Statement on Grand Motel Closing
MO Ho Justice is deeply disappointed by the forced closure of the Grand Motel by the City of St. Louis this summer. Our team conducts street outreach near the Grand Motel on a weekly basis in partnership with The T to distribute substance use harm reduction and safer sex supplies.
Although citizens and stakeholders were not offered an opportunity for public comment during the closure process, we wish to provide an alternative narrative and approach to the “public nuisance” concern at this property.
The police have responded to 129 calls to this motel over the last two years, but the issues and concerns remain the same. Even with increased police presence and response, the lack of neighborhood change on this block clearly shows that further criminalization of this site and of the residents who frequent Grand Motel is a wholly ineffective approach to solving the problems.
Eviscerating what some folks perceive as “problem properties” is a red herring; the real issue, as we know, is a deep historical pattern of disinvestment in North St. Louis City and the people who live here, particularly low-income Black folks.
Unfortunately, the public discourse happening right now makes people who use substances and people who do sex work the scapegoat for decades on decades of systemic racist, classist disinvestment by the city and white, wealthy St. Louisans. Criminalization and displacement of folks who are in need of resources and community support is not only not going to solve the problem, it will perpetuate the problem and invisibilize the residents who grapple with substance use issues and interpersonal violence. Do we only care about an overdose when it happens in public on North Grand, or do we choose to attack the issue at its root?
A spot treatment solution like closing the Grand Motel will only serve to displace residents and families who live here, move the identified problems to other nearby areas, and make it more difficult for residents to access resources.
The public narrative of “human trafficking and drug trafficking” occurring at the Grand Motel is inaccurate and oversimplifies the regional, systemic barriers that neighborhoods like this one face. Language used on the local news recently such as “drug addicts and prostitutes” only further perpetuates stigma against marginalized community members who are not cared for and facing the threat of displacement.
There are real alternative approaches to improving public safety that we as a community can choose to advocate for:
Implementing substance use harm reduction services like distributing Narcan, clean needles, and fentanyl test strips are proven to reduce overdoses and save lives.
Programs like Cure Violence, which train residents in the neighborhood in conflict mediation and de-escalation, have already proven to reduce gun violence in the 4 neighborhoods where it was implemented in North and South city.
Decriminalizing sex work would reduce sexual and physical assault, and make it safer for sex working people to report those crimes, as well as access life-saving resources without fear of arrest or incarceration.
Well-funded public schools, affordable housing, access to healthcare, good public transportation, and non-coercive mental health services are all the foundations for safe and peaceful neighborhoods.
Closing down Grand Motel won’t solve the concerns that residents are facing. We can, as a community, choose to divest from ineffective and carceral approaches, identify the root of the problem, and to call on the city for real change.
