Thread by @MeganEllyia

The vulture capitalists never stop.

I just got off a 23 minute survey by a Issues & Answers research group asking Qs about what it would take for me to support a charter amendment allowing the President of the BoA to spend $1 billion from privatizing the airport. 1/


The latest scheme seems to be that they would put $1 billion in trust funds supporting 1) police 2) neighborhood development 3) job training 4) streets 5) clean neighborhoods 6) city infrastructure 2/

Throughout the call they threw in just about anything that anyone could possibly want to try to make it appealing: 👇🏼

3/

10% or at least $100 million on vacant buildings, affordable housing, preservation
20% or at least $200 million on repurposing school buildings
10% or at least $100 million on rebuilding infrastructure like bridges 👇🏼
4/

10% or at least $100 million on freight and passenger transportation including Hyperlink
20% or at least $200 million on job training geared toward the building trades
30% or at least $300 million on public safety including increasing police 5/

They then threw in a smorgasbord of whether or not each item would make it more or less likely for me to support privatizing the airport (without ever mentioning the word privatization) including: 👇🏼
6/

▪️Employing city youth for trash pick up
▪️Modernizing trash pick up
▪️Modernizing the fire department
▪️Security cameras for every ward in the city
▪️Fixing our roads and bridges
▪️Hiring more police
▪️Substance abuse treatment
▪️Behavioral health services for young people 👇🏼
7/

▪️Funding for law enforcement to prevent youth incarceration and recidivism
▪️Addressing vacant in a banding buildings
▪️Increasing police pay
▪️High visibility street lights
▪️Substance abuse services for ex-offenders
▪️Improving city technology
▪️Early childhood ed👇🏼
8/

▪️Rehab the 12,000 LRA lots
▪️0% interest home repair loans
▪️A program to pay new STL residents
▪️homeless fund
▪️Union apprenticeship programs
▪️Increase funding for drug courts
▪️Allowing people below the poverty line to not pay city earnings tax
▪️HS equivalent assistance 9/

The airport is worth way more than $1 billion.

These folks don’t care about any of these things. They just want their payday and will try to sell the public on whatever sounds good.

All of these things can happen w/o privatization.

It means having different priorities 10/

In times of crisis the vulture capitalists will be out in full force.

Don’t let them fool you. #DisasterCapitalism

Fin.