The Scene staff
The St. Louis primary election will be held on March 5. Voters will choose from three Democrat mayoral candidates: Lewis Reed, Jimmie Matthews and incumbent Francis Slay. The winner will become mayor because he will face no Republican opposition in the general election.
Slay has been mayor since 2001 and is seeking a fourth term. He formerly served 10 years as a St. Louis alderman and six years as president of the Board of Aldermen. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Quincy College and a law degree from St. Louis University. One of his proudest achievements in office is the Lead Safe St. Louis program, which has reduced childhood lead poisoning by 80 percent.
Reed served for eight years as alderman of the city’s 6th Ward and has been president of the Board of Aldermen since 2007. He earned degrees in mathematics and computer science at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He was founder of Bike St. Louis, which has expanded bike lanes and shared traffic lanes by more than 70 miles.
Matthews served as an alderman for 3½ years in the 1980s before voters recalled him. He later served as a committeeman for four years. Today, he is a pastor at Riverview Boulevard Baptist Church. He describes himself as “the people’s candidate” and “a man of God” who would be sensitive to needs of the poor and homeless if elected mayor.
Both Slay and Reed have built campaigns with a strong focus on reducing crime in St. Louis.
In 2012, Slay successfully spearheaded an effort to give St. Louis control of its police department — for the first time in more than 150 years. The change, which will be implemented in July, gives the next mayor a much more powerful role in the fight against crime.
Slay touts that he has already reduced violent crime to “half of where it was in 1995.” That isn’t enough, says Reed, who has experienced firsthand the tragedy of losing an immediate family member to gun violence.
Each of the candidates has outlined measures he would take to address crime if elected. In a Jan. 4 interview with the St. Louis Business Journal, Slay said his strategy to prevent crime will include “strengthening families (and) neighborhoods and ensuring that more people have an opportunity to succeed.”
“That includes supporting the improvement of the St. Louis public schools, expanding quality charter schools, expanding career mentoring, preparing more high school students for college (and) providing more productive after school and summer activities for children,” he said.
Slay frequently mentions that he would seek to expand hot-spot policing, a new approach that has enjoyed some success. Hot-spot policing uses a data-driven approach to find where crime is happening and allows police to rapidly increase their presence in those areas. He also hopes to increase neighborhood patrols. He says he would target the most dangerous offenders and create an armed offender court docket.
Reed would seek to reduce crime by addressing youth violence. That includes creating a Public Safety Collaborative, which would get schools, law enforcement, businesses and social and religious organizations working together to drive down youth homicides and increase youth employment opportunities. He supports investment in youth programs that have been proven effective nationally.
Reed would work to increase public safety through camera surveillance and installation of a “shot spotter system,” a gunshot detection system that can pinpoint times and locations of gunshots, allowing police to respond to those that otherwise would go unreported.
Like Slay, Reed wants to increase police presence, especially in the form of targeted patrols. He would attempt to bolster the morale of the police force through higher compensation. Matthews attributes St. Louis’ high crime rate to a lack of youth programs and employment opportunities. One of his first mayoral directives would be to create such opportunities, especially for urban youth.
Matthews’ primary platform seems to focus on his desire to assist the homeless population. He proposes construction of a “homeless village” on the former site of the failed Pruitt Igoe housing project. People could build their own homes, raise crops, market their products and eventually be transferred to homes owned by the city.
As the primary election draws near, Reed has taken on more of a negative campaign against Slay. He recently attacked a new agreement form for city hires. The benefits acknowledgement form states that the city can change employees’ benefits while they are employed. Slay immediately met with local union officials. After the meeting, Bob Soutier, president of the Greater St. Louis Council, said Slay “has always been good to us” and that he was willing to reword the language to “something that people will be more comfortable with.” Soutier has endorsed Slay.