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Good morning everyone. Happy Friday. It's #stlboa day. Grab some more coffee, some provisions and buckle up. This could be a long one.
Being introduced today - BB71 from @PresReed, which would add another option for privatizing @flystl to the mix.
My colleague @corinnesusan had an update on that saga this morning. https://bit.ly/37HEs3P
. @BrandonFBosley has BB72, which calls for the establishment of a de-escalation unit in the Department of Health that would be called to tense situations with police.
BB74, from @chryssi, authorizes the use of eminent domain on a property in the MLS stadium footprint.
BB75 from Marlene Davis calls for a nonbinding referendum on closing the Workhouse.
. @JohnMuhammadJr and @Aldermanjoe have BB77, which calls for a vote on reversing ward reduction. This one, practically speaking, will need 20 votes because @LydaKrewson will veto it.
On the agenda today is first round approval of the vote on eliminating the residency requirement (BB29)
Budget is on 2nd reading today. Don't know if Vollmer will take it 2nd to perfection today, or perfection to final next week. It has to be approved by June 30.
Right now, former 18th Ward alderman Terry Kennedy, now the clerk, is providing a history of the Juneteenth holiday.
He is tracing how the celebrations of the end of the Civil War spread across the South. He reminds us too that what is now Memorial Day started as Decoration Day, the decorating of graves of those who died in slavery.
Kennedy - the celebrations were originally known more broadly as Freedom Day. But they gradually merged into Juneteenth because the largest were on June 19 around Galveston Texas.
When Kennedy would speak at the Board, you could hear a pin drop. With the mics being muted here on Zoom, the effect wasn't quite the same.
Per Joe Vollmer - we should all celebrate Juneteenth, and it's National Martini Day, so you can combine those two.
He is in a Hawaiian shirt. @Aldermanjoe is using the Jeopardy background today. Beth Murphy is in her kitchen, so no awesome view of her backyard.
. @24thWardSTL has the flag. @shanecohn has the old Virginia theater, which sits at the intersection of Virgina and Vermont.
. @SharitaRogers6 has these amazing Black Girl Magic earrings.
Proof.
We are currently on 2nd reading, which is the official acknowledgment of what bills have passed committee.
On this item - the budget, the CARES Act appropriations (BB49), the Iron Hill CID (55)
Also on this item - @jcoatar's bill on take out alcohol.
And @presreed's bill on use of force. (63)
BB63 did not come out of committee. There will be a public hearing on this on Monday per @MGoodmanSTL.
We are currently on perfection (1st round approval) consent. Included here are curfews for the parks in Marlene Davis' ward, a bunch of zoning changes, and allocations on money from the transit sales tax.
Tyus asks for Board Bill 20 (the curfew bill) to be moved to the regular perfection calendar (which allows for debate).
She has concerns about the constitutionality.
. @CaraSpencerSTL asks to have a bill of her's to the 1st around approval as well.
. @CaraSpencerSTL asks to have a bill of her's to the 1st around approval as well.
And here we go on residency.
This bill , if approved by the voters, would allow most city employees to live outside the city.
. @Aldermanjoe - the mayor and others went to Jeff City to try and go around the voters of St. Louis. We owe it to the voters as a board to let them decide on this issue.
We've gotten waylaid by a procedural issue? It has to do with @CaraSpencerSTL's bill, which was on the informal calendar. She didn't get to move it from that calendar in time.
It's hard to tell who wants to speak on virtual meetings. @Citizens4THubb is first.
Hubbard - we don't have any data to support that the lack of officers is connected to residency. She says we haven't exhausted all other options, such as looking at our hiring process.
Hubbard - it always blows me away when people gripe about getting stuff back in front of the voters when we've being trying to do the same thing w/ ward reduction.
It has always confused me why they can't trade votes on these issues.
Jesse Todd - we need to defund the police. They cause crime by using 40 percent of the budget and taking away money for things like parks and programs that could prevent crime.
Todd - there are plenty of people who can't pass unnecessary tests. We could also prevent crime by getting jobs.
I know there are some positions that require testing, but it has never been clear to me what specifically he is talking about.
The Board voted earlier this year to remove a question about criminal history from job applications (so-called ban the box.)
Todd wants this question on the April ballot because that's when Democrats vote.
Todd - we don't need more cops (which is generally why residency is brought up.) We need to get money to things that will actually fix crime.
Tyus - when you are here long enough, things go in a circle.
She sponsored a bill last year that gave the PD the raises from the Prop P money. She says she had hoped it would show them they are valued in the city, but says they've now made me embarrassed.
Tyus - when @LydaKrewson went up to Jeff City, she went around not only the Board of Alders, they went around state senators and reps who didn't want it either.
Tyus - I would routinely send people down to the personnel office for FT work as tree trimmers. They would never hire them on except as PT temporary, but then the city is always talking about they can't get enough people.
Tyus - if people want to live elsewhere, they can get a job in those other places.
She adds that she agrees with Todd that more police won't solve any problems.
She adds that she agrees with Todd that more police won't solve any problems.
Tyus - we have gotten the police everything they want: raises, etc. But the only thing they want is to police this city and not be invested in it.
Tyus - I find it appalling that people want to take our tax dollars for their salary and then invest elsewhere.
Tyus - my community doesn't understand why we keep talking about this.
Tyus - this isn't just about money
This is about resources, which includes people.
She asks @Aldermanjoe his motives for this.
This is about resources, which includes people.
She asks @Aldermanjoe his motives for this.
Vaccaro says these are things he believes in. He says eventually, they'll get this passed in Jeff City and residents won't have a say. And he points out that he's co-sponsoring the reversal of ward reduction.
We've also had a random aside about the November initiative that would allow for ranked-choice, non-partisan voting.
Here's what I'm talking about: https://bit.ly/2UZWEAC
Vaccaro - voters have the right to decide on this. Not Jeff City, and not as a ballot initiative.
. @Aldermanjoe says he hasn't gotten any real demands from his residents for this. He says he is doing this because he believes that people should vote for this.
Tyus disagrees with @Aldermanjoe that passage of this in Jeff City is inevitable. She says there were a lot of GOP who she talked to who understood that if they come for residency in STL, they can do the same thing to their cities.
Tyus - I agree with defund the police. They are saying they don't need any more money. More police don't work. It's been proven.
She says she doesn't see the community policing in her ward, even though North Patrol's HQ is either in her ward or just outside it. They go instead to the Central West End.
Tyus - when you live in your community, you care more about them.
Tyus - I watch Dragnet. They were having the same conversation about community policing on the show in a recent re-run.
. @AnnieRiceStL - the current context of this debate is very important. Minneapolis, where George Floyd died, had 8% of their department living in the city. We don't want to be going in the opposite direction of where we are.
Rice - it should be our vote, that is true. Not Jeff City. But we aren't hiring right now anyway. The effect is going to be that we lose people from the neighborhoods, not that we can expand hiring.
Rice - I agree with @Citizens4THubb that we haven't been shown that residency is the reason we can't hire. There are other things to work on.
. @SarahWMartin to @Aldermanjoe - did I miss a call from you? Vaccaro - I didn't have your number. The phone works both ways.
(Vaccaro says he had reached out to people to get their sense of where they are. Martin did not get a call from him, but she did get a call from someone else.)
. @Aldermanjoe - if you believe that voters should have the ability to say no, then vote yes.
Martin is fine with this measure. But she points out that the board is fine with going to Jeff City on some issues and not on others.
Martin - where people live doesn't make them good or bad at their job.
. @CaraSpencerSTL to @Aldermanjoe - does the passage of this prevent Jeff City from taking action?
The answer is no, of course, because passage today doesn't change anything. Could they act of voters say no? Sure, and probably will.
But the #moleg won't go back into session until after November.
. @CaraSpencerSTL - I agree with @Citizens4THubb that we haven't done due diligence on why we aren't able to hire. We need to do that before we make a sweeping change like this.
. @JohnMuhammadJr - I think that city employees should live in the city. But this bill doesn't change that on its face. It puts it to the voters.
Collins-Muhammad - we choose to listen to the voters when it's convenient and we ignore them when it's convenient.
. @HeatherNStL - I would love everyone to live in the city. But there are a lot of compelling reasons why people may want to contribute to the city but can't live here.
Navarro - this won't solve everything, but it would solve some.
Todd began speaking about ward reduction. @shanecohn raised a point of order because it's not germane. Reed takes the point of order and asks Todd to keep it on topic.
Todd - this is being rushed.
Todd - we have a surplus of people who are qualified for the jobs we have. If people move, it's going to hurt our tax base even more.
Todd was about to bring up the fact that voters approved money for ward capital and then the board routinely moves that money around, but then stopped.
He says it needs to wait because coronavirus will make an information campaign hard.
First dog bark of the meeting! Pretty sure it's Vaccaro because he's the only one with the mic open.
Here we go on the vote. Roll call.when I have it.
