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Politically Speaking: Alderwoman Martin on St. Louis' fiscal struggle — and Krewson's performance

Alderwoman Sarah Martin, D-11th Ward
Jason Rosenbaum I St. Louis Public Radio
Alderwoman Sarah Martin, D-11th Ward

On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking podcast, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jo Mannies and Jason Rosenbaum welcome St. Louis Alderwoman Sarah Martin onto the show for the first time.

Martin represents St. Louis’ 11th Ward, which takes in parts of the Boulevard Heights, Holly Hills, Patch, Mount Pleasant and Carondelet neighborhoods. It’s also home to the Carondelet YMCA, which Martin affectionately nicknamed the “South City Country Club."

Before Martin was elected to office this year, Alderman Tom Villa represented the 11th Ward at the Board of Aldermen. In fact, a member of the Villa family had represented the south St. Louis ward for decades – including his father, Albert “Red” Villa.

Alderwoman Sarah Martin, D-11th Ward, joins the Politically Speaking podcast.

Martin has been involved in Democratic politics and policymaking for years. Back in 2008, she helped Democrat Mary Still get elected to a Columbia-based House seat. She also worked as a staffer for the Missouri House Democrats. Currently, she is a lobbyist with Gateway Government Solution, which primarily represents clients on the state legislative level.

Among other things, Martin said 11th Ward residents want to see a reduction in crime and illegal dumping. Martin, who was appointed to the Missouri Human Trafficking Task Force, also said residents are concerned with prostitution on South Broadway – a problem that she says has lingered in that area for decades.

Martin is the wife of state Sen. Jake Hummel, a St. Louis Democrat who is also a top official with the Missouri AFL-CIO.

Here’s what Martin had to say during the show:

  • St. Louis has had money problems for decades. But Martin said rising expenses are forcing city officials to take financial matters seriously. Among other things, the city’s workforce is outnumbered by retired employees collecting pensions.
  • Martin emphasized that two voter-approved sales tax increases are not a permanent solution to St. Louis’ money woes, but are merely a “Band-Aid.” The first half-cent sales tax hike in April is primarily slated to go toward MetroLink expansion, while another passed this month is aimed at boosting salaries for police and firefighters.
  • After a judge found Jason Stockley not guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith, Martin said there’s consensus to give the Civilian Oversight Board of the city police department subpoena power. “It leaves fewer dangling questions out there after events happen, especially in this world of social media,” she said. “And we need and the public deserves more answers.”
  • Martin said she has confidence St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson will make major changes to the city’s police department. The Democratic chief executive is in the process of choosing a permanent successor to former St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson.


Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter: @jmannies

Follow Sarah Martin on Twitter: @SarahWMartin

Music: “Cry Lonely” by Cross Canadian Ragweed

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Since entering the world of professional journalism in 2006, Jason Rosenbaum dove head first into the world of politics, policy and even rock and roll music. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Rosenbaum spent more than four years in the Missouri State Capitol writing for the Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri Lawyers Media and the St. Louis Beacon.
Jo Mannies has been covering Missouri politics and government for almost four decades, much of that time as a reporter and columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the first woman to cover St. Louis City Hall, was the newspaper’s second woman sportswriter in its history, and spent four years in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau. She joined the St. Louis Beacon in 2009. She has won several local, regional and national awards, and has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. She scared fellow first-graders in the late 1950s when she showed them how close Alaska was to Russia and met Richard M. Nixon when she was in high school. She graduated from Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, and was the daughter of a high school basketball coach. She is married and has two grown children, both lawyers. She’s a history and movie buff, cultivates a massive flower garden, and bakes banana bread regularly for her colleagues.