Since September 24, hearings have been held before the Board of Public Service as a result of petitions filed by white condominium owners residing at 15th and Locust. In an effort to drive the homeless out of the neighborhood, the petitions filed are requesting that the 1411 Locust building be declared a nuisance and the hotel permit New Life Evangelistic Center has had since 1976 declared null and void.
The racism in this issue is quite obvious. To keep the homeless, the majority of whom are African –American, off the sidewalks between 14th and 15th street, barricades were put in place in September 2012. The blocked-off sidewalks force the handicapped in wheel chairs to risk their lives daily as they move down the street on Locust because they cannot go down the sidewalk.
The Board of Public Service consists of a number of departmental heads of the City of St. Louis appointed by the mayor. The Board of Public Service consists of the directors of Health and Hospitals, Streets, Public Safety, Public Utilities, Recreation, Health and Human Services, and the Board of Public Service. Although 48 percent of the population of St. Louis is African-American, only one of these department heads (Richard Gray in Public Safety) is black.
Every Tuesday this board makes decision affecting the lives of all the African Americans in the city of St. Louis, and yet Mayor Slay has appointed only one single African American to this board.
New Life Evangelistic Center’s encounter with the Board of Public Service can be traced to Mr. Brad Waldrup whose family owns seven properties in the area of 1411 Locust. Mr. Waldrup, who owns the parking lot next to NLEC, proceeded to call the police regularly concerning the homeless. After building a record of police calls, he then hired a lawyer and with the lawyer’s help proceeded to use his influence to persuade condominium owners to petition the board to declare New Life and its sheltering services for the homeless a nuisance.
How many other African Americans and low-income people have been driven from their homes by white developers and white “urban pioneers” who have used this board for their own racist and economic interests?
Already New Life Evangelistic Center has spent over $120,000 in legal expenses defending its right to keep open the last remaining “walk-in shelter” in Mid-America. How many African-American families and low-income people have been driven from their homes because white people moving into the neighbor considered them a nuisance?
This injustice must be stopped. The mayor must be called to accountability and demands must be made now that at least 50 percent of the Board of Public Service include department directors who are African American.
Rev. Larry Rice is founder of New Life Evangelistic Center.
