ST. LOUIS—St. Louis Mayor Tishuara Jones defended the work being done to hand out nearly $30 million dollars in American Rescue Plan Act grant money during Friday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, saying her administration is dedicated to investing in north St. Louis. 

Prior to the mayor’s comments, Comptroller Darlene Green addressed the Board of Aldermen expressing her concerns about the process for ARPA funded grants. 

Their appearances come days after representatives of the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) admitted the selection process was flawed, that mistakes were made and promised more transparency over the program intended to boost reinvestment in North St. Louis. 

Green said she wrote a letter to SLDC two weeks ago urging them to remove all doubts concerning the integrity of the process. She ended her comments saying,” this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to uplift a long distressed area” and that SLDC “get this right while they still have time.”

Mayor Jones acknowledged there have been some bumps in the road, but said this is new territory for St. Louis.

“Investing in people and investing in North St. Louis is an unfamiliar road. We have never taken the steps that we are currently taking to correct seven decades, over 70 years of intentional neglect and intentional disinvestment,” said Mayor Jones.

She said the comptroller is right to point out the concerns and Neal Richardson, the which was tasked with standing up 13 new programs. 

“What we will not do is let bumps in the process kill this entire project,” said Jones. 

Jones told the crowd at the Board of Aldermen meeting that this program will be transformative. 

“These businesses will grow. North St. Louis will look totally different in the next five to seven years  because of this program, and the many others we have to invest in north St. Louis and South St. Louis.”

St. Louis comptroller Darlene Green called out the St. Louis Development Corporation over concerns for 30 million dollars in ARPA funded grants… urging it “to get this right”  during today’s Board of Aldermen meeting. Earlier this week, the development corporation Mayor Tishaura Jones admits the process hasn’t been perfect, but is dedicated to helping North St. Louis grow.