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Bosley was elected in 1993, the first Black mayor in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ history. Before that, he served 11 years as the city’s first Black circuit court clerk, an elected position at the time.

After losing his 1997 mayoral reelection bid, Bosley went into private law practice. He later invested in a restaurant, and then a bar.

It’s the bar, the Grand Zodiac Lounge, that has Bosley in the news again.

As it stands now, Bosley could get $125,000 in grant money being doled out by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Development Corp.

But don’t expect Bosley to have many kind words about it.

Bosley said he originally asked for almost $2 million — about $1.1 million for community enhancement and about $900,000 for renovation and expansion.

“I am thoroughly disappointed,� Bosley said in an interview Wednesday. “We got nothing near that.�

SLDC has said the bar is in line to get $100,000 for community enhancement and $25,000 for expansion.

“It’s the people’s money, it’s not the city’s money,� Bosley said. “They need to get that out into the neighborhoods; they can’t just sit on it.�

“Where is my money, where is our money?� Bosley said.

The tavern opened around 1970, at 3517 North Grand Boulevard, near Fairground Park.

State records show it is owned by Grand Zodiac LLC, a partnership Bosley helped form in 2015. According to his grant application, Bosley is the managing partner and chief executive.

During an interview Wednesday at the bar, Bosley provided an extensive list of 57 separate improvements or equipment purchases that he planned to make.

“With $125,000, what can we do? The tuckpointing is $40,000, (installing) a kitchen is $75,000. That’s about it right there,� he said.

Bosley said he and other bar owners were not treated fairly by the process, which should have set up a separate category for such businesses.

“Some neighborhood bars have been around 50, 60 years. What other businesses in north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ can say that? We didn’t even get credit for that,â€� he said.

In his application to SLDC, Bosley said the money will help the bar “stabilize the neighborhood,� which is “full of blight and experiences high crime.�

While bars have not historically been credited with reducing crime, this one has all of the qualities of, well, a reliable neighborhood bar.

The exterior could use some curb-appeal work. But inside, the lighting is comfortably dim, the beer is cold, the bartender is friendly, the clock is 15 minutes fast and all shades of liquor stand tall against the back bar.

In short, the place would remind any number of tipplers of any number of taverns.

By distributing $37 million in federal pandemic relief money, the SLDC aims to help businesses in north city neighborhoods, mostly Black, that have been historically neglected by past city leaders, mostly white.

But initial probes by Post-Dispatch reporters Austin Huguelet and Jacob Barker have highlighted problems in the process.

Some addresses listed on applications include vacant lots, offices outside of the targeted zone, and discrepancies about the scope of work being done at the sites.

Comptroller Darlene Green, a Democrat, wants a wholesale restart of the program; and U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican, has raised the issue with the U.S. Treasury department.

On top of all that, there have been complaints that political connections have influenced the selections. But Bosley is not the only politically potent person who stands to benefit from the program.

Businesses family, long a political force in north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, is in line for three awards totaling almost $1.3 million. Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard sponsored the grants bill and sits on the SLDC board.

When asked if his political connections helped him, Bosley held up his SLDC grant application, with the information he provided about the business.

“Now take my name out of it, take ‘Bosley’ out of it and ask ‘Does it qualify?’� Bosley said. “And the answer is yes.�

Moving target

Along with the previous glitches in SLDC’s grant-granting, it also now seems that the criteria used to judge applicants is somewhat of a moving target.

Until recently, program administrators said businesses owing city taxes would not be eligible. SLDC forms ask applicants to affirm they owe “no outstanding taxes to the City of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.â€�

The Post-Dispatch, however, found that a number of business addresses in line to get money also have delinquent property taxes.

When asked about the situation, the SLDC changed its earlier position and said recipients of smaller grants weren’t required to be current on real estate bills.

That seems to be a good thing for Bosley.

As of Wednesday, the city Collector of Revenue’s books show that $3,879 in delinquent real-estate property taxes, penalties and interest is owed on the property for 2022 and 2023.

The owner is listed as B&A Real Estate, a company organized by Bosley in 2015, state records show. Bosley said he was told by SLDC that real estate tax delinquency had no bearing on qualifying for a grant.

In October 2023, Grand Zodiac LLC paid a total of $2,149 to satisfy four lawsuits filed by the state Division of Employment Security between 2020 and 2023 for failure to pay unemployment insurance.

Bosley also has endured other money management issues.

He has had to pay off several tax liens, from the city and the state, in recent years; and in 2014, his law license was suspended for two years by the Missouri Supreme Court for using clients’ funds as a “personal piggy bank� to pay personal expenses.

Bosley said since the program aims to help distressed northside businesses, it should come as no surprise that some applicants owe back taxes.

Political connections

This is not the first time that a Bosley business venture has sparked complaints of political game-playing.

In 2006, Bosley sold a one-acre parcel of land to the Missouri History Museum in the 5800 block of Delmar Boulevard.

When the sale was first discussed, Bosley was on the museum’s board of trustees. He later resigned before the sale was finalized.

The museum’s board, without ever getting an appraisal, eventually paid about $1 million for the property, which Bosley and a partner bought in 1999 for $150,000 and operated a barbecue restaurant.

Six years later, when the Post-Dispatch reported on the matter, the land was appraised at $235,000.

Bosley said while some people complain of political connections influencing the program, he is disturbed that longstanding businesses got smaller grants, or nothing, while newer businesses received substantial grants.

“Some of them weren’t even in existence when the program got started,� Bosley said, then added. “And some were created because of the damn money.�

Another critic of the SLDC grant program is Tameka Stigers, owner of Locs of Glory styling salon. She was initially denied a grant.

But she was later included in a second wave of $12,500 grants — which critics have called “hush money� — that were announced after the initial awards sparked complaints.

Stigers said she lack faith in city leaders’ ability to fix the problems. “It’s always the same people taking the money off the top and giving it to their family and friends.�

Said Stigers, “This program is full of corruption, deceit and lies, and a lot of this is politically connected.�