St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have put an amendment on the April 6 ballot to reconsider the decision St. Louisans made in 2012 to reduce the city’s 28 wards to 14 — a process set to begin in 2023.
“In November 2012, more than 80,000 voters in the City of St. Louis decided to reduce the size of the Board of Aldermen beginning in 2023,” Krewson wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“They sent a clear and convincing message to their elected leadership that they want a smaller legislative branch of local government.”
The mayor was referring to the 2012 election, when residents voted in favor of Proposition R, which would cut the number of city wards, with the wards being redrawn after the 2020 census.
Krewson was a co-sponsor of that 2012 legislation and said she continues “to be a strong supporter of this reform measure.”
Under the proposition, the first election in the newly drawn wards would be held in 2023 for all wards and aldermanic president. Odd-numbered wards would start with two-year terms, to stay in line with the election schedule set by the city’s charter in 1915. The Board president and even-numbered wards would run for a full four-year term from the beginning.
The Board of Aldermen passed Board Bill 77 in a 15-13 vote Jan. 15 during the board’s regular meeting. It sought to put an amendment on the April 6 ballot that would reverse the decision to reduce the city’s 28 wards to 14 wards.
Aldermen John Collins-Muhammad sponsored the bill. He declined to comment on Krewson’s veto.
He has said in the past that the reduction equates to “organized gerrymandering” and said it would harm Black political representation, a major argument of those who oppose the reduction.
Those in favor of the reduction argue the city’s population has decreased and so should the board.
Collins-Muhammad represents the 21st Ward, which covers parts of the College Hill, Kingsway East, North Riverfront, O’Fallon and Penrose neighborhoods in north St. Louis.
Alderwoman Cara Spencer, who is running for mayor, voted against the bill; and Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, who is also a mayoral candidate, voted in favor of the bill.
The current Board of Aldermen was organized in 1914. In 1950, the city’s population had peaked at 856,000. Seventy years later, St. Louis is home to approximately half as many people.