10.17.2008 6:32 am
Special delivery: Post office marks big day for Clay Sr.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Clay
Former Congressman Bill Clay will begin a special day this morning with a post office dedication in his honor, followed by the unveiling of his new book in the Central West End.
The post office on Dunklin Drive in Florissant will be formally renamed the ” ‘William ‘Bill’ Clay Post Office Building” in a ceremony at 10 a.m.
At 7 p.m., Clay — a lion of the local civil rights movement and father of current congressman Lacy Clay — will appear at Left Bank Books on Euclid Avenue to launch his book about the famous 1963 Jefferson Bank protests.
He sure do look young for a 1963 protester. Do you have a current picture?
For someone who had extraordinary potenial, it’s kind of sad to see that Clay’s greatest claim to fame was his longevity in office and making sure his not-so-impressive son took his place upon retirement. Clay squandered his time and power in Congress on enriching himself instead of serving his constituency. I can’t fault him for the votes he cast, but Clay’s district went from troubled to a vast slum and nearly ever retail business in it disappeared during his tenure. He never brought any jobs any significant public works… nothing. So he led some protests at a bank here nearly 50 years ago and was the first AA elected to Congress for MO? Nice things to be sure, but he never delivered for the vast numbers of poor in his district.
Although Mr.Clay has done many good works and his name will always be conected with St.Louis politics let us not forget the people that worked in his name to keep him there, when his area expanded to Spanish lake, and the blue collared white workers, he needed the help of the late John Lawler and the unions to get elected and in a conversation when it was brought up that someday a post office would be named in his honor Mr. Clay responded ” I will make it a personal mission to see that “John DOC Lawler would have one, before he would except any such honor” So Mr. Clay where is the John Lawler post office? IS your word to those who kept you in office a faint memory?
this post office is not even close to Florissant, it is in Spanish Lake near Glasgow Village. The Florissant post office is miles away from this location. Its not even a Florissant zip code (63031,63033,63034), its 63138, did you even both to look at the location on a map???
Formally renamed the ” ‘William ‘Bill’ Clay Post Office Building”
Unofficially to be known as the —
“Mean Vindictive Crooked Northside Politician’s Post Office”
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His district is a cesspool of crime and decay. It got worse every single year he held office. His constituents have the highest rates of unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, and criminal offending in the state. Three of the four unaccredited school districts in the state are in his congressional district. But by golly, let’s give this guy a post office!
That may be true about the 1st District, but it couldn’t possibly be the Clays’ fault. It’s Bush’s fault.