ST. LOUIS 鈥 Tuesday鈥檚 election results sparked the memory of a Board of Aldermen committee meeting from two years ago.
The aldermen were in the process of drawing new maps for the 14 wards that held their first elections this week. Citizens and some aldermen were unhappy with the secrecy of the process, and the attempts by former Board President Lewis Reed to use it to reward supporters and punish those who didn鈥檛 get in line.
A resident of the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood gave an impassioned speech about the process.
鈥淚 believe the ward boundaries should not be drawn by politicians who stand to benefit from them,鈥 Michael Browning testified. 鈥淲ard maps have a huge impact on the lives of people who live in this city, and the way you have treated this process makes it seem like you think it鈥檚 a joke.鈥
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A few months later, 狐狸视频 voters approved an initiative that creates a citizen commission to draw ward boundaries a decade from now. And a year after that vote, Browning is a new alderman. Reed and his biggest supporters, former aldermen Jeffrey Boyd and John Collins-Muhammed, are in federal prison after pleading guilty to bribery charges.
My, how things have changed.
On Tuesday, Browning was part of a progressive wave, giving Mayor Tishaura Jones and new Board President Megan Green the likelihood of carrying a majority of votes on key issues. But in politics, the math is often more complicated than it seems.
In 狐狸视频, we have a tendency to treat everything as a zero-sum game: Black vs. white; north vs. south; progressive vs. moderate.
Browning鈥檚 election is a good reminder that things are rarely that simple. His policies are clearly progressive, as were those of the incumbent alderman he beat, Tina Pihl. But Browning received a large amount of campaign support from the city鈥檚 business community, particularly , and developers who complained that Pihl was hard to work with.
The challenge for the new board 鈥 with new leaders, smaller numbers and a mandate from voters to work with Jones and Green 鈥 will be to find a balance. There鈥檚 the old way of getting things done 鈥 Reed taking cash in the back of a gas station to green-light a development project 鈥 and the way that Green wants to do things: development policies that even the playing field between neighborhoods and big-moneyed interests.
Perhaps the most important development in Tuesday鈥檚 election was the passage of Proposition C. It will create a charter commission to rewrite the obsolete rules that have contributed to the historic corruption in the city and its inability to function efficiently.
That commission creates an opportunity for the residents of 狐狸视频 to do what the failed Better Together process couldn鈥檛: build a new structure from the ground up, with input from the people who live in the city.
As that process unfolds, there are a host of problems for the new progressive board majority to tackle: a broken 911 system; policing strategy; trash pick-up; road repairs and dangerous drivers; and transit options. And, of course, there鈥檚 the constant scourge of gun violence.
As spring takes root, a sliver of sunlight sliced its way through this week鈥檚 cloudy skies. Downtown has been packed with visitors to watch soccer, baseball and football, filling restaurants and creating density on streets. And voters have made clear again they want a progressive majority and to change the city鈥檚 archaic charter.
鈥淲e can walk and chew gum at the same time,鈥 Mayor Jones told me not too long ago.
It鈥檚 time to find out if that鈥檚 true. The challenge for the new majority will be to do two things at once: address the issues that need immediate attention, while also fulfilling the vision of an equitable future for all citizens 鈥 Black and white, north and south, progressive and moderate.
When Browning spoke at the aldermanic meeting two years ago, he offered an admonition that can serve as a guidepost for the board on which he now serves.
鈥淒o better,鈥 he said, 鈥渙r don鈥檛 do it at all.鈥