p.m. on Friday. Within minutes, a massive weather system had hit the ground and was decimating our neighborhoods. In those minutes between the warning and the time that we were experiencing a massive weather event, there was a failure. A human failure. A failure in protocol to get the sirens up and running to let the community know that there was a massive weather event hitting our community. In the north side of the city of St. Louis, the number one race is black Americans. That is the number one race of the occupants who reside in the north side of the city of St. Louis, black Americans. I have lived in St. Louis for over 40 years and over 20 of those years I have lived in North St. Louis city. And just like many povertystricken, oppressed areas, the area of North St. Louis has its challenges. There are some wonderful people, magnificent people in the area of North St. Louis City. And right now, I truly believe that you are under attack. That's right. You're under attack by the government of St. Louis City who failed you. There was a there was a failure of protocol. It was a human failure. This protocol was put in place in 2021. It was not exceptionally clear about whose roles and responsibilities it was to do what. It is now my responsibility and my role to ensure that moving forward this protocol is crystal clear. And it is. This protocol is calling for our fire department who is staffed 24 hours a day to issue those warnings. And from this point forward, the fire department with whom I have the utmost confidence is going to be doing that work moving forward. But at the end of the day, this was a human failure. If you currently live in North St. Louis City right now, you should be on the phone with an attorney. The discussion between you and your attorney should be about the tangible payouts that are due to you because of your government failing to activate the tornado sirens. In a court of law, you have to have proof or evidence to support your claims. There isn't any greater evidence than a national news conference of your mayor admitting that she is responsible and accountable for the loss of life, body injury, property damage, and lack of preparation because the tornado sirens were not activated on her watch. We know that our emergency management system also issued 317 direct messages to the community to let them know. Our our sirens are designed to let people know who are outside to take shelter. But at the end of the day, this was a failure. Again, I'm taking full responsibility to make sure that moving forward, the protocol that is in place from this point forward is absolutely crystal clear and our fire department uh will be moving forward with the role of of making sure that that is deployed from this point forward. Mayor, did any sirens go off? We are still under evaluation. What I can tell you is that the sirens not were not deployed in a way that they should be. They should have been. So, some went off, some didn't. It's not exactly clear. Okay, Mark. But I will tell you that there was a failure. Does that mean someone just didn't push a button? Can you elaborate? I believe that's exactly what happened, Mark. A button wasn't pushed and the sirens were not deployed. This can be the most significant class action lawsuit against the city of St. Louis ever. Your mayor just admitted that the button designed to make you privy of a imminent tornado wasn't pushed. Here's how the tornado siren system works in every city in America. There's a local authorities's decision to make a siren be activated by local authorities like police, fire departments, or emergency management agencies. Typically, every city in America makes a decision on choosing one of the three multiple triggers. The first trigger choice is the National Weather Service warnings. If your city chooses this, then the local authorities often receive warnings from the NWS and activate sirens accordingly. The second choice is manual activation. If your city chooses this choice, then the local authorities will manually activate sirens based on their assessment of the situation. The third choice is automated systems. If your city chooses this, then some sirens are activated automatically through systems like common alerting protocol. However, the city of St. Louis chose manual activation, which is self-explanatory, which means someone must be competent in order to know when to turn on the tornado sirens. Again, the respon the protocols were not crystal clear and that is where the problem was. The problem was in the protocols. We are fixing that problem and the protocols are crystal clear from this point forward. The fire department will be doing that. I have full confidence that our fire department and our chief is going to be able to do that moving forward. Will you release the text of what protocols were in place at that time? I don't see why we couldn't do that. I don't have the answer to that for you right now, Sean, but I don't see why not. Just two. Okay. You're saying it was unclear whether the fire department or EMS was I don't think EMS emergency under which circumstances. Yes. It was not crystal clear. We've made that crystal clear moving forward. Who is supposed to take that responsibility? Like who specifically? Look, the buck stops with me moving forward. Okay. From this point forward, the buck stops with me. The the protocol is crystal clear. Again, this was based on uh protocol that was put in place in 2021, which was not clear. We're making it clear from this point forward. Do you know if any sirens went off, Mark? I can't answer that right now. I don't want to be wrong. Uh it's possible that some went off. At the end of the day, I'm calling this a failure. Okay. Um, I don't have the answer to that. We'll get that for you. Anybody else have any questions? Yeah. I want to ask about the National Guard. Governor Kho has said that there are no appropriate missions right now for the National Guard. Uh, but they're going to evaluate missions in the near future. From the mayor's standpoint, do you want the National Guard here? Look, in order for the National Guard to be deployed here, it has to be a very specific ask. In order to make that specific ask, we had to do a full evaluation and assessment of the needs. We are completing that as we speak. We had to get all sorts of information about what the needs really are. As we complete that, those direct and specific asks will be made and they will be forthcoming and we'll share them with you all as soon as we can. We are really waiting on FEMA, okay? And I have full confidence. I know our governor has been right by our side, has made that ask of our president, and we are hoping and praying, okay, that that is made, that declaration is made. So, your mayor is stating that in order to get the National Guard out to your area, it has to be a specific ask. The north side of the city of St. Louis has the highest crime rate of the entire state of Missouri and most times the highest crime rate of the entire country. With the crime rate being that high, it shouldn't be a specific ask. It only should be a simple ask. Everyone in North St. Louis city is not committing crimes and you want to protect them at all cost. Your government in the city of St. Louis has already failed the north side of St. Louis so much that the crime rate has increased higher than the country and at the most vulnerable point with the tornado devastating the entire area. You will not send the National Guard to maintain some type of order in that city. Are you considering asking for the National Guard? We are making that consideration. Absolutely. It has to be We are considering it. Absolutely. Look, we it has to be a very specific ask. You have to outline exactly what we are. We are outlining the needs and what and how we can deploy them. Considering that there were fatalities here, I think it's fair to expect some families to be pretty upset that there wasn't a cyber. Are there people in your administration being held accountable? We are taking the appropriate steps at this point, Mark. Right now, our priority is ensuring that moving forward the protocol under this under this leadership is crystal clear and it will be it is crystal clear as of this point forward. And I understand that our families are very hurt. They should be. We've lost lives. We've lost houses. We've had so many people injured. I absolutely I I absolutely hear you and um I can tell you that moving forward, we are all going to be we are we we are accountable at this point. Has anyone been disappointed? We are still evaluating that. Mark, what was the commissioner's direct responsibility during that time? Look, let me just tell you the protocol was not crystal clear. Okay. The protocol needed to be crystal clear. It wasn't. It's clear as of right now. It is clear moving forward. Two more questions. Can you elaborate on how it wasn't clear they did it not name any organization that was supposed to or did it name multiple organizations that under certain circumstances it was you my point is it wasn't crystal clear okay and we'll share with you what we can I promise we're hearing a lot from residents about when trash pick up if dumpsters are going to be put in neighborhoods or if trucks are going to come along we have any details on that yet oh that is going to be forthcoming we hear that we know that garbage is a is is a consideration that's why we've worked to make sure our streets are cleared and we're working on alleys now to make sure that we can get those dumpsters replaced the overwhelming our dumpsters are being deployed right now for tree removal. Uh but we absolutely hear and see the need for other refu removal. We are working on not just getting those dumpsters in place but having dump sites so that residents can we can start to accumulate the waste as we line up what and where and dumps in landfills that'll end up. Yeah. Thank you all. I I just real briefly, we want to share that the curfew remains in effect tonight, 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in police districts 5 and 6. That is going to uh continue until further notice. The the mayor's office is evaluating that along with police and fire officials each day. We also want to remind folks that we have more strong to severe thunderstorms coming in tonight. Uh please make sure that you have multiple ways to receive uh severe weather alerts on your phone or through Notify STL. Uh if you are in the impacted tornado area, you should uh make sure that that you have alternative methods of of seeking shelter. We do not know the stability of some of those standing structures that were in the tornado affected area. So make sure that you follow uh both the police department, fire department, and the city of St. Louis's social media accounts for further updates. Okay. Curfew been in effect every night. I presume the curfew's been in effect since the tornado. Has there been any looting at all? We have we have had some very limited reports to looting, but we can't confirm that looting took place. Thank you guys very much. We appreciate your time. Anybody arrested for violating the curfew? Seriously? No, I didn't heard was the mayor of the city of St. Louis, Cara Spencer, has blood on her hands. Not only should the mayor of the city of St. Lewis Cara Spencer be impeached. However, every single person under her who contributed to this failure should be relieved of their duties. If your elected officials in the city of St. Louis had properly sounded off the tornado sirens for the north side of the city of St. Lewis, it would have most certainly saved lives.