Brandon Bosley Responds: I Fight for My Ward — And Safer Streets

Editor's Note: Brandon Bosley is responding to an opinion piece that the RFT ran on February 3 about the safer streets bill. Bosley sponsored the bill, which passed on February 10. The article, called "Brandon Bosley Is the Wrong Alderman to Make St. Louis Streets Safer," said that despite being the bill's sponsor, Bosley did not seem to want to use APRA funds for street improvement projects, instead suggesting at a committee meeting in January that the funds go toward a splash pad and funding cultural nonprofits The writer went on to say that KSDK had recently reported Bosley hit someone with his car and accused the person of attempted carjacking, which he denies and no charges have been filed. You can read the full op-ed by Evie Hemphill here.


Two weeks ago, the RFT posted a reader’s opinion piece with a headline that was made to seem as though it was news. While I respect one’s personal opinion, I was disturbed that this piece felt like an attack on my integrity and misconstrued my intentions surrounding Board Bill 120, which has subsequently passed. I felt compelled to respond and to set the record straight about how our government really works and how I fight for my community.

I am Brandon Bosley, the twice elected alderman from the Third Ward in the City of St. Louis. The Third Ward is a northside ward that is home to many hardworking, honest, good people. Sadly, like many northside wards, our ward is disproportionately impacted by crime, disinvestment, poverty, lawless drivers, too little police presence, lack of city services, trash, poor code enforcement, derelict housing, and other quality of life issues.

I have a great and intimate relationship with my constituents. We meet regularly, and they call me often with issues ranging from city services to personal problems. I am, very proudly, a part of my community, and I do the best I can to represent them during my discharge of city business. As their alderman, I work for and respond to those matters that impact my ward. I do not work for nor do I represent the mayor nor have my residents directed me to do so. My loyalty and interest belong to those who sent me to City Hall and in the welfare and development of the Third Ward.

Like all elected legislative bodies, the Board of Aldermen is an institution that deliberates and engages in the exchange of ideas, and then acts on those. Sadly, the RFT’s opinion piece omitted that the mayor requested that I sponsor her infrastructure legislation and that the Board of Alderman had only just begun the legislative/law making process on Board Bill 120 when the bill was discussed in the Housing, Urban Development and Zoning committee on January 26.

The writer accused me of being focused on “anything except traffic violence.” I was advocating for the development and improvement of the Third Ward. This give-and-take exercise is the norm, and most pieces of legislation are subject to these same processes. Elected officials represent their communities and my actions are based on the voices and needs of the Third Ward which overall did not change the impact of what the mayor wanted.

Unfortunately, the RFT also raised other issues not related to the legislation in question, such as referring to an unrelated article in another publication.

The op-ed writer also referred to my well-publicized run-in with a challenged person who attempted to carjack me. Although my response to this woman was emotionally charged, it was I who called the police, stayed until the police arrived and then went, of my free will, to the police station.

One media outlet has chosen to engage in salacious/yellow journalism by claiming that I was the perpetrator; however, no charges have ever been filed by either the police or the Circuit Attorney’s office against either of us. There were no witnesses, no video tape and no damage to the car I was driving.

It is disappointing that the RFT would then repeat this story in an opinion piece when it was not relevant to Board Bill 120. I am very comfortable with anyone engaging in the right of free speech. It is a cornerstone of our democracy, and I will fight to protect it for anyone, friend or foe. But this piece felt like an unwarranted attack.

However, the challenges facing St. Louis are wide ranging and firmly planted in all of our communities across the city. Clearly, if this person is so involved with city government, then this person knows that just a few weeks ago, St. Louis witnessed 150 car thefts, a rising murder rate, countless shootings, a large number of legal cases against the city for lack of transparency, an unhoused population problem that is not being addressed (just ask any downtown business or resident), youth desperately in need of an outlet or a venue to call a safe place, and St. Louis city police officers who are horribly underpaid in a department that is understaffed. We need more, better trained, and better paid police and our jail system is dysfunctional and overcrowded.

In addition, my community, as well as others in north St. Louis, are faced with crime, no trash pickups, overgrown vacant lots, nightly shootings, a failing education system, lawless drivers, poverty and the list goes on. My legislation would not stop our city from attempting to fix the traffic problem. Instead, my augmented legislation is intended to aid the effort to address critical problems that contributed to the larger list of problems.

So, to the RFT I will say, we are a big city with big city problems. We can and must do more than one thing at once. In the community I represent, while biking is important, it does not weigh heavily on the minds of my constituents whose everyday goals are drastically different than those who are not carrying the same burdens.

By the way, my family and I have given away over 2,000 bikes to community youth over the last 20 plus years, plus safety equipment (helmets and pads), through our annual Christmas dinner and toy giveaway. We believe biking safety and transportation issues are important. However, my focus is my continued work for the interest of those who invested their vote, faith and trust in me. I’m sorry that the RFT can’t or refuses to see that. Please take your blinders off.

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