By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, December 17, 2007 at 1:46 PM
In response to the recent call to boycott the City of St. Louis, the Chairman of the Board and the Executive Director of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) will arrive in St. Louis tomorrow to meet separately with community leaders and Mayor Francis Slay to determine whether NSBE will cancel its national convention scheduled for 2011 in St. Louis. That's according to the group which called for the boycott and are seeking to remove Slay from office. Labels: Fire_Dept, Francis_Slay, Mayor, Recall
By some estimates, the NSBE convention is expected to draw 15,000 visitors and generate as much as $25 million in business for the city.
According to a press release from Slay's opponents, the head of the NSBE will meet with their group before his meeting with the Slay, and will follow that meeting with a joint press conference with the group at 1:30 PM at the Gateway Classic Foundation building.
Check back tomorrow for video.
31 Comments:
It be more accurate to say that the people asking the convention to cancel could be costing the region millions.
12/17/2007 3:00 PM
Agreed. But Slay and his cronies need to be hit the only place they hurt: their wallets!
12/17/2007 3:57 PM
Wow, punish hardworking people of all colors because Sherman doesn't understand the chain of command.
Dumb.
12/17/2007 4:17 PM
Is there a serious candidate to run against Slay in 2009, who isn't one of his cronies? Or is it too soon?
12/17/2007 4:54 PM
Economic boycotts have been used in the past and are still legitimate. The Montgomery Boycott had negative affects upon those who weren't racist, but it also brought about positive policy change. I am guessing the same motivations are present here in St. Louis. The boycott may harm many, but it may bring light to problems in St. Louis.
12/17/2007 4:58 PM
I know a problem it will not solve...a lack of respectable African American leadership.
Rep. Niecy Williams does not speak for me.
Slay isn't great but he is better than anyone representing "us".
12/17/2007 5:10 PM
Anony #3 asked: Is there a serious candidate to run against Slay in 2009, who isn't one of his cronies? Or is it too soon?
As Slay's problems get deeper and his approval ratings suffer, the field of potential candidates begins to expand. So far the field of potential 2009 candidates looks like this:
License Collector Mike McMillan
Comptroller Darlene Green
Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ronnie White
Aldermanic President Lewis Reed
All four are top-tier candidates who, I believe, under the right circumstances could defeat Slay.
12/17/2007 6:14 PM
Even Bill McClellan, a columnist that Slay has publicly praised, has criticized the Mayor's Office for handling matters poorly. All can agree on the poor leadership.
To not stand up to poor leadership is enabling bad leadership.
Interesting that Mayor's Office is grooming Jeff Smith to replace him [per Political Eye column].
12/17/2007 6:30 PM
I'd vote for Jeff Smith!
12/17/2007 6:36 PM
Antonio-
You cite suffering approval ratings I am curious as to from where this came. Is there a poll? And if so which parts of the city does it represent?
Thanks.
Tim
12/17/2007 6:53 PM
Reed or McMillan may well end up running for mayor some day, but Green runs on the same election cycle as the mayor and would have to give up her comptrollers seat to make the attempt. That doesn't seem very likely.
White would have to move to the city to be its mayor.
Other possible mayoral challengers: Clay, Carter, Coleman, Williams, Suggs, and the winner in the Hubbard/Jones race.
12/17/2007 7:30 PM
Smith would carry on the attempts to wipe out SLPS.
12/17/2007 8:09 PM
Coleman would have my vote.
12/17/2007 8:36 PM
About Darlene Green's possible run for mayor:
She may well have some serious opposition for her comptroller seat because of her public opposition to the BJC/Forest Park deal and her recent appearances at anti-Slay rallies.
The thinking would be: if she's going to have the fight of her life in March 2009, it might as well be for all the marbles.
12/17/2007 9:54 PM
Darlene Green voted FOR the forest park/bjc lease......get your facts straight.
12/17/2007 11:04 PM
Darlene Green and Jim Shrewsbury OPPOSED the BJC deal when it first came up for a vote at the Board of E&A. After a week of renegotiation and public and private pressure (including hallway comments from one alderman like "we need a new comptroller"), Green then voted for it.
How about getting your facts straight, Anonymous.
12/17/2007 11:47 PM
Antonio,
Has Mike ever faced a well funded opponent?
Does Judge White live outside of the city?
Does Lewis Have the guts to make a run at the mayor?
12/18/2007 6:39 AM
Face it. Neither McMillan nor Reed will risk losing to Slay. Both will wait for an open seat -- and may end up running against each other. Both can lay claim to
Green won't risk her seat against Slay, McMillan, or Reed, or face the higher scrutiny that comes with being mayor. Of the others mentioned, only Clay has the campaign experience and finances to mount a campaign, but he has the same concerns Green has.
12/18/2007 8:17 AM
Darlene Green voted FOR the forest park/bjc lease after she helped negotiate a better, more inclusive lease agreement.
Nice work, Comptroller.
12/18/2007 8:38 AM
For the record: I agree with Darlene Green's handling of the BJC situation (as I wrote on several occasions).
But my original statement still holds; she made some enemies by doing the right thing, and will likely face opposition because of it.
12/18/2007 8:49 AM
so darlene green opposed the bjc deal but she voted for it anyway??
nice leadership
12/18/2007 9:32 AM
ok french, now are you being misleading.....in your original statement you said that darlene was opposed to the bjc deal (which was true).....but then you failed to mention that she voted FOR it until we called you out on it......next time, how about reporting ALL the facts instead of just the ones that are convenient for you.....you're as bad as that rag STL American
12/18/2007 9:35 AM
Ha ha, again people are pointing out that French doesn't know what he is talking about.
That is why I love this blog. French is a moron and never fails to entertain us.
Thanks Ant!
12/18/2007 9:55 AM
Of all the candidates that were mentioned as possible candidate in 09 by French only 1 has any type of chance and thats Ronnie White. Darlene is a joke, Mike is scared, Lewis is green.
Mike wants the mayoral seat handed to him, thats why he is so afraid of Sen. Smith. He made Smith a much bigger threat than he actually was/is. He also created the monster known as Lewis Reed, so in 13 when he 'plans' to run he will have his work cut out for him.
Darlene, I mean I'm black and its no way in HELL i would vote for her as the leader of my city. Plus word is Alderwoman Krewson gonna challenge Darlene as well.
If White would decide to run, it would put all of Mike McMillians supporterd in a very precarious position. Because if Mike and his allies didnt support Ronnie, that would be bad, REALLY bad. If they did, well Mike can kiss that Mayor's seat goodbye until around 2021.
I would love to see Ronnie run. TRhis would be the ideal scenerio, for me atleast.
12/18/2007 10:22 AM
How is Antonio a moron? This is pretty basic. Darlene held out and opposed the deal initially. Then when the deal got better, obviously due to her opposition, she signed on. She was criticized for not selling the park initially, but by not doing so she secured a better deal for the City and especially North St. Louis.
I think the deal was still not enough but in terms of negotiations she certainly did a better job than Slay. He hastily signed away the full faith and credit of the City for the St. Louis Centre Redevelopment.
12/18/2007 2:40 PM
Antonio D. French said...
"So far the field of potential 2009 candidates looks like this:
License Collector Mike McMillan
Comptroller Darlene Green
Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ronnie White
Aldermanic President Lewis Reed...."
McMillan won't run in a divisive race, and likes his bets to be sure things. He will wait and run later.
Green doesn't have the base of support or ability to fundraise to beat Slay. She can't win.
White just left public service to return to private practice and make some money. He won't run.
Reed just settled in to his office after picking off another white candidate. This move would too much alienate the white portion of his broad base.
anonymous said...
"Other possible mayoral challengers: Clay, Carter, Coleman, Williams, Suggs, and the winner in the Hubbard/Jones race."
Clay isn't even liked by most of the northside and truly ticks off the south and central corridor. He can't run.
Carter doesn't have the base/machine to run a city-wide campaign, at least not at this point. He WILL make an attempt at some point in the future, though.
Coleman didn't have the support to run for State Auditor or License Collector. She can't win, but she might run.
Williams is far too comfortable in the job he has held for the last 30 years. He can safely hold that job for as long as he likes. He won't run.
Suggs likes sniping from the side-lines, this would put him center stage. He won't run.
Hubbard is too divisive, even among the northside. He won't run.
Jones doesn't even come close to having the support to run for State Senate, let alone Mayor.
I'm surprised Michael Roberts hasn't been mentioned. He could self-fund, and would have strong central corridor and moderate northside with some southside support. That's the new formula.
Question, though, is why are the only opposition candidates being mentioned all black?
What about Conway, Krewson, Wahby, Joyce, Shrewsbury, Murphy, Carnahan and Dougherty? Nearly all are top-tier in that they could raise funds easily, some have old, strong ties, while others have crucial central corridor support.
12/18/2007 10:56 PM
Whites don't challenge Slay because Slay works to satisfy them (and only them).
12/19/2007 12:05 AM
Tom Carnahan would be a good choice, but definitely not Russ. Tom is a progressive minded individual.
12/19/2007 9:57 AM
You all need to quit slamming whites on this. There are plenty of us who dislike Slay (vote for Wahby, are you kidding?!?) for many reasons, and if you would join forces instead of claiming whites only vote for whites all the time (and thank you, Antonio, for acknowledging that is not true) we could start to fix some of the problems facing the city. As long as our opinions are prejudged based on our skin color, we get nowhere.
12/19/2007 1:27 PM
I suggest someone run for mayor who is committed to improving economic conditions in North St.Louis , someone who is genuinely concern with making improvements throughout all publicly funded schools, someone who doesn't adhere to a history of personal hate, someone who doesn't realign districts because of his disdain for another person, someone who doesn't adhere to cronyism, someone who doesn't tell his daughter not to hang out with other kids because of their race,someone who is not afraid to walk in the Gateway Classic procession but walks in every St.Patricks Day parade, someone who does not purposedly diverts money from North St.louis to Downtown because he favors one area over another, someone who has the "guts" to hire people based on qualifications not because "master says" attributes, someone who has the skills to unite versus divide, someone who doesn't question the competency of an elected official whose responsible for St. Louis establishing an "A" credit rating, someone who doesn't disregard people based on perceived voting habits, someone who is committed to diversity in St. Louis versus helping the "good ole boys network", someone who lives in St. Louis versus St.Charles?? (you don't know)..wink!wink!....If you know someone, let the People know!!!...Nat Turner upsets someone again!!
12/19/2007 2:02 PM
Nat Turner,you sure were spitting the truth about that damn Slay!
12/19/2007 9:28 PM
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