First, I want to say thank you to The St. Louis American for the opportunity to communicate directly with readers throughout this campaign.
I am running for mayor because I want our city to grow and to change and to modernize in ways that are progressive, just and fair for all St. Louisans. The same reasons led me to be on the frontlines of neighborhood issues for 30 years in this city – and I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of St. Louis.
As I have knocked on doors and talked with citizens in neighborhoods from Baden to Carondelet, it has been inspiring to meet so many St. Louis families with hope for their kids and grandkids. They know – as I do – there is hope in every neighborhood in our city.
Yet, the challenges so many St. Louisans continue to face, remain great. Too many live in neighborhoods where they do not feel safe or where their kids don’t get the quality education they deserve. Others struggle with limited economic opportunities and don’t feel they have been given a fair chance. Underlying all this is a long history of inequity that needs to be addressed with urgency.
During my 20 years as an alderman, I passed the city’s smoking ban to protect the air our children breathe. I worked with St. Louis County to create the Prescription Drug Monitoring Database so we can begin to chisel away at the more than 250 overdose deaths we suffered in 2016. I even mortgaged my own home to fight the NRA all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court to combat the scourge of gun violence in our city that ripped apart 376 families in the last two years alone.
I have taken on the tough fights. As mayor, I will use that same tenacity to make sure that pursuing racial equity is elevated as the top priority issue for St. Louis because I believe it permeates all other problems. For St. Louis to achieve outcomes that are no longer predictable by race we must begin to align and allocate resources in a way that is reflective of the magnitude of its problems.
My approach to everything from neighborhood safety and poverty relief to housing and education will consider the needs of each neighborhood and offer solutions that are relevant and sufficient to that place. One size fits all approaches in the name of equality will no longer be our city’s default. As mayor, I commit to being a leading voice for equity and ensuring our city’s resources are utilized to best address our deepest problems.
To succeed, it will require that we be intentional in our efforts to question every decision, outcome and initiative on how it might affect those most disenfranchised throughout our city. Under my administration, St. Louis government will stop paying lip service to our racial divide and begin crafting solutions to address it by inserting considerations of racial equity into our decision-making processes.
Being mayor is a tough job. And we should elect someone who has a history of taking on challenging issues and making a difference for St. Louis. That’s what I’ve done throughout my career in public service. In the mayor’s office, I will work to create better opportunities for every single one of us.
I humbly ask for your vote on March 7. Thank you.
Lyda Krewson, alderman for the 28th Ward, is a Democratic candidate for mayor in the March 7 primary election.
