ST. LOUIS – After more than a year of gathering public input, the Board of Aldermen’s Committee of the Whole held a hearing Monday night to discuss the Rams settlement proposals.
$280 million is burning a big hole in the St. Louis City government’s pocket, making the decision on how to responsibly spend the funds all that more important to a city with a depleting population.
Advocates for establishing a subsidized early childhood education program filled City Hall on Monday night to push their program they believe will support, attract, and retain working families and rebuild the city’s population and workforce, with a $100 million endowment proposed to generate $5 million annually for early childhood initiatives.
“There are about 20,000 kids born to age five in St. Louis, and roughly half of those are economically disadvantaged,” Taylor Dunn, Director at Watershed Advisor, said to the board. “Of those kids, only about one-third have access to public funding for early childhood, which leaves a gap of 6,500 kids.”
Childcare and early education ranked as a top priority during citywide canvassing, seeking to address underfunding, fragmented systems, and affordability issues. The proposal states to impact around 8,000 St. Louis children.
Carrie Richie, an early intervention specialist in St. Louis, spoke in front of the board, saying, “We as educators can only do so much before we are no longer able to because of the insufficient pay and lack of funding for higher quality education.”
The hearing also reviewed legislative proposals, including Board Bill 131 sponsored by Alderwoman Pamela Boyd, which proposed investing $232.5 million across key areas: $107.5 million for infrastructure projects, $85 million for housing improvements, and $15 million for small business support.
Another proposal, backed by Greater St. Louis, Inc., would allocate $100 million to downtown infrastructure, including repairs to streets, sidewalks, and lighting, as well as retail, housing, and other construction.
In a statement from Greater STL, Inc., CEO Jason Hall highlighted, “Downtown generates 19.5% of the city’s general revenue. In contrast, the city only appropriates roughly 4.7% of its general expenditures to downtown.”
This hearing marked the last step in shaping how the settlement could transform the city, but the board of aldermen stressed that no final decisions have been made.