I hope that Reed & Shrewsbury will be able to articulate why we should pick one of them over the other. Both can list various bills they've sponsored or organizations they've supported. I don't need a resume --- I need to know specifically what it is they intend to accomplish and why that will serve the citizens of the city better than their opponent's plan (or lack of).

It should also be noted the campaign headquarters is in The Jefferson Arms, owned by Pyramid Construction (also landlords to the ACC) and cohorts with Florida in the McDonald's on Grand issue. Is this a sign of support from Pyramid's Steffen or simply renting an empty space short term?

We won't really know where money is coming from or going to whom for Reed or Shrewsbury until after reports are filed on 1/25/07.

The lack of discussion surrounding this announcement is interesting.

This is a joke, right? I counted 18 grammatical, spelling and style errors on page one alone.

Jim's record shows that he has always looked out for the City as a whole. However, Jim's address has always been in the City's most infamous race-based voting bloc.

It is timely though that two Southside candidates would duke it out for a citywide race. South of Delmar is now where the people are, including our minority-majority population. The near-southside and central corridor are the most representative areas of our increasingly diverse, young and once again growing City. Meanwhile, even the aging and recently voter-dominant Southwest is slowly being replaced with households new to the City.

While Downtown has years to mature, South City is at transition point between the old guard (labor, seniors, Catholics) and the new (liberals, yuppies, gays). The ward committees are still very much in the hands of the old voting blocs, but the new voters are increasingly making the difference in primaries (or the only City elections that really matter).

It is a give that Shrewsbury will get traditional white blocs miles within River Des Peres and Reed traditional black blocs north of Delmar (despite Jim's outreach), but the new voters elsewhere in the City are the very swing voters who will make the difference in this race. And if Jim is seen as too "St. Louis Hills" to the new diversity-lovers, then Lewis already has an advantage.

Inspecteur Clouseau ici: ="Jim's address has always been in the City's most infamous race-based voting bloc."

Oh, mon ami, does the Board of Election Commissioners record votes based on racial preference and publicize them now? Some think the North City is the most raced-based voting bloc. Qui sait? (Who really knows?)

One of the interesting aspects, building on Brian, is that Lewis is one of the few African-American politicians in the City to organize on the South Side. As the Northwest part of the city loses population, that population has shifted south and generally east.

If African-American politicians want to stay competitive, they'll have to follow the votes. I'm not sure this is the best test case for a variety of reasons, but Lewis' run will be instructive for the near term politics in St. Louis

If Irene Smith carried northside wards by less margins over Francis Slay than southwest wards voted for Tom Bauer over Darlene Green, then I'd say Southwest City is a slightly stronger racial voting bloc than North City. However, no matter which area voted more for these joke candidates of their same race, both areas are mutually pathetic in how predictably they have voted.

The good news is that these polarized blocs are indeed a dying breed, with new voters who value diversity increasingly making the difference. Granted, young voters do vote less. But new City households, especially new owners, willingly chose an environment with very personalized access to government, albeit single-party politics. As such, even the independent-minded know if they want to make a difference in their newly adopted community, they will vote in elections that matter.

I don't know why people automatically assume that Lewis Reed will take the Northside votes. People don't know who he is. Haven't seen him or even heard about him until just now. I don't think its safe to automatically assume that Lewis will take the Northside. He is going to have to work, and as far as I am concerned he is already running behing Shrewsbury.

Press release says: "The economic growth of our city indicates that a successful team approach works better in the re-building of one St. Louis."

I think: "The Slay machine needs an aldermanic prez who won't ask questions."

If Lewis Reed and his staff can't write a simple press release that isn't riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, how the heck is he going to perform as President of the Board? Looks like this is a case of ambition being stronger than abililty.

I'm giggling because three comments slamming Lewis Reed were posted within 8 minutes of each other almost 24 hours after original posting! And, they all take a slightly different tack.

It almost looks like the Shrewsbury people had a meeting and said "G-D it. We've got to go on there and beat him up!"

But then I'm probably just being a cynic.

Sonya, you are probably correct in what you assume. I am a 6th ward resident and don't know much of anything about Reed, and I would consider myself "involved" in local politics. Reed hands out tax abatements (for rehabs) to people who don't need them, and he paved a couple of alleys (not all), but other than that I haven't a clue about what he does.

I encourage Urban Review to help Shrewsbury. Maybe he can also get Herrod to run so the hard core white votes for whites only bloc have a back-up plan like the last time he ran for same office.

I don't think I can support Lewis Reed at all...he basically neglected the 6th Ward's crime problems in his tenure as Alderman and was almost impossible to get ahold of when needed. The other Alderpeople in the neighboring wards in the area- Ken Ortmann, Craig Schmidt, Phyllis Young, and Jennifer Florida- always showed up to our 3rd District Weed & Seed meetings, multiple neighborhood meetings, and other events.

Lewis Reed was more concerned with development in Lafayette Square and their neighborhood's wants and desires while not being concerned with working with community leaders and concerned citizens to help deal with crime in ALL of his neighborhoods. Thus, many problem areas are still problem areas still in his ward. Also, should one need to contact him, don't waste your time. Only recently has he been reachable and I would attribute that only to his secretary and not him. This is the legacy that Lewis Reed will leave in the 6th Ward and will follow him in his run against Jim Shrewsbury.

Sorry Lewis, I'm an African-American, and I'm glad that you will be leaving my ward and I will be voting for Jim Shrewsbury.

I think that there are much better Aldermanic candidates in the South Side than Lewis Reed. Ken Ortmann or Phyllis Young come to mind. Jim Shewsbury is doing a great job. It seems a shame that he will have to be contested.

I don't know who I'll vote for yet. For those of you Shrewsbury supporters out there that say he's doing a great job, please tell me what great things he's done. Aside from prseiding over meetings and assigning committees, what does he do?

I guess my question is whether or not this will be competitive? Does Reed have the power to make this a race?

What about the McMillan factor? He's a big fundraiser.

McMillan is a big fundraiser for McMillan! Have any of you people seen what Shrewsbury has? Lewis has a LONG way to go politically and otherwise to begin to equal Shrewsbury. If you take into account the comment from the resident of the 6th ward above perhaps running for Board President was his only political option!

I dunno...Reed seems to have the idiot sector of the establishment behind him already.

Are you calling McMillan the "idiot establishment"?