On the March 5 primary ballot, city voters in odd-numbered wards will elect their new aldermen, given that Democratic candidates routinely win the general election. Of the contested seats, perhaps the most controversial is the 5th Ward, where incumbent Alderman Tameka Hubbard faces Michelle Hutchings-Medina, 45, a first-time candidate.
“There are a lot of development issues on the North Side,” Hutchings-Medina said, explaining the controversy.
Most of Paul McKee Jr.’s controversial $8 billion Northside Redevelopment involves the 5th Ward. Alderman April Ford-Griffin, who represented the 5th Ward, played a major role in negotiating McKee’s redevelopment agreement, which is stalled in the courts, before resigning to take a position in Mayor Francis G. Slay’s administration.
Hubbard – sister of former state Rep. Rodney Hubbard – was elected as Ford-Griffin’s successor. Rodney Hubbard, now a lobbyist representing McKee, played a critical role in the state Legislature’s 2007 passage of the Distressed Land Assemblage Tax Credit when he was a state representative. McKee has since claimed a reported $28 million in these credits.
Carr Square Tenant Management is partners with Northside Redevelopment and sold those tax credits for Northside. The executive director of Carr Square Tenant Management is Rodney Hubbard Sr., father of Rodney Jr. and Tameka. Rodney’s wife Shameem Hubbard is committeewoman of the 26th Ward and the Hubbards’ mother Penny Hubbard is 58th District state representative.
“It’s a family business,” Hutchings-Medina said of the Hubbards and politics. “There is a large constituency in the 5th Ward that wants to see change because they are concerned about this family business.”
Hutchings-Medina said the incumbent’s family connections to the Northside project make it difficult for her to represent the ward independently of the developer.
“When I look at some of the bills she has presented about redevelopment, I wonder how impartial she is,” Hutchings-Medina said of Tameka Hubbard.
Hutchings-Medina is not, however, running as an opponent of McKee and his project.
“I’m not a fan of how McKee has maintained some of his properties or a fan of what he has not done with his properties, but he’s here and he’s not going anywhere and the ward needs development,” she said.
“But I want to hold developers accountable. Accountability is what we’re not seeing from the current alderman.”
Hutchings-Medina does not come from an established North St. Louis family that makes politics its business. She moved to St. Louis almost 10 years ago from Baltimore. She was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended Howard University where she met her husband, Angel Medina.
She works as sales manager of Radialogica, a health care IT company. Her husband is executive director of radiation oncology at the Siteman Cancer Center. They live downtown in the Loft District.
Though new to politics, Hutchings-Medina has assembled a campaign staff with North City experience. She is encouraged by how few votes the incumbent won in her previous election – Hubbard won with only 488 votes in a ward with 6,500 registered voters.
“Call me an optimist, but I think there are a lot of cool things happening everywhere in this city,” Hutchings-Medina. “We just need the right leadership.”
The municipal primary will be held March 5. Contact the Election Board at 314-622-4336 or www.stlelections.com.
