Federal funds are finally coming to the North Side, but they would not if Alderwoman Sharon Tyus (Ward 12) could change it. The long-serving alderwoman – once known for her bold demands for more support and resources for North City – has now sadly become an angry cranky opponent of a bill that would send $37 million to small businesses and non-profits along Natural Bridge, Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, West Florissant Avenue, Page Avenue, and other important northside corridors.
Last Friday, the full Board of Aldermen voted on final passage of Board Bill 37, sponsored by Alderwoman Shameem Clark-Hubbard (Ward 10). In what should have been an easy and perfunctory vote, Tyus commandeered the microphone for more than 30 minutes to harangue her colleague with a series of questions that could have easily been answered had Tyus attended the Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning (HUDZ) committee meetings or watched footage from the meetings on her own time. Instead, she wasted everyone else’s by publicly demonstrating her failure to do her homework and displaying a lack of serious intent.
We couldn’t follow the rationale for Tyus’ dubious opposition to an unprecedented inflow of cash to North St. Louis, but what we could discern from her incoherent ramblings was that the alderwoman, 67, seems utterly incapable of growing beyond her petty personal grudges. Perhaps Tyus recognizes that her power and influence are swiftly diminishing as she continues to fight for relevance and attention with whatever hot mic is in front of her.
Whatever her frustrations are – which remain undefined after her 30-minute rant – Tyus directed them toward Clark-Hubbard, who should not have to be subjected to the unacceptable filth that spewed from her colleague’s mouth. Changing the pitch and tone of her voice by obviously seeking to mimic Clark-Hubbard’s words and mannerisms, Tyus openly mocked her colleague on the floor of the Board and made no effort to conceal her disrespect.
Unfortunately, we have come to expect bullying, lies, and personal attacks from the most senior alderperson on the Board, but her disgusting behavior has become more of an embarrassment – and a nuissance – for the rest of the alderpersons. Where Tyus pretends that she is being a “strong advocate” for her ward, she’s actually being a clangorous tyrant who is isolating herself from her colleagues and guaranteeing that work will not be done on behalf of her constituents. To be clear, there was nothing professional or dignified in Tyus’ behavior during last week’s full Board meeting.
At this point, we’ve seen immeasurable insults hurled at both Mayor Tishaura Jones and Board President Megan Green from Tyus. On the first day of the legislative session, Tyus wasted no time insulting Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier (Ward 7), falsely accusing her of being a puppet of white southside leadership and making offensive comments about Sonnier’s blackness. But in Tyus’ most recent, pathetic display of bullying Clark-Hubbard she has once again crossed a line that warrants consequences by Board leadership.
Tyus’ tormenting of Clark-Hubbard continues a pattern of behavior, where she seemingly enjoys attacking fellow Black women on the Board as well as other women elected officials. How ironic and pathetic it is to see this behavior from the first woman who demanded to be acknowledged for her gender and called “Alderwoman.”
Clark-Hubbard addressed Tyus tearfully and shared her distress that was caused by the elder alderwoman – someone who Clark-Hubbard once looked up to – openly mocking her on the floor in a public meeting. Tyus’ behavior was an embarrassment for the Board of Aldermen. There should be no tolerance for her vile treatment of Clark-Hubbard.
The EYE will be watching to seehow Tyus now tries to influence the HUDZ Committee deliberations related to some big projects coming to her ward, including the “48 Fields” project. Tyus has now personally insulted both the chair and vice chair of HUDZ, and we can’t anticipate how those personal attacks will soon be forgotten.
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Missouri Governor Mike Parson has shown St. Louis how really serious he is about curbing gun violence in our city and across the state. In Kansas City last week, Parson announced that he will not call state legislators back to Jefferson City to address gun violence in St. Louis.
City officials have been unable to enact meaningful legislation at the local level to curb gun violence because of Missouri’s incredibly lax state gun laws. In 2017, Missouri became a “constitutional carry” state, meaning that neither an open-carry nor conceal-carry permit is required in order to possess a firearm. While there is an age restriction on children under 18 purchasing or possessing handguns, Missouri law does not include a minimum age requirement on carrying long guns – which includes the assault-style rifle that we’ve all seen in recent weeks.
Mere days before Parson’s declaration of his non-action, Downtown St. Louis was reeling from a mass shooting involving dozens of teenagers and resulting in the death of a 17-year-old and serious injuries to 10 other teenagers. While police took a 17-year-old into custody and are working to identify the remaining young people involved in the tragedy, city leadership has pointed to the unrestricted access to assault-style rifles and noted that teens from Jefferson, St. Charles, and Lincoln Counties have been involved in some of the recent misconduct and gun-related crimes downtown.
Parson’s refusal to take any meaningful action, along with the Republican supermajority in the legislature, to curb the rise in gun violence in St. Louis and Kansas City merely demonstrates the state’s apparent intent to destabilize Missouri cities by blocking us from being able to make our own gun-related laws. By blocking cities from being able to control their own crime-focused laws, the state is a de facto willing participant in gun violence in St. Louis and Kansas City.
There’s no other reasonable explanation for Parson’s flaccid response to the very serious problems in our city with trying to address gun-related crimes.
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There’s been yet another casualty of consequences related to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen – this time, it’s former candidate for Board President, Mark Kummer. Kummer, who lost in St. Louis City circuit court in August for failing to meet the residency requirement to run for citywide office, reached a settlement agreement with the Missouri Ethics Commission related to four counts of campaign finance violations.
Charges include violating the campaign treasurer residency requirement, several instances of failure to file a 48-hour report, failure to itemize contributions and expenditures, and a failure to timely and accurately file reports.
As part of his settlement agreement, Kummer must pay $600 within 45 days and keep a clean record for two years in order to waive the remaining ethics fines of $5,400. Considering the severity of his violations and his abusive behavior toward his staff and opponents, the EYE would rather have seen some consideration being given to no fine assessed in exchange for a lifetime prohibition on running for state and municipal office.
No word on the foreign payments made by Kummer’s campaign to staff, though, which are explicitly prohibited in all federal, state, and local elections. With attention seemingly focused only on Black elected officials and their white-collar crimes, what will it take for that same amount of attention be given to white political candidates when they commit financial offenses?