Stage set for three-way mayor’s race
Slay, left, faces challenges from Maida Coleman, center, and Irene J. Smith
Outgoing State Sen. Maida Coleman has issued a press release indicating her intention to file for mayor today, the last day candidates can put their name on the ballot for the March 3 primary.
Coleman, who has served in Jefferson City for over a dozen years in both the House and Senate, faces an uphill climb in her attempt to unseat Mayor Francis Slay, who has over $1 million in the bank as he seeks a third term.
Also in the race is former Alderman Irene J. Smith, who Slay defeated in 2005. This year, she poses more of a threat to taking votes away from Coleman than from chipping into Slay’s base.
In her release, Coleman provided a preview of the issues she intends to put before voters as she embarks on a campaign that, win or lose, will be barely three months long.
“Under the current administration, St. Louis has been named the most dangerous city in the US. St. Louis Public Schools have been taken over by the state, jobs are disappearing in droves and the city has become more polarized than ever,” Coleman said. “I believe St. Louis deserves a mayor who wants to represent the whole community and not simply a small portion.”
Coleman is expected to make her entrance into the race official shortly before filing closes at 5 p.m.
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