I work with diverse groups of passionate people of all races, ages and income levels who are challenging the status quo and trying to create a more just, progressive and inclusive region. We have a rare opportunity to right a great, regressive wrong and nudge this region toward a 21st Century progressive path that doesn’t cater to the already rich who are primarily bankrolling Mayor Francis G. Slay’s reelection.
As a St. Louis writer for some 25 years, I am intimately familiar with the genesis of the Slay administration, a force forged in the fires of racial division with a shameful intent to keep power locked in the manicured clutches of a mighty few.
The well-connected were thrown into a tizzy back in 1993, when St. Louis elected its first black Mayor, Freeman Bosley Jr. With the support of the 20th Ward – then the largest deliverer of black votes in the city – Bosley squeaked into office. For the first time in St. Louis history, two blacks (the new Mayor and Comptroller Virvus Jones) held two of three seats on the influential board of Estimate and Apportionment (E&A). Emotions ratcheted up after another African-American alderwoman announced she was running for president of the Board of Aldermen, the third E&A seat.
Dominating downtown interests bankrolled the campaign of the other candidate, Francis G. Slay, alderman of the 23rd Ward. Under pressure to honor “diversity” from the good-ole-boy network and Post-Dispatch editorial writers, Bosley endorsed Slay.
Six years later, Slay was elected Mayor and, without pause, covertly crafted a ward redistricting map that weakened the voting power of the 20th Ward. It was a not-so-subtle attempt to ensure that no un-anointed candidates of color would occupy Room 200.
With the backing of Civic Progress businesses and other individuals with conservative loyalties, Slay set out to “reform” public education by hiring a New York turnaround firm with no experience in public education. Perfectly good schools were sold, and students were crammed into already overcrowded classrooms. The dropout rate more than tripled from 7.6 percent in 2003 to 27.5 percent in 2009, and the schools lost state accreditation.
No doubt, some of those six- and seven-year-olds in school when Slay took office are among the 16- and 17-year-old high school dropouts now wreaking havoc on our streets.
Under Slay’s watch as the only elected police commissioner, the police department refused to report serious crimes such as rape in order to keep crime figures lower than they really were. A politically-connected towing operation, involving then- Police Chief Joe Mokwa (a staunch Slay ally), drove and sold confiscated cars while short-changing the city of nearly $700,000 over two years. Slay and the police board arranged for Mokwa to retire with benefits and made sure taxpayers paid for his legal fees.
Additionally, under the watchful eye of his appointees, there have been numerous escapes from the city’s two jails and the shocking discovery that guards have been waging gladiator-style fights among inmates. St. Louis has been chronicled as the most violent city in America throughout Slay’s tenure as mayor.
Local media has yet to scrutinize Slay’s apparent privatization agenda in school reform or in his recent efforts to have the French utility service company, Veolia, edge into a de facto takeover over the city’s Water Department.
Slay’s idea of “development” is seeded in the antiquated notion that one big developer backed by loads of tax incentives will somehow revitalize the city. But, as a 2010 Post-Dispatch series reported, the $1.7 billion in tax-increment financing doled out to developers in the last decade added little net wealth to our region.
Slay’s style of old-school, racially divisive, clandestine and exclusive politics will keep the city in backward motion. His administration is so focused on conservative agendas that it’s oblivious to a host of federal programs the Obama administration has crafted to rebuild struggling metropolitan cities. Mayors of Newark, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans have all used these initiatives to spark innovative community-based development. Slay, on the other hand, is still stuck on big ticket proposals with fickle, trickle-down tax benefits and low-wage jobs.
His main opponent, Lewis Reed has yet to be compromised by millionaires with privatization agendas. His work as an alderman in Lafayette Square speaks to his leanings toward people-first development. His stance against turning the Water Department over to a private firm signifies that he’s not in favor of swapping city jobs for corporate donations. Reed has announced a plan for inclusive development of North St. Louis, which Slay has never done in his three terms.
Across the city, grassroots agencies and individuals, activated young people and city residents are involved, engaged and determined to revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods and salvage the lives of “at-risk” populations. This is our moment! We have a cadre of extraordinary, ordinary people ready to build a truly, hip, diverse and more inclusive St. Louis. All that’s needed is a city leader with the insight, influence, resources and willingness to capitalize on this magic moment. The old school politician seeking a fourth term in office is not that kind of visionary.
