KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Recent calls for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to hold a special special on police funding are “grandstanding,” according to St. Louis and Kansas City mayors.
In a joint statement, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas said that Republican lawmakers “on the outskirts of our communities” have not offered “real solutions.”
“Instead, they are advocating away the right of St. Louis and Kansas City residents to make decisions for our own communities,” Jones and Lucas said. “Both of us have committed to visiting each other’s respective cities to speak with those most affected by disinvestment — primarily in traditionally minority neighborhoods — and to discuss solutions to benefit the people of St. Louis, Kansas City, and all of Missouri. We again extend that same invitation to any elected leader who is serious about having truthful conversations about what actually makes our communities safer.”
Rep. Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon) requested the special session in a news conference Wednesday following Jones shifting $4 million of the city’s police department budget for public safety issues, according to a report from St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK.
Schroer previously told KSDK’s Casey Nolen that he would like a special session to focus not just on police funding, but “anything related to public safety that can keep our citizens safe.”
A spokesperson from Parson’s office said a decision on whether or not to hold a Special Session has not been determined.
