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Neighbors Say Aldermanic Candidate Doesn’t Live in the 11th Ward | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

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click to enlarge MONICA OBRADOVIC The 21st Ward includes the O’Fallon neighborhood and parts of Fairgrounds, College Hill, Penrose and Kingsway East.
Carla “Coffee” Wright says she’s lived in her house in the 21st Ward long enough to run for the Board of Aldermen. But neighbors tell the RFT the house she claims to live in has long been abandoned.
Wright’s residency was called into question in the past week when her opponent, 21st Ward Alderwoman Laura Keys, filed a lawsuit against Wright and the Board of Election Commissioners to disqualify Wright as a candidate for the new redistricted 11th Ward.
Keys says Wright has never met the legal qualifications required for aldermanic candidates, including a city charter requirement that aldermanic candidates live in their wards for at least a year before an election. Keys also accuses Wright of having unpaid water bills and taxes on other city properties, which would also disqualify Wright as a candidate.
“Having lived and worked with the people in my community for 34 years, I know who lives where,” Keys says. “If you tell me you live at an address, usually, I know the people in the area.”
Wright denies Keys’ allegations, which she calls “ridiculous” and “foul.”
“She is coming up with every shenanigan she can,” Wright says.
Tax records show Wright has been the co-owner of a house in the current 21st Ward for at least the last three years, but Keys says other records indicate Wright has not lived in that house for the charter-required year. For example, she notes that the house, in the 4500 block of Holly, has not received water service since 2007.
In a previous interview for an RFT cover story, Wright told a reporter she grew up in an area of the 21st Ward that will soon become part of the new 11th Ward as the city’s long-awaited ward reduction plan finally goes into effect this spring. Wright later moved to California to pursue an acting career, but said she came back to St. Louis around 2003.
click to enlarge BRADEN MCMAKIN Current Ward 21 Alderwoman Laura Keys was elected seven months ago to replace disgraced Alderman John Collins-Muhammad.
Wright’s supposed neighbors say Wright’s house on Holly has been abandoned for years. Others said they occasionally see people come and go from the property or see Wright every once in a while.
“I haven’t seen anybody come in and out of that place for years,” says Dan Taylor, who’s lived across from Wright’s house for 12 years. “I’m pretty much in touch with all my neighbors, and I haven’t seen anybody come out of there.”
Taylor noticed yard decorations and campaign signs on the property recently, he says, and from time to time sees workers come and go from the house. For the most part, he hasn’t seen anybody: “Nobody lives over there.”
One nearby neighbor says she’s lived on the street for seven years, during which Wright’s house has been “abandoned the entire time.” Lately, however, the neighbor has seen Wright cleaning up her backyard. But the neighbor works long hours, and admits she “keeps to herself.”
But Shonda Harris, who has lived near Wright’s house for one year, says she’s seen Wright often and has noticed lights on in the house.
“My guy just did some work for her in her house,” Harris says. “I don’t know why they say she don’t stay there.”
As for Wright, she says she is fine without water service, saying she has a rain barrel and a system in the house that “works for me.”
When asked how she could go by escaping her neighbors’ notice all this time, Wright says she’s “not the butter and sugar neighbor” and spends long periods away from her home for business. She also says she’s worked as an in-home caregiver for cancer patients and elderly relatives.
“I come home when I feel like coming home, and I travel a lot,” Wright says.
Wright says this is just Keys’ latest attempt to intimidate her from running for office. Over the past few months, she claims, members of Keys’ campaign have sent “threatening messages” to Wright via texts and a letter.
Wright doesn’t know who sent the messages. But the anonymous letter, postmarked February 23 and sent to the house she’s accused of not living in, calls Wright “U Fake Whore,” among other profane insults. The writer said they put up posters for Keys — posters that Wright “got an Asshole taking them down.”
click to enlarge Monica Obradovic The house Carla “Coffee” Wright filed as her residence.
Neither of Wright’s previous attempts to run for office ever got this contentious, she says. She previously ran for U.S. Senate twice.
“I ran against millionaire Claire McCaskill and not once did that lady disrespect me,” Wright says. “I ran against a billionaire, Trudy Bush Valentine… Not once had that lady disrespected me.”
Suspicions of Wright’s residency apparently began over a month before Keys filed her lawsuit.
The Missouri Department of Revenue performed an investigation into Wright in January and found she was not compliant with the state statute requiring political candidates to be up to date with their taxes.
Wright was given 30 days to resolve any tax delinquencies and Wright did so, according to a February 27 letter from the Department of Revenue.
“Nobody cares about if I pay my taxes anyway,” Wright says. “Shit, they’re looking for help to pay their taxes. They wanna know what you’re gonna do, who’s gonna stand up for us.”
Wright also received a letter from the Missouri Ethics Commission on February 14 saying the office received a complaint against her. But the letter says the complaint failed to allege any facts within the authority of the commission. The complaint was not investigated.
“I don’t have to plead my case to her or nobody else,” Wright says of Keys. “I don’t punch no clock when I come in here. I come and go as I please.”
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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.
Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.
The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.
The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.
This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.
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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.
“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”
He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”
The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”
Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”
The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.
Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”
In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.
“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”
Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”
Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.
“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.
Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)
One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.
Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.
“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”
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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.
The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.
The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.
The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.
To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/
“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”
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