ST. LOUIS, Mo. – St. Louis alderwoman and Democratic nominee for mayor Lyda Krewson appeared on the March 12th episode of This Week In Missouri Politics to speak on her recent victory and goals moving forward.
Regarding her influence, Krewson intends to improve the City of St. Louis for the benefit of all its residents.
Alderwoman Krewson expressed her views on topics relating to what was the most important within her city, such as crime, law enforcement and the mending of race relations within St. Louis.
Speaking to the issue of crime, Krewson expressed discontent with murder and gun violence taking place within the city. According to Krewson, 188 murders occurred in previous years of 2015 and 2016, and this was only emphasized by the number families that must deal with the fallout of murders.
In an approach to find a solution, Krewson suggested more money for recreation programs and summer jobs for young people. Alternative dispute resolution and alternative sentencing were also suggested to keep young people away from crime and areas where they could possibly learn to be a criminal.
Along with the solutions to deter youth from illegal acts Krewson also mentioned law enforcement’s role in reducing the crime rate.
“We need good strong law enforcement,” Krewson said. “We need a more diverse police force, we need a better-paid police force because we’re short about a hundred officers in the city of St. Louis.”
“So we’ve got to hire up, pay our officers better and train our officers better so that we can mend the relationship between our communities and law enforcement,” she explained.
Through community policing, Krewson believes that a positive relationship between law enforcement and community residents can be restored. She says police officers must have time to train and the opportunities to develop relationships with the people they serve in order to create a healthy, crime-free environment.
“Being tough on crime is a very overused phrase,” Krewson said. “We need to prevent crime, we need to solve crime and we need to move forward with less crime.”
Concerning race relations between the people of St. Louis and their government, Krewson has set herself out as someone who embraces diversity. Since her election, she says she has reached out to her African-American opponents in order to include their ideas and suggestions to make St. Louis a better area.
Observing her potential transition from alderwoman to mayor, it’s important to note that Krewson would also be the first woman to serve as mayor of the city of St. Louis.
As one of the leaders in the Missouri Democratic Party, Krewson hopes to build bridges between both Republicans and Democrats to improve the condition of St. Louis and, by extension, Missouri.
