Job creation is a buzz word in an election year. But in the African-American community which suffers from double-digit unemployment rates, it’s a perennial issue – and one that’s consistently ignored.
St. Louis City has a law on the books that requires companies who receive tax incentives to provide “permanent employment opportunities for the unemployed” and “economically disadvantaged.”
But few people know about the 1987 “First Source Jobs Policy” ordinance (60275) because it’s been waived on every TIF application since 2002, according to a NAACP study.
The Ballpark Village project is the only recent large-scale development that has attempted to replicate the ordinance – creating an office devoted to providing job opportunities for low-income and minority residents.
Project leaders of the $650-million mixed-used retail and entertainment district adopted a provision to establish a “recruitment and training program for city residents,” which is stated in the project’s agreement for state stimulus funding. To make sure they achieve their job creation goals, Ballpark project leaders also established a committee with community and construction leaders and an employment outreach office, run by the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE).
In August, another large-scale project, CORTEX, applied for $158 million in tax increment financing (TIF) from the city’s TIF Commission. CORTEX, a $2.2 billion research-park development in the Central West End, did not recognize the city’s ordinance to provide employment opportunities in its TIF application.
The commission will hold a public hearing for CORTEX’s TIF application on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 8 a.m. at the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC), 1520 Market, Suite 2000.
6,000 entry-level jobs
On Monday, CORTEX leaders held an informational meeting for neighborhood residents, describing the $2.2 billion, 30-year project. Dennis Lower, president and CEO of CORTEX, told residents that in a mature research park, 40 percent of the jobs are taken by high-school graduates that also have two-year degrees in community college. The next 40 percent are people with bachelor degrees, and the remaining 20 percent have masters and PhDs, he said.
However, according to CORTEX’s August TIF application, Lower estimates that the research park will create 15,730 permanent jobs throughout the 30–year development timeline. Of these, 350 will be restaurant positions, 1,450 retail/service jobs, and 350 hospitality jobs – all paying between $22,000 and $32,000 a year. The vast majority are 13,500 jobs that will be office or research related, with salaries of about $65,000.
The city’s jobs ordinance requires companies who receive city benefits to hire “entry level” applicants from a “first source” list – and that list is held by SLATE.
If 40 percent of the jobs are entry-level jobs, that means 6,000 jobs would fall under the ordinance. If following the ordinance, CORTEX would have to report to SLATE regarding these jobs.
Michael Holmes, executive director of SLATE who is charged with overseeing the First Source ordinance, did not return The American’s phone calls or email regarding the ordinance. Rodney Crim, executive director of SLDC, also did not return The American’s email or phone calls.
Tom Shepard, chief of staff for Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed, said, “We think that some kind of outreach program and recruitment should be a fairly reasonable thing for someone to agree to do.”
Shepard said the aldermen can work on a case-by-case basis with these projects to set up appropriate job outreach programs.
Former St. Louis City Comptroller Virvus Jones said the TIF Commission and Board of Aldermen can negotiate with developers and require them to do anything they want them to do, as it relates to jobs and minority participation.
“An ordinance that requires developers to have to hire city residents when public funds are being used is a fair way to make sure that the wealth – which the city helps developers create – is distributed in an equitable way,” Jones said.
St. Louis’ law also requires SLATE to report to the Board of Aldermen annually on the progress of how many people were employed among companies that receive tax incentives and are abiding by the law.
Since its 2002 beginning, CORTEX has created 950 jobs. However, Lower said he could not report how many minorities, women or local residents received these jobs because they are private entities.
Alderman Joe Roddy, of Ward 17 where CORTEX is located, said, “I don’t know if that information is even collectible.”
Shepard said the reporting aspect of the law is important.
“We definitely need the reporting, and we need the measurements of how that’s working,” Shepard said. “If nothing else, to establish more appropriate goals for other projects.”
Permanent jobs
When community members asked about minority and small-business participation on the project, Lower said, “We commit and pledge that we will work with the city agencies and the institutions and work together to create a viable sustained long-term policy for permanent jobs as well as the construction jobs and boots on the ground and enterprises.”
However, when The American followed up about that statement, Lower did not believe that he had said “permanent jobs.”
“We will do everything we can to try to advance the discussion that began a couple years ago to providing as much access to permanent jobs,” he said. “It’s far beyond what CORTEX can do on its own.”
When asked if he would be interested in establishing an employment and recruitment outreach program, such as the one at Ballpark Village, he said, “We’d be interested in looking at lots of different things. We can’t do it all but we can be part of the solution.”
Right now, he said he is focused on establishing workforce participation goals on the construction side. He would not release information about those boots on the ground goals to The American.
