Alderman Antonio D. French wrote a letter to Mayor Francis G. Slay yesterday that included a direct challenge to the mayor’s use of an armed security detail, which comes out of the police department budget.
“In light of the recent increase in violent crime in our city, I respectfully request that you consider putting those two police officers back on the streets, at least for this next fiscal year, and use your private campaign funds (which at last check stood at over $275,000) to pay for your personal security needs,” French writes. “I think that would send a strong message that you do understand the crisis our city is in, both in regards to crime and our finances.”
We agree. We also understand why French issued this challenge when he did. As he explained in his letter, about an hour after he grilled the mayor about the mayor’s armed, taxpayer-provided security detail (and other issues) during a Board of Aldermen Ways & Means Committee meeting on Tuesday, Darlene Nobel, a 51-year-old mother of five, was shot dead on the 4300 block of Lee Avenue – the third shooting and second murder on that 21st Ward block within three days.
French is trying to shake up the apparent insensitivity of a mayor from the placid neighborhoods of the city’s southwestern reaches, who bristles every year at reports that the city of St. Louis ranks high (and often tops) national violent crime statistics, yet never leaves his own block without armed guard at the taxpayer’s expense. This is the mayor who said on his campaign site that it was “sort of exciting” to slash $45 million in staff and services from his City budget. This is the mayor who, out of apparent deference to his single largest campaign donor (Rex Sinquefield) pushing the issue, did next to nothing to oppose a ballot initiative that could well lead to the elimination of the City’s earning tax. This tax on earnings by people who work in the city often is referred to as a “public safety tax,” since it brings in reliable revenue the City needs for fire and police services that benefit everyone in the region who works or spends time in the city, not just city residents.
Does this mayor really understand the real crises this city faces? Is he capable of genuine leadership in response to these crises? His response to the outrage of this passionate and gutsy young alderman may provide a clue.
