ARPA FUNDS PART 3- DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE WITH THE MONEY

Edit March 26 2025:  Was recently accused by Daniela Velasquez and her assistant that I wasn't telling the truth about submitting the ID card to city leaders.  I am still searching all my posts and blogs and email addresses sent files but just wanted to note that by the time I sent this letter I had been talking to people about for at least three years, probably four. 

"Create a city resident card that is certified for Real I.D., and also could be used for voting identification, a library card, museum, zoo, symphony, and other benefits, and be used as a transit pass. I have heard proposals like this from many diverse city populations. Everyone in St. Louis city should have valid I.D. (Include the unhoused, please.) Now would be a great time to create one."

And this: The best thing the city can do right now is prosper the citizens directly. I’ve suggested before breaking the city down into sections and working to create sustainable neighborhoods. How about a network of 1,240 residents that are prepared to oversee 250 individual people each, in case of natural disasters or other emergencies? $12-15 million allocated to creating this type of network would prepare us for the next pandemic, tornado, flood, etc.

Also, sure is strange how no one at City Hall (other than Annie Schwietzer, whose ward I don't even live in) never gets my mails but how so many of the things I write them about and talk to people on the street about they do... don't even get me started on Spencer and the homeless cost/expense spreadsheet. Thankfully I post everything on social media where other people read it too.  

25 March 2022

Dear Mayor Jones:

The City of Saint Louis was awarded $498 million in ARPA funds:

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion federal aid package passed by Congress in March, 2021 to provide financial aid to families, governments, businesses, schools, nonprofits and others impacted by the pandemic. This site serves as a portal for the citizens of St. Louis and ARPA officials to track the City's use of the $498 million it received as part of this act.

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/.../covid-19/arpa/plan/index.cfm

And of that, only a fraction, about $44 million, has been budgeted, even though $135 million was appropriated:

Public Health

$2M COVID-19 community canvasses & community health workers to meet St. Louisans in their neighborhoods and homes

$1M Mobile vaccine clinics to get resources and vaccines to people

$1.25M COVID-19 vaccine incentives to increase getting shots in arms

Economic Relief

$500 direct cash assistance payments to 10,000 St. Louis families negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. {This total is $5 million, and was reduced to 9300 checks, with no explanation where the other $350,000 from this $5 million was allocated.}

$2.5M in housing assistance, including rental, mortgage, utility and property tax assistance.

$16.4M in supports for our unhoused neighbors, including emergency shelter, bridge housing, rapid rehousing, tiny homes, affordable housing, and permanent supportive housing

Public Safety

$5.5M for community violence intervention programs to interrupt cycles of violence

$5M for behavioral health providers to build a community responder model designed to divert calls for clinical help away from the police department, thereby freeing up officer time to combat violent crime

$4.7M for youth jobs and programming for young people to have access to free transit, to increase access to employment, to create safe spaces, drop-in centers, and community projects, and youth basketball leagues and soccer programming.

(I am having difficulty downloading the PDF with the full plan. Perhaps some of my questions are answered there? It would be nice if everything was very clearly posted and didn’t require a lot of downloads or searching.)

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/.../covid-19/arpa/plan/index.cfm

So far, only 3 million has been spent. Why?

I’d like to know why at least $32 million wasn’t allocated for the unhoused? This would provide the same level of shelter as Biddle House was able to provide when managed by Homefull for 2700 people. (Biddle House under Homefull was $28 per night, per bed.) And there are issues with 2-1-1. Hire the people volunteering. Hire the people that are already doing the work. Another $16 million for the unhoused would bring the budgeted total to $50 million. Leaving a balance of $448 million.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/.../how-the-211-hotline...

I’d also like to know why only $5 million was allocated for the stimulus and assistance checks? For $155 million you could send a $500 check to every single person in the city. That would boost the local economy tremendously. This $155 million would bring the budgeted total to $205 million. Leaving a balance of $243 million.

How about free transit passes for all city residents? Give every resident 60 free fares (5 free fares a month for a year). I bet you could negotiate a discount with Metro. (310,000 residents x $15 x 12 months = $56 million)

Create a city resident card that is certified for Real I.D., and also could be used for voting identification, a library card, museum, zoo, symphony, and other benefits, and be used as a transit pass. I have heard proposals like this from many diverse city populations. Everyone in St. Louis city should have valid I.D. (Include the unhoused, please.) Now would be a great time to create one.

Create a fund for residents to pay off their back taxes and court fees and other fines. Only extend this to properties that are occupied by the owners. (I could not find any information on how many back taxes are owed by resident owners. Even the discovery of only $1.2 billion being collected on $4 billion assessed I was only able to find via the library’s funding of one-half cent on the dollar of assessed property taxes in 2017, and that includes commercial properties.) ***

The best thing the city can do right now is prosper the citizens directly. I’ve suggested before breaking the city down into sections and working to create sustainable neighborhoods. How about a network of 1,240 residents that are prepared to oversee 250 individual people each, in case of natural disasters or other emergencies? $12-15 million allocated to creating this type of network would prepare us for the next pandemic, tornado, flood, etc.

St. Louis, at 310,000, is about the population of a full house at NASCAR. I think of the residents as the audience. If they aren’t filling the seats, there is no point for the drivers and the vendors and the rest of the staff to show up. Compare the vendors to small businesses. Yes, they are important, but only if the audience has the money to spend. Having a lot of vendors and a cash strapped audience won’t do any good. It will end up costing the venue (the city) money. Same with the wear and tear to the track if the races go on but there are no paying ticket holders. Therefore I think all city jobs need to go to city residents, including the disbursement of these funds.

Granted, the city itself is much larger than the track at NASCAR, but it is not unmanageable. We need leaders who reach out to us, communicate clearly and with complete transparency, listen to us, and work to make sure that every neighborhood has what it needs to survive and thrive. What residents need from city leaders is transparency and communication. Why has so little been budgeted or spent? What are the problems? What can city residents do to help?

*** This is unclear. I meant specifically for back property taxes, do not extend this to non-resident owners, especially of vacant properties. Not the entire program for resident property owners only.

ARPA FUNDS PART 2

 11 March 2022

Dear Mayor Jones:

I haven’t received any response regarding my letter dated 9 March 2022 and the distribution of ARPA funds. Below is simplified questionnaire that can be used.

What agencies were given ARPA funds to distribute?

How many labor hours does each agency have devoted to these applications? In other words, are there people working 40 hours week on these?

How are these agencies being paid and how are they paying their workers? Or are they relying on volunteers?

How many applications were received? And how many were from tenants, and how many from landlords?

How many applications have been fully processed?

Are the applications processed by date or by need, or both, or by some other measurement?

What guidelines and protocols were given to the agencies? What steps must be taken to process one of these applications? For example, if it were my project to oversee, I would require that the applicant be contacted first, and after an initial intake interview, I would check their financial information (employer, bank records, court records).

I would have a checklist that would need to be filled out, recording each conversation, each verification. I assume something similar is being used by the city and these agencies. I would like to see a copy of it as well.

Do the agencies themselves disburse the checks, or do they go through the city? Does the city process the checks immediately or collect batches- once a week or month?

Who audits the processed applications? The agencies or the City?

Does the city have a record of all the applicants? Does the United Way?

Please respond as soon as possible. Thank you.

I APPLIED FOR ARPA FUNDS AND IT WAS RIDICULOUS

9 March 2022

Dear Mayor Jones:

I write these letters to you as the figurehead and representative of all the people in the City of St. Louis. People sometimes ask me if I have heard any response from you? I have not. Nor does your office always send me an autoreply. The most personal and direct response I have gotten from your office so far was when I emailed to let them know what the Twitter link on your contact page was to Lyda Krewson.

I write these letters and share them on social media and with media outlets because I hope that other City residents are also asking you these questions, and urging you take up the mantle of true leadership and solve some of these systemic problems that plague the city.

But I am asking for you to directly respond regarding the $130 million in ARPA funding that has either disappeared or sits unused. For some reason the city chose to have charities handle this. I have not been able to get a list of the agencies that were entrusted with issuing these checks, only that Salvation Army and Catholic Charities were two of them, and that there are “at least” ten other agencies.

I applied for rent relief and for the $500 check in November of 2021. My gross income in 2020 was $18,800. (I worked for most of 2020, until mid-October.) My gross income for 2021 was about $12,000. (Plus $2500 in private loans and $1000 in credit card debt that I am still carrying. LiHeap paid $150 of an overdue electric bill in September, and in December I got emergency food stamps- although I do not think either counts on my taxable income.) I was not employed for most of 2021, save some contract employment and other 1099.

I was eligible for both programs. The website said that my application would be processed in three weeks. I waited four weeks, to be sure. When I called, shortly before Christmas, I learned that the United Way had processed my application, but that no agency had taken my case yet. In fact, they were still distributing applications submitted before September. (At the time I assumed of 2021, now I am not so sure.) I was told it would be at least the end of January before I could expect to hear anything, and maybe not even then.

I called in January, still nothing with my application. I called again recently and was told that the entire database had been removed from the United Way within the last few weeks, that they had no way of checking my status, and could not tell me if I would receive assistance or if I was going to receive a $500 assistance check. They also didn’t know when all the $500 checks would be release. If I was rejected, I would just get an email. I asked what if my check was issued and then lost or stolen? Would I be notified that it had been sent? That was not known either.

The United Way told a media outlet that they had received the maximum number of applications in the first 4 days of the period. I assumed that since I applied on the first day, and I meet the criteria, that I would be receiving a check? The person I spoke with didn’t know.

I am not blaming the United Way or these charities for this fiasco. If there are 12 charities working these applications, and I estimate- since the information is not being reported- that there are at least 40,000 applications submitted, and that since September 1st, there has been about 110 workdays (20 per month, minus 10 days of holidays), that each agency would have to process 30 applications per day.

That’s a lot for these charities, especially since the city does not seem to be providing any support or auditing. It does not seem that any parameters or coherent system was employed. And the machinations are completely opaque to the public. Why? And now you are withholding even more funding? I do not understand.

I lived in Los Angeles during the Northridge earthquake. I was also one of the contractors hired to work processing 365,000 applications for SBA loans and FEMA grants. L.A. County had a nine million population at the time, and it was well prepared. City government buildings were quickly converted into processing centers, with groups of workers (like me) numbering in the thousands, working two shifts a day doing data entry, verifying information, and contacting applicants and field workers.

I also worked in escrow in 2003 and 2004, during the height of the sub-prime mortgage bubble that would later cause the worldwide financial collapse. I was just a receptionist, but all the documents that came through the office passed through my hands. I worked in an office with one officer that had 9 assistants, and two part-time assistant officers.

I’d happily handle 33 applications a day myself, and I am sure there are many other city residents that could be recruited on a short-term contract basis. In fact, I bet there are many that, like me, would not need the assistance if they were hired to administrate it.

And as I have pointed out in my previous letters, now would be a good time to set up a real emergency response plan for future pandemics, and natural and other disasters. Hire city residents and make sure people in every neighborhood are trained.

I insist that your office immediately publish transparent records of how many applications have been received, how many have been processed, and how much has been spent on administrative costs. Also, what guidelines and criteria are the agencies using? How is the city auditing the assistance and disbursement of funds?

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

PS Have you given this matter as much attention and publicity as the Loop Trolley has been given? It’s extraordinary how much effort has been put into that loser project. Let Joe Edwards pay back the DOT Grant. Even if the Trolley is free, it won’t be used enough to justify the expense. Something I have no doubt will bear out this summer. But in the meantime, can the ARPA money get the same attention? Please?

https://www.kmov.com/.../six-months-after.../...

kmov.com

Six months after appropriating $130 million in ARPA funding, St. Louis City has spent just two percent

More than six months after the St. Louis Board of Aldermen appropri

RENT CONTROL AND LANDLORD TRANSPARENCY

 1 April 2022

Dear Mayor Jones:

In my letter about employment, I suggested promoting measures that allowed reciprocal transparency, as employers can ask for a lot of information, including credit reports and background checks, but not the reverse.

I’d like to suggest this for landlords, too. The person (or corporation) that owns the property should be transparent to prospective tenants and renters. We should be able to see exactly who the owner is (not the corporate shell or LLC), whether the landlord pays the taxes and other bills on time, and what other properties the landlord owns.

And it should be required that landlords disclose when they are selling the property. I would not have stayed in this apartment last year if I had known my old landlord had sold the building. (Nor would I be needing any assistance if I had moved last May.)

The new owners raised the rent with no improvements, and discontinued cleaning and some regular maintenance on the property. Rental properties require a lower down payment than a house, and less investment overall. Tenants pay the mortgage, not the landlord, and we deserve transparency. If we are going to pay the mortgage for a new set of owners, we should be told before the sale, not after.

(And there have been some truly horrific landlords in the St. Louis area. To name just two, Michael’s Lizt and Fox of Bellington Property. Both criminals were allowed to keep their own luxurious residences, while the refugees and other vulnerable people they swindled were left homeless.)

Moreover, the city of St. Louis desperately needs rent control. I am not the only the person that has seen an increase in rent with no value added to the property. The illusion of increased property taxes on these rentals is quickly offset by the poverty they create, and the outflow of renters from the city. If millionaire landlords milking tenants dry were the key to increased property values in the city, it would be evident by now.

More transparency for tenants, rent control, and developing sustainable neighborhoods and more resident property owners* are the keys to a prosperous and healthy St. Louis.

Please work to create laws and statues that require landlord transparency and rent control.

* The $1 house sale led to only four sales in 2019. Has any research gone into why the incentive was not more successful? Perhaps the homes were not attractive to people that have the money to renovate, and more assistance with loans and grants needed to be offered? And the list of homes from the LRA is a dense and difficult to read spreadsheet. It does not encourage browsing. Also, it maybe that most people didn’t hear about it or didn’t fully understand how the plan worked. Reaching out to city residents about available properties could be integrated into building sustainable neighborhoods. And these tax lien sales need to be promoted more than 2 weeks in advance and need to give priority to buyers that are looking to reside in these properties. Saint Louis does not need anymore “bulk buying” Section-8 dependent landlords, many of whom don’t even reside in the State or in the Metro area.