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Mayor’s Plan to Put Tiny Homes at Workhouse Site Draws Pushback

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St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones is considering building tiny homes for St. Louis’ unhoused population at the former site of the city’s Medium Security Institution, better known as the Workhouse. Her spokesman suggests she has little choice — that the Board of Aldermen have effectively blocked homeless shelters from going just about everywhere else in the city.

Activists who Jones once consulted on a future use for the Workhouse say she’s not wrong about that. They agree that NIMBYism is a huge problem. But the Workhouse, they say, is not the place for unhoused people. In fact, putting them there could be dangerous.

Jones has not officially announced her plan yet, but an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch cited information provided by a spokesperson who confirmed that it’s an option Jones is considering for the site, and an excerpt from an environmental report commissioned by the city suggests Jones’ office wants to find a way to make it work. The mayor’s office plans to share more detail at Thursday’s Public Safety Committee Meeting, spokesperson Conner Kerrigan told RFT.

Jones’ idea for the site comes after the committee of stakeholders she convened to examine the site published its Re-Envisioning the Workhouse Report in January. The report includes input from more than 2,500 St. Louisans and a survey of the community regarding how the 30-acre site should be used. 

While the survey included the idea of using the site as a shelter or for affordable housing, the stakeholders on the committee who were directly impacted by the Workhouse said it should never be used for housing. 

The survey sorted responses into four categories: members of the general population, members of the Black community, those who were incarcerated in the Workhouse or who had family who were, and those in the same ZIP code as the institution. 

Members of the general population appear to have suggested the shelter idea — while those who were directly impacted by the Workhouse and those who lived in the same ZIP code as the institution were by and large against constructing shelters or housing on site.

“People most familiar with the site, its conditions and surroundings are more likely to oppose it as a place for human inhabitation (and public resources in general), than those who have more distance from the site,” according to the survey. “They are interested in seeing housing, but would like to see it off-site embedded within neighborhoods.”

Those living in the Workhouse’s ZIP code want to see vacant or degrading lots revitalized for housing and oppose placing a shelter or transitional housing at the site, the survey says.

Yet Jones is contemplating the site as a shelter because, according to her office, there is simply nowhere else to put one. 

City ordinances make it “near impossible” to build a shelter anywhere within city limits, Kerrigan said. 

“Those ordinances were passed via board bills at the Board of Aldermen pretty much tying our hands on, standing up unhoused facilities within heavily populated areas of the city within several wards,” Kerrigan says.

These ordinances have baked a level of NIMBYsm (Not in My Back Yard) into city laws, he says.

“The nice thing about the MSI facility is that’s a building we own,” Kerrigan says. “We wouldn’t have to go through that same scrutiny because it’s a building that the city owns.”

One of the main reasons activists give for opposing such a shelter is the toxicity and environmental concerns at site. 

The site is located in an industrial area surrounded by trucking companies, freight trains and salvage. And while the environmental report commissioned by the city hasn’t been made public yet, the city provided screenshots from the report to the RFT showing that the levels of arsenic in the soil exceed residential standards and default target levels. It also said the lead levels exceeded the default target levels but were below residential standards. 

Other areas at the site contained high quantities of the hazardous substances Benzo(a)pyrene and Benzo(b)fluoranthene.

“Since the site is to be used for residential purposes for the unhoused, PE recommends minimizing residential exposure in the vicinity of [the affected areas] by spreading clean fill (soil or gravel) over those areas,” the report states. 

Inez Bordeaux, who was part of the steering committee for the Re-Envisioning the Workhouse report, was held at the Workhouse and knows firsthand the condition of the site, she tells RFT.

“I was in the Workhouse. So I know how it just smells weird there and how the water does have an odor and how it does taste funny and how there’s always floods, the area or the facility itself, the land, it’s always flooding in sewage backups, and things like that,” Bordeaux says.

In addition to the toxicity of the site, it is isolated from people and resources, cut off from transportation lines and is located in a food desert, Bordeaux says. click to enlarge Monica Obradovic Mayor Tishaura Jones.

The mayor’s office says it would be adding transportation lines to connect people staying on site with the rest of the city, but was unsure of how much this endeavor would cost. 

“They deserve far better than this plan the mayor is coming up with,” Bordeaux says. “I frankly think it’s quite disgusting. The optics of rounding up all of the unhoused people and dropping them off in the middle of nowhere, where they do not have access to even other people.”

Bordeaux says problems with housing people at the Workhouse aren’t just environmental or practical. They are symbolic and emotional.

“It would be a slap in the face to not only every person that’s lost their life to the Workhouse, but every person that survived the Workhouse,” Bordeaux says. “The last thing we need to do is take another vulnerable population that needs help with an unmet need, and throw them away at the Workhouse.”

Bordeaux agrees that there is a sense of “NIMBYsm” among the aldermen, but says it should not be used as an excuse to house the community at a toxic site. Instead, she wants to see the mayor use the powers of her office to work with the board to find housing and shelters in the city’s wards. 

“We don’t have to take the unethical or immoral way out, we can sit down together and figure out how to solve this crisis. We have the money, we just need the political will to do this the right way and to handle this situation at the Workhouse the right way,” Bordeaux says. “This is not the solution to the problem that we are having.”

The mayor’s office could not provide a concrete answer as to what happens next if Jones chooses to pursue her tiny house plan. When asked whether the decision would be approved solely by Jones or if it would go before the Board of Aldermen, her office said, “As for approval over what happens/next steps after the Mayor makes a decision, that is dependent on what route we choose to take.” click to enlarge Monica Obradovic Inez Bordeaux at a previous protest in front of the the St. Louis City Judicial Court Building.

Re-Envisioning the Workhouse

Instead of housing people, with some remediation, Bordeaux believes the site would be perfect for housing animals. CARE STL has stated it hopes to use the site as a shelter and would fundraise the needed capital to remediate the site, she says.

This would also be a good opportunity to allow unhoused community members with pets to stay at the site on a “very temporary” basis while they receive veterinary care and services, Bordeaux says. Currently it is impossible for these individuals to access shelters in the city with their pets. 

Other options the stakeholders’ committee suggested to the mayor include turning it into prairie land, a solar farm or an industrial use, where the Workhouse could be sold to one of the neighboring companies and the funds from the sale used to help the unhoused. 

Now that the committee has compiled its findings, activists are focusing on three objectives: adopting the recommendations in the report, funding a “memorial resource hub” with resources for people who were detained in the Workhouse and providing reparations to Workhouse survivors, according to the Close the Workhouse campaign.

The Board of Aldermen’s Public Safety Committee will discuss the Re-Envisioning the Workhouse report and plans for the site on Thursday at 2 p.m. 

Currently, Magdala House partners with the city to provide tiny home housing and services to the unhoused community. Overall this endeavor has been successful, CEO Thomas J. Mangogna says, but the organization hopes to expand if the city allows them to.

As of March 25, Magdala House had not been contacted regarding the possible expansion to the Workhouse site. Mangogna says the site is not currently at full capacity and has some homes open for occupancy.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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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

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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

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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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