香港三级片

ST. LOUIS 鈥� St. 香港三级片 Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is making a promise to a generation of city residents that will come long after she鈥檚 no longer in office. Someday, the city is going to help them go to college, learn a trade, make something of themselves.

That鈥檚 the underlying sentiment behind a new endowment fund called the STL Promise seeded with $20 million from the city鈥檚 share of the settlement proceeds that came out of the lawsuit that accused the St. 香港三级片 Rams and the NFL of breaking their own promise to St. 香港三级片. The fund, along with a similar $37 million endowment to help city residents pay for child care costs, is part of proposed plan by Jones, Aldermanic President Megan Green, and Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier to spend the Rams鈥� money, spreading $277 million out among road and water projects, affordable housing and neighborhood development, and investments in future residents of the city.

鈥淥ur city is nothing without its people,鈥� Jones said in a news conference in her office on Wednesday announcing the proposal. 鈥淲e鈥檙e building a place where you don鈥檛 have to go broke buying a home or sending a kid to college.鈥�

For the last three years, wondering what the city would do with its share of the Rams settlement has been the most popular parlor game in town. Should it go downtown? Should it go to cops? Should it be saved for the future?

The triumvirate of women leaders who, for the moment, seem to have the most power in determining the answer, chose all of the above, filing a board bill that will offer a little bit for everybody to like, or not like, as aldermen and their proxies fight over a pot of gold the city never expected to get in the first place.

Frankly, it鈥檚 a good place to be. This is a test with no bad answers.

That鈥檚 how the Rev. Earl Nance, Jr., described the windfall two years ago, as the city, St. 香港三级片 County, and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority agreed how to divvy up the full $519 million settlement, with each entity taking its share, the largest of which ended up in the city.

鈥淚t鈥檚 better to have what we have than to not have it at all,鈥� Nance said then.

Sonnier, the 27-year-old political newcomer, offered her own words on Wednesday to complement Nance鈥檚 wisdom.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 live in a zero-sum game,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e want to give people a reason to stay here.鈥�

Will money for day care expenses lure more police officers, trash collectors and other city employees to St. 香港三级片? Will the promise of college tuition 鈥� perhaps matched by philanthropic leaders in the region 鈥� keep more young families in the city?

Those are the questions aldermen will be debating in coming days and weeks, as they consider Jones鈥� and Green鈥檚 proposal alongside one backed by business group Greater St. 香港三级片 Inc., and Alderwoman Pamela Boyd, which seeks a more immediate infusion of the NFL money into downtown and distressed neighborhoods on the north and south sides.

There will be grand pronouncements about how the money must be spent for this or that, and various interest groups will vie for being the loudest voice at the table when it comes to setting the city鈥檚 priorities. It would behoove aldermen during this debate to remember how we got here.

Eight years ago, on his way out of town, billionaire Rams owner Stan Kroenke trashed the city of St. 香港三级片 in his pitch to move his team to L.A.

鈥淐ompared to all other U.S. cities,鈥� wrote Kroenke, soon to become the city鈥檚 No. 1 villain, 鈥淪t. 香港三级片 is struggling.鈥�

The words stung, but he wasn鈥檛 entirely wrong. Like many Midwestern industrial cities, St. 香港三级片 has been struggling to remake itself. The effort has its starts and stops, with city鈥檚 struggles compounded by events like the Rams leaving and the COVID-19 pandemic. Change takes time.

The Rams left under one mayor, were sued under another one, and a third is getting to lead the discussion over how to spend the bounty the city won for taking on the NFL. Even if St. 香港三级片鈥� current crop of leaders spends the $277 million it holds in the wisest way possible 鈥� whatever that is 鈥� the results won鈥檛 be seen until the city is two or three mayors down the road.

If all goes well, that mayor will be able to keep Jones鈥� promise, the one that helps a new city cop go to work because they can afford child care expenses, and then, when that child grows up, they鈥檒l know that the city is going to help them with college expenses, because a previous generation of leaders decided they weren鈥檛 going to let poverty strangle St. 香港三级片 anymore.

That鈥檚 a promise worth keeping.