ST. LOUIS — The Board of Aldermen gave its final OK Monday to $126 million in spending on capital projects across the city and a new grant program aimed at reviving 10 North Side commercial corridors.
Aldermen voted 24-0 to pass the two bills, about $109 million of which will be funded with the city’s first-year share of federal American Rescue Plan Act money.
The capital improvements measure, totaling about $87 million, covers an array of projects such as street paving, new LED streetlights, renovation of the main city jail and new vehicles for the fire, police, parks and other departments.
“All of these are necessary assets that we have deferred and deferred and deferred,†said sponsor Tom Oldenburg, 16th Ward. “We finally have the opportunity today with the ARPA dollars to begin to fund a long-range capital improvements plan.â€
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In response to pressure from the aldermanic Black caucus, the bill was changed last week to shift $7.6 million from three central-corridor bridge replacements to some North Side street projects.
Alderman Sharon Tyus, who negotiated the change with Oldenburg, said the heavily Black northern part of the city had been shortchanged on bridge projects over previous decades.
“This is just a step … a drop in the bucket toward fairness,†said Tyus, of the 1st Ward.
Among additions were $2.5 million to repair crumbling curbs on North Kingshighway, $2 million to pave Goodfellow Boulevard, $1.25 million for traffic calming steps on Riverview Boulevard and $1.5 million for repair of three medians.
The bill already included money to pave long segments of North and South Kingshighway, Grand Boulevard/East Grand Avenue, Union Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue. Officials will ask aldermen later to approve using other money for the deleted bridge projects.
Passage of the separate North Side business corridor aid appears to end a monthslong dispute between the sponsor, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, and Mayor Tishaura O. Jones over the measure. Jones last summer vetoed money for the allocations in a dispute over ARPA rules.
The version passed Monday with Jones’ support has $37 million for grants for businesses and nonprofits to be used along 10 major North Side streets. The largest outlay, $9.6 million, is for Martin Luther King Drive from Jefferson to the city limits. The next largest are for Natural Bridge Avenue, $5.7 million; West Florissant Avenue, $5.5 million and North Grand, $5 million.
The board, in the final meeting of its 2021-2022 session, completed its allocation of the first of two yearly allotments of $249 million in ARPA money the city is getting.
Aldermen on Monday also passed an ordinance establishing height and zoning restrictions for security purposes near the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency facility under construction. They’ll meet again Tuesday to begin their 2022-2023 session.
Monday’s meeting was in person at City Hall and marked the end of two years of teleconference gatherings begun at the start of the pandemic. The only exception was last April when recently elected board members were sworn in. Committee meetings will continue to be online.
Legislation failing Monday with the close of the session would have:
• Repealed Proposition D, the ordinance passed by voters in 2020 that made elections for many city offices nonpartisan and established the current “approval voting†system.
• Required parking lots to install fencing, landscaping or other barriers to keep vehicles out during non-business hours. The measure was aimed at curbing late-night partying and “cruising†on empty downtown lots.
• Increased the number of city police districts.
• Set rules for city dismantling of impromptu homeless encampments, such as generally requiring giving 30-day advance notice unless the site has created unsafe or hazardous conditions.
