Water fight

From prison time to Sweetie Pie’s Miss Robbie and Tim give a second chance to an ex-offender from Alabama –

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Vol. 84 No. 43

CAC Audited JANUARY 24 – 30, 2013

COMPLIMENTARY

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‘We are made for this moment’ Obama’s second inauguration focuses on legacy, not race

By Eugene Robinson Washington Post

Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post

President Barack Obama takes the ceremonial oath of office administered by Chief Justice John Roberts during the 57th Presidential Inauguration Ceremony at the United States Capitol on Monday, January 21, 2013. President Obama was sworn in for his second term of office.

North City recreation center opens – finally Pride emerges after victory over inclusion and fees

By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American The $18-million O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex finally opened its doors in North City on January 21.

Hundreds of residents and community leaders flooded in to tour the 76,000square-foot center on Saturday. Families were excited to see the indoor and outdoor pools, both with two-story waterslides. The double gymnasium has 12 basketball hoops, volleyball nets and an elevated running and walking track.

The YMCA of Greater St. Louis will operate the center, and the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry will oversee it. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis will provide youth and teen programs.

“It was a day of people standing together and being proud,” said Alderman See CENTER, A7

WASHINGTON – President Barack Hussein Obama’s second inauguration was every bit as historic as his first – not because “My fellow it said so much Americans, we are about the nation’s made for this long, bitter, unfinmoment and we will ished struggle with issues of seize it, so long as race, as was the we seize it together.” case four years ago, but because – President Barack it said so little Obama about the subject.

Reflect for a moment: A black man stood on the Capitol steps and took the oath of office as president of the United States. For the second time.

Meaning that voters not only elected him once – which could be a fluke, a blip, an aberration, a cosmic accident – but turned around and did it again.

See OBAMA, A6

WATER FIGHT AT BOARD OF E&A Slays pushes for outside consultant after Sinquefield urges privatization

By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Veolia toured the city’s Water Division only three months after Sinquefield’s Show-Me Institute released a report urging the city to privatize its water utility.

Photo by Wiley Price

“There were battles fought along the way, but what’s important now is people have a place to improve their health and be safe,” Alderman Antonio French said at the opening of the O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex on Saturday.

The City of St. Louis has the finest-tasting tap water in the country, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

In water-quality studies among large cities, St. Louis has long been in the top 10 cities, while Indianapolis ranked 90th. Why should St. Louis care about Indianapolis’ water quality?

Because the same company that Indianapolis hired to operate its water system, Veolia Water, was recently selected to be the city’s consulting company to “improve” St. Louis water and the Water Division’s business functions. Indianapolis paid Veolia $29 million to end its contract 10 years early, and citizens filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for overcharges on their water bills.

See WATER, A7

2013 class of Young Leader awardees chosen Recognition event set for Feb. 21

By K. Michael Jones Of The St. Louis American A diverse group of 20 outstanding AfricanAmerican professionals, under age 40, has been selected as the 2013 class of Young Leader award recipients.

The awardees will be profiled in the February 21 edition of The St. Louis American and will be honored at the St. Louis American Foundation’s third annual Salute to Young Leaders

Networking Awards Reception, Thursday, February 21, at the Chase Park Plaza.

This impressive class of Young Leaders includes a senior manager of corporate giving for the largest St. Louis-based company. Another is the CFO of a major non-profit entity.

Another is the supplier diversity manager for the nation’s largest minority-owned firm, with more than $4 billion in annual revenue. Another is the club director for a nationally-acclaimed boys and girls club. Another is an assistant pro-

fessor at a prestigious university, with a doctorate and a master’s degree in public health.

What do they all have in common? They are all high-performing, young African-American professionals who have distinguished themselves in their professional field while also giving back to the community.

“A critical element of the sustainable progress and success in a community is able, committed leadership,” said Donald M. Suggs, president of the St. Louis American Foundation.

Imani Anwisye-Mashele, MD, MPH Family Medicine Resident St. Louis University Dominique Beeks Senior Credit Analyst Bank of America L. Jared Boyd Chief of Staff St. Louis City Treasurer

The 2013 Young Leader awardees are: See LEADERS, A6

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ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • JANUARY 24 – 30, 2013

WATER Continued from A1 More than 50 people from environmental and social-justice groups protested a contract with Veolia at the Jan. 16 Board of Estimate and Apportionment meeting, where the mayor, Board of Alderman president and comptroller were prepared to vote on the contract.

Protesters said Veolia Water, a French firm and the largest private water services provider in the world, has left a smudge on other cities and also operates under questionable environmental standards.

Anticipating the protests, the Board of E&A removed the contract from the Jan. 16 agenda and did not discuss it. The contract aims to “improve business practices,” according to the city’s request for proposals.

Protesters first came out in numbers at the Dec. 17 board meeting, where the contract was placed on the agenda just one day prior to the meeting. There, aldermanic President Lewis Reed questioned Veolia’s track record, and Comptroller Darlene Green followed Reed by requesting an investigation into the citizens’ allegations.

Reed said he’s been working closely with the citizens to represent their concerns at the Board of E&A and will continue to do so.

CENTER Continued from A1 Antonio French, of Ward 21 where the project is located.

“There were battles we fought along the way, but those are in the past. What’s important now is that people will have a place to improve their health and be safe.”

French was speaking about a political battle last summer to secure discounted membership fees for residents. French pushed for $25 annual youth memberships for city residents under 18 years. The YMCA offers discounts of up to 90

However, Mayor Francis G. Slay stood firmly behind the company, citing that the city had a good relationship working with a subsidiary company of Veolia Energy North America, Trigen-St. Louis Energy Company, which operates an underground steam loop that provides heat to downtown residents.

Veolia Water’s controversy is not new to St. Louis. In September 2010, Veolia toured the city’s Water Division facilities – only three months after Rex Sinquefield’s Show-Me Institute released a May 2010 report urging the city to privatize its water utility.

Sinquefield is a huge contributor to Slay’s mayoral campaign.

However, at the time the mayor said it was nothing more than a visit. Slay said he has no plans to push for selling the city’s water services to a private company.

The Riverfront Times reported the news about the Veolia consulting contract in November, after talking with employees who feared the loss of their jobs.

Though the contract is just to consult for the city, opponents – including the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee – said it was just a step towards an end goal of selling the city’s water services to Veolia.

“The extensive information

percent for low-income city residents. Other memberships range in price from $33 to $44 per month for adults.

The event’s speakers included Mayor Francis G. Slay, Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed, President of the Aldermanic Black Caucus Terry Kennedy and state Senator Jamilah Nasheed.

“It is a landmark facility in that it’s state of the art, right here in North City,” Kennedy said.

Inside the center, a plaque displays all the names of the African-American Aldermanic Caucus who pushed to get the facility built and to make sure

about this company’s record across the country and around the world makes it clear that St. Louis should not be doing business with it,” Kathleen Logan Smith, executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, said in a letter to board members.

Veolia has come up against several lawsuits, almost all ending in settlements where the company claims no wrongdoing.

In November 2012, Veolia Environmental Services and its subsidiaries agreed to pay $15 million in a class-action lawsuit for overcharging its customers in multiple states over a period of nearly 10 years.

The nonprofit San Francisco Baykeeper sued Veolia twice, in two different California cities, for allegedly releasing millions of gallons of partially-treated wastewater into San Francisco Bay. In 2004, the city of Angleton, Texas, terminated its wastewater treatment and street cleaning contract with Veolia, claiming that the company failed to provide sufficient staff and overcharged the city for maintenance and administrative work.

“St. Louis tax dollars and water payments should not go toward supporting environmental destruction, unfair labor practices, corruption and human rights abuses,” the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee said in a statement.

Photo by Wiley Price

Celebrating peace Ron O’Neal of St. Louis walks the route towards Powell Symphony Hall during the 43rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. march in downtown on Monday morning.

a workforce dent of Kwame The project inclusion ordiBuilding Group employed 33 nance passed Inc., who was the percent minority construction manbefore its conworkers – about ager for the center. struction.

“We wanted to 98 percent of Aside from make sure people whom were workforce, 40 perthat looked like cent of the project’s Africanus were working contractors and subAmerican. to build it,” contractors were Kennedy said. minorities, and The project eight percent were employed 33 perwomen, which cent minority workers – about exceeded the city’s goal of 25 98 percent of whom were percent minority-owned busiAfrican-American. ness enterprises (MBEs) and 5 Although many said it percent women-owned busicouldn’t be done, the project ness enterprises (WBEs). exceeded the city’s 25 percent At several points in the minority workforce goal, said process S.M. Wilson, the genZachary Hamilton, vice presieral contractor, asked for addi-

tional money – $2.174 million – to achieve the minority participation goals.

In a Feb. 9, 2012 letter, S.M. Wilson VP Fred Jaeckle stated that achieving these minority participation goals “has been difficult and our company has experienced the tremendous hardship in finding minority firms to meet the rigid requirements established by the St. Louis City Ordinance 68412 and S.M. Wilson’s agreement with the City of St. Louis.”

The City of St. Louis awarded $1,173,888 to S.M. Wilson because of their “hardship” in achieving the minority goal. However, Comptroller

Darlene Green said she would not approve any further requests from the contractor.

Had the city paid S.M. Wilson everything the company asked, the project’s total contract value would have been about $19.6 million.

According to city records, Kwame advised the city not pay any additional charges.

“The facility came out under budget, and we met the goals we set out to achieve,” said Tony Thompson, Kwame’s CEO and chairman of the board. “You did not have to pay a premium to have that level of minority participation. The city did a good job of holding their feet to the fire.”

BUSINESS

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MAY 9 – 15, 2013

‘Understanding consequences and rewards’ Workforce Investment Act funds program to reach troubled young men

Dr. Susan ColbertThreats

BUSINESS OPINION

Water is serious business

By Caroline Pufalt Sierra Club, Missouri Chapter Water is serious business, and the citizens of St Louis are rightly concerned about a recent plan to change the operation of city water through a proposed contract with Keeping all Inc. Veolia is aspects of pubic Veolia, a private, multinawater public is tional company which part of best profits from management of municipal practices to water systems. keep city water Concerned citizens clean and fear the proposed affordable. contract with Veolia would disadvantage the city.

In a recent editorial, Veolia spokesperson David Gadis tried to counter those concerns by claiming the proposal is a public-private partnership through which the city would still own water infrastructure.

That is true, as far as it goes.

See WATER, B6

Dr. Susan Colbert-Threats was named to the Best Doctors in America List for 2013 by her peers and colleagues.

Approximately 5 percent of doctors practicing in the United States are selected as a Best Doctor. Her practice is at Richmond Heights Internal Medicine in Richmond Heights with the independent physician group Esse Health. A native of north St. Louis, she is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians.

Steven Hill has been elected to the Board of Directors of United Way of Greater St. Louis. Hill is the area mid-market sales manager for Microsoft Corporation for the North Central Small, Medium, Solutions and Partners based in St. Louis. He recently was appointed the Diversity Champion for the Midwest region and has been recognized by the Black Data Processor Association and the National Society of Hispanic MBA.

By Robert Joiner Of The Beacon When Edward Spann first heard about the Men on Deck tour, he had no idea it would mean beginning his day at a jail and ending it with an undertaker. These were among the extreme destinations that he and other young men journeyed to discuss the consequences of making good or bad choices in life.

In addition to visiting a funeral home and a jail on a recent Thursday, the men visited the Better Family Life Cultural Center, People’s Health Centers, St. Louis “You have the Community power and ability College, the New to transform your Life Evangelistic Center and the lives in the way Father’s Support that nobody Center. could imagine.”

“I realize from this tour how deci– Malik Ahmed, sions I make right Better Family now can make a Life Inc. difference for me down the road,” says Spann, 22. He says the cautionary tales he heard will make him work harder in his studies in computer technology at Vatterott.

Another participant, Rashad Gladney, 21, says, “Right now I’m in school to be a barber. But from what I’ve learned, I’m determined to use that to think about owning my own shop.”

Better Family Life runs the Men on Deck tour as part of a grant under the federal Workforce Investment Act. One of the program’s placement and retention specialists, Maukiesch Howard, says the tour amounted to “a reality check, pointing out the consequences of choices these young men make.”

Cecilia Ray, a program life coach, says those in the program often face challenges like being foster children, runaways or homeless. Many, she says, are school dropouts.

Norman Miller, another placement and retention specialist, hopes the tour will make young men “think through decisions and make better choices to change their lives in a positive way.” The idea, he says, is to offer them “an empirical understanding of the

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Tara Leigh Buckner

Steven Hill

Tara Leigh Buckner has been elected president-elect of the National Alumnae Association of Spelman College. Previously, Buckner was the National Assistant Recording Secretary for the association, having also served as the Saint Louis Chapter Recording Secretary and President of the Twin Cities Chapter. She is the former Executive Director of the Greater Saint Louis Regional Empowerment Zone.

BUSINESS BRIEFS SBA Deputy Administrator visits St. Louis Photo by Wiley Price

Jeffrey Irons with Employment Connections talks to young men at the Father’s Support Center last week during the Men on Deck Tour sponsored by Better Family Life. This youth program, funded by the Workforce Investment Act, tries to guide troubled young men to think through possible life-changing decisions. consequences and rewards of their choices.”

‘Not where you want to be’ At the tour’s first stop, the Pine Lawn jail, officers spoke to the young men about how to behave during a traffic stop, among other

things. Police Chief Rickey Collins concedes that some police officers do make mistakes, and he encouraged citizens to use their cell phones to record incidents and file complaints when they believe that they have See ACT, B6

Push to preserve foreclosure assistance Home Affordable Modification Program set to expire by year’s end the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Additionally, another 22 state and local groups including the California Reinvestment A broad coalition of state and Coalition, Mississippi Center national organizations is pushfor Justice and New York’s ing to preserve a key federal Empire Justice Center joined program that has helped more with their national colleagues to than 1.1 million troubled homefight for more foreclosure assisowners and reduced mortgage tance. payments by a median savings The letter states, “Research of $546 each month. The Home has shown that foreclosure and Affordable Modification delinquency rates have disproProgram (HAMP), created in portionately impacted Africanresponse to the nation’s housing Charlene American and Latino families, crisis, is set to close shop on Crowell and median household wealth December 31. In its remaining has dramatically declined. . . months, housing and consumer High foreclosure rates in communities advocates are urging the U.S. Treasury of color have also impacted those homeDepartment to reconsider. owners neighboring foreclosed properA March 26 letter to Jacob J. Lew, ties, and estimates show that these propU.S. Treasury Secretary, was co-signed erties stand to lose $1 trillion in home by 14 national organizations such as the equity as a result.”

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Urban League and See CROWELL, B2

By Charlene Crowell Center for Responsible Lending

Marie C. Johns

Marie C. Johns, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, visited St. Louis on Monday to help kick-off Eastern Missouri Small Business Week and to deliver remarks at the Association for Enterprise Opportunity annual National Conference. She highlighted SBA’s microloan and lending resources for entrepreneurs in underserved communities at the conference.

Stylists, science teachers meet in St. Louis in May Some 6,000 stylists gathered in St. Louis for the State Beauty Supply Show, May 5-6, at the America’s Center convention complex. The National Science Teachers Association Stem Forum and Expo will take place in St. Louis, May 15-18, at America’s Center. Other groups meeting in St. Louis in May include Junior Chamber International JCI Conference of the Americas, United States Lactation Consultant Association National Conference, and the Fraternity Communications Association Annual Conference.

Nominations being accepted for Nurse of the Year The Missouri Chapter of March of Dimes is preparing to honor nurses who exemplify an extraordinary level of patient care, compassion and customer service. It will accept nominations for Nurse of the Year from May 6 to June 30. Exceptional nurses employed in Missouri and the Illinois counties of Jersey, Madison, St. Clair, Clinton, Monroe and Randolph are eligible. Nomination forms and more information are available at marchofdimes.com/missouri or contact Ann FisherJackson at 314-513-9962 or jfisher-jackson@marchofdimes.com.

Securities Division issues an investor advisory Secretary of State Jason Kander’s Securities Division has issued an investor advisory providing basic information on the types of financial services professionals and their obligations to investors. “It pays to understand the differences between a brokerdealer agent, an investment adviser representative, and a financial planner,” Kander said. For more information or to request a copy of the advisory, contact the Securities Division at 800-721-7996.

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ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • MAY 9 – 15, 2013

Renter’s rights on security deposits

By Legal Services of Eastern Missouri The recent Hazelwood tornado left many tenants homeless and with questions about the status of their security deposits. Some tenants could not find a copy of their leases in their now condemned homes, while others had their lease but spoke with a landlord who told them not to expect the return of a deposit.

There are also special circumstances tenants should be aware of with regard to their leases

ACT Continued from B1 been mistreated.

The chief then led them to the jail, a drab room containing five gray cells, each about the size of a small closet and all lacking a toilet.

“This is not where you want to be,” he tells the men. “But I’m showing you where you are going to end up if you are with the wrong guys.”

The next stop was the Better Family Life Cultural Center. Better Family Life Inc. started in 1983. It later bought

WATER Continued from B1 Alarming questions were raised when a draft Veolia contract with St Louis was anonymously leaked to the media in January. That draft or template contract gave Veolia rights to intellectual property and to results from the consulting contract, which could also limit citizen access through the Sunshine Law. It would also

and security deposits after losing their home in a natural disaster. Legal Services of Eastern Missouri suggests the following advice.

Remove everything from your dwelling unit when you vacate. Clean the dwelling.

Take photographs to document its condition. Keep your photographs in a safe place in case you need evidence to challenge any damage claims.

Schedule an appointment with your landlord to deliver the keys and possession of the dwelling. During the appointment, conduct a walk-through

inspection with You should make a amounts withyour landlord held by your written demand for to review the landlord. the return of the condition of Your landsecurity deposit, and lord can apply the dwelling and to discuss your security keep a photocopy of any charges or deposit to your demand letter. deductions the unpaid rent landlord might and/or damadd to your ages. final balance.

Legal damYour landlord does not have age charges are only for damto return your security deposit ages caused by you that are before you move; your landbeyond normal wear and tear. lord has 30 days from the day You should make a written you move out to either return demand for the return of the your deposit or give you an security deposit, and keep a itemized statement of any photocopy of your demand let-

ter as proof that you requested your landlord return the security deposit. In your demand letter, provide your landlord with an address to send you the security deposit.

You are not obligated to give your landlord your new home address. Use a P.O. Box address or other address where you do not live or work.

If the landlord refuses to refund your deposit or to give you an itemized statement of amounts withheld, you may file a Small Claims Court lawsuit against your landlord

for up to two times the amount of the security deposit withheld.

If your landlord believes you owe any money, your landlord may file a counterclaim against you in your security deposit lawsuit.

Under the Missouri law, a landlord cannot legally charge you more than two times the monthly rent for a security deposit.

Make sure you obtain a receipt or any other type of proof of your security deposit payment to your landlord.

the vacant Emerson Elementary School and received a loan and grants to turn it into a cultural, educational and business center. The nonprofit’s founder and CEO, Malik Ahmed, told the young men they can gain inspiration from the company’s rise.

“You have the power and ability to transform your lives in the way that nobody could imagine,” he told the men.

“We will teach you what it takes to become entrepreneurs, create your own jobs. It’s about moving us forward as a community, protecting this community and watching it grow.”

Deborah Ahmed, the center’s senior vice president of cultural programs, says she hopes the tour inspires the men to embrace their cultural roots.

“We firmly believe that when you have knowledge of self, you have the foundation on which to stand and to grow. If you don’t have that, you leave yourself open and vulnerable for others to imprint who they say you are.”

After People’s Health Centers, where the young men were urged to take better care of themselves through routine checkups and screenings, the next stop was the African American Male Initiative at St.

Louis Community College at Forest Park. Jason Parker, campus coordinator of the initiative, told them that college is a challenge for some male students. “A lot of time they lack a support system,” he said. The initiative offers intense tutoring, older student mentors and an academic alert system to track the student.

Following stops at New Life Evangelistic Center and the Father’s Support Center, the tour bus headed for the Ronald Jones Funeral Chapels. Jones talked about what causes so many young people to end up under his

care.

“They’re victims, really,” he says, citing an example of one young man who got into a vehicle with two strangers because he wanted to go for a ride. What he didn’t know, Jones says, was that an AK47 was on the floor between the feet of one of the men and that they were on their way to a drive-by shooting.

The shooter ended up killing the wrong person, in addition to shooting several other people, Jones says. The young man who got in the car for a joy ride was the only one who was caught.

“He kept insisting he had

done nothing wrong, not realizing that he was culpable because he was in the car,” Jones said. “They don’t understand that decisions that they make have a profound effect on their future.”

Jones says he reaches out to young men like those on the tour because “somebody saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I used to think that people were meddling, but they turned out to be people who cared. If I can help just one, it can make a difference.”

have virtually forced the city to move from consulting to a longer, costly implementation contract with Veolia.

In March, a news item posted on Mayor Francis G. Slay’s website acknowledged confusion over the contract and stated a desire to clarify “what it is and what it is not.” That’s good, too, as far as it goes.

But there has been little or no public or written confirmation of parameters for the Veolia contract with the city.

A spokesperson for the mayor recently told our group that the contract will not limit access to information and it will not tie consultation with implementation. The spokesperson also stated that the choice of Veolia as a consultant was separate from approval of the details of the contract.

We think citizens deserve a transparent look at both.

Water is too important for its citizens not to be fully informed. St. Louis city faces

real problems with an aging water infrastructure, leaking pipes, lack of efficiency and costly treatment materials. In addition the city’s population base has changed, and many citizens have limited income.

We face some tough choices ahead, but we are not without options. Water is increasingly recognized as a valued resource, and technologies for treatment and delivery are increasing and improving.

Our organization, the

Sierra Club, opposes the choice of Veolia due to its questionable environmental record and concerns about the affordability and fairness of the services that might result if it manages city water. We also question whether the city even needs one far-reaching consulting contract to address all issues in water delivery.

The Water Division should seek to build as much expertise in-house as possible without falling dependent to outside consultants. Those con-

sultants will naturally also make a profit on their services.

Keeping all aspects of pubic water public is part of best practices to keep city water clean and affordable.

It’s time for definitive and complete information from the Mayor’s office as to why they support Veolia and exactly what would be the details of the contract.

Edited for length and reprinted with permission from stlbeacon.org.

Caroline Pufalt is conservation chair for Sierra Club, Missouri Chapter.

Royal Flame STL gospel rapper debuts at #3 on iTunes with seventh record

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CAC Audited OCTOBER 24 – 30, 2013

Vol. 84 No. 30 COMPLIMENTARY

stlamerican.com

Last week Michael V. Drake, M.D., the chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, distinguished ophthalmologist and leader in workforce diversity, delivered the 2013 Homer G. Phillips Lecture at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Training servants of the underserved Dr. Michael V. Drake delivers 2013 WUSM Homer G. Phillips Lecture

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American Training medical students to focus on underserved communities is a career quest of Michael V. Drake, M.D., the chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, distinguished ophthalmologist and leader in workforce diversity.

Last week, Drake delivered the 2013 Homer G. Phillips

Lecture at the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM). He spoke on the topic, “Improving Public Health through Academic Medicine-Community Partnerships.”

Will Ross, M.D., associate dean for Diversity for WUSM, welcomed an audience that included health professionals, patients and friends of Homer G. Phillips Hospital, the pre-

See DRAKE, A6

Photo by Maurice Meredith

Water fight Aldermen oppose mayor’s view that Veolia contract was approved

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Mayor Francis G. Slay’s administration has caused an uproar among city aldermen and environmental activists, by claiming that the board approved a $250,000 consulting contract for controversial Veolia Water North America when it passed the city budget in May. Several aldermen on the Ways and Means committee called this claim of Slay’s “insane” and “sneaky” at a public hearing on Tuesday.

The contract has been criticized by aldermanic President Lewis Reed and the St. Louis Dump See VEOLIA, A7

Photo by Wiley Price

Song for Mother Gentry The life and legacy of gospel legend Mother Geneva Gentry were celebrated at a musical service in her honor held Friday at Southern Missionary Baptist Church, 5630 Page. The National Convention of Gospel Choirs honored her in song during the service. She passed recently at the age of 101.

Fire at Superfund site in Bridgeton is not the first, researcher discovers

COGIC returns to STL

By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American

106th Holy Convocation to be held here Nov. 4-12

By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. said he is overjoyed to return to St. Louis once again for the Church of God in Christ’s 106th Holy Convocation, to be held November 4-12 at the America’s Center.

“St. Louis has been so hospitable,” Blake said. “The people have been so kind. The leaders of the city have been so accommodating and receptive to us.”

He described Convocation – held in St. Louis since

“St. Louis has been so hospitable.”

2010 – as an “in-gathering of the saints.” More than 40,000 faithful are expected to attend this – Presiding Bishop year.

Charles E. Blake Sr. “They come together for biblical instruction, for inspiration, for worship, to share with one another and to support the Church of God in Christ itself,” Blake said.

See COGIC, A6

Documents sought on radioactive landfill fire

Photo by Wiley Price

Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr.

The Missouri Coalition for the Environment held a community meeting last Thursday alerting residents to what organizers described as a “shocking discovery” at the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site in Bridgeton.

Researching documents on the landfill, independent researcher Debi Disser discovered that the current fire smoldering underground near the landfill, which contains radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project, is not the first fire there. A See LANDFILL, A6

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • OCTOBER 24 – 30, 2013

VEOLIA

Rasheen Aldridge, a young St. Louis activist, protested the low minimum wage and the mayor’s aggressive push for a water division consultant on Tuesday at an aldermanic committee hearing.

Photo by Wiley Price

A7

members are approving a specific contract, as Hageman stated in the letter.

Continued from A1 “That’s ridiculous,” Kennedy said.

“And that’s what they are trying to Veolia Coalition, among others. hang their hats on – that by appropriOpponents say Veolia Water, a ating this general fund, we were also French firm and the largest private agreeing to this contract. That’s why water services provider in the world, we had this hearing. We had no intenoperates under questionable environtions of that.” mental standards.

Kennedy said all the committee “In certain cities, they have been members were surprised to hear called out for pumping raw sewage Slay’s argument, as delivered by back into the water system,” Reed Hageman. said. “They have been thrown out of Alderman Craig Schmidt said he cities all across the United States. didn’t know whether to call it a “comWith other competent, qualified venedy or a tragedy.” dors readily available, why not choose Alderwoman Dionne Flowers said, someone else?”

“We were told that the Board of Alderman Terry Kennedy, chair of Aldermen had nothing to do with the the committee, said he decided to hold contracts. Contracts such as this are public hearings to investigate a legal made and decided upon by the Board opinion that the Slay administration of E&A.” recently sent to Several aldermen said Comptroller Darlene that if Slay pushes forward “The typical Green. with this argument and In an Oct. 4 letter to process is for tries to legally force the Green, City Counselor these things to comptroller to sign the Patricia Hageman, who is then he will have go back before contract, appointed by the mayor, broken both the aldermen’s E&A.” said Green must sign the and the public’s trust. contract out of “ministeriAlderman Scott Ogilvie – Alderman al duty.” said if the alderman start Terry Kennedy Green has not signed acting under the city counthe contract. Kennedy has selor’s legal assumptions, asked Green to wait until then it will have “unintenafter the aldermanic comtional consequences” in mittee has held its investigative hearhow they review next year’s budget. ings.

They could potentially cut departSeveral times earlier this year, ments’ professional services out of Slay encouraged members of the fear that they would be passing a conBoard of Estimate and Apportionment tract unintentionally, he said.

– the city’s chief fiscal body that Kennedy agreed. includes Slay, Green and Reed – to “If that is the case, then we would approve the contract, but failed to have to require every department to gain their support. line item each and every budget item, However, Hageman said the Board which means there’s no way a budget of Aldermen approved the Veolia concould get passed within the time peritract when it approved the city budget. od that’s set out in the charter,” She said the Board of E&A gave its Kennedy said. “It would halt city govrecommended 2014 fiscal budget to ernment a great deal. I disagree with the Board of Aldermen, which “conthe city counselor’s interpretation.” tained, among other things, appropriaKennedy said the aldermen may tions for the water department.” The introduce a board bill next week that board approved those recommendawould take away the funds appropriattions, and that was enough to move ed for the Veolia contract. City forward with the contract, Hageman Counselor Michael Garvin testified argued. that such a board bill would halt the At the hearing on Tuesday, aldercontract because there would be no men said that’s not how things work. funds appropriated for it.

“The typical process is for these In an interview, Kennedy said he things to go back before E&A,” wanted the public to know, “It’s not Kennedy said. over.”

When the board approves a “general category of expenditures,” Kennedy For analysis, see Political EYE. said, that doesn’t mean the board

A8

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • OCTOBER 24 - 30, 2013

Aldermen shred Team Slay In a public hearing on Tuesday, the Board of Aldermen’s Ways and Means Committee picked apart all the reasons why City Counselor Patricia Hageman, an appointee of Mayor Francis G. Slay, believes the board has approved the Veolia Water contract to consult on the city’s water division.

First, she claimed, a fivemember selection committee chose Veolia as their top choice for the consulting contract.

Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed disputed this as a concrete reason because the committee’s choice was just a recommendation. The Board of Estimate & Apportionment is the final decider, Reed said.

However, Hageman said that each member of the Board of E&A (that is, Slay, Reed and Comptroller Darlene Green) knew that Veolia was selected before they approved their recommendations for the water division’s appropriations.

Therefore, she said, they didn’t need to vote on the contract.

Second, as part of the budget process, she said, departments can submit “BD8” forms to support their budget requests.

Hageman argued that the water division submitted this form, requesting “a $250,000 appropriation for an outside contractor for operations assistance.”

This would have been the only “written” notice about a $250,000 appropriation given to the Board of Alderman before they cast their votes on the city budget. However, that form was never actually submitted to Budget Director Paul Payne

(more on this in a minute).

Third, Hageman said Public Utilities Director Curt Skouby “expressly testified” before the Ways and Means Committee that the water division’s request for funds included the Veolia contract.

On Tuesday, the committee publicly reviewed the tapes from his May 29 testimony.

In fact, Skouby never spoke about the Veolia contract on his own accord. A few times, when pressured by aldermen, he said the contract could go to a vendor “like Veolia.”

Dierker on Dierker Hageman chose an interesting court case to support her legal opinion – City of St. Louis vs. Virvus Jones (1990).

First of all, Virvus Jones, then comptroller, lost the case.

It was, in fact, this case that made all professional service contracts go before the Board of E&A, based on the ruling by Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. City Counselor Michael Garvin testified at the hearing on Tuesday, saying that the comptroller could be forced by a judge to sign the contract, if the judge agreed with Hageman’s legal opinion.

However, he said, Slay didn’t want that to happen.

The EYE can see why. Judge Dierker, who ruled in the 1990 Jones case, would likely be the same judge to decide this case.

However hard Hageman might bluff in her slightly bullying letter to Green, if Dierker rules based on the case law he himself adjudicated, as surely

Aldermen Jennifer Florida (left) and Frank Williamson (right) follow the Board of Aldermen’s Ways and Means Committee public hearing led on Tuesday by committee chair Alderman Terry Kennedy. Photo by Wiley Price

he would, it’s not likely he would side with Slay.

In City of St. Louis v. Jones, Hageman argued, “the court indicated that approval of an appropriation is sufficient to constitute approval of a particular contract,” if there is a “recorded recognition” stating that the public funds would go towards a specific contract.

Hageman said she has such a recording from when Skouby testified before the Ways and Means committee (which, as the replay of Skouby’s testimony proved, is itself doubtful).

However, Reed said that within that same case law, there is a paragraph that points to exactly why the Veolia contract would have to go through E&A – and that’s because it was not written into the budget.

“What the city counselor would like us to believe is that it’s okay for things not to go before the Board of E&A, if there is a line item in there that says ‘professional services,’” Reed said “If that were true,

there are tons of contracts from the airport commission and everything else that we would never have to issue an RFP for.

The other problem with that is we have an open documents law we have to abide by.

How would the public really understand what their money has been spent on?”

Rex factor Controversy over Veolia Water is not new to St. Louis.

In September 2010, Veolia toured the city’s water division facilities – only three months after Rex Sinquefield’s ShowMe Institute released a May 2010 report urging the city to privatize its water utility.

Sinquefield is the single largest contributor to Slay’s massive mayoral campaign warchest. However, at the time the mayor said it was nothing more than a visit. Slay has said he has no plans to push for selling the city’s water services to a private company.

Then in November 2012, a committee selected Veolia out of several proposals for the $250,000 contract. Though the contract is just to consult for the city, opponents – including the Missouri Coalition for the Environment – said this contract is just a step towards an end goal of selling the city’s water services to Veolia.

“On its face, it’s not a good deal for the city,” Reed said. “Do we need to make upgrades? Absolutely. But we have to be careful at the same time we are not getting ourselves in a situation where we are upcharging the residents for the services the system can pay for within itself.”

Roth-mongering Eddie Roth, Slay’s new director of operations (and former Post-Dispatch editorial writer), gave an adamantly proVeolia presentation when he testified before the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday.

His voice was shaking – with either passion for his boss’ pet company or fear from the amount of opposition he faced in the room. Perhaps the trembling sound reflected a man trying desperately to right his own blunder.

Here’s how Roth messed up. The only written piece of evidence that Hageman points to in her legal opinion is a budget form that the water division submitted to Roth, but not to Payne, the budget director. Roth said he told all departments to submit the form to Payne directly, but Skouby did not follow that instruction.

Apparently, neither Hageman nor Roth knew this when she wrote her legal opinion, so it looked like someone was lying.

For someone who was trying to make good and win over opponents, Roth’s presentation was less than graceful. He started off by insulting the 100 or so people behind him in the audience, saying the “small group of dissenters” were “fearmongering” and “destructive.”

Then he tried his own hand at fear-mongering by saying that without the Veolia contract, water bills would go up and “people are going to be hurt.”

Most of his comments evoked moans and grunts throughout the room, not just from the audience. But his show-stopping performance came after Alderman Antonio French’s comment to Roth.

French said, “It seems, for a practical matter, if you are going to start playing these games, where we have to get clear on the record of every dollar being spent, that’s a slippery slope to go down. We operate best if there is some degree of trust. I think this is sneaky.”

The audience broke out in applause.

Roth replied, “I can’t recall a time when people have said there is an element of sneakiness or distrust, and that is not Mayor Slay’s way at all.”

Roth’s declaration that Slay is a trustworthy straight-shooter was met by laughter and snickers.

State playoffs get underway A schedule for this week’s postseason action

Page B3

CAC Audited OCT. 31 – NOV. 6, 2013

Vol. 84 No. 31 COMPLIMENTARY

stlamerican.com

F.I.R.E. IN THE PULPIT

Pastor and captain Wayne Luster serves ‘spiritual and natural’ needs

By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American

Wayne Luster is founding pastor at Victory Outreach Ministries Church and a captain in the St. Louis Fire Department.

Wayne Luster is a captain in the St. Louis Fire Department today because he was a pastor first.

Some 25 years ago, Luster was an associate pastor at New Jerusalem Cathedral Church of God in Christ (COGIC), where he noticed a recruitment flier for firefighters on a bulletin board.

It had been posted by Wendell H. Goins, a member of New Jerusalem Cathedral and a founding member of the Firefighters Institute for Racial Equality (F.I.R.E.), a fraternal organization for African-American firefighters.

“Wendell Goins is the one who brought me on,”

See LUSTER, A7

Slay loses water fight Veolia is out, MSD will consult on city water division

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American After almost a year of protests against a $250,000 consulting contract with Veolia Water North America, the controversial company has decided not to do business with the City of St. Louis, according to Mayor Francis G. Slay’s representative who spoke at an aldermanic committee meeting on Tuesday morning.

Slay’s office spoke with the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) on Monday about taking on the role that Veolia would have played – improving the functions and efficiency of the water department – said Mary Ellen Ponder, the mayor’s special assistant.

However, Slay’s announcement did not stop the

Photo by Wiley Price

Pumpkin magic

See SLAY, A6

Sweet Potato Project students Keith Young, Darryeon Bishop and Marquitta Williams prepare a batch of sweet potato cookies under the supervision of Chef Bryan Rogers, a sous chef at Saint Louis University’s Salus Center.

Photo by Wiley Price

Journi Williams, 7, and her cousin Anayiah Neely, 8, work their magic on pumpkins Saturday at the Moonrise Hotel in the University City Loop. The annual Pumpkin Carve & Glow event is the fall kick off in the Loop.

Celebration of legal community Last week the Washington University School of Law hosted a celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Shelley v. Kraemer decision, where the U.S. Supreme Court

unanimously ruled that housing covenants restricting home ownership based on race violate the 14th Amendment.

The event, held in the law school’s moot courtroom, was also a celebration of AfricanAmerican legal community.

Kimberly Norwood, professor of law and of African and African-American Studies at

Sweet Potato Project brings national movement to STL with help of SLU

By Sylvester Brown Jr. For The St. Louis American

Washington University, was the first in a series of powerful speakers. She remembered visiting with Margaret Bush Wilson, lead attorney for the Shelleys in the landmark 1948 case, not long before the legal legend passed in 2009.

For the past two years, I have urged the Sweet Potato Project youth to see themselves as “urban pioneers.” I tell them they will lead a food-based economic movement in long-neglected, impoverished neighborhoods.

Today, they are planting sweet potatoes on vacant lots. The yield is used for the sweet potato cookies they will sell in a couple weeks. I ask them to imagine whole blocks where food is grown in

See LAW, A6

See PROJECT, A6

WUSTL School of Law hosts event in honor of Margaret Bush Wilson

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

‘Agricultural renaissance in the city’

A6

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • OCT. 31 – NOV. 6, 2013

LAW

Washington University and the first person to hold a new endowed chair in Arts & Continued from A1 Sciences named for Wilson.

He told another tale of the “Her father was a real estate local African-American legal broker who sold the Shelleys community involving, of all their home in 1945,” Norwood people, future U.S. Supreme said of Wilson.

Court Justice Clarence The home with the restricThomas. tive deed covenant that the At the time, in 1974, Shelley family purchased was Thomas was himself a green located in the attorney freshly Lewis Place graduated from law “When you neighborhood, just school at Yale find someone north of the University, strugelse in need, Central West End gling to find a job. help them.” in St. Louis.

U.S. Senator Jack Wilson had Danforth, who – Margaret Bush graduated from graduated from Wilson, to the Lincoln Yale with divinity Clarence Thomas University School and law degrees, of Law in 1943, suggested that so as a beginning Thomas move to lawyer she St. Louis and take observed seasoned civil rights the Missouri bar exam. lawyers begin to prepare the “They happened to be dinShelleys’ case. ner mates about this time, and “She told me that exposure the senator asked Margaret to those lawyers cast the mold Bush Wilson where Clarence of the kind of lawyer she wantThomas might live in St. ed to be,” Norwood said of Louis,” Baugh retold the story Wilson.

Wilson had told him. “And she Next to take the podium said, ‘He will live with me.’” was John G. Baugh, professor That summer, Thomas lived of African and Africanwith Wilson and her family. “It American Studies at was the first truly intellectual

SLAY Continued from A1 Ways and Means Committee members from approving a board bill, 5-2, to officially block the Veolia contract.

This month, Slay angered both city aldermen and environmental activists by claiming that the board had approved the Veolia contract when it passed the city budget in June.

Several aldermen on the Ways and Means committee called this claim of Slay’s “insane” and “sneaky.”

To clarify any differing opinions on the legislative process, Alderman Terry Kennedy introduced Board Bill 216 on Friday to “unappropriate” $250,000 from the water

division’s budget. This would force the consulting contract to go before the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which has long been the standard process, he said.

Slay’s claim that the Board of E&A did not have to approve the Veolia contract caused a lot of confusion about the budget process, Kennedy said.

“There is still a larger issue that we need to look at,” Kennedy said. “Whatever we can do to legislate and make that process clear, we should do that. I would never want to see this committee and this board go back through this again.”

The Veolia contract has been criticized by aldermanic President Lewis Reed and the St. Louis Dump Veolia

Kimberly Norwood, professor of law and of African and African-American Studies at Washington University, listened intently as Theodore M. Shaw, professor of professional practice at Columbia University School of Law, spoke on civil rights landmark legislation last week at Washington University School of Law. Photo by Wiley Price

the NAACP by the IRS in 1957. So when Wilson was serving as president of the St. Louis NAACP and the Missouri NAACP, as well as chair of the national NAACP Board of Directors, she was leading organizations that had a shared history with the Fund, but the organizations were distinct and, in fact, often in conflict. In the 1980s the NAACP even sued the Fund, unsuccessfully, for trademark infringement.

“I joined the Fund in the early ‘80s, when that was going on,” Shaw said. “There were titans on either side. The lawyers from the two organizations had relationships. It was a complex time. I and others understood who Margaret Bush Wilson was and her commitment to civil rights, but institutions have egos – and egos are realities.”

First among the event’s many co-sponsors was the Mound City Bar Association.

Mound City President Nicole Colbert-Botchway and Vice President Jared Boyd both gave brief remarks. Norwood said the event was the “brainchild ” of her soror, ColbertBotchway.

black family Clarence Thomas had ever seen,” Baugh said.

“He watched her husband Robert do the New York Times crossword puzzle every day – in ink.”

At the end of his stay, Baugh said, Thomas asked Wilson what he owed her.

“You owe me nothing,” Baugh said she responded. “When you find someone else in need, help them.”

The event’s featured speaker, Theodore M. Shaw, professor of professional practice at

Columbia University School of Law, was introduced by Rufus J. Tate Jr., principal of the Tate Law Firm. Tate spoke with awe about Shaw, who was an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for 23 years, serving (among other roles) as associate directorcounsel (1993-2004) and director-counsel and president (2004-08).

“This man is always on cases that go before the U.S. Supreme Court,” Tate said of Shaw. “He doesn’t touch any-

thing unless it’s going to the Supreme Court.”

Shaw then took the podium and proceeded to share with the sizable audience, comprised mostly of AfricanAmerican students, what life is like at the top of the civil rights legal profession. Not surprisingly, for a field based on arguing, it is contentious at the top.

He reminded the audience that the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he worked, was separated from

Coalition, among others.

Opponents say Veolia Water, a French multinational and the largest private water services provider in the world, operates under questionable environmental and human-rights standards.

Despite Slay’s statement that Veolia does not want to do business with St. Louis, Reed and activists remain on guard.

Reed said Slay may try to employ Veolia on a subcontract with MSD. He is not taking Slay’s word for it that Veolia has truly stepped away, he said.

“The Mayor’s Office is just trying to go around the process,” Reed said. “I don’t think they’ve given up.”

Lance LeComb, spokesperson for MSD, said MSD can complete most of the work in-

house. However, when asked about concerns that Veolia could be a MSD subcontractor for the work, LeComb said he could not comment. MSD would use its consultant selection process for any outside subcontractor, he said.

At this point, the agreement between the city and MSD is strictly verbal, LeComb said, and more details on costs and responsibilities will be finalized in the coming weeks.

In Ponder’s testimony on Tuesday, she said several times that the Veolia contract was “politicized” over the past year. Improvements to the water division have been held up by politics for too long, she said.

Alderman Antonio French responded, “You keep saying this is politicized. I don’t think the people out here are here for a political reason. This whole process highlights how this administration does not get

along well with others.”

French said Slay disrespected the Board of Aldermen when he suggested that the aldermen had approved the Veolia contract – without their knowing it.

“The worse example was this letter to Comptroller Darlene Green, demanding that she sign the contract,” French said. “That’s not really how you get along with other officials. I hope the administration has learned something.”

In an Oct. 4 letter to Green, City Counselor Patricia Hageman, who is appointed by the mayor, said Green must sign the contract out of “ministerial duty.”

Kathleen Logan Smith, director of environmental policy for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, agreed with French.

“The Mayor’s Office was poised to approve a Trojanhorse contract, and it would

have cost the rate payers of the City of St. Louis an unknown amount of money,” Logan said.

Logan said she believes MSD is a good choice to complete the work because the district is currently under legal scrutiny. In June 2007, the coalition, the State of Missouri and the EPA filed a lawsuit against MSD – in part, because untreated sewage was flowing into the Mississippi River. In August 2011, the EPA announced a settlement agreement that calls for MSD to spend $4.7 billion over the next 23 years to eradicate over 350 sewer overflows.

Because of the settlement, MSD is being watched very closely, she said.

“It was shocking and encouraging that Veolia has decided to swim downstream,” Logan said. “It speaks highly of citizen involvement.”

PROJECT

“We’re on the cusp of an agricultural renaissance in the city of St. Louis.”

“We need more of what’s known as ‘specialty crops’ – the food we eat daily or buy at grocery stores every day.”

Continued from A1 North St. Louis, processed and turned into products that can be used locally and sold regionally or nationally.

I have told them they will become entrepreneurs, business owners and employers who will run spin-off businesses such as bakeries, grocers or trucking companies. Is this a pipe dream?

Absolutely not, says Chef Steve Jenkins, director of the Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program with Saint Louis University’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Recently, the Sweet Potato Project partnered with SLU to produce sweet potato cookies and other products. It is a good fit, Jenkins contends, considering that Mildred MattfeldtBeman, chair of the department, is a pioneer in the region’s locally grown food and product movement.

“She understands the power of food and the issue of social justice within our food systems,” Jenkins said of Mattfeldt-Beman, “and she recognizes the disparities that exist within them.”

Working out of SLU’s Salus Center, Jenkins’ crew provides breakfast, lunch and snacks made from locally-grown harvests to public, private and charter schools. The department also trains students in the art of culinary entrepreneurship.

A food-based revolution is exploding in America. The Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio are workerowned cooperative groups committed to local job creation and sustainable workplaces and economic development. Its spin-off initiatives include the Cooperative Laundry, Ohio Cooperative Solar and the Green City Growers Cooperative.

Detroit’s Black Community Food Security Network is a non-profit, grassroots organization engaged in urban agri-

– Karen Davis, Lincoln University’s Urban Impact Center

culture based on a mission to address food disparities and “grasp larger control” over foods systems to build “selfreliance” in urban communities.

The Hattie Cartham Community Garden in Brooklyn, N.Y., reclaims empty or abandoned spaces in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, which are used for urban gardens and community educational centers. The agency grows fruits and vegetables, as well as medicinal herbs for local residents, and offers entrepreneurship programs.

According to Mike Sorth, executive director of Gateway Greening, St. Louis is uniquely positioned to join this revolution.

“We were founded on the fur trade, and we grew on agriculture,” Sorth said of St. Louis. “We’re surrounded by farms in southern Illinois and throughout Missouri, but most of what’s grown are commodity crops (corn, soybeans, etc.).

We need more of what’s known as ‘specialty crops’ – the food we eat daily or buy at grocery stores every day.”

Gateway Greening supports more than 200 community gardens and urban greening projects and offers about 75 school and youth-focused gardens. It also operates the City Seeds Urban Farm program on a 2.5acre vegetable farm downtown, where disadvantaged clients are mentored in horticulture and job training while

– Mike Sorth, Gateway Greening

learning hands-on vegetable production and landscape maintenance.

Karen Davis, regional horticulture specialist for Lincoln University’s Urban Impact Center, believes the possibilities for urban agriculture are endless, especially if we utilize the recently passed House Bill 542. Signed into law this year, it allows local municipalities to create Urban Agriculture Zones (UAZ) within lowincome communities. These areas are eligible for tax incentives for “systematic repurposing of blighted areas” in the state’s urban core.

Although Kansas City has signed on, Davis contends that city aldermen must be informed and urged to promote passage of urban agriculture zoning in St Louis.

“There’s a bunch of us working to educate the aldermen to get it approved in St. Louis,” Davis said. “If we do, it opens the door to even more possibilities – tax write-offs for businesses, farming on vacant land tax abatements, and allocations to start urban farming programs in schools.

We’re on the cusp of an agricultural renaissance in the city of St. Louis.”

This is the second of a fourpart series that explores the possibilities of economic turnaround in long-neglected areas of St. Louis.

For more information , visit sweetpotatoprojectstl.org or call 314-341-4071.

Editorial / Commentary A4

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • OCTOBER 24 - 30, 2013

Slay, Nixon take defeat differently

“Whatever else it may be, the Charter of the City of St. Louis is undeniably a masterpiece of diffusion of power.” Thus spake Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. in his 1990 ruling in the City of St. Louis vs. Virvus Jones, a local landmark decision requiring that all professional service contracts in the city go before the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

The diffusion of power in the City of St. Louis and the State of Missouri has resulted in new political defeats for the city’s and state’s chief executives, Mayor Francis G. Slay and Governor Jay Nixon. For reasons that are difficult to grasp, given only the known facts, both pushed this month for very unpopular policy changes. Slay pushed – far harder than a mere $250,000 contract would warrant – for a French multinational to be awarded a consultancy with the city’s water division, without this specific contract being approved by the Board of E&A, the city’s chief fiscal body that includes Slay, Comptroller Darlene Green and aldermanic President Lewis Reed. Nixon pushed for the state to make unilateral cuts to its federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that would have deprived 25,000 unemployed people in the St. Louis region alone of food stamps.

Slay was opposed aggressively by environmental activists, Reed and most city aldermen. As a result of this opposition, Slay said, the contractor, Veolia Water North America, stepped away from the table, which we consider to be the mayor’s attempt to save face rather than admit to a political defeat. Nixon was opposed by the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed and this newspaper. Unlike Slay, the governor did not pout or seek to pin the loss on someone else. While the ink was still wet on our editorial last Thursday, Nixon decisively withdrew his proposal to enact cuts to SNAP. We regret his initial misstep and commend the governor for retracting this needlessly hurtful proposal and accepting a political rebuff like the skilled

navigator of diffused political power that he is.

Slay and his senior staff have a much more difficult time gracefully navigating the diffusion of power. Over many years they have shown skill in exploiting weaknesses in the city’s diffuse power structure, such as having their way with critical boards (civil service, public service) that one might expect to be diffuse in their governance but actually are run by compliant mayoral appointees. See, for example, the career of Fire Chief Sherman George or the large mass of Slay campaign contributors who are annually awarded public service contracts.

But when Slay and his senior staffers lose, they turn petulant and insulting. Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford has been the administration’s principal voice of public insult, but he recently shared the microphone with Eddie Roth, Slay’s new operations chief and former editorial writer for the Post-Dispatch. Roth made extremely condescending comments about the city voters who opposed the Veolia contract. He also told his former colleagues at the Post that the city’s pattern of arresting the wrong people for crimes and detaining them indefinitely is not one of the many things he “worries about.” If you or your loved one has been wrongfully arrested in this city, isn’t it good to know that one of the mayor’s most senior appointees isn’t worried about your problems?

Lewis Reed warns that Slay has not conceded defeat on Veolia because – for reasons, again, that remain unclear – Slay has not given up his fight for this unpopular contract. “The Mayor’s Office is just trying to go around the process,” Reed said about Veolia reportedly withdrawing from the deal. “I don’t think they’ve given up.”

We have bad news for the mayor. He may not have given up the fight, but he is not the only person or institution that has not given up. And as long as power remains diffuse in our quirky democracy, he is going to have to learn to live with that reality. Ask Jay Nixon for pointers.

Commentary

An old slur is still a slur I’m a bit late to the topic, but the Washington, D.C., professional football team really ought to change its name. As encouragement for the franchise’s stubborn owner, we should just stop saying the offensive word.

The term “redskins” -- it’s hard to write a column about a word without using it, I’m afraid Columnist -- is a racial Eugene slur. Fans of the Robinson team, myself included, have pretended not to notice this uncomfortable fact for many years. Now we’re beginning to confront it.

The name fails the most basic tests of acceptability.

Can you imagine employing it to address someone? Would you use it to describe anyone not associated with the team?

If you overheard someone using the term in a non-football context, would you think more of that person or less?

The answers are obvious. To be honest, they always were.

We ignored the fact that we were uttering a vile and condescending insult – often, during games, yelling it at the top of our lungs – because we loved the team. So we told ourselves that hey, it’s just sports, and maybe everybody should lighten up. But we knew that this was a dodge. No one can seriously argue that sports are somehow insignificant or

tangential to American life.

Of the 20 most-watched broadcasts in U.S. television history, do you know how many were Super Bowls? All of them.

The national movement to get rid of racist team names and mascots is decades old by now.

It’s odd, when you think about it, that the practice of naming sports teams after American Indians became so widespread in the first place – Braves, Chiefs, Seminoles, and so on.

Apologists say it was a sincere attempt at paying homage to fierceness and bravery. I have my doubts.

George Preston Marshall, the owner who in 1933 changed the team’s name from Braves to Redskins, was a notorious racist. For more than a decade after other pro football teams began putting AfricanAmerican players on the field, Marshall’s team remained an all-white bastion. Covering a game against the Cleveland Browns, legendary Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich once wrote acidly that the great fullback Jim Brown, “born ineligible to play for the Redskins, integrated their end zone three times.”

So it strains credulity that Marshall intended the new name to be a “badge of honor,” as current team owner Dan Snyder claims. More likely, it was casual racism of the kind that isn’t practiced in polite society anymore.

In May, Snyder told USA Today, “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple.”

But public opinion is clearly shifting. Earlier this month, Snyder took what he must have intended as a more empathetic approach: an open letter to the team’s fans. It was pretty much an unmitigated disaster.

Snyder’s missive was a convoluted mixture of arrogance, petulance and historical fantasy. He essentially argued that since the name has been used for 80 years, and since he went to his first game when he was 6, and since some Indians apparently don’t consider the name offensive, it stands to reason that ... well, it’s unclear just what those elements were supposed to add up to.

The fact that a slur has been used for many years does not impose a duty to keep using it. Language and attitudes evolve; Snyder’s problem is that discomfort with the team’s name has gone viral. We can all think of words in common usage eight decades ago that would start a fight today.

Snyder’s vision is clouded by nostalgia and an unjustified sense of grievance. Fans of the team should sharpen his focus by simply declining to use the name – and calling the team “Washington” instead.

If fans don’t allow the slur to pass their lips, at some point the name shifts on the balance sheet from tradition-steeped asset to embarrassing liability.

Eugene Robinson’s email address is eugenerobinson@ washpost.com.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

The new Vashon

By Kelvin R. Adams For The St. Louis American Close your eyes and think about Vashon High School.

What images come to your mind?

If you have watched television news or listened to radio reports or read newspaper stories for the past 10 years or Guest Columnist so, your images Kelvin R. of Vashon may Adams not be very positive. Are you ready to have your eyes opened?

It’s time St. Louis gets to know the real Vashon High School. New Principal Joseph Williams III has re-energized the student body at one of St. Louis’ most challenged high schools with a hands-on, caring approach to learning that may become the model for other urban high schools to follow.

Starting in November, Williams will introduce the Vashon Honors Program for the school’s top 50 freshmen.

Membership in the Vashon Honors Program is a privilege and must be earned through academics, attendance and citizenship. In short, the Vashon Honors Program is for highly motivated learners.

Students accepted into the Vashon Honors Program will

take Honors Level courses in English, algebra, American history, biology and American government. These students will be subjected to a rigorous and differentiated curriculum and will learn higher-level thinking skills and problemsolving techniques that will more than prepare them for college and beyond.

Are you starting to see different images of Vashon High School? Keep reading.

One of St. Louis’ most respected companies, Wells Fargo Advisors, has forged a

n Starting in November, Principal Joseph Williams III will introduce the Vashon Honors Program for the school’s top 50 freshmen.

partnership with the students of Vashon High School to provide tutoring in reading and math, financial literacy and incentive programs to mark progress. Nearly 75 Wells Fargo Advisors employees leave their office each week to work one-on-one with Vashon High School students. They

Letters to the Editor Thank the governor The last few weeks have seen some harrowing moments, not the least of which has been the threat of lost funding for a certain population of Missourians who utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. With one in six Missourians living in hunger, I would like to thank the governor for withdrawing his previous proposal to cut back the federal waiver allowing healthy adults with no children to receive assistance. There are more than 58,000 men and women who will benefit from this decision.

I understand that there are times when a preemptive move is in the best interest of the state. However, I also believe that able-bodied, healthy citizens make a strong state.

Reversing this decision and allowing the waiver to stand is, without a doubt, continuing the construction of a solid platform needed to raise needy Missourians back up so they can stand on their own feet.

I would also to thank the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus and various community organizations for continuing to stand strong with me on this issue.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed St. Louis

Very thankful We are very thankful that Gov. Nixon has ordered the Department of Social Services to pull back the proposed rule change on SNAP. We invite those who want to send a thank you message to the governor to visit our Hunger Task Force webpage at http://www.masw. org/programs/hunger.php.

Jeanette Mott Oxford, executive director Missouri Association for Social Welfare St. Louis

Nominations caught up in politics I believe both Dave Spence and Pastor Freddy J. Clark were excellent candidates for the police board, but their nominations were caught up in politics. I do not believe there was enough thought put into the potential consequences of

have seen the real Vashon High School and they look forward to their tutoring sessions each week.

Inside a beautiful, stateof-the-art building, Vashon High School students are truly focusing on academics.

Many seniors are earning college credit through a dualenrollment partnership with St. Louis Community College.

Career-minded students are gaining real-world experience in areas such as marketing, computer networking, desktop publishing and fashion through valuable internships.

Despite poverty levels nearing 90 percent, more than six out of every 10 Vashon graduates continue their education at a two-year or fouryear college.

At one time, Vashon was one of St. Louis’ most revered high schools, turning out notable graduates such as New York Yankees star Elston Howard, jazz musician Clark Terry and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters. Today’s Vashon students have that same potential. They just need the rest of St. Louis to see them in that light.

I encourage you to take three minutes and visit www.slps. org/ShowMeVashon to see today’s Vashon students in the proper light.

Kelvin R. Adams, Ph.D., is superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools.

All letters are edited for length and style.

this legislation. The result is we have an ordinance on the books that has deterred potential candidates and jeopardized the operations of the police board.

Our staff has worked for weeks to try and remedy the stumbling blocks created when the County Council passed new legislation regarding candidate qualifications; however, as Mr. Spence indicated in his statement, the questions around privacy and the use of this information could not be answered completely and he felt it necessary to withdraw.

I understand his concern and I share it.

Finding candidates is not the problem; we have had excellent candidates who have refused to go forward after discussions about the new legislation.

I certainly hope that as we move forward the Council will examine their true intent and find a remedy for this situation.

County Executive Charlie A. Dooley Via email

Another devastating loss I was devastated to receive word today that we have lost yet another young person, James Moore, to the senseless violence that occurs too often in our city. My heart goes out to this young man’s family as they cope with this devastating loss. This is a wakeup call for our community as we deal with the reality of an environment where the lives of young people are at risk even when waiting for a school bus. We must come together to change this culture of violence and create a place where our children can be safe and secure, and where they have the opportunity to grow into successful adults.

State Rep. Joshua Peters St. Louis

A strong choice The NAACP has made a strong choice in appointing Lorraine Miller to serve as interim President and CEO. Lorraine has a long history as a dedicated public servant and community advocate, having served as the first African-American clerk of the House of Representatives, an aide to Nancy Pelosi and John Lewis, president of the Washington D.C. chapter of

the NAACP and a member of the NAACP’s National Board of Directors. I was honored to work with Lorraine during her time with the House, and I look forward to partnering with her in this new capacity as we continue the fight for economic, civic, educational and social equality for all.

U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings Washington, D.C.

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