Lewis Reed

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen advanced a bill Thursday that will allocate several million dollars of funding to north St. Louis if passed after a final vote next week.

The bill, Board Bill 82, would allow for $37 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds to be used as grants for small businesses, nonprofits and community enhancement projects within 11 commercial corridors in north St. Louis. These corridors all lie within census tracts where at least half of households earn incomes significantly less than those in surrounding areas.

A vote for advancement of the bill followed a long, contentious discussion between aldermen.

Ward 6 representative Christine Ingrassia said she supported the investment into north St. Louis, but was “concerned about the process” by which the bill was amended, citing a lack of open and public negotiation.

Sharon Tyus, alderwoman for Ward 1, quickly rebutted.

“No change of major money or anything like that happened,” Tyus said, adding that the Board of Estimate and Apportionment was very involved. “I don’t believe it was done behind closed doors. It was just a process thing.”

Ward 3 representative Brandon Bosley criticized questions people have asked about investments for St. Louis’ north side. He passionately spoke for over 15 minutes on the decades of disinvestment in north St. Louis and the struggles Black residents have had in St. Louis’ history to get things done under primarily white governance.

“We’ve been tearing down everything for all these years and ain’t nobody said nothing about what we’re tearing down… But when we want to build, there’s a question?” Bosley asks.

Bosley later added, “Ya’ll been telling us one more [year] for 400 years. Ya’ll been telling us one more meeting, one more analytical data session, one more meeting to get the community’s input. Every time the community tell ya’ll what we want, you don’t implement… You are not the representatives of these areas — we are,” Bosley said to aldermen who don’t represent north St. Louis.

The board then advanced the bill with 26 votes in favor. Aldermen will have a final vote on the bill during a meeting Monday at City Hall.

In a statement, Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed said the board “has worked tirelessly” for north St. Louis residents to get the funding they deserve “in a quick and expedient manner.”

“Our residents deserve the safety, stability and access to opportunities these funds will provide,” Reed said.