The Editorial Board
On April 14, 1823, William Carr Lane, a medical doctor from Pennsylvania, was elected as St. Louis’ first mayor. The city then consisted of some 4,000 souls; the mayor’s annual salary was $300. Among the first ordinances passed under his tenure was to prohibit the discharge of firearms within the city limits.
Gunplay remains a bane of St. Louis to this day, of course, but almost everything else has changed. The city would grow in the ensuing years to become one of the biggest and most prosperous in America, before beginning its long population slide in the middle of the last century. While Mayor Lane might have had trouble imagining his little town being home to almost 300,000 people, that figure today represents the crashing failure of generations of city leadership that saw the loss of almost two-thirds of its population since the 1950s.
Among the few things that haven’t changed is the fact that such failures, and any success the city still enjoys, is ultimately laid at the doorstep of its voters. They will go to the polls Tuesday to choose a mayor for about the 80th time in the city’s history. (Early on, terms were shorter than four years.)
Casting those votes is the single most crucial duty of citizenship. Yet if the recent past is prelude, fewer than one in three eligible St. Louis city voters will carry out that duty in this election.
Tuesday’s city ballot will offer a rematch between incumbent Mayor Tishaura Jones and Alderwoman Cara Spencer. We have recommended Spencer to voters, based on our assessment that her back-to-basics approach to making government work is what St. Louis needs right now, rather than Jones’ focus on addressing poverty and inequity.
Reasonable people can disagree on that assessment of the candidates — but there’s nothing reasonable about not voting at all. Especially for those who intend to continue partaking in that most American of political pastimes: complaining about political leadership.
Also on Tuesday’s citywide ballot is the race for comptroller, the city’s chief fiscal officer. We have recommended challenger Donna Baringer over incumbent Darlene Green, largely on the argument that after Green’s three decades in office, it’s time for fresh ideas and a more hands-on approach to the job.
Again, reasonable people can disagree with that assessment, but failing to vote is always a losing strategy.
The only other citywide contest Tuesday is for the St. Louis school board, with a dozen candidates vying for three seats.
The Editorial Board has not made any formal endorsements in that contest, but has repeatedly called out the board for its gross mismanagement of district funds and personnel, much of it related to cronyism under former Superintendent Keisha Scarlett.
Board President Antionette “Toni” Cousins has, arguably more than any other board member, been the face of that mismanagement. Cousins is the only incumbent running for reelection to the board Tuesday.
Depending on where individual voters live in the city, some will also have aldermanic races to decide. Whomever you choose — choose.
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