The St. Louis City NAACP will be watching city officials and their consultants as they explore the possibility of selling St. Louis Lambert International Airport, chapter president Adolphus M. Pruitt stated in a news release on Thursday, June 29.
“Lambert Airport is a valuable community resource and provides a needed public service. Thus, privatization, especially via a sale or long-term lease, raises concerns about potential loss of public control,” Pruitt stated.
“There is a need to identify the mechanisms that will protect the public interest (including discriminatory practices by airport vendors and tenants) and retain the benefits of any potential private-sector operation. Another key question is whether or not a privatized Lambert will possess monopoly power. If yes, to what extent will the monopoly power exist, and for what set of customers?”
Then-Mayor Francis G. Slay signed a memorandum of representation in March with Travis Brown and two other consultants, giving them control over the initial stages of airport privatization through the nonprofit Grow Missouri, which is connected to Pelopidas, which is the lobbying and political arm of Rex Sinquefield.
Mary Ellen Ponder, who worked for Slay as chief of staff when the city signed this agreement with Brown, now works for Brown. Moreover, Slay’s previous chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, has registered as a lobbyist for STL Aviation Group LLC, which is owned by OakTree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based investment firm looking into the privatization of Lambert. Tony Messenger first made these connections in a Post-Dispatch column.
“Greater transparency with respect to process will ensure that the benefits from privatization won’t be misunderstood by the general public, elected officials, and business leaders,” Pruitt of the NAACP stated. “The lack of such will contributed to a growing disconnect between the realities, community expectations and expected economic benefits.”
Pruitt listed “other significant public-interest issues that need addressing” as the city and its consultants consider privatizing the effort:
- inclusion & Equity for Minority & Women Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) in all aspects of the process
- M/WBE participation in any ownership group
- ensuring that the proceeds from converting the airport into financial assets (lease payments) are impactful for all of St. Louis
- enacting a charter amendment specifying the use of the proceeds
- greater protections for employees of both the ownership entity, and/or tenants & vendors
- establishment of a First Source hiring policy for tenants and vendors
- renegotiation of airline use and lease agreements
- modification of Airport Competition Plan
- placement of the Airline Revenue Fund with financial institution(s) with Community Reinvestment Act compliance as determining factor.
“Recognizing there is a growing need to provide guidance on how Lambert will be privatized and how its economic benefits will be utilized, requires communication with the community and its leaders to ‘right-size’ the expectations,” Pruitt said. “And this is a role that the St. Louis City NAACP is obligated to play.”
