ST. LOUIS — Alderman Jack Coatar appeared on 'The Record' this week to make his case to voters before the city elects the next President of the Board of Alderman in November.
Coatar, who has attracted significant financial backing from business owners and downtown developers, faces off against progressive Alderwoman Megan Green next month in a runoff election. Green narrowly defeated Coatar in a low-turnout round of voting last month.
Green, who enjoys support from Mayor Tishaura Jones, is scheduled to appear on The Record next week to present her vision for the future of the city.
Coatar has focused his campaign messaging on improving public works and reducing crime, saying he "won't let slogans get in the way of solutions."
"I'm talking about my opponent in her 'Defund the Police' platform and her belief that everything's going fine as it relates to public safety when it's obvious that it's not," Coatar said. "We've got very serious challenges with violent crime in this town."
"We've got to pay police more," he said. "We have to make sure our wage is competitive with the rest of the region."
Coatar's messaging has connected with business owners and executives who see crime as a threat to their bottom line.
Bob O'Loughlin, CEO of Lodging Hospitality Management, cut Coatar's campaign a record $50,000 check earlier this month.
"We support him because he's anti-crime, which as you know, is a big issue downtown. And that he was pro-business," O'Loughlin told 5 On Your Side. "Keep in mind, if the developers don't develop, there's no tax base and there's no jobs."
However, O'Loughin's recent opposition to hotel workers forming a union raised questions about Coatar's labor credentials in some union circles.
About 180 hotel workers who clean rooms, wash clothes, carry luggage or serve meals at the Union Station Hotel want to join UNITE HERE Local 74. That union filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board last month for collective bargaining rights.
Green posted a video to her social media pages standing alongside the workers outside the iconic hotel and called on the city to set new standards before doling out public funds to boost developers' investments.
"The management company has been distributing anti-union propaganda," Green told her followers. "They've even gone so far as to hire union busters at $3,000 a day to try to stop unionization. I don't think this is right. I especially don't think this is right because Union Station Hotel has received several tax breaks for the city over the years. To me, we need labor peace agreements. Anytime a developer's receiving tax breaks from the city, they need to be neutral when it comes to union organizing."
City records show when the developers applied for $25 million in TIF funds in 2015, they projected 350 new jobs, but only delivered an estimated 120 jobs.
"That affects all of us. Union workers here pay taxes," 79-year-old labor activist Lou Moye said. "So they owe something to the city. And St. Louis being a union town, I think they should accept the unions."
Campaign finance reports show the hotel executive's contribution to Coatar's campaign came days after Green rallied with hotel workers. Her proposal to require developers to sign labor peace agreements before taking public funds didn't sit well with O'Loughlin.
"Subsidy to spur development has nothing to do with your bias," he responded. "And I don't know how she can even make such a ridiculous claim that one is tied to the other."
Moye, the President Emeritus of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, said he's backing Green's bid because she supported the fight to increase the minimum wage.
"St. Louis basically is a union town," Moye said. "Service industries tend to be a low wage, and that's clearly a great need for the union because we want to bring those wages up to living wages."
"I don't know how anybody can complain about what we've done in St. Louis," O'Loughlin said. "I put up a million dollars to do a lot of the lighting when the city didn't have any funds to make it a safer place downtown. And Jack's running on safety, security in the city, doing public services, and we support that."
Coatar ultimately said Green's proposal to include labor peace agreements in publicly funded development projects was a good idea but suggested her stance could deter broader economic growth.
"One of the things that differs me and my opponent is I don't think development is a bad word," Coatar said. "Development isn't a dirty word. We need development. Development means jobs. It means increasing our population. It means more businesses in the city. Those are things we want."
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