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St. Louis Again Orders Eviction of Riverfront Homeless Camp | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

March 7, 2023

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click to enlarge Monica Obradovic Ray Williams is one of roughly 40 people who seek shelter under President Casino’s long-shuttered casino landing pavilion downtown.

Ray Williams has taken shelter under the President Casino Laclede’s Landing pavilion near downtown St. Louis on and off for the past three years. He likes watching sunrises and sunsets from the Mississippi River. He plays techno on his Bluetooth speakers — even if his camp mates hate it. “They’ve gotten used to it,” Williams says.

But Williams’ haven may soon be forced to an end. This Friday, city officials will try once again to evict Williams and the rest of the riverfront encampment’s occupants.

“There’s been no problems down here,” says Williams. “Now they want to come down here and do this.”

City officials posted eviction notices at the encampment under the long-shuttered riverboat casino’s landing pavilion last week. Camp residents have until noon on Friday to move themselves and all their belongings. The posting gave no reason for the eviction.

This week’s notice is just the city’s most recent attempt to evict the riverfront camp. Last April, occupants were given 10 days to vacate. City officials blamed health and safety concerns as the reason for the eviction, but after facing a torrent of bad publicity, delayed the camp’s closure to allow the city’s Department of Health and Human Services time to “enhance” the options for resettling the residents into “non-congregate shelter bed options.”

Volunteers with Lifeline Aid Group, a nonprofit that helps unhoused people, tell the RFT that residents of the riverfront encampment were told the city had 10 available beds for the 30 to 40 people at the camp.

“Where are they supposed to go,” asks Lifeline co-founder Drew Falvey. “They made the outside world their home, and each time the city takes that away from them.”

In a statement, mayoral spokesperson Nick Dunne said the city’s Department of Human Services “is offering housing and resources to unhoused residents who will accept them.”

“[Department of Human Services] continues to provide frequent outreach to the riverfront community by offering housing, transportation and additional resources including secure storage for their belongings as they transition to stable housing,” Dunne wrote. “Three of the residents from the riverfront encampment have already accepted offers for housing.”

Many people who live at the riverfront encampment don’t trust shelters and say they have too many rules or barriers to entry. Others doubt whether hotel rooms are actually available.

“They don’t believe that the city wants to help them because they’ve been let down so many times,” Falvey says.

Williams says he feels safe at the riverfront community. Compared to the people “up top,” or the streets of downtown, the residents of the camp make him feel more comfortable to be himself.

And the camp feels safe. Nobody’s getting “shot or stabbed or blown up,” he says.

“You might have little skirmishes here and there, but for the most part, nobody should feel unsafe coming out here, and they don’t,” Williams says.

“It’s like a tight-knit family,” Falvey adds. It includes people like “Mama D,” who look out for the camp’s inhabitants.

Mama D has family she could live with, but she chooses to stay in the riverfront encampment anyway. She has the biggest tent in the camp and lets people stay inside if they need some semblance of shelter. She’ll also give residents, food, clothes, cosmetics and propane for heaters.

“It’s so sad,” Mama D says about the city’s planned eviction of the camp. “These people need some help. They don’t know what to do, they don’t know who to turn to.”Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

11 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

11 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

11 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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