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Masks, Cure Violence and The Workhouse: St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Reed on city issues

Lewis Reed joined Today in St. Louis anchor Allie Corey to discuss key issues in the city

ST. LOUIS — We’re halfway through 2020 and St. Louis has been overwhelmed with gun violence. 

According to 5 On Your Side’s records, there have been more than 1,200 people shot in the city and more than 100 homicides. 

Of those homicides, 12 were children. St. Louis Children’s Hospital just recorded the most gunshot wound victims it has ever seen in the month of May.

St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed joined Today in St. Louis’ Allie Corey Thursday morning to talk about various issues in the city. Below are highlights from the interview.

Cure Violence Program 

"We currently have one site open and the training has been done up in that one site of all of the staff. We still have to open up two more sites. So we still have a lot of work to do to get those next two sites up and operational. And then once the sites open, it's still going to take a month or two for them to integrate themselves within the community and begin to work. So we see some turnaround....

"Last year we had so many kids shot and killed in the city of St. Louis that we made national news. Nobody wanted to repeat that year, which is why we put Cure Violence in place. But now we've almost lost an entire summer without the sites being up and operational, and so that is not a good situation."

RELATED: 'COVID-19 not stopping crime' | St. Louis leaders say Cure Violence still on track despite pandemic

Closing The Workhouse

"We've been working to decrease the population and workhouse for quite some time. So the facility house would house roughly 1,200 people. We're down to 96 people that are currently in there now. And we're at $8 million right now this year projected to house that low of a population. So the board bill that I induce will require the commissioner of corrections to put together a plan to close down The Workhouse so that we can more efficiently use those tax dollars to do some things that we need to do around the city."

RELATED: Board of Aldermen president hopes to close 'The Workhouse' and use that money to help neighborhoods and reduce recidivism

Mask Mandate

"You're wearing a face mask, not just for yourself, but to protect others ... We definitely can see an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus. We're not through it yet ... You know, probably all of you also want to see this thing be behind us, but we're not there yet."

RELATED: Face masks will be required in public places in St. Louis area

Watch the entire interview:

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