5% for many workers.

• A new paid family leave program for city employees costing $1 million. She also said she will propose new incentives “to help us retain our workforce as well.�

• The creation of a Mayor’s Office of Violence Prevention to coordinate efforts of public safety and health employees to reduce gun violence and address poverty, which she called “the father of crime.�

Jones said she wants to create change that St. Louisans can see and feel on their streets.

“This change looks like fewer boarded-up and crumbling buildings on our blocks,� she said. “We must stabilize and renovate vacant buildings to make them neighborhood assets, instead of deadly risks to residents and our firefighters.�

She noted the city was tragically reminded of that problem when a city firefighter, Benjamin Polson, died in January while searching for survivors in a burning vacant home.

Jones said the change also includes “thriving new small businesses on neighborhood main streets� and more affordable and market-rate housing.

She called for a coalition of “community, labor, faith, business, our philanthropic partners, our universities� to leverage the $150 million investment and magnify its impact in the years to come.

She said she is getting community input for her eventual proposal for spending the second-year American Rescue Plan Act allocation through an online survey and public meetings.

She said she also will work on it with community leaders and the Board of Aldermen, some of whom were in the audience. The board must approve the spending.

The $150 million would be in addition to other ARPA money already directed to the economically disadvantaged North Side. Included is Aldermanic President Lewis Reed’s $37 million plan passed Monday by aldermen to provide grants to businesses and nonprofits along 10 major north St. Louis streets.

Reed, in a statement issued after Jones spoke, said he was glad the mayor made “a verbal commitment to giving the people of North St. Louis the help they so desperately need. From the beginning, this has been a clear priority of the Board of Aldermen.�

“I look forward to moving the next allocation of ARPA funds through the Board of Aldermen with a special emphasis in North St. Louis,� he said.

The city is getting the American Rescue Plan funds, approved by Congress last year, in two $249 million increments; the second amount has yet to be allocated.

Jones also noted that the city is getting additional money through an infrastructure bill passed by Congress and a $500 million settlement with the National Football League over the Rams’ departure.

She didn’t comment on ongoing negotiations with St. Louis County and the board overseeing The Dome at America’s Center on divvying up the settlement money, saying that she had legal obligations not to speak publicly about it.

But she emphasized that the city’s share must be invested “with an eye towards our children and our grandchildren — not the next election cycle.�

She also mentioned using American Rescue Plan money for violence intervention programs, and for heavy investments in youth summer jobs, a youth basketball league and victim services.

Jones also highlighted the administration’s push for the $500 direct cash assistance program that has aided some families hurt economically by the pandemic.

She reiterated her plans to reduce city delays in answering 911 calls and to expand a program in which some 911 calls are diverted to mental health and social workers.

Jones’ speech was the first State of the City address since then-Mayor Lyda Krewson gave one in 2019 at City Hall, before the pandemic. Krewson did so when invited by the Board of Aldermen, reviving what at one time was an annual tradition dropped over the previous decade.

Mark Schlinkmann • 314-340-8265 @markschlinkmann on Twitter mschlinkmann@post-dispatch.com