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City Backs Off Late-Night Dispersal of St. Louis City Hall Encampment | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

October 3, 2023

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click to enlarge MONICA OBRADOVIC Advocates for homeless St. Louisans, including both current and former aldermen, link arms outside City Hall to oppose a planned camp dispersal.

St. Louis city officials called off the planned disbandment of a camp of unhoused people in front of City Hall in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Police had congregated at a park around City Hall late Monday night to evict the camp’s holdouts at 10 p.m., but protestors and some residents of the camp refused to leave.

At 11:15 p.m., protestors, housing advocates and camp residents were told by an officer in a police SUV they would be arrested if they remained at the camp by midnight. But two hours later, around 1:30 a.m., Department of Human Services Director Adam Pearson and Alderman Rasheen Aldridge told the crowd that the camp’s disbandment would not go forward. They said residents could stay in their tents one more night and city staff would try to get them to housing in the morning.

The night ended with no arrests.

The camp began as a small cluster of unhoused people started living in tents near the north side of City Hall this summer. The encampment grew until an untold number of people were living in tents that sprawled across an entire side of City Hall along Market Street.

Residents who spoke to the RFT said there was no shelter space for them. Many had service animals or pets that shelters would not allow. Others were couples who did not wish to separate into single-sex shelters. This included William Clay and his wife, Erica Clay.

Erica Clay is seven months pregnant. She and her husband have lived in the City Hall encampment for three weeks after they were evicted from their home. The couple has tried to receive help from the city or St. Louis County, but to no avail. William Clay says they constantly call the United Way’s 2-1-1 helpline for assistance.

“Each and every time we go for help, they always tell us they have no beds or to check back,” William Clay says. “It’s been a constant recording of ‘no space.’”

The “decommissioning” planned for this morning, per the city’s wording, is one of multiple attempts to clear encampments of unhoused individuals living downtown in the past year. But what made this attempt feel more like an affront to unhoused individuals was the lack of notice. In past evictions, the city posted notices days, sometimes weeks, in advance, of an intended time and date of a clearing. No such notice was posted outside this time.

Aldermen were also surprised. Ward 7 Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier had just announced her plan to file an Unhoused Bill of Rights hours earlier in the day. A whole section of that bill, according to Sonnier, would prevent disbandments such as the one attempted Monday night. Under the Unhoused Bill of Rights, the city would have to provide a 30-day notice for disbandments and hold items left behind for 90 days.

Sonnier says she was “shocked” to hear of the Jones administration’s plan to disband the City Hall camp. She learned of the city’s plans only a few hours before the action was set to start.

“I didn’t know this was going to happen,” Sonnier says.

Both Sonnier and Aldridge stayed at the camp all night. Aldridge called the disbandment “inhumane” and “wrong.”

“There’s more people dying in the jail than dying out here,” Aldridge says.
click to enlarge MONICA OBRADOVIC Camp residents say the signs proclaiming a curfew are new.

In a release to reporters (which the mayor’s office embargoed the press from publishing until 15 minutes before the disbandment was set to begin), a mayoral spokesperson explained the purpose of the call to decommission the camp was “not an easy one to make.”

The city cited a number of factors: 50 police calls for service within the span of 45 days; 33 ambulance calls for overdoses, seizures and other medical emergencies; fighting amongst tenants and those who approach them; increasing calls of city employees who report being accosted at work; and drug paraphernalia found on site.

City officials also said they wanted to enforce a park curfew. Placed on a light pole in front of the camp, a sign on Market Street now says the park has a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Multiple residents told the RFT that the sign had not been placed there until recently.

The city’s Department of Human Services had conducted outreach at the camp at least 35 times over the past 65 days to connect residents to permanent housing, shelter and supportive services, according to the mayor’s office. As of 9 p.m. Monday, more than 12 accepted the resources.

Last night laid bare a problem that advocates have reiterated again and again in recent years. There are not enough low-barrier or walk-in shelters to accommodate the needs of the city’s unhoused population.

“It’s estimated we have 1,500 unhoused people in the city and county, and we know that the city has a full capacity for 600 beds,” Sonnier says. click to enlarge MONICA OBRADOVIC The tent camp sits in the shadow of St. Louis City Hall.

Sonnier’s Unhoused Bill of Rights would also establish criteria for safe camping zones, which Sonnier says would be required to have a hand-washing station, porta potty, a shower, 24/7 security, waste management, and services coordinated through the Department of Human Services.

The Board of Aldermen are also considering a bill that would lower the amount of signatures required to open shelters — a barrier that has prevented shelters from opening in the past.

But unhoused people like Gino McCoy and his wife need resolution now. McCoy, 28, says he and wife, who’s three months pregnant, have been living under the mayor’s window for weeks. They have three dogs who they don’t want to part with.

“As soon as we mention the dogs, they never come back,” McCoy says of the Department of Human Services. “Nobody follows up.”

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

12 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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