Although she was born and raised in University City, Jami Cox Antwi’s family has deep roots in the city of St. Louis.
The alderwoman for the 8th Ward left the area to go to college, but she later felt a call to return. And she wants to use her position on the board to get more people to do the same.
“I think one of those major things that I've heard is the city needs resources to be able to serve the people,” Cox Antwi said recently during an appearance on Politically Speaking. “We need to be able to have resources to invest in safety, to invest in jobs. And ultimately that comes down to one thing, which is money.”
Cox Antwi’s first major piece of legislation at the board was a bill to place the earnings tax up for renewal by voters in April. The 1% tax on the pay of people who live or work in the city makes up one-third of its general revenue fund. A law approved by a statewide referendum in 2010 requires St. Louis and Kansas City residents to vote on the tax every five years.
Cox Antwi acknowledged that the vote only protects existing revenue. But she said she knows what it will take to raise more money to improve the quality of city services – new housing and new businesses.
She wants the city to think about different ways to make construction of new housing more affordable, such as reducing the amount of parking needed.
The city is simultaneously reviewing its zoning map while engaging in neighborhood plan areas. The first, Cox Antwi said, outlines what can go where. The second is what neighborhoods want to see built.
“That’s when we start talking about things like grocery use or health care uses,” she said. “The bottom line is the city of St Louis is going through a process where we're trying to decide who we want to be as the future of the city, and that's a really cool opportunity that we have.”
The 8th Ward has several major redevelopment projects underway or pending, including the Millennium Hotel and Gateway South. Those kind of projects are important for the central business district, Cox Antwi said.
“But what the city of St. Louis needs is actually people to develop on a very small scale,” she said. “People to rebuild those corner stores that were devastated in the tornado where maybe someone lived on top and had a little bodega on the bottom. People to rebuild the duplexes and triplexes that the city of St Louis is used to seeing.”
Here’s what else Cox Antwi discussed on the podcast:
- St. Louis needs the new office space planned for both Gateway South and the site of the Millennium Hotel to attract companies in the hybrid work era, Cox Antwi said. And the older office stock could be converted to housing. “If we're going to get people back in the city, they have to have somewhere to live,” she said. “Now, I know that's easier said than done, and I know at the state level, we've been having a lot of conversations about how the state can help us incentivize some of that conversion.”
- Although no developer has yet expressed interest, Cox Antwi has grand plans for the massive Railway Exchange building. “I would love to see a mixed-use, residential high-rise that also has some entertainment value. And her entertainment of choice? “Meow Wolf, if you're listening, St. Louis is a great place to be.”
- Cox Antwi’s seat will be up again in 2027. “I absolutely will” be running, she said.
