A special election to fill the remaining term of former 28th Ward Alderwoman Heather Navarro, who resigned in January, is scheduled for this Tuesday, April 19. Navarro resigned with a year left on her 4 year term, so whoever wins on Tuesday will be on the Board of Alderman for only one year. Adding to the fact that we have been without representation in the Board of Alderman at a critical juncture, the 28th Ward as we know it will no longer exist when this term expires in the spring of 2023. That’s when the current number of 28 wards will be halved, and the 28th Ward will be divided between newly created Wards 9 and 10, below. (More on that here.)
The two CWEnders who have entered the race are Democrat Mike Gras, a lawyer, who is 28th Ward Democratic Committeeman, and Republican Taunia Allen Mason, a video producer and 28th Ward Committeewoman for the Republican Party.
I asked each candidate what they hoped to accomplish if elected:
Mike Gras and his wife, Alison Walsh, an OB/GYN, have two young children. Gras is a litigator with experience in municipal law, who is currently a prosecutor for the municipalities of Maryland Heights and Florissant.
Here are three issues of concern, in Gras’ own words:
Ward Infrastructure: My focus will be on traffic on Kingshighway, Skinker and Lindell. This is the #1 issue voters have wanted to talk about. We need to bring all interested parties to the table and come up with a plan for these streets that works for everyone.
Alleviating Poverty: Encouraging entrepreneurship, assist existing efforts of providing direct assistance to small business (e.g. the new Northside Economic Empowerment Center at Sumner High School), and developing next-century skills for our residents (e.g. blockchain, 3-d printing, etc.).
Getting development moving in an equitable way: If developers aren’t asking for incentives, building in the City should be as easy a process as possible. If they are, then we need a framework to analyze projects so that we can provide incentives to development we find compelling, and provide a prompt and courteous “no” to development we don’t.
Visit Mike Gras’ website for more information:
Taunia Allen Mason has been a resident of the CWE for 27 years. She and her husband, Circuit Judge David Mason, have two college-age sons. Taunia formed a video production company, GoGetter Productions, and a Commissioner and Treasurer for the St. Louis Port Authority. She sits on the Board of Directors for the African Heritage Association, the umbrella organization for the African Arts Festival. She previously served as a member of the boards of Earthway House and Foster Care Coalition of Greater St. Louis.
Mason’s top issues, which are listed below, have been edited due to space considerations. In her own words:
Services are very important to all neighborhoods in the St. Louis area. In the 28th Ward I will work to make sure that trash is picked up regularly and that our alleys are not used as dumping sites. I will work to keep the city’s trees trimmed and/or removed when needed. I will work with our street department to properly repair the enormous number of potholes throughout the 28th ward. I also think we, as a city and a community, can do better at improving our sidewalks and street conditions for our handicapped residents. My husband is one such resident…I will explore the possibilities of improving some of our sidewalks and curbs. I would look at adding ADA approved parking spaces for visitors in certain areas in the CWE business area and the Loop.
Safety is vital to the survival of the CWE and the 28th Ward. I support our police. Since I moved to my current address 22 years ago, I have constantly been involved in safety precautions for my street and neighborhood. My neighborhood association implemented a neighborhood watch program…We installed cameras at various neighbors’ houses on our street. When I became President, I took it a step further by working with the Neighborhood Security Initiative who installed security cameras throughout our neighborhood including the alleys and certain corners that were questionable. As President I kept our neighbors informed about any negative situations that occurred in our neighborhood…We witnessed an immediate decrease in car and garage break ins…Safety means using resources that are available through our city government wisely. As your alderman I will work with our Neighborhood Security Initiative and support those off duty police officers that patrol the neighborhood in the evenings and weekends to keep visitors and residents safe.
Board Bill 150: It’s being presented as a solution to the homeless population in St. Louis. But actually, it’s the opposite. Board Bill 150 will encourage homeless encampments in any public space or city owned property. I worked at a homeless shelter in the Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood, called Shalom House. In my experience working our homeless population, the problems that face them are serious and cannot be reduced to just living on the streets. Many of our homeless face challenging mental and health issues.
Simply living on the street is not a viable solution. St. Louis has resources and programs available to help our homeless get off the street. Board Bill 150 encourages more homelessness at the expense of the taxpayer. It would turn any city owned land, including our beautiful parks, vacant property, or even an abandoned car into a homeless encampment. Our homeless deserve better. We should encourage economic development policies that allow the homeless to transition back into society, which restores their dignity...To learn more about Board Bill 150, visit my website.
On a personal note, it’s disturbing that City elections do not attract the same kind of attention and response from voters as national elections, as they are equally important.
In researching voter turnout as I was writing this post, I found that in the General Election on November 3, 2020 74% of registered voters in the 28th Ward turned up at the polls. In contrast, on April 6, 2021, turnout for the Mayoral race in the City of St. Louis fell to 35.6% in our ward, which really surprised me. What’s even more shocking is that city-wide turnout in the Mayoral race was a mere 29%.
There seems to be a lack of appreciation for the importance of local elections and their direct impact on our lives. Please vote in the Special Election on Tuesday, April 19. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Thank you so much for gathering this information and sending it out.