ST. LOUIS — A controversial city building repair program has ground to a halt after revelations of potential misconduct involving a now-resigned municipal inspector who allegedly funneled government work to contractors with personal financial connections.
The city of St. Louis has launched an internal investigation into its Building Division after property owners like Robert Miner found themselves facing astronomical repair bills for work they claim was never requested or necessary.
Miner, a north St. Louis business owner, was hit with a $183,000 bill for repairs to his property — a sum that ultimately forced him to close his retail store.
"Somebody is coming and taking something that I worked hard for," Miner said. "In the Black community, owning real estate in America wasn't a reality for us for a long time. So when we get a piece of property or two or three, we wanna hold on to that. We cherish that because it wasn't even a right for us to own in America."
The program, initially promoted by Mayor Tishaura Jones as a method to address neglect by "absentee owners" in the city, has now been paused. Jones touted the success of the program as recently as early October in an event with local business leaders.
In the weeks that followed, critics decried it as a predatory program that exposes the fragile dream of property ownership and reveals how bureaucratic overreach can systematically dismantle Black entrepreneurs' hard-won investments through mysterious bills, hidden conflicts of interest, and unchecked municipal power.
Banjo Popoola, the Building Division inspector at the center of the controversy, has now resigned, effective Friday. An expose first reported in St. Louis Magazine revealed potential conflicts of interest, suggesting Popoola had financial ties to some of the contracting companies performing the repair work.
"This investigation is currently focused on Mr. Popoola’s involvement with the Stable Communities STL program, and will potentially expand based on the findings of that investigation," Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman for Mayor Jones, said in an emailed statement on Friday.
5 On Your Side asked the mayor's office on Friday if Popoola or his family members ever disclosed any conflicts of interest with the Building Division when seeking the government contracts. Kerrigan said they were working to track down that answer.
Property owners like Miner and Fred Lewis, the owner of the historic old J.C. Penney building in north city's Wellston neighborhood, attempted to raise concerns directly with city officials, visiting City Hall to seek answers on Friday morning. Staff at the Building Division and in the mayor's office directed them to make appointments and await further investigation.
While the mayor's office confirmed an investigation is ongoing, they claim the program's pause began back in October, predating the most recent discoveries.
Miner, who has started driving for Uber since closing his retail shop, couldn't understand why the city would force his property into a tax sale and compared the implementation of a well-intended program to organized crime.
"'What you all are doing in the streets, we say that's gangster,'" he said he told Popoola in a personal interaction. "The whole idea of somebody coming to your property and telling you, 'You need to get this work done or we're gonna do it, and you're gonna pay us $183,000,' — that's in street terms, we call that a strong-armed robbery."