Ahead of the St. Louis Primary Election on March 2, The St. Louis American is asking a series of questions of the candidates for mayor of the city of St. Louis. Following are their responses to this week’s question:
2021 St. Louis mayoral candidates respond this week to the following question:
What do you suggest to achieve real equity in economic development projects that receive public subsidies?
Lewis Reed
Subsidies need to be available for areas that have been historically disinvested in, particularly north of Delmar. I was glad to help in the early stages and co-sponsor the recent Kingsway Development TIF, which is an area north of Delmar that includes commercial and residential projects and has an African American lifelong resident of St. Louis as the lead developer.
The subsidy will be used for the cost of infrastructure surrounding the project, which will make the project possible. We have developed a scoring system so that development projects are scrutinized objectively before being given TIF financing.
It is time to develop north St. Louis. Residents have waited long enough. The incentives must be used for projects that:
1) are in disinvested areas;
2) include jobs for St. Louis residents;
3) have community input;
4) reverse environmental problems, and;
5) build places for people of varying income levels to live.
Cara Spencer
The neighborhoods I represent are the most challenged neighborhoods on the south side with 30 percent vacancy when I took office. I changed the trajectory by anchoring blocks with affordable housing projects, brought in market rate development ensuring a mix of income and ensured these investments through infrastructure like street paving and LED lighting.
If elected mayor, I will re-orient our economic development from developer lead to neighborhood lead. Currently, projects are proposed by the developers, and we’re often put in a position to say yea or nay. Being proactive means really identifying projects that the community would support, and helping to drive investment where we need it. That’s a good thing for both the community and the developers, because now we’ve identified areas where we need development, where we need investment, and where those investments will be supported by the community.
Andrew T. Jones
I’m an economic development practitioner and know equitable prosperity can be achieved through the development of a thorough economic development plan. The key to ensuring all identifiable constituencies are considered is to discuss inclusion during the development stage of planning.
Stakeholder inclusion is important because economic vitality is only as good as each constituent considered. Maximum economic growth is achieved by bolstering areas that have been neglected.The old maxim applies, “we’re only as strong as our weakest link.”
Once the parameters are established within the plan, the steps and mandates have to be followed. All negotiations with prospects should outline the specific needs to bolster underserved and neglected areas.
It is critical to create and present the data, information and analysis demonstrating the value “inclusivity” delivers to the city’s bottom line. A strong emphasis must be made during the project phase to utilize anchor institutions for workforce development.
Tishaura Jones
Achieving equity in development will take many forms. First, we must make sure that we are shielding our school district from losses due to TIFs and tax abatements.
We have given away incentives to big developers like Halloween candy, so it should be no surprise, unfortunately, that we are having to close schools, many of which are located north of Delmar.
Second, we need to ensure that we are attaching strong and enforceable community benefits agreements to large developments that receive these abatements.
Additionally, we can implement inclusionary zoning to make sure we face head-on the issue of affordable housing in our city. I am not against development, and I am not against using the tools and incentives at our disposal to encourage development. However, we must be responsible and intentional about our targeting and frequency of use of these incentives and ensure we are acting in the best interests of the people, not the developers.