February Policy Newsletter
Preface: This entry is part of a newsletter I am starting in 2025. The goal is to share more about our political landscape. All opinions are my own, but I aim to stick to facts and show my sources. My hope is that this might help readers understand our government better.
Many of you know me as pragmatic and not prone to hyperbole. Please know that what I write is meant to inform and help us plan for the future.
Cause for Alarm
When the news is a constant firehose, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and stop listening altogether. Here is why we can’t: American democracy is in peril. Our city is threatened.
The federal freezes affect everything from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The fallout of these cuts will crash through our entire country, hurting urban, suburban, and rural communities: everywhere that people live.
The rule of law is under threat and the President has declared that he is above the law. Congress and the Supreme Court, under Republican control, have abdicated their authority and duty to be a check on the executive power.
Make no mistake: we are witnessing a hostile dismantling of our federal government. Fear and ignorance are the ruling party now and Project 2025 is their playbook. The far-reaching, severely detrimental effects of their actions do not display a concern about potential electoral backlash, which should tell us that those in power do not plan on being held accountable through elections. This is a wake up call.
How this affects St. Louis
The City of St. Louis held a special meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment last week to discuss the potential impacts to our city. It was grim. Many of our programs and essential services will experience cuts in funding. Those that support our most vulnerable will be hit the hardest, such as programs like HeadStart and funding that provides meals for seniors. Federal funds support law enforcement, housing, flood relief, and so many critical needs in our city. They also come into our community through nonprofits and institutions.
In the 9th ward of St. Louis, our largest employer will be hit hard. The National Institutes of Health recently declared that it will cap indirect research costs at 15%. When I heard that, my heart sank. I knew what it meant for all of the people I knew from my old job at Washington University, which employs many 9th ward residents and is the second largest employer in the St. Louis region.
When I worked in the Ophthalmology department at WashU, federal grants made up a large part of research funding. The bulk of my work was applying to federal grants that came from NIH. For the past two years, Washington University ranked 2nd in the country for NIH funding, bringing in nearly $683 million to St. Louis to conduct groundbreaking research. These grants employ thousands and thousands of people. They pay the salaries of the research scientists, their lab personnel, supplies, equipment, and all of the other direct costs of research. Then there is something called indirect costs.
Indirect costs are also known as facilities and administrative costs. They are awarded on top of the direct costs and are used to pay the administration staff in addition to the day-to-day costs of running the university. These costs keep the lights on, and every university has a negotiated rate with the federal government that guarantees indirect costs as a percentage of the direct costs that are awarded. Before the cut, Washington University’s negotiated rate for indirect costs was 57.5%, meaning that if a federal grant was awarded at $250,000 a year, it came with an additional $143,750 in indirect costs. Capping these costs at 15% would mean only $37,500 in indirect costs for that same grant, a loss of over $100k for every $250k grant that was awarded to the university.
With another executive order that unconstitutionally froze funds that Congress had already allocated, the research world is bracing. Life-saving clinical trials, groundbreaking biomedical research, and the jobs of thousands of St. Louisans are now threatened, along with hundreds of millions of dollars that used to come to our city.
From Washington University’s economic impact report, released just a couple of weeks ago, the university estimates that every $1 million in research funding creates 11 local jobs. Given the numbers discussed earlier, that could mean as many as 7,500 jobs are now at risk in one way or another. WashU, along with other institutions that receive federal funding, has been key to St. Louis’ success, adding hundreds of well-paying jobs to our economy. Many employees of WashU live around the medical campus in the Central West End, Forest Park Southeast, and many other parts of the 9th ward and the city. Your neighbors might be affected by these executive orders. These grants often fund life-saving and innovative medical care, and many patients will be affected too.
With the loss of these funds, we will not only see a slow-down in life-saving medical research, but we could also see a brain drain from our city. Talented, highly educated scientists that came to St. Louis to do their work will have to go elsewhere where funding is available. Job losses in research and many other industries that are tangential to research will mean a loss of income tax for the city and a decline in spending at local businesses, which affects the sales tax that the city uses to fund so many of its services. The result will be a worse city to live in.
When President Biden left office, he warned that an oligarchy was taking shape in America. Federal funds are not some kind of charity; they are our tax dollars that are used for the public good. If the government takes our tax dollars and doesn’t put them into something that benefits everyone, instead promising even bigger tax cuts for the absurdly wealthy, the result is a looting of the American people to enrich the oligarch class.
Those in charge do not want you to notice them picking your pocket. The constant firehose of bad news is part of a cynical strategy called “flooding the zone.” The goal is for you to disengage, creating apathy through exhaustion. The bad news is an avalanche, and yet life keeps marching on. Most of us have no choice but to keep going to work, waiting for the hammer to fall. So what can we do?
Hold on to Hope and Get Involved
Stop waiting. Get organized. Look for the place where you can help locally; whether it is supporting your neighbor if they lose their job, or joining your local neighborhood, political, or social group. This isn’t the time to be anxious or shy. It is time to get connected with each other.
We did not wake up in a world upside down; we got here after soaring inequality, the death of local journalism, and a devastating worldwide pandemic. We became disconnected from each other, retreating to places of comfort where unpleasant facts could be rejected as fake news, insurrectionists were patriots, and differences became something to fear.
Getting to know your neighbors can challenge your beliefs, but it can also help you find what you have in common. The ignorant and hateful can only tear us down if we let ourselves be divided. We need to recognize that there is an existential threat facing our democracy. If we don’t stand united, everything we know is at risk. The only way out of this mess is to go through it, together.
As the elected representative for a small part of the city, I alone don’t have the power to stop what is coming. But while the firehose douses us in bad news, I’m focusing on the things I can change. Washington, D.C. is 800 miles away, but this mess is already on our doorstep, and there are people and organizations in St. Louis doing the hard work, and they need our help.
It’s time to do some real things to help each other. Put down the social media. It is owned by oligarchs who believe themselves superior to us. It is designed to leave you outraged, hopeless and stuck, endlessly scrolling. Already, the propaganda is glaringly evident. Checking X, Tiktok, or Facebook/Instagram might keep you somewhat informed, but it can also brainwash you, so consume it carefully and with awareness about its effect on you. Instead, use your time to get involved in real life.
We must find hope within each other, recognizing that the differences we have with our neighbors are inconsequential in the face of the oncoming threat. Our strength comes from being united, and that means knowing each other. So check on your neighbors, especially the ones who may be affected by the latest news out of Washington. Trade phone numbers. Form those connections now, because they will matter when things get worse. Volunteer for organizations helping those who are being targeted right now so that you aren’t alone when this government hurts you or those you love.
Not every meeting is going to be exciting or important, but the point of getting involved is to form those connections with people so that no matter what happens, you will not be alone. Here are some organizations around the ward and the city that have routine meetings, could use your help, and are great places to get involved:
Local Political Organizations
St. Louis Young Democrats - meets every first Thursday at 7 pm, typically at Alpha Brewing, 4310 Fyler (but the next meeting will be in North St. Louis, location to be determined)
9th Ward Democrats - meets every third Thursday at 7:30 pm at Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, 4465 Manchester
League of Women Voters - non-partisan, defenders of democracy
9th Ward Neighborhood Associations*
FPSE + King’s Oak - Meets every third Tuesday of the month, 6:45 pm, on Zoom and in person (note: next meeting is not at the usual location, but will instead by at Park Central Development at 4512 Manchester
Maryland Gaslight - Meets every third Monday, quarterly (next meeting is April 21st), 6:30 pm at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle
West-Pine Laclede - Meets every second Tuesday of the month, 7 pm at Northwest Coffee, 4251 Laclede
*Your block may have its own small organization. Feel free to reach out to me for help finding your local association
Community Organizations
International Institute - the main organization helping settle new immigrants to our city, recently had to furlough staff and cancel the Festival of Nations due to federal cuts
MICA - Migrant and Immigrant Community Action
Midtown Community Services - helps uplift and empower local residents
Transit, Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Disabled Communities
St. Louis Urbanists - meets every 2nd Thursday at 6 pm at the Central Library, 1301 Olive
The Monthly Cycle - a cheekily named cycling group for women, trans, fem, and non-binary folk
BICI - rides every Friday night from the Roman Pavillion in Tower Grove Park
STL Coalition to Protect Cyclists (STL CP2) - local bicyclist advocacy group with routine rides
SMART - St. Louis Metropolitan Alliance for Reliable Transit, community comprised of people with disabilities and allies on a mission to bolster the robustness and reliability of local public transit
LGBTQIA+ Communities
PROMO - Missouri’s statewide LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization
Left Bank Books - Reading groups that have space for everyone
Metro Trans Umbrella Group - offers a wide range of social supports to empower transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and other gender-expansive people
