ST. LOUIS — The City of St. Louis is getting a windfall of roughly 50% of its entire budget in extra federal money and that's not counting the hundreds of millions from the recent Rams relocation settlement.
Of the $498 million the city is receiving from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, about half is already in the city's account.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said from public input to the bidding process for contractors - transparency takes time.
"Nothing moves fast in government," Jones said. "I like to use the analogy of a cruise ship as it starts to dock, and it usually turns around and it turns really slowly...same thing with government."
The city has allocated about $135 million of the first half of the federal funds.
Jones wants the money invested in transformational changes.
"I'm here to try to right historic wrongs and make sure that people know that their government cares about them," she said. "Think about the old deed restrictions that Black people couldn't buy property in our city and had to purchase property through straw purchasers, right? And think about how homes north of Delmar are crumbling...that environment directly affects the health of our children and families. And so they deserve better, and we're going to make sure that they get it."
Jones said $20 million will support a "housing fund" to build roughly 200 "market rate and affordable" homes in north St. Louis.
"We also have the home repair program that we're going to launch there. There's also a grant program for small businesses that's going to launch soon. So we have a whole host of things in the hopper to provide real relief," Jones said.
Then there is the nearly $800 million settlement with the now Los Angeles Rams.
Jones says the city is still negotiating its share with the county and regional sports authority.
"I'd like to see it spent in a sustainable way where we can invest it in a way that we will see returns for decades. And so I think that's the part that we're still trying to negotiate," she said.
Asked if she was referring to some kind of financial investment tool or more of an investment in people, Jones said, "both."
But she would not offer any specifics.
Then there are the individual $500 stimulus checks a lot of people have been waiting a long time for.
Jones said the city has cut checks to more than 6,000 of the 9,300 payments the city budgeted for.
Now the city is trying to track down people with incomplete applications so they can receive checks, too.