Good morning everyone. Happy normal #stlboa day.
Genuinely not sure what's on tap today, so I'll tweet as we get there. Possibilities include first round budget approval and final passage of a vote to reverse the residency requirement.
Overheard on the live stream - "hey guys. Shushies!" (I think directed at dogs.)
Mine is currently losing her mind at a lawn mower.
Mine is currently losing her mind at a lawn mower.
Beth Murphy is currently asking for a moment of silence for the mother of @gregoryfxdaly, who died Sunday at the age of 102.
Today in the 1800s sometime, the bicycle was patented. And it's National Coconut Day.
Vollmer takes the budget off the informal calendar and places it on the perfection calendar.
He also takes the CARES appropriation bill off the informal.
On first reading today - a bill from @JohnMuhammadJr laying out a new process for no-knock warrants. It does not ban then entirely, but limits it to certain crimes. (BB78)
Second reading (reports of committees). In addition to the airport bill, @chryssi has a bill authorizing eminent domain for a parking lot in the MLS stadium footprint.
Part of the reason I don't know what's totally on tap is the fact that the agenda is wrong. It has BB67 (the public vote on the airport bill from @MeganEllyia) as coming out of committee. But I know it didn't.
Also on 2nd reading today is a bill allowing @flystl to transfer 4.5m from its debt service fund to its operating fund. I have to think this is pandemic related.
Onto perfection consent. Mostly redevelopment plans and a bill deeding some vacant land near an @SLPS_INFO school to the SLPS.
Perfection consent calendar adopted. Onto perfection.
First up is the supplemental for the 2020 budget, to close a 6.6 million gap.
The budget office says the gap in the current budget is less than expected, which made the gap in the 2021 budget bigger.
Supplemental is approved.
Supplemental is approved.
Perfected.
Up now is @PresReed's police reform bill. (63CSAA).
.@JohnMuhammadJr - this bill is simple. It promotes police reform. (He is handling this on the floor).
Includes a ban on chokeholds and creates a duty to intervene for officers.
Includes a ban on chokeholds and creates a duty to intervene for officers.
Rice and @jcoatar ask to be added as co-sponsors. Murphy moves to have it en banc (all as sponsors.) Tyus I believe objected.
I lost track of who wanted to be added but it sounded like almost everyone asked.
Tyus said she does not object to the bill, but had some questions which is why she did not want to immediately be added as a cosponsor.
Tyus is asking about local control and whether we can even do this. She says there is an ordinance that if there's a conflict b/w city code and police handbook, the police handbook trumps. Muhammad says all it's doing is making policies the PD already has into law.
.@Alderman14 (Howard) asks the same question as Tyus. I'm not opposed to the essence to it, she said, but I don't want this to come back and bite us.
.@PresReed says he has had nearly everyone look at this bill and says we won't end up in a legal quagmire with this.
Davis thanks Tyus for bringing the issue of conflict between this ordinance and existing ordinances. She says we're likely going to have to make changes anyway as national movement on police reform happens.
Bill is perfected.
Here we go on the 2021 budget.
Vollmer - things are looking a little better, but we have a lot of uncertainty. The word of the day is fluid.
.@CaraSpencerSTL has her hand up. I imagine she will try to introduce an amendment to completely defund the Workhouse.
The budget does include ward capital, which is money for projects in their wards.
Tyus - this is my 19th budget. It is my most disappointing budget. 4 or 5 times, this budget goes around the votes of the people by taking special funds and putting it into the gen fund.
Tyus - this budget is systemic racism at its worse.
Tyus on ward capital - when we passed the sales tax for this, we set it up with very specific ways to spend it. We knew this was going to happen.
Tyus - the fact that you would cut money from the rec centers when kids have nothing to do, but won't take anything from Forest Park, is tone deaf.
Tyus is giving us a rundown of all the "notwithstanding" clauses in the budget, which is where the committee said, basically despite what the law says we will direct the money here.
Tyus - first one is taking demolition dollars and transferring it elsewhere.
Tyus - i hear all these commercials about the GOP trying to overturn Clean MO, which is the will of the voters. We are doing the same thing here with this budget.
Tyus - we spared Forest Park and the sports stadiums and the Convention Center at the expense of the people and programs that help the north side.
When I left to take a bathroom break, Tyus was speaking about using major streets funds (for paving things like Union and Kingshighway) being directed to something.
Tyus on another notwithstanding clause - this one is also demo money, this one from a fee on building permits from sometime in the 1990s (I think.)
(I probably wrote the ordinance number down wrong)
Tyus - why are we taking money from things that strengthen the neighborhoods?
Tyus- what is the point of the will of the people if we are going to continually override the will in a racist tone deaf manner?
Tyus - BPS and streets are not getting our ward capital projects done.
Tyus - the next notwithstanding clause ignores an ordinance governing money for housing federal inmates. 70% of the money is supposed to go to jail improvements.
Tyus - if the Workhouse isn't up to standard for federal prisoners, why is it up to standard for our prisoners?
(She says she has never been a true Close the Workhouse person)
(She says she has never been a true Close the Workhouse person)
She says she will support closing it now. It's ridiculous that we spend 8 mill to lock people up but we don't spend it on the community.
That might get them to 15.
We know that there is a Close the Workhouse amendment pending today if the individual handling it is recognized.
It may have the votes to pass and get on the budget. But I have no idea if Krewson will sign a budget with it on there.
If that is the case, the budget from E&A is deemed approved by the board, which would have Workhouse money in it.
That's in the charter.
Tyus - I am not going to vote for this and I encourage others not to vote for this.
Tyus - I hope to never see a budget like this in the future.
.@24thWardSTL - a budget is ultimately a moral document. We have seen thousands march demanding change. And one of them is to @CLOSEWorkhouse. They have been clear they don't want to pay to house 100 people.
Narayan - let's put our money where our mouth is and close the Workhouse.
Reed - does everyone have a copy? Narayan says yes. He got a second.
Basically, it strikes the funding lines for the Workhouse.
Narayan - I think this is the will of the people. Let's do it today.
.@presreed - have you reviewed what the board can and cannot do at this moment with the budget?
Reed - we can reduce the budget, as long as it does not conflict with any law or contract. I think he's trying to make the argument that there are deals that include money for the Workhouse.
Reed says he isn't sure the amendment is properly before it. We would be in violation of what we can do.
Tom Oldenburg also raised questions about the charter. I'm going to see if I can find the relevant section.
It's not surprising that we're hanging up on procedural/charter language. It's probably the only way opponents have to kill this.
Oldenburg to @CaraSpencerSTL, who has had this amendment before - what is your interpretation?
Spencer says all contracts with the Workhouse have 30 days to get out of them.
Here's the charter language we are talking about.
bit.ly/2ZflUnp
bit.ly/2ZflUnp
The money stripped from the Workhouse is only reallocated to the General Fund, not to a specific line item. @CaraSpencerSTL says that means the money could still go to pay off the contracts if we need.
Spencer - it is not my intention to put the city at legal risk with doing this. My amendments would just put it into the Gen Fund.
Oldenburg - this is a laudable goal. But the better time to see this would have been 5 weeks ago in E&A. We are in a place where we need to move forward on the budget.
Oldenburg - I also find it insulting that we aren't acknowledging the progress we have made around MSI (the Workhouse.)
.@Aldermanjoe - I agree with Oldenburg.
Vaccaro - if we don't pass this budget, everything we have worked for is gone. (This is how the process works.)
Vaccaro - the appropriate time to do this was 5 weeks ago. If you kill this budget with this, all the work we did is gone.
Vaccaro just took a swipe at Spencer, basically saying she's hiding behind Narayan. The look on the face of some of the alders was shock.
.@chryssi - I support this. We have been trying to do this for 2 years.
.@shanecohn says he had initially raised his hand for the underlying budget. But he says he agrees that this sends a message for what our values are.
Cohn - I am so frustrated by this budget. This provides a glimmer of hope.
Cohn - I am so frustrated by this budget. This provides a glimmer of hope.
Cohn - if this budget fails and the one as proposed by E&A goes into effect, that's on those members. It reflects their values.
We still have final passage of residency on tap for today, if you're wondering.
Jesse Todd - I support this amendment. To keep less than 100 people confined in what I call the poor house is a shame.
Todd - there is nothing reasonable about this.
Just checked inmate data for today. There are 92 people in the Workhouse today. 646 at the downtown jail.
CJC (downtown) can hold 860.
Todd - there is nothing in how I read the Bible that says we should lock poor people up. My religion says we should help and support them.
.@MeganEllyia - I will not belabor the points that others have made. But we can't justify spending another 8 million on the Workhouse when it is holding 92 people.
Green - we would not even have to transfer most of those at MSI over to CJC. Many of them are there because they can't make bail. When many are bailed out they return to these trials.
Green - none of this makes sense.
Green - we can put our city on the map for the right reasons.
Green agrees with Cohn that if the E&A budget takes effect, let them take the fallout.
(I would love to know the virtual lobbying going on right now)
.@CaraSpencerSTL asks Vollmer to yield for technical questions.
Spencer - did we make any changes to the budget beyond what E&A adopted? Vollmer - no.
Spencer - basically, my point is, if we don't pass this, it's the same budget E&A gave us last week. That includes ward capital and breathing apparatus for the fire department.
This timeline/process has *always* confused the hell out of me. I've been covering this for 12 years and it doesn't make sense.
Spencer - this budget is bigger than all of us. At this point, the Workhouse is a symbol of racism and oppression.
Tyus asks Vollmer to yield to follow up on the budget process.
Vollmer - we sent our desires. They agreed with those (that included ward capital.)
Tyus - we got the bill too late and that was done on purpose.
This goes back to the issue of, if the alders don't adopt the budget, what takes effect.
And I don't know the answer. Tyus says it would be what E&A adopted on June 11 if my math is right..that would have ward capital in it.
Tyus says she would want to reuse the Workhouse, not just to leave it sit.
Tyus - I was not on board until last night. Reviewing the budget, and how racist and classist it is, pushed me over the last 95 percent.
Tyus - even if we go back to a budget with no ward capital, we can make an amendment later.
Tyus - I am late to the party but glad to be part of the change.
.@Aldermanjoe gets a chance to speak again. He's referring back to comments that @chryssi made earlier about a Close the Workhouse resolution from last year.
Vaccaro - moving people from the Workhouse to CJC moves them from a medium security to a max security facility.
There is still a ton of confusion about what budget would take effect if one isn't passed by July 1.
Vaccaro also brings up that employees at the Workhouse would lose their jobs.
.@jcoatar to Narayan - where would the MSI inmates go? Narayan - my understanding is that they would be detained or released. A lot will depend on what the judiciary, prosecutors and defenders decide.
Coatar - no one has ordered the detainees to be released, right?
Narayan - no. But there is funding to wind it down.
Narayan - no. But there is funding to wind it down.
Narayan says he has not talked to the corrections division about this, but says Spencer has.
.@jcoatar - there is some excess capacity. But a bed does not equal a bed. There are a lot of factors that have to be taken into account in housing people.
Narayan - this does not shutter this immediately. There would be a winding down period.
Coatar - this budget does a lot to move us toward the laudable goal of getting to a one-jail system. But doesn't this cause problems at CJC?
Narayan - this is a fundamental disagreement over those we should be incarcerating. I don't think some of the people housed in the Workhouse should be there.
Coatar - how many people in the Workhouse are those we are afraid of versus how many are those we are annoyed at.
Coatar - how does closing this make the city safer? Narayan - this has become a symbol. It is the duty of government to represent our constituents.
Coatar - I think everyone wants a one-jail city. This budget makes progress toward that goal.
Coatar - we can get there. But I don't understand how we do that with hastily defunding this with no plan.
Coatar - 92 is an artificially low number. Before COVID, we had more than 200. I have no idea how we keep a low jail population without the pandemic.
.@AnnieRiceStL is reading the section of the charter governing the budget. She says her understanding is that it would be the one adopted June 11.
Rice - MSI is a medium security jail. There shouldn't be anyone there that we are afraid of there.
Rice - the numbers have been trending down as we correctly implement bail and bond reform.
Rice - let's accelerate this process.
Rice - across the country, shrines to generational harm are coming down. We need to do that here in STL. That is all the Workhouse is.
Davis - I was happy to see an agreement to cut the budget in half. We need a new system, but we have to work in tandem with the justice system.
Davis has a bill to take a nonbinding referendum on closing MSI. She says if that happens, everyone in those systems will be working for change.
Davis - we are already going to come back in this budget. Let's do it with absolute knowledge of who wants MSI closed.
(She seems to be hinting that the base of support isn't there to the degree that people think it is.)
.@SarahWMartin - we seem to be turning into the #moleg. We are throwing stuff to the voters because we don't want to make the tough choices.
Martin - We have had time to prepare. To say we are blindsided is false. Let's take the tough vote. We have got to do something different.
Martin - I can have all the ward capital in the world, but it doesn't change all the problems in my ward from the same criminal system.
.@DanGuentherSTL - this is not being thrown at people. We talked about this all last year with our resolution asking ppl to not vote for a budget with funding for the Workhouse.
Guenther - we didn't have a chance to vote on that resolution because of COVID. (Resolution 205)
Guenther - I hope that my colleagues will listen to the voices of the people.
.@boydstuff (Pam Boyd) - the judicial system is not fair. I know there are people in MSI who shouldn't be there. But it is my community that has to deal with the violence. I don't think this is a good idea.
Boyd - I support the goal of getting to one jail. But I am dealing with lives of people. I am tired of people telling me what I should feel as a black woman.
.@Citizens4THubb - I am also opposed to this amendment. We need a feasible plan to close MSI.
Hubbard - stop toying around with the word racism. Some of your votes against development in the 5th Ward was racist. There are people coming out of MSI are overdosing on my doorstep. We need a holistic approach.
Hubbard - come up with a plan.
(@CLOSEWorkhouse would say they have a plan, which includes using the money from the Workhouse to fund services.)
(@CLOSEWorkhouse would say they have a plan, which includes using the money from the Workhouse to fund services.)
.@JohnMuhammadJr - closing the Workhouse is not criminal justice reform.
To Vollmer - can you put this on informal to get a legal opinion? Vollmer says he is considering it.
To Vollmer - can you put this on informal to get a legal opinion? Vollmer says he is considering it.
Muhammad - the people who are telling.me this is a black issue are white. My 13k residents want the Workhouse to stay where it is.
.@HeatherNStL - I see this amendment as a way to push a plan forward to close the Workhouse. She adds that this conversation didn't start with Ways and Means this week.
Navarro - no one bill reforms criminal justice.
Boyd then asks Narayan for an example of a misdemeanor and then whether bail would ever not be allowed for such a crime.
Narayan says it would never be that bail is just outright not allowed on a misdemeanor, but it's often that the bail is too high for someone to pay.
Boyd - what do you do with people who are an absolute menace.
Boyd - I really don't care if some of those people don't get bail. They may not have committed a felony, but they are causing a ton of problems. Some people don't want jobs.
Boyd - we need an exit plan.
Narayan - the speed of transition is going to depend on how fast others want to act.
Boyd - how do you cover the costs of this? Narayan - we aren't allocating this money anywhere. It would be available to spend on that.
Boyd - I want to be a partner in the process of making the system. There are some people who shouldn't be there. But taking all the money is very concerning.
.@JoeRoddy to Narayan - I just want to make sure I know how you envision this playing out. Do we have a legal requirement to provide jail space if a judge says they have to be there?
Narayan says he thinks sentencing judges are aware of capacity. We do have to house state detainees, but we don't have to house fed detainees.
That's contractual. There are about 200 inmates currently.
Roddy - what space are we absolutely required to have by the state?
So that means there are about 540 people in the jail on state charges. That's the space the jail has to have, in other words.
Roddy - I don't see how closing the Workhouse saves money if we are taking money to house fed detainees. Narayan says the contract doesn't actually cover the cost.
Roddy also brings up the COVID releases and whether that means the numbers are artificially low.
Narayan - we have the space at CJC (downtown) to hold those we are required to hold.
Roddy again brings up the fact that there are a lot of people who got let out because of the pandemic.
Roddy again brings up the fact that there are a lot of people who got let out because of the pandemic.
I was not expecting a Gitmo reference today but here we are.
(This was in reference to Obama wanting to close Gitmo and getting troops out of Iraq, and it being harder than expected.)
Narayan - we are not holding space, nor are we required to hold space, for those released during COVID.
Roddy's argument is that the numbers only work if all of those people stay out, which he thinks won't happen.
Roddy - it is always difficult to find the right balance between liberties and public safety, especially in a free country like ours.
(Roddy definitely just called Muslims Islams ... 😬😳)
Roddy - the reason that I have never served on public safety because I don't think it is my place to try and find the balance between safety and civil liberities.
Roddy - for us to undermine Judge Edward's, who I trust to find that balance, is infuriating to me.
Roddy - the decreasing head counts and the cut from 16m to 8m shows good faith.
I need to take a bathroom break and get some food. Roddy is currently speaking about how public safety is what drove reinvestment in his ward.
We have just hit three hours of debate.
We have just hit three hours of debate.
I'm back. Someone (don't know who) asked Vollmer what happens if you don't pass a budget.
Today I learned that my recorder apparently changes tracks at a certain time.
Vollmer - I understand the emotion around closing the Workhouse. But we need to have a plan and this should have been brought up sooner.
Vollmer - if there is a chance the amendment can pass we might be in violation of the city Charter. That would mean the budget wouldn't be legal.
After all that, Vollmer asks to have this placed on the informal calendar. I don't know if you can do that with an amendment pending.
It apparently strips the amendment. Which means we are going to go through this again Monday.
Up now - perfection of the CARES appropriations.
This is BB49 as amended.
There are a few amendments on this bill. I don't have copies of them, but the first one had no one opposed.
I don't know what amendments 1 or 2 did. Amendment 3 creates a line item specifically for legal assistance for pending eviction cases.
Amendment 4 just simply changes the amount in one fund to reflect earlier amendments.
CARES Act appropriations get 1st round approval as amended.
Up now is consent passage of legislation extending an agreement between @flystl and the state transportation commission for marketing.
Residency is not up for debate today. Port District expansion apparently is.
(I swear we already passed this.)
This does not include the full city. It's the soccer stadium, and some other specific areas of the city. It allows for the creation of a special taxing district around the stadium and gives other areas access to certain incentives.
The muting function isn't working particularly well today.
Either muting or unmuting.
Vaccaro voted no. I think Bosley voted no on first round approval IIRC, and did the same today. Everyone else was a yes.
And all currently sworn in alders are here today.
Courtesy resolution calendar adopted. It honors Bishop Lawrence Wooten, who leads Williams Temple COGIC.
.@jcoatar moves for final passage of his resolution that authorizes the investigation of a parking operations contract, and gives the streets committee subpoena power.
Coatar doesn't expect to have to use subpoena power, but needs it in case the private company does not comply.
Coatar - this is a key part of our oversight duty.
.@AnnieRiceStL to Coatar - was the treasurer called to testify at the streets committee yesterday? Coatar - no.
Coatar - I will definitely call the office when we deal with the substance of the issue.
Rice - my problem with this is that the streets committee didn't just ask for the documents, and jumped straight to subpoena power.
She also raises the point that @jeffreyboyd, who chairs streets, is running against @tishaura .
Tyus - when I suggested putting subpoena power in the special COVID committee, I was told it wasn't necessary. The timing of this stinks.
Tyus - I believe in good government , but to do this now just before the election smells of politics and not issues.
.@24thWardSTL to @jcoatar - any reason why you're doing this before you just asked for the documents?
Coatar - this is more for the private entity contracted for parking. I have no doubt the treasurer will continue to cooperate.
Hubbard - if there are questions about what's going on, you need to be transparent and make your case that everything is on the up and up.
.@shanecohn - I am mixed about this. It is our duty to ensure we investigate issues that give us pause. But I am concerned about the committee doing this.
Cohn - it's not that a conflict exists but there's a huge appearance of one. There are other committees where I would support this wholeheartedly.
.@CaraSpencerSTL says she appreciated Coatar's point about outside interests.
Tyus to @jeffreyboyd - has the streets committee gotten documents from the treasurer? Boyd - we have gotten some. I'm not sure if there are others we want that she has not provided.
Boyd says he isn't sure if he has gotten all the documents he asked for, and then adds that he doesn't know if he'll need to request more.
Tyus to @jcoatar - usually outside entities will respond without a subpoena. She says in her experience, it's the executive entities that usually deny the request.
Coatar has not requested anything from the company with whom the contract was signed, nor from the treasurer. He says he will just ask her for them without the subpoena. Tyus says she'll ask on her own.
Tyus - I bet I'll get them before you will. This is what I mean by trying to smear someone.
.@jcoatar says yes, he had reservations about granting the standing COVID committee subpoena permanently.
He says his concerns with parking go beyond politics. He says most of the paid parking in the city is in his ward so this absolutely impacts him.
Roll call when I have it.
Subpoena power granted to the streets committee 17-9. I'll RT with the full roll call in a sec after we adjourn.
There will be three board meetings in four days next week.
No one needs to be excused. We are adjourned until Monday at 11.
