Aldermen urge unity as city probes dysfunctional siren system 

City leaders put on a display of political unity this morning outside of a fire station in North City, with aldermen making a show of support for Mayor Cara Spencer’s response to last week’s deadly tornado. They also made a statement that they believe right now is no time to play politics. 

“We are unified, not only at the Board of Aldermen. We are unified at the city,” said Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, whose ward includes parts of North City. “It’s going to take months, if not years, to rebuild this city. It’s going to take all of us to put politics aside to make sure we’re standing lock-step.”

Just five days ago, a tornado tore through an eight-mile swath of the city, killing five and injuring many more. Nowhere was harder than North City. Thousands of homes suffered damage.

Alderwoman Sharon Tyus, whose ward was among the hardest hit, said that Spencer’s response has been “incredible.” She added: “She has gone above and beyond what is required.”

Laura Keys, who also represents North City, called the tornado “our Katrina.” She said that Spencer had called her every morning before 7:30 to let her know about available resources. 

Keys added: “I’m very disheartened to look at social media. Unfortunately, I had to unfriend some people. I’m sorry. I can’t deal with all the negativity when there are people out here who are hurting.” 

Pam Boyd, who represents a part of North City largely untouched by the tornado, said, “Probably after everything gets OK, we’ll get back to fighting, but it’s OK. We’re going to take this energy right now, and we’re going to put it in these neighborhoods, where it needs to go and make sure we support our mayor.” 

More than two-thirds of the Board of Aldermen was in attendance, standing behind Spencer. That included aldermanic president Megan Green, who often had a contentious relationship with Spencer when Spencer held a seat on the board. (There is nothing to indicate that the four alders not in attendance were making any sort of statement with their absence.) 

No one at the podium mentioned Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler by name, but the former mayoral candidate who ran against Spencer earlier this year has been vocal on Facebook, blasting Spencer Monday night for what he calls her “incompetence” surrounding the failure of warning sirens to sound on Friday before the tornado struck. 

“This is what $1.3 million in donations gets us,” he wrote, a reference to Spencer’s mayoral campaign. Butler wrote he initially planned to wait until after the initial recovery to criticize Spencer. “But, I got to thinking, Cara never waited to get in front of a camera to DOG OUT Tishaura O. Jones,” he wrote. “And many of her voters didn’t either, and they are trying so hard to let her off the hook when they NEVER would have for the last Mayor.” The post drew more than 1,500 shares.

Tyus, however, said blaming Spencer for the siren problem was an “unfair narrative.” Tyus was first elected in 1991 and said that she was around when the sirens were installed. “If we’re going to put blame some place, let’s talk about the prior administrations,” she said. “If you’re going to blame somebody, blame the right people.” 

Asked after the press conference if she made her comments with Butler specifically in mind, Tyus seemed to indicate that was indeed the case. “He doesn’t know anything,” she said. She noted that Butler had never served as alderman and, to her mind, doesn’t understand disaster response. “Michael, stop it,” she said. She added: “Quote me.” She said she’d call Butler later in the day and tell them all this herself. 

Standing nearby, Alderman Michael Browning, whose ward was damaged in the tornado but spared the worst destruction, didn’t mention Butler by name but he did say that people needed to “stop finger pointing. There are people who are hurting.” 

Asked about the pushback against the sentiment he’s expressing, Butler tells SLM, “During her press conference, Cara asked for accountability, and I am holding her accountable.”

Last night, Spencer put the commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency, Sarah Russell, on leave. When the tornado hit Friday, Russell and other CEMA staff were at a workshop on Market Street away from their headquarters on Olive, where CEMA’s button to activate the sirens is located. “Let me be clear, CEMA exists to alert the community when severe weather is coming,” Spencer said at the press conference. “This office failed to do that in the most horrific and deadly storm that our city has experienced in my lifetime.”

With the tornados on the horizon, Russell called the fire department, which in theory should also have been able to activate the siren, but the CEMA commissioner didn’t directly tell anyone at the fire department to activate it, Spencer says. Her office released audio of the phone call yesterday. 

On the call, Russell said, “You got the siren.” Someone at the fire department responded, “Yes, ma’am.”

In the days since the tornado, it’s become clear that it might not have mattered if Russell gave a clear order. The siren activation system at fire department headquarters wasn’t functioning, which the mayor’s office learned yesterday during an afternoon test of the siren. That test was supposed to happen at 3 p.m. The actual sirens sounded a bit later. Spencer said that test also surfaced other concerns, including that some sirens throughout the city just plain don’t work. 

At the morning press conference, Spencer compared investigating the city’s emergency siren system to peeling back an onion: The deeper they look the more problems they find. Testing of the siren system, she said, falls under CEMA.

“I have been shocked and remain shocked, and frankly a bit horrified, by the issues in the system,” Spencer said.