TO DANIELA VELASQUEZ AND THE BOA: NO CITY MANAGER! SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY NETWORKS INSTEAD!

 To Daniela Velasquez and the BOA, Mayor Jones 

Posted on Facebook 29 March 2025, to be emailed shortly.  

Why I am against a City Manager: 

First of all, what are the jobs that are going to be given to the City Manager? I want a complete list before we go and do something expensive, probably unnecessary, and especially something that requires changing the City Charter.  

Second, who is responsible for those jobs now? 

Third, when did the issues with these jobs begin?  

Fourth, what steps have been taken to remedy these problems? Please document the whole process.  

The public needs to see the answers to these questions first.  This never should have been proposed. 

I do not support Velasquez idea that you can “take the politics out” of any city management issue is offensive to me.  City administration is all about politics.  And should remain so.  

Hiring people that aren’t city residents, outsourcing to private businesses and contractors, especially those that do not hire city residents and that do not voluntarily submit full financial transparency to the public (and the City itself is horrible, outrageously so, in this regard as well)  

And do I want to follow IBM’s advice? NO.  These corporate models that neoliberals are so fond of shoving into government are not working! Also, her statistics come from ICMA, a group formed by and for professional city managers.  And the statistics are the perfect examples of Twain’s famous “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  Even the way they are written is ridiculous and meant to dazzle without substance.  

Just because 120 million people live in cities or municipalities doesn’t automatically mean that life is better because of that in those places. And the statistics are pretty “meh”. Half of all municipalities? And 800 out of 3142 counties? Underwhelmed. Please point to US city is well managed.  Nevermind. And what are those counties like? Are their problems similar? Is anything similar?  

SAINT LOUIS, I BEG OF YOU, STOP DOING THINGS LIKE EVERY OTHER SIMILAR SIZED CITY.  Those places aren’t working either.  And this awful big box mentality to everything.  Like these developer schemes to put a pizza hut and quiznos and starbucks next to each other so that no suburbanite has to drive to far without seeing something familiar. 

Saint Louis is a mess but let it be its own unique mess.  Work with it.   

That Velasquez chose to single out Baltimore as a reason why St. Louis should get a City manager is ridiculous. Really.  I guess she isn’t familiar with what a mess that is and continues to be. Google Faith Leach and read the whole saga.  It’s at least a decade of drama.  
 
And Baltimore- roughly the same state population, about 200k more people than St. Louis, is losing population like St. Louis, and isn’t incorporated into its county, making its crime statistics appear worse than other, larger and more dangerous cities.   

But Baltimore is half the size of Missouri, much more densely populated, an on a coastline- near an ocean, which about half the world’s population lives within a one-hour drive of the ocean-so much more densely situated area overall.   

And it’s within about an hour of DC.  

There might be a case for a Baltimore City manager, but not St. Louis. The statistics they share don’t make them similar.  In fact, just the opposite given other factors.  

I’ve been talking to people about building community structures here for 15 years. Creating communities based on 6 block areas, and also units of 250 residents.  These would overlap, one to have larger districts composed of resident workers, in any combination needed of part-time, full-time, permanent, intermittent.  These districts would decide how their budget was allocated, and as much as possible of the work would be done by city residents, and hopefully, people that lived in those communities.    

That can include everything from finding housing for homeless to community policing to making sure streets and walkways are kept navigable in all weather, removing invasive species and trash, and helping legislators learn what kinds of businesses they want in their neighborhoods.  

If we are going to change the Charter, let’s get rid of the current structure altogether. We could have 4 part-time community leaders per alderperson for what we are paying each one of you.  Not to mention what we could do with all those salaries you are proposing for city manager and their staff!  

But all of that might be in the future- maybe not as far away as 2029, when you think your city manager might start, though. But I hope that doesn’t go through, even if I can’t get my plan instituted.  

These units of 250 residents and 6 block areas would immediately serve as emergency preparation and response for the whole city.  Extreme weather events are increasing, and especially with the Trump administration, it seems best to be prepared for all possibilities.  

The city ID card that I have been talking to people about for 7 years was meant to serve as Real ID, especially for poor people so they could vote and gain entry to federal buildings, and one for transients.  That was the original idea in 2017.  Then in conversation about this someone mentioned a city card from somewhere, perhaps only proposed, that linked all city services. And I added that in. And then it combined easily with emergency planning for evacuations and large-scale disasters.  That ID would also show your Emergency Unit and Location numbers, which could also include any information like disabilities, allergies, medications, blood type, etc.  

The police have a plan that sets up police command units to work with FEMA and other agencies, and the LEPC has some plans for various scenarios.  But no one that I have talked to knows of any currently existing evacuation plan or anything this comprehensive.   

My plan does not rely on the police, many of whom do not live here, or FEMA, which was defunded and stripped back in the early aughts when it was integrated into the DHS.  My plan is city-wide locals and public buildings, and includes the incarcerated, incapacitated, homeless-in short, everyone.  

I never get any response, and when I do it is usually indifference, or occasionally hostility or derision, as with your assistant on the Activist Hub. So hopefully I will talk to enough people, and regardless of who is in office, we the residents will begin to shape legislation and policy.  

The homeless are the biggest issue facing St. Louis.  And that issue includes a lack of rent control, these awful, outright evil landlords like Dara Daughterty, Cambridge Heights, and the complete lack of rent control, tenants' unions, and landlord transparency.  (Not to mention way too many elected officials and lawyers and judges own rental property.) And now all of these short-term rentals.  People are being evicted with 30 day notices.   

The other big issue, crime, is never dealt with because the only two solutions that are offered are the two that never work: more police and more convictions. My city plan creates jobs, job training, and builds strong communities, as well as making sure everyone is prepared for an emergency.  

ABOUT CARA SPENCER AND SOMETHINGS ABOUT ME

I am not a Cara Spencer fan.  Like Jones she is neoliberal that calls herself a progressive.  (Showing up at demos but passing neoliberal legislation and getting cozy with developers that make large donations to your mayoral campaign is a perfect illustration of "not walking your talk.") 

I am not impressed with her record at the BOA, and she doesn't seem to be strong enough to stand up to the St. Louis Ole Boys, both the county country club set, and the ones in City Hall and other agencies that receive public money.  And like Jones I believe will end up in their pocket. In fact, my prediction is that she will win and that she will be Jones part 2. (And hopefully Spencer will prove me wrong.  I love being wrong about matters such as these.)

There is a personal side to this, too, though. In the next post below DEAR SAINT LOUIS: ARPA FUNDS PART 3- DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE WITH THE MONEY

there is a section about the homeless:

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.

I had talked to a lot of people about this. There is a spreadsheet that goes with it with more detail.** I had talked about and given it to everyone that was active or volunteered around the homeless, and I had a proposal and list of people and locations to fully implement a plan for a 24 hour shelter.

Most people that were familiar with the system just guffawed and told me I was dreaming and there was no way. But I kept pushing. If the city had taken my proposal and let me get it set up, I think it would still be going on. It was very comprehensive, and no one I talked to had anything like it mapped out.

This was roughly 2017 through 2019, and part of the plan also included the St Louis City ID (see my previous post) and the ID was to include block by block neighborhood emergency preparations, and transient ID's for the homeless population.

From the same post: 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.

(I have started a blog specifically for this and have been focusing mostly on this issue since last summer WHEN THERE IS AN EMERGENCY/ CUANDO HAY UNA EMERGENCIA )

I have been talking to people and handing out flyers since 1981.  The name on this profile, Leah Carder, is Red Rachael backwards.  That was the nickname given to me when I was 15 and became political.  And yes, I started out as communist.  (See LETTERS FROM AN OLD ACTIVIST: 50501 FACEBOOK AND REDDIT POST WITH BIO )

Since 1992 I have been on my own, doing whatever I felt wasn't being addressed or joining or volunteering with other groups.  Mostly in Los Angeles, where I lived from 1985 until 2010, with two forays back here in 1995 and parts of 07 and 08. And while I lived there the population was about 12 million, twice the size of the state of Missouri. 

And yet I received more responses, and gratitude, from city and state leaders and organizations there than I ever have here. Certainly, some of the ideas I have had others could have had as well.  But often I will hear from someone that "it was your email" that prompted it.  But always "you didn't hear it from me". 

(There doesn't seem to be a lot of original thinkers in power here.  I had three somewhat positive responses to the City ID card, but most people would say "We have state I.D.s." Completely missing the point. Of course, this is a city where in 2011 I had an employee of City Hall argue with me, loudly and insultingly that "St. Louis doesn't have a port!" It was in a coffeehouse on Delmar. This person refused to acknowledge me whenever we would see each other after that, I assume because they educated themselves and learned they were wrong.  A few years later, for political gain, I think it was Steve Stenger that actually investigated the corruption that I had been talking about that had started that argument.)   

Anyhow, after I sent this email to Mayor Jones and the BOA members, someone told me "You didn't hear this from me but" Spencer apparently had been using my spreadsheet as her own.  Thankfully I post everything on facebook (all these letters are posted there too) and unlike blogger you can't alter the publication dates.  And also, thankfully I have friends that read it. 

Spencer hadn't been on my radar at all.  I don't live in her ward, and I didn't even move to the city until summer of 2018. I'd heard from a few activists that she was verbally supportive of programs for the unhoused, and that she was "progressive" but when I started asking around about her, I found many people who told me that she did this a lot (took an idea introduced to her by someone else, including formal proposals) and passed them off as her own.

Is it true? I don't know.  She certainly never contacted me to say that she was working on something like this. I also looked up her record and have kept an eye on her ever since. Needless to say I was hoping Butler would be on the ballot. 

And back towards the beginning of February, on the day of the first 50501 demonstration, I met a strange woman at the tiny demo I went to.  She wouldn't tell me her name, but I thought she was a newbie and paranoid. I had my emergency prep leaflets and had given them to everyone. 

Again "you didn't hear it from me, but you saw Cara somewhere because you gave her one of your leaflets."  I'd only been a few places that week, and the odd young woman that had refused to say her name and seemed to avoid conversation with me. (I have problems recognizing even people I know. And I become a chatterbox to fill the void and was so grateful when more people had shown up that were more engaging with me.  I think I probably have always been a high masking autistic.  Even before I heard about this, I had been bothered for hours after the demo about "what had I done wrong to that weird young lady?") 

I took a picture of her sign, which I had admired, but not of her face, so I can't verify this was the place. (Her sign said Department of Oligarchs Gutting our Economic security- with each line start with a capital letter spelling out "DOGE".) 

My (probably TLDR) point here is that I am not the only person that deals with this. And in St. Louis it is mostly unpaid activists that create change and actually provide safety nets, and the people at City Hall that spend the public money and congratulate themselves for everything they think is good and condemn and blame others for all the bad. 

One hilarious part of Spencer's interview with Sarah Fenske was her insistence in one part of the interview that the BOA was to the Mayor as Congress to the President. And then in several other parts of that interview, and other interviews, insistence that the BOA had limited capabilities, required the public's active participation to get anything done, and that were too often burdened by jobs that were the Mayor's. 

And I do have a lot to say in another post about Velasquez and her desire for the City to create another expensive department for a City Manager because apparently NO ONE at City Hall can figure out how to get the streets ploughed. 

Again, somewhere I have an email about how to do that by breaking the whole city down into small chunks and hiring people in the communities to oversee much of these things, as well as integrating it into emergency preparedness and community policing, among other things.  I won't hold my breath for a call from City Hall, though.  I will just wait for some lesser version, probably badly executed and expensive, to be introduced by someone in office. 

Sincerely... etc...

*The details were almost impossible to get, thanks again to the fact that the City constantly outsources everything, and those entities are not required to be transparent. One of the reasons I am not a Darlene Green fan is that I have never been able to get any information from her office.

In the whole of City Hall, I've had so few helpful responses about ANYTHING that I remember them clearly. Sharon Tyus responding to my questions about publication rules on the City Journal, Anne Schweitzer responding to my email about landlords and rent control, and the receptionist helping me when I was having a meltdown over getting no response to my personal application for Arpa funds. None of the people I was directed to would even answer their phones or return my calls, except for one really nasty woman that told me "It's on the website, you should just go there but wouldn't give me a direct web address.

The receptionist did give the direct address. The City website is badly constructed, and new pages don't always link properly or at all. Lots of broken links. And while the information I was seeking was there, it was not easily found if you didn't already know where it was. I had so many friends helping me, and none of us were able to find it without the direct link.

Once you have dealt with City Hall a few times you begin to understand why this city is in such bad shape, and that has been my experience for the whole 9 years I've been back here, through Slay, Krewson, and Jones.