The People’s Plan is informed in part by the responses to the People’s Plan survey, a questionnaire that polled residents on what they would like to see the city focus our tax dollars on. We received almost 500 responses to the People’s Plan survey.
Survey Respondent
"I would like to see a focus on funding for both government and community-based programs and institutions that address root causes of poverty and improve well-being without relying on police, prosecution, and incarceration. I would especially like to see a focus on affordable, decent, accessible housing.”
Survey Respondent
“I would like to see greater spending on education in schools that are poorly funded, lower performing, and are predominantly BIPOC. I would like to also see public safety that involves an emphasis on addressing the social determinants of safety, that is more holistic, than just punitive...We need to look at public safety as a health issue. And our tax dollars should be spent bringing that reality into fruition. We should defund policing, which has not kept us safe and has actually threatened our safety as well as our liberty, and it has further entrenched racism and injustice. I also would like to see efforts to help desegregate the city, considering that our housing is pretty much a complete apartheid--really, 99% of the population north of Delmar is Black whereas 70% is south, and people don't think that's a little weird, to understate the issue? We need to break down the racial divide and allocate tax dollars toward integration.”
Survey Respondent
“Right now, I think the city should focus on making sure our city is taken care of during COVID. This means giving money to city residents so they can stay in their homes and pay their bills and not have to work and risk their lives. It also means extending the unemployment benefits and the eviction moratorium. It also means implementing a citywide mask mandate and issuing a stay-at-home order. We also need to commit to defunding the police and reallocating those funds toward human services like taking care of the homeless, education, job training etc. Michael Brown happened in the St. Louis area, putting police brutality in the mainstream yet other cities are doing more than we are on this issue. This also means NO SPY PLANES.”
Survey Respondent
“We would love to see the budget modeled to reflect a local version of the Green New Deal. We are a youth-led climate justice organization and are eager to work in partnership on local issues and realizing GND style policies for housing, public transportation, energy, etc. The City spends so much money on policing, and so little on essential services its citizens actually need, like healthcare, housing and education. We want to build a budget for a people-oriented, equity-focused government that addresses the climate crisis and St. Louis’s legacy of environmental racism at every level.”
For more responses to the People’s Plan survey, check out these data graphics!
The People’s Plan. Building Our St. Louis. The People’s Plan. Building Our St. Louis. The People’s Plan. Building Our St. Louis.