Moomey: Alecia Hoyt for Ward 8

By Kristin Moomey

I’m your neighbor, Kristin Moomey, and I would like to take a moment to tell you why I am voting for Alecia Hoyt to represent the 8^th Ward at the St. Louis Board of Alderman.

I am a lifelong voter. I take that role very seriously, and over the years I have noticed that I am drawn to candidates who are, to their very core, curious people. Beyond party or platform or position, the quality that I think is critical for anyone seeking to represent a larger group of people is a natural curiosity about the issues at hand and a desire to really know the people in their community. I do not want or need my elected officials to have the answers to everything on day one. Rather, they should be listening and engaging their constituents every single day that they hold that office. This core quality has never been more important to me than it is right now. If you are anything like me, you have added contacting your state and federal representatives daily to your already overflowing to-do list, and that effort to make our voices heard feels like shouting into an empty room. At the local level, our needs as a community are always evolving – look at what we’ve endured as a city in just the past several weeks. Following the May 16^th tornado, community leaders engaged in record time to really listen to what the immediate needs were, and to connect people in meaningful ways to address those needs. They didn’t show up with an agenda – they led with curiosity, which drove connection, which propelled action.

I have never met anyone as naturally curious as Alecia Hoyt. In any conversation, from the casual encounter around the neighborhood to a more serious discussion on a variety of topics, I’ve found that Alecia is not only a great listener but also a problem solver and a community builder. She’s engaging, and always follows up with more questions – not just to satisfy her own curiosity – but to connect the dots – and then the people – to get to work. Curiosity is an action word for Alecia; connecting people is her superpower. Ask anyone who has had the good fortune to know her: your interests, your passions, your concerns matter to her. When the Ward 8 seat was vacated, it wasn’t Alecia who initially said “I’m in!”. It was everyone who knew her who started saying, and then repeating, “Alecia Hoyt would be perfect in this role.”.

As the calls for her to run began to grow, Alecia did what she always does. She listened. She asked questions. And then she got to work.

Please join me, my family, and so many others in joyfully electing Alecia Hoyt to represent the 8^th Ward on Tuesday, July 1st. 

Kristin Moomey is an owner and principal at HKW Architects, but began her architecture career at a small design firm located in the Benton Park, and then later, Soulard neighborhoods. She lives with her husband and daughters in a historic home in Benton Park that is in a perpetual state of renovation. When she’s not drawing or building things, she can be found in her small but mighty urban garden overflowing with flowers and campaign signs.