In April, East St. Louis will have a mayoral election. Current Mayor Robert Eastern III has a challenger: community organizer and activist Marie Franklin.
Franklin is a lifelong East St. Louis resident, and a former Illinois State Trooper. She joined KMOX in studio to talk about what made her want to run, and what her vision is for East St. Louis. She said the city and its people are magical.
“You know, I just want our city to reflect the wonderful people that are there. And you know, we're kind of failing at that right now. And that's in that shouldn't be. And it says it's not hard to fix that. And it should be fixed. And I'm going to fix it,” she said.
Franklin said she agreed with some of Mayor Eastern’s policies, but that she’s not seeing enough change happen.
“We welcome any kind of progress in our city, like I said, we want to reflect the beautiful people that are there,” she said. “The broad view, I am concerned that we've been talking about it for a long time. And I still haven't seen, you know, a blade of grass turn over there.”
Franklin said she sees untapped potential in East St. Louis.
“East St. Louis is a diamond in the rough. It is sitting right here on the riverfront, where you got to go through East St. Louis to get east to get West. And so we could be a beacon for the rest of the country, certainly for the state,” she said. “If we were taking care of it and, and reflect, like I said, the beautiful people that live there. So I see us as being in the forefront of doing all sorts of things like reimagining public safety, reimagining what it means for a thriving community.”
Marie Franklin talked about her relationships with different community leaders from her time in community organizing, and more. Listen to her full interview:
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