LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Time for some new blood in this city. However, if the dunderheads in this town keep electing Dems, nothing much will change.

The Three Stooges!

Thank you Maida for having the courage to step up. You have my support!!!!!! Why is Irene Smith running?

I’m good with Slay getting 4 more years. It’s not the whole city that’s dangerous just the north side and until the people there do something about it that is the way it will stay. The public schools should have been taken over by the state 10 years ago. It became a bureaucratic disaster that cared more about creating jobs and wasting money that educating the kids. The St. Louis public schools beed to be decentralized and the teachers union decertified and then, perhaps, it will get better. Oh, and just like the crime, until the people that send their kids to the public schools get involved and do something about it, the public schools will stay the way they are.

Wow. You must be REALLY out of the loop. The schools were three points away from full accreditation before the Slaymobile hit it.

Oh, and the South Side isn’t without it’s problems too, buddy. Besides, the mayors job is to take care of ALL the city.

Go Maida!

I’ll bet Slay and Rainford are really happy that Irene Smith is running! Smith’s vanity will keep Slay in power.

All we need now is Bill Haas to run.

FINALLY! Let the chips fall where they may. Competition is a good thing.

I think it’s safe to say the next Mayor of STL will be a Black women.

I’m not voting for either black woman. Coleman or Smith have not shown me anything that proves they would do anything better than Slay. If anything I think they have both shown they want to take us backward not forward.

Unless Smith drops out to endorse Coleman (and it won’t work the other way, since voters didin’t buy “Buckethead” Smith in 2005), the next mayor of St. Louis will be Francis Slay. And even if Smith does drop out, the next mayor will still probably be Francis Slay. Coleman isn’t a top drawer leader any more than Smith. Still, Slay deserves competition and should have to spend the crazy amount of money he has raised.

Gimme a break, Stlblue, it was when parents did step up and run for the Board and say they were not going to put up with the public schools crap anymore that Slay went to the state and begged for takeover. He couldn’t stand that he wasn’t the one who got to decide who would be on the board, the voters did. The fact that those parents were dedicated to making the schools better didn’t matter to him at all. And if he was that way about the schools, he’s that way with other stuff too. Smith needs to bow out so those tired of being ruled by a dictator can all join behind one candidate and get the job done.

Why would anybody vote for Slay again?Here the reason not to-Let rich people moved into condos downtown,tax free for the next 20 years while long time citizens faced an increasing tax burden-Mass curruption on a grand scale with the police deparment-the fiasco of Ballpark Village-worseining
crime,murder,social diseases,etc.-Schools in turmoil and so much more.Let all keep this in mind when it time to vote for a new mayor.

I will take 3-1 odds at 20 that Slay wins. The two women will split the black vote just enough to assure Slay gets reelected. Actually, maybe one of the candidates is a Slay plant.

I really wish Irene would just be an adult for once and go sit down and say “hey this race isn’t for me because I don’t stand a chance”.

Now I don’t really think Coleman or Slay have a realy clue on how to deal with things in North St. Louis. They don’t have that connection.

The Mayor will still be Slay until the end of his next term when he decides to allow McMillian to run…yeah when he tells him it’s o.k.

Not much of a choice, if its really any choice. As for the public schools, its was Slay and his good buddies, like Vince Shameless who bleed the schools dry with their good buddy contracts and under the table deals. In fact, Slay was totally against state involvement until hours just after his people were dethroned from the school board. Then he chose to be vindictive and worked hard to bring the state in. I think that alone speaks volumes as to the integrity of Slay. As to Coleman, a career politician and Smith, well, we dont need more egomaniacs in seats of power. We need someone who will do what is good for the whole city. Not themselves, or their birth district or whatever relationship is there. If you cant help the city as a whole, dont even step up. Dem , Independent or Rethug, it doesnt matter, as long as they are honestly doing what is good for the whole city.

Slay. . . mayor for life

What is wrong with you people….the city is more vibrant than ever under slay….what about the all american city award or the International Award for Revitalization….no one ever remembers the good! St. Louis has come a long way and will continue. Yes the public schools need some work and crime needs to stop but that will not get better in a short period of time especially in a new administration. Francis cares a lot about the city and contrary to most people may think he is not racist. Im tired of my city pitting races against each other. We are all humans not lets act like it. Lets get past are differences and unite to be a great city by putting aside the blame game and working together!!

njgn94-The only thing Slay do for this city is what is good to lined his greedy pockets.You don’t have to go to Chicago for Chicago style politics.

I’ll be voting for the first person who vows to get rid of the Earnings Tax. Plain and simple, that thing is an incentive killer to individuals and businesses alike. Why move to the city when you can just move outside the limits and still say you’re in St. Louis? Makes no sense. Want change? Change that…

Ms. Smith needs to get out of the race. Maida Coleman can win with her in, but not by much. To win, she’ll need the north side to come out en masse for her (guaranteed, they are sick of Slay), the east side (60/40 goes to Coleman), and parents, (who know her well, they will definitely support her overwhelmingly). I think Coleman has a much better shot than people realize.

I’m voting for Slay just to spite the way the press tried to crucify him over having the gaul to demote a black man who didn’t do his job.

Well then you’d be giving the press their wish then. They’ve protected Slay for far too long, and Im sick of it!

You’re insane.. Their treatment of him in that is proof enough of an agenda. All the guy did was demote someone who refused to do their job.. And you would have thought he started the KKK the reaction there was. Until people stop playing race politics nothing will change in this city.

Wow. Just wow. The press going after Slay? I wish! Where was the press when he was covering up the city parking scandal for his pal, Mokwa? Oh yeah, they covered it, covered how he really “had no control”. Where was the press when he was blowing lead removal money out his a**? Only a couple of stories were the result of the local Green party raising State-level hell. Where was the press when he did a 180 degree flip-flop the day after his precious school board lost to parents? Right out there on the front lines vilifying the parents! This doesn’t even cover the nepotism at Lambert, the tax scams, developer favoritism (I don’t hear a lot of pressure from the mayors office to fix Lake DeWitt), the Kiel lies, and the redistricting scam (the only story worth a damn was done by the RFT). The press out to get Slay? Ridiculous!

You do know that Lambert isn’t even in the city right? People blaming him for all this stuff is just stupid political games. Oh it’s his fault that the crackheads in the city don’t know how to raise their kids so no education happens in the city. It’s his fault that a statistically meaningless survey came out with St. Louis as the most dangerous city even though he personally tried to stop that publication b/c of how inept their reporting was. Is there anything else you wanna blame him for? It’s kinda cold out.. Is that his fault too? Or is that Bush’s? You pansy liberals will stop at nothing til you get the lunatics in office you want.

Huh,

Actually, while not IN the city, the city does own the airport. Check your information before posting.

“”"Wow. You must be REALLY out of the loop. The schools were three points away from full accreditation before the Slaymobile hit it.”"”"
When your drowning and your just 3″s from the surface it just doesn’t count does it? Now who are the others running? Will they pull into mid ring in a mini cooper.

Most districts in this state operate at less than full accreditation, Nick. Your analogy is senseless. That’s like telling a kid with a 3.7 GPA that he’s a complete failure. And no, I’m not saying SLPS was perfect, but it also wasn’t a complete failure, unlike what the Post and Slay would have you believe.

Blaming the polorization of the black and white communities of this city of Mayor Slay is just plain ignorance. The polorization is mainly internally from our (black) community itself. Our community needs to clean up North City and STOP the violence… Police, Laws, and Slay are not to blame, it is our community itself. Black St. Louisans, like myself, living on the North Side of this city need to take action and motivate and call for action against the thugs that have made my neighborhood very well “cime ridden”. Slay has done VAST improvement in this city in many neighborhoods and when he begins to work with leaders on this side of the city, our black leaders seem to have other “special interests” and tend to “shy” away from the mayor’s push to create a better North Side. I hav been to the meetings and or black officials are some of the most biased and racially divided among city leaders in other areas.
You don’t run for mayor or run a city because you are black or white… and quite frankly, that is what I see both black mayor candidates platforms reflect.

Yessssir, we should NEVER blame our elected officials when they do not do what we wish them to do. We should only blame ourselves. Sigh. I thought we lived in a republic? Apparently not. Slay people are getting desperate for new vitrol.

Slay has done good work for the Northside. Yeah right. Tell that to people who live in McKeeville. Oh, but Slay didn’t cause that….Well he sure supported it and helped it along.

And I have not heard Coleman make an issue about her being black, or this being a black-white race. I have heard her mention her being a woman, but nope, haven’t heard any racial rhetoric come from her. Perhaps you’re thinking of Irene Smith?

The Slay Administration is not only anti-black. The Administration is also anti-Jewish and anti-Italian. The Slay Administration used eminent domain against Jewish owners of the Target Store, who were from NY. He used eminent domain against a Jew from NY who owned a parking lot near the new ballpark. He threatened a Jew from CA with eminent domain at the vacant mall downtown. He used eminent domain at Gentry’s Landing against Italians from FL. No wonder few out of State investors will invest in St. Louis.

Slay is the only viable candidate running. Irene “the animal” Smith, yea,right. Maida, way out of her league.

Noone will ever fix the schools, you can’t fix stupid!

It never ceases to amaze me when I read the comments from people regarding the city of St. Louis, who do not, nor have they ever lived in the city.
I was raised on 16th & Cass back in the 50’s & 60’s. It was a working middle class neighborhood where people worked, sent their kids to schools, paid their bills, and took care of their property.
I went to the Public High schools in north St. Louis and they were good schools run by a competent Board of Education.
We didn’t have guns, gangs, poor management of the schools, or the city giving tax breaks to anyone and everyone who wants to come here. The city had a tax base and the money paid for maintenance and improvements.
The kids graduated from school and went on. The police department came to your house and gave you a ticket for having too much trash around your property. If a kid mouthed off to a teacher, he got suspended. If he mouthed off at home, he got smacked.
I worked as a substitute teacher in the Public schools. We could not give them homework. They would throw the books out the bus windows. If they said or did anything, they dared you to do something about it.
I delivered beer and liquor in the rough neighborhoods for years and robbed many times. Punks out of school.
This whole thing about who is the best person to be the mayor is ridiculous. It’s the same thing as being President of the United States. Nothing gets done and nothing gets approved unless there is a vote taken by the Congress, & Senate. And nothing will be done unless the Board of Aldermen approve it.
I have watched this city go straight to hell. Look around at the vacant buildings or empty lots. Look at how the people take care of their property. This thing about the kids starts right at home. Blame the parents first. The Board of Education was an open check book for whom ever was in charge. It has been in trouble for a long time.
For those of you who live outside the city and complain, come on in. There are places for you to live, be a model citizen, work, and have a life. Or are you saying one thing here and another to yourselves.
St. Louis will never be what it was. But until the people start taking some responsibility for their actions, it will become East St. Louis, West.
Don’t vote because of the persons race. Vote for whom ever will get the job done. The mayor does not run the public schools. It’s the people who were elected to the school board. Vote them out. The mayor cannot control your kids. It’s up to you to be the parent. The mayor cannot take care of your property. Clean up after yourselves.
I cannot endorse one person. Two have no experience. One wants to pee in a trash can. What a fine representative of the city she would be. The other is just mouthing words with no solutions proposed. And the third, although he has been in office and has experience, is a puppet for business. I am sure he will miss the donation to his re-election campaign from Anheuser Busch. So, just vote for the person best qualified and the one who will get things done. Now is not the time to bring race into it. Things like this during an election help fester race relations in the city.

To Irene Smith. I’m a black, jewish, italian and Mayor Slay has never slighted me. Bravo to him!

I tend to agree with Dave above. As a north city resident, we have several areas that Slay has really focused on. The problem is lack of interest from our community to stabilize them. You can put up a nice neighborhood and houses, but the community has to maintain the area and that is not happening often enough to rebuild north city.
I have voted for and against Slay in the past. But I am really sick of people telling me to vote my color (I happen to be an African American). I hear that Slay is a “racist” and “against the Blacks in St. Louis”, this is nothing more than hogwash! Wake up people, we have a black president coming into office and here in St. Louis, my black community cannot even agree on him. Slay will get my vote again, look at downtown and the redevelopments and new construction throughout the city. Crime is what it is - unfortunately! Until a community comes together to fight crime, it will remain. Crime is up across America and it isn’t because of President Busch or Ecect Obama, it’s because of us!

Well, right here we have an example of city residents who won’t vote by race. Harry is a north side black man who supports Slay. I am a south side white woman who does not.

By the way Jim, we tried voting out school board members who were not doing a good job. The politicians responded by taking away our right to vote. So much for that.

I suppose an argument could be had about Slay being a racist pro & con. But the question is, Has he served the community as a whole? His appointments and staff say no; Missy has ruined fair st louis, live on the levee. Callow his media hitman is in a relationship with Barb Geisman deputy director of development, robin wahby education czar @ 100k yearly is married to Brian Wahby chair of the central committe(now he is a racist), and a brother who just leaps up the ladder at the airport.The lust for bad development deals(bad for taxpayers) says no as well. Then we have the police board……

Okay you are senseless stlblue7- you must stay in your house located under rock in South St. Louis. You should pull some stats on where exactly crime takes place… it’s EVERYWHERE in the CITY not just North St. Louis. Also, I am attempting not to be moved by your ignorant Public School Comment seeing that I am a YOUNG public school graduate/College graduate/Master’s student at UMSL. I would inquire about where you were educated; however, it does not matter.

However, I feel that a lot of people are holding something unjustifiable against Irene J. Smith. Have people overlooked this woman’s track record…. I encourage all to do your homework on these candidates and their ELECTED TRACK RECORD. Maida is in this race; however, as an independent. What Democrat is going to face her in the General Election?
irenejsmith.com

Also, Harry can you please inform me of the POSITIVE things that SLAY has done for NORTH ST. LOUIS….and not a few cemented street signs. I agree race should not be a factor (although for some it is); however, is that the reason to side with a person who has ultimately done MUCH MORE harm than good to St. Louis.

Oh & Mr. Kozlowski please due some research on the candidates- Irene J. Smith has been working for the PEOPLE OF ST. LOUIS (all sides included) for the past 25+ years. I’m going for A CITY FOR ALL!