During an interview with the Fox News Rundown podcast released on Tuesday, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones responded to a question on whether problems in major cities are due to Democratic leadership and policies by stating that we have to consider the state of the economy where we’re “in the midst of a historic inflationary period coming out of a pandemic.”
Host Jessica Rosenthal asked, [relevant exchange begins around 20:55] “And in terms of maybe some — when you look around the country…most of our larger cities are run by Democrats. So, this is where the conversation does get political. I’m from Los Angeles, major retailers have closed up shops in Santa Monica. The homeless situation is unlike anything people have seen, people who have been in L.A. their entire lives, that includes my parents. You see retailers in San Francisco closing too. Home values have gone down there as people leave. I wonder about that political conversation, when people say, these cities are run by Democrats, Democratic policies, what do you say in response to that?”
Jones answered, “I say that we have to look all over the country and what our economy is going through right now. We’re also in the midst of a historic inflationary period coming out of a pandemic. So, we have to take all of these things in context. I spent some time with Mayor Karen Bass at the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors, and we talked about our respective issues, taking care of our unhoused communities. And right now, it’s very expensive to live in this country. … And so, we all look at our crisis of providing affordable housing. Secretary Marcia Fudge also spoke to the U.S. Conference of Mayors this weekend and said that there are an estimated 35 million units of affordable housing [that we are] currently in need [of] in this country and we’re not keeping pace with providing affordable housing options for people who need it.”
Jones also stated that drug use and mental health are big problems that contribute to the homeless issue and mental health and substance abuse prevention haven’t been adequately funded.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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