蜜芽传媒

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Tuesday was dig-out day for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. Buried in an avalanche of criticism over the city鈥檚 response to the recent snowstorm and cold snap, the mayor held back-to-back press conferences to offer a sunny side to the news.

First, she announced that a deal had been reached on how to spend the $290 million in money from the city鈥檚 lawsuit against the Rams and the National Football League. The new deal, if it comes to fruition, involves putting more money downtown (a priority of business lobby Greater 蜜芽传媒), as well as in north and south neighborhoods.

A couple of hours later, she announced the city and the 蜜芽传媒 Police Officers Association had agreed to a new contract that includes a 7-percent pay increase. That news gave the mayor momentum when she headed to Jefferson City the next day to once again fight Republican plans to return 蜜芽传媒鈥� police department to state control. Jones has won that battle the past few years. But having to fight it again, as she鈥檚 running for re-election and the city is suffering the effects of a winter storm, is a distraction from the business back home.

The mayor has had a tough go of it lately, mostly because residents are still stuck in their homes, afraid to travel on icy side streets and alleys. In some cases, residents are still waiting for mail, with trash piling up in back-alley Dumpsters.

Jones and her administration followed the traditional plan of plowing only main streets. It wasn鈥檛 enough this time. The mayor was slow to admit fault and reconfigure the city鈥檚 plan. And when aldermen asked Jones鈥� street director, Betherny Williams, for answers, Williams accused her employees of lying to her. Aldermen were angry and confounded. Williams couldn鈥檛 get in a vehicle and inspect the damage herself?

Here鈥檚 the thing about snowstorms: They can topple mayors.

So it was after the Christmas Blizzard of 1982 in my hometown of Denver. I was 16, having just learned to drive, when the storm came with unexpected ferocity. The city received 24 inches of snow in 24 hours. In a city with more snowplows per capita than almost any other city, Denver is normally able to handle adversity. And even in the deep of winter, the sun normally starts melting the snow almost immediately. But this blizzard was followed by a cold front. And, like we鈥檙e seeing in 蜜芽传媒 now, streets remained impassable for weeks.

There was a mayoral election that year in Denver. The incumbent, Bill McNichols, was the heavy favorite against a slew of other candidates, including a well-known district attorney, Dale Tooley. But a relative unknown, a former state representative named Federico Pena, rode the snowdrifts to victory.

Pena would serve two terms and end up becoming the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the Clinton administration. The road to the airport in Denver is named after him.

He was hardly the first mayoral candidate to benefit from snow politics. In 1979, a similarly historic blizzard hit Chicago in January, leaving the city paralyzed. Mayor Michael Bilandic lost the Democratic primary that year to Jane Byrne, who to become the city鈥檚 first female mayor.

It鈥檚 not Jones鈥� fault that a historic snowstorm hit while she faced a re-election battle against Alderman Cara Spencer, Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler and perennial candidate Andrew Jones. But if history is a guide, the ensuing storm of criticism, which highlighted the city鈥檚 struggles to sometimes provide basic services, will have an impact on her campaign.

How bad is it? Here鈥檚 a Facebook post from Kayla Reed, the founder of activist group Action 蜜芽传媒, without whom Jones would not have won her last election:

鈥淢y alley is a ice skating rink. Almost slid into someone鈥檚 garage trying to leave out. Today is the first day I drove my car since it snowed TWO WEEKS AGO,鈥� Reed wrote. 鈥淵鈥檃ll keep telling people what the city has always or never done but this is ridiculous and none of your so-called justifications (excuses) mean anything to the people slipping and sliding to get to work, drop their kids off or just go to the damn store. The response in both action and narrative is lacking and people are rightfully annoyed.鈥�

Reed didn鈥檛 direct her criticism at anybody in particular. But plenty of others have blamed Jones for the city鈥檚 failure to handle the aftermath of the storm.

Is it fair? Not all of it. But neither is it fair that Jones has to go to the Missouri Capitol year after year to fight for the city to maintain control of its police force, while crime is dropping no less. But that鈥檚 the reality of the 蜜芽传媒 mayoral election of 2025.

For a lot of reasons, some of her own making and some not, the mayor is walking on thin ice. One more slip could change her political trajectory.