Pesticide Ban Proposal Has St. Louis City Officials' Attention

Members of a group hoping to stop the City of St. Louis from using pesticides in its parks and other city properties say they had a productive meeting with officials on Wednesday — a potential breakthrough after two and a half years of advocacy on the issue.

The St. Louis No Spray Coalition has drafted an ordinance to limit pesticide use on city-owned land.  And while officials didn't go so far as to sign on to the plan, coalition member Daniel "Digger" Romano tells the RFT they were "wiling to commit to a dialogue on it."

He says, "All I can say for our side, we were wondering if they really are open to the bill or if the public pressure had just pressured them to talk to us reluctantly." Now, after having met, he's feeling hopeful: "To take them at their word, there is cause for optimism."

The coalition shared concerns about the city's pesticide use with the RFT earlier this month. Members said a series of Sunshine Law requests had revealed that the city used 520 gallons of Roundup in city parks from 2018 to 2021, in addition to smaller amounts of Resolve and Resolute herbicides.

All three pesticides contain substances recognized as possible carcinogens by various agencies. But coalition members had struggled to get city officials to entertain their proposal for stopping their use.

The virtual meeting Wednesday drew no shortage of heavy hitters. Both Alderwomen Daniela Velasquez and Anne Schweitzer were in attendance, as was Greg Hayes, director of the city department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry.

According to the coalition, Hayes told them, “The city [and the Parks Department] has very limited staff, so we do use these products responsibly with licensed pesticide applicators who use them sparingly and judiciously to the best of our ability. We would prefer to not use pesticides and herbicides to get the job done, but we have 3,000 park acres to manage.”

As Hayes noted, any ban would affect not just city parks, but also the 10,000 or so lots owned by the city's Land Reutilization Authority, or LRA, which are scattered throughout the city, and St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Still, the coalition says, both the city officials in attendance and the executive director of Tower Grove Park, Bill Reininger, stated support for reducing pesticide use, even if they did have concerns about specifics in the draft ordinance.

City spokesman Nick Dunne referred the RFT to a previous statement about the issue, which says, "We look forward to reviewing the potential impacts of this proposal, and further discussing practical steps the city of St. Louis can continue making our parks and public spaces safe and healthy.”


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