By Rachel Lippmann, KWMU
St. Lous, MO – With less than a week before the election, independent mayoral candidate Maida Coleman continued her criticisms of incumbent Francis Slay.
Her target Friday was the uneven pace of redevelopment between the mostly black north side and mostly white south side - she was standing on a block of De Soto Avenue in the neighborhood known as College Hill that is full of vacant houses owned by the city.
"The mayor has been running ads about getting rid of problem properties, but what about all of these buildings that you see that are boarded up and have been here for years?" Coleman said. "They're problem properties, and there doesn't seem to be any real interest to move this stuff along faster."
Slay says the problems in north St. Louis result from years of neglect. He cites the eight thousand new or rehabilitated homes, part of the two billion dollars in development he claims for the area.