STLPR0%
After nearly 4 years and a tornado, St. Louis plan to spend $255M Rams settlement passes 36%
By Rachel Lippmann0%
7/2/2026, 10:40:46 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 35 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Optimism Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 29.1% saturation with 244 hits. Analysis detected 1,995 faulty-reasoning hits from 838 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.2% and a BS Rank of 36% (14,021 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 64.10% of the article peer group.
The City of St.
Louis is finally set to spend the money it won after the Rams left for Los Angeles in 2016.
The Board of Aldermen on Thursday voted 12-3 to send a plan for the $255 million to Mayor Cara Spencer, who is expected to sign it.
“While this bill is not considered perfect by any stakeholder or anybody on the planet, I think it’s something that the majority of us feel really good about,” Spencer said in a rare appearance on the board floor.
Funding will be directed to tornado recovery, north St.
Louis development, downtown and infrastructure.
“We got to a place that the majority of people at this board are comfortable with, and we can get across the finish line so that we are getting resources out now to agencies that are literally running out of money,” said board President Megan Green, the legislation’s sponsor.
“There is an urgency around this.”
The deal sets aside $120 million for north St.
Louis, including $31 million to help neighborhoods north of Delmar implement strategic redevelopment plans.
Another $89 million will fund tornado relief, with the vast majority of that money going to housing repair and preservation.
North St.
Louis was hit the hardest by the May 2025 storm, which caused $1.6 billion in damage, though parts of the central corridor were also affected.
Sharon Tyus, the alderwoman of the 12th Ward and a veteran of City Hall, said she was skeptical that north St.
Louis would get its fair share of tornado relief funding.
“I’ve watched over and over the lies that have been told about what is going to be for north St.
Louis,” she said.
“If it doesn’t say for north St.
Louis only, it’s a maybe, if we can get to it, and my experience has told me, we do not.”
Although Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier of the 7th Ward voted for the bill, she said she agreed with some of Tyus’ points.
“There are dollars that are going to go to other things,” she said.
“There are other economic opportunities for other buckets that simply don’t exist for north city.”
Activists had been demanding that the north side receive at least $150 million.
Ohun Ashe, the communications director for Action St.
Louis, could be heard yelling “Shame.
This is not a victory lap,” as she left the chamber’s gallery after the vote.
Greater St.
Louis Inc.
Managing Partner Ron Kitchens said in a statement that it was a great day for St.
Louis.
“By passing Board Bill 22, the Board of Aldermen took a major step forward in addressing tornado recovery efforts and long-standing disinvestment in North City as well as the City’s longer-term needs by investing in Downtown and critical citywide infrastructure,” he said.
High stakes
A remark by 2nd Ward Alderman Tom Oldenburg to Green caught on a hot mic – “You’ve got the votes for this, so don’t f--- it up” – highlighted what was at stake for the board.
Lawmakers had been on track to set a framework for spending the settlement funds last year, but the deal fell apart in spectacular fashion after Green pushed through amendments that were not supported by other aldermen.
The EF3 tornado hit about three months later.
This time, there was one proposal backed by Spencer, Green and the business community.
There was an understanding that tornado relief would be a large part of the bill, even if aldermen did not agree on exactly how much.
And Green said she appreciated that everyone was clear on their non-negotiables.
“It makes it so much easier to craft a bill when we are all honest with each other from the beginning about what will and will not work for us,” she said.
What’s next?
The hardest part may be getting the money out the door.
The city struggled to manage programs for tornado recovery, and its handling of ARPA funds for business development in north St.
Louis has come under heavy scrutiny.
Green said she understood the skepticism.
“I think the difference between the $30 million [in interest] that was initially allocated and the money that we are about to allocate is that we now have systems and structures in place, we have staffing in place, we have programs in place,” she said.
A similar business grant program in the Rams settlement bill helped push 4th Ward Alderman Bret Narayan to oppose it entirely.
“We’re just not good at this,” he said in June as the board gave the framework initial approval.
“We haven’t done it successfully.
And if we were bad at this with the ARPA dollars, I think we’re going to be even worse.
I think we’re just going to be flushing tons of dollars down the toilet.”
Narayan also objected to spending the principal of the settlement, rather than setting it into an endowment and using the interest to meet the needs of the city.
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100%flagged-word coverageCara Spencer
38 attributed words7.0% of attributed speech86% writer coverage
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