Tough decisions loom on Rams funding as St. Louis wraps public hearings

The public hearings arranged by St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green to garner feedback on spending the city’s portion of the Rams settlement funds wrapped up Monday—but now the hard work begins. The city’s part of the settlement totals just $280 million, yet the various ideas on the table could easily spend 10 times that. 

The hearing Monday offered a great illustration of how complicated it could be to reach consensus. Local nonprofit WEPOWER pitched creating a $100 million endowment, yielding $3 million a year for upgrading daycare facilities to create “Joyful Spaces” and $2 million annually boosting early childhood educator pay and training. The organization kicked off its presentation by sharing 700 pledge cards from providers.

But the plan triggered fierce pushback from public school advocates. Dr. Juanita Chambers, an educator living in the city, said, “I have a very deep concern regarding private groups accumulating funds and power to run private daycare services.” She equated WEPOWER’s proposal as akin to subsidizing big business at the expense of “mom and pop” daycares. Other speakers, including Byron Clemens of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 420, expressed concern about WEPOWER’s past collaboration with Opportunity Trust, which supports charter schools. 

Through a spokesperson, WEPOWER pushed back on those claims. “Most of the several hundred individuals who signed pledge cards and many of the speakers and attendees were ‘mom and pop daycare’ owners, as that is the base of the coalition behind last night’s proposal and WEPOWER’s longtime highest priority constituency,” their statement said. “This is a community-led movement with those exact providers at the center, it is those providers who informed the proposal, and it will be those providers who benefit the most from the proposal.”

(In response to SLM‘s questions, WEPOWER noted that public schools would be eligible for Joyful Spaces funding, but its staff would not qualify for he pay increase program for early childhood educators.) 

The deepest opposition, though, to WEPOWER’s ambitions may come from Greater St. Louis Inc. The organization of business leaders wants $100 million for downtown and another $130 million for disadvantaged neighborhoods in the southeast and north parts of the city. Four aldermen introduced a bill with those spending aims, triggering a sharp retort from Green, who accused Greater St. Louis Inc. CEO Jason Hall of attempting to “bypass” the public process. 

Hall fired back Monday in a letter accusing Green of making her own attempt to short-circuit that process. He wrote that his organization had submitted its idea through the public portal created by Green’s office, and garnered enough support to be among the six most popular plans. Under the process Green had outlined, the top six were supposed to get a hearing before the Board of Aldermen, but Hall says the city announced the public engagement process would end before that could happen. It was only when Greater St. Louis Inc. protested that it was given a chance to make its pitch on Oct. 8. That same letter by Hall indicated that the business community was prepared to match an infusion of Rams money into downtown “by at least two-to-one to expand the catalytic potential of these funds.”

The next day, however, Green went public with her preference for an endowment, which Hall notes was ”decidedly not one of the top priorities of the public according to your own portal.” It’s then that the four aldermen introduced their bill aimed at getting money spent on neighborhoods, which would all but preclude a sizable endowment. 

In a statement to SLM, a spokesperson for Green pushed back on Hall’s assertions. It stressed that an endowment is not an idea for what to spend money so much as a mechanism for its distribution. The statement added that Green and Mayor Jones wanted to give all parties time to present their proposals before she weighed in with a proposal of her own.

“Together, their goal is to create a plan that addresses a variety of city-wide priorities rather than pitting ideas against each other for funding,” her statement said. “In the coming weeks, the public can expect to see a second proposal that funds critical infrastructure projects, catalyzes development, and expands access to childcare and education.”

Why It Matters: The $280 million from the Rams will have an outsized impact on the city’s future—and we only get to allocate it once. While it would be an exaggeration to say the fate of the city hangs in the balance, that may indeed be the case for the political futures of the combatants now in the trenches.

What’s Next: While the aldermen seeking to spend the money on neighborhood investment now seek to move their plan forward, all eyes are on Green and Jones and their forthcoming counterproposal. In the meantime, the city has created a way for people to provide written feedback on board bills, including the plan backed by Greater St. Louis Inc.