STL Neighborhood Alliance Letter to President Megan Green
To: Megan Green, President
St. Louis Board of Aldermen
Alderman Alicia Sonnier
Cc: Mayor Tishaura Jones
Members, St. Louis Board of Aldermen
Date: July 15, 2024
In a historic move, and at the request of Mayor Tishaura Jones, the East-West Gateway Council of
Governments (EWGC) has voted unanimously to convene a Summit meeting on Homelessness with the
intention of devising a comprehensive strategy to address homelessness throughout the St. Louis region.
It is expected that this process will take place before the end of 2024.
We are writing today to respectfully request that you pause efforts to pass proposed legislation targeted
at assisting unhoused people, and allow the process initiated by EWGC sufficient opportunity to
develop. Our community’s potential to help unhoused individuals and families get back on their feet will
be greatly enhanced when the issue is viewed through the perspective of a regional coalition. St. Louis
City has shouldered this responsibility alone for decades and hasn’t itself had the resources required to
move significant numbers of unhoused people into housing. Adding new partners to this endeavor can
make all the difference to the people that we all want to serve.
We also request that you not move forward with proposed legislation that would repeal or weaken the
Plat and Petition process, as that move would be especially inappropriate before EWGC compiles the
requisite information and facilitates creation of a plan to provide shelter for our unhoused population.
Members of the Alliance share your concern about our unhoused neighbors and wish to see them get
the assistance they need. We simply do not support taking important tools away from the rest of the
community to accomplish that. There are other, better ways to achieve the desired outcome, and
hopefully the EWGC effort will identify those methods.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
St. Louis Neighborhoods Alliance
The newly formed Neighborhoods Alliance sent this letter to City officials earlier in July. To date, only three aldermen (Schweitzer, Browning and Cohn) have acknowledged receipt of the letter. And no official has responded.
To learn more about the Alliance or to get involved, send email to stlneighborhoodsalliance@gmail.com or contact Daniel Pistor, Executive Committee Chair at dpistor@hotmail.com.
