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   Local leaders have put out the call to those in need and to those who can help. Cool Down St. Louis and Ameren kicked off their annual summer program to keep elderly and disabled St. Louisans safe from the deadly heat.

   Ameren donated the first 240 air conditioners with the hope that more units will be donated and more money raised to assist the most vulnerable members of the community.

   St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says donations are critical to this program's success.  "It is important to note that eventually, all the funds will be exhausted this year," Slay said.  "And remind you that 100 percent of proceeds, 100 percent of private donations go directly to helping someone in need. There are no administrative costs that come out of our donations."  

   For more information about donating an air conditioning unit or giving a monetary donation, log on to  CoolDownStLouis.org.

During his reelection campaign, Mayor Slay unveiled the first Sustainability Plan for St. Louis. The Mayor also presented a 29-point agenda to implement the plan.

Many questions remain: What is sustainability? How can the city become more sustainable? How can the public help?

KTRS' Colin Jeffery spoke to city officials about those concerns and will present their answers during a week-long series.

"Ultimately, it's making St. Louis cleaner, healthier, more vibrant, more fun and safer." That is how Mayor Francis Slay defines sustainability.

The Mayor is taking the lead on the effort, but creating a sustainable city requires a team effort. He brought in Catherine Werner to captain the effort. She serves as the city's first ever Sustainability Director. She tells me sustainability goes beyond just thinking 'green'. "We're were talking about not just the environmental aspects but also from the social and economic realms", says Werner. 

The next step in promoting the plan was to take on strategic partners in the private sector. That is when the city turned to Washington University and their sustainability director Phil Valko, "We are working to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability to future generations to meet their needs at the same quality of life or better"

So what is sustainability? It's a multifaceted approach to make the city of St Louis and the region at large a better place to live now and down the road.

On Wednesday we will look at how teams are coming together to solve the problem in any urban area--what to do with vacant lots.

 

 

An abandoned factory in the city's near north side will house veterans and ex-offenders who are clients of St. Patrick's Center which helps the homeless.

 A grand opening and tours of the new low-income housing called St. Louis Stamping Lofts will be this afternoon.  The 56 lofts are located at Cass Ave.  and Collins  which is the four-story St. Louis Stamping Company building, built in 1870 and listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay will join partners North River Development, Pinnacle Entertainment and the St. Louis Equity Fund.  The housing was funded by a nearly ten-million dollar project financed by tax credits.

The residential facility also offers St. Patrick Center supportive services for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, including veterans and ex-offenders and veterans.

 St. Louis Stamping Lofts is part of a larger planned development called FarmWorks. When completed, FarmWorks will include a green business incubator and urban farm. 

The incubator will focus on distribution and processing of locally grown foods. The indoor/outdoor farm will feature aquaponics, hydroponics, vermiculture and vertical growing systems. 

St. Patrick Center and Gateway Greening will partner on an innovative training and job placement program to help residents grow and market food. 

   Authorities are taking extra security precautions around St. Louis in light of the Boston bombings.  

   St. Louis Police and Metro Transit authorities say they'd added security measures downtown Tuesday during both the Mayor's inauguration and the Blues game.  But they say there have been no specific threats made.  The extra measures are precautionary.

   There was a stepped up police and security presence both inside and outside Scottrade Center Tuesday night.  Hockey fans endured long lines to get inside, passing through extra screenings that included metal detectors and bag searches.  

   Just before the Blues game against the Vancouver Canucks, the team paid tribute to the Boston victims with a moment of silence.

Hearings are set for this week in the St. Louis firefighters' pension reform battle.

Early last year, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay had proposed replacing the current Firemen's Retirement System with a less-expensive pension system. The Board of Aldermen passed the plan, but the board that oversees the pension system sued to stop the city from implementing it.

The new system would cut costs by trimming disability payments and making pension administrators civil servants, among other things. City officials say that's necessary because the pay and benefits that the four-person administrative staff receives right now are far more than those of other city pension administrators.

The F-R-S needed a 20-million dollar infusion from the city coffers last year in order to cover expenses. Slay says the city can't keep that up for long.

It looks like St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is heading for an historic fourth term. With all 222 precincts reporting, Slay had won 54-percent of the vote to Aldermanic President Lewis Reed's 44 percent. After the election board informed the candidates, Reed called Slay to concede. Then Mayor Slay took the stage at his watch party at the Dubliner Pub on Washington Avenue to share the news with his supporters.

Slay will face Green Party candidate James McNeeley in the general election April 2nd. But the primary win is a defacto re-election for the mayor, since St. Louis voters haven't elected a non-Democrat since 1945. Fewer than 50-thousand people cast ballots in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

It looks like St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is heading for an historic fourth term. With all 222 precincts reporting, Slay had won 54-percent of the vote to Aldermanic President Lewis Reed's 44 percent. After the election board informed the candidates, Reed called Slay to concede. Then Mayor Slay took the stage at his watch party at the Dubliner Pub on Washington Avenue to share the news with his supporters.

Slay will face Green Party candidate James McNeeley in the general election April 2nd. But the primary win is a defacto re-election for the mayor, since St. Louis voters haven't elected a non-Democrat since 1945. Fewer than 50-thousand people cast ballots in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

Today is primary day in the City of St. Louis. It's also the day we'll learn who will be the next mayor.

That's because the winner of today's Democratic Primary will face only Green Party Candidate James McNeeley in the general election April 2nd. And city voters haven't elected a non-Democrat to the post since Republican Aloys Kauffman won a second term back in 1945.

The Democratic incumbent, Mayor Francis Slay is running for a record fourth term. His chief Democratic rival is Aldermanic President Lewis Reed.

Both candidates spent Monday night campaigning and going over their "get out the vote" efforts -- preparations that could prove critical, with an election day weather forecast that calls for rain and snow.

The polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Both of the front-runners in St. Louis' mayoral race are stepping up their efforts in the final days before Tuesday's Democratic primary. Both candidates, Mayor Francis Slay and Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, spent Saturday talking to voters at coffee shops and churches. Crime and jobs continue to be central to both campaigns.

Reed says not enough progress has been made on the tough issues faced by city residents. "I'm knocking on doors because our crime rate is too high," Reed hammered, "and the job creation is too low."

Slay, who's running for a record fourth term in office, spent much of his time talking about his accomplishments as mayor. "In a tough economy, we've seen over six-billion dollars of new investment and development," Slay said. "We've seen crime drop...it's the lowest crime rate we've seen in the city since 1972."

There was also talk of how campaign funds on both sides were handled.

The Democratic Primary is expected to decide the race for Mayor of St. Louis.

The release of a controversial film about racial division in St. Louis is being criticized over images used to advertise it, as well as it's timing. An advertisement flyer for the documentary film "Bootlicker" contains images of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay standing over a black man on his knees.

Filmmaker Terry Artis told Fox2 News that the black man depicted is supposed to represent Slay's supporters. "I'm trying to shock people into the reality of what this is," Artis said. "We live in a city that's run like one big slave plantation."

Artis is also being criticized for releasing “Bootlicker” on February 20th, less than two weeks before the Mayoral primary.

Mayor Slay released a statement critical of the film: "It's an appalling contradiction to the Reed campaign's theme of ‘One St. Louis’ when they and their supporters demean, in the worst possible way, African Americans who support Mayor Slay."

In response, Reed's Campaign released the following statement: "We condemn the overtones in this material. Francis Slay's record is enough for us to criticize without stoking the fire of racial politics."