The City of St. Louis is not in St. Louis County, or any other County, and, therefore, must operate several redundant county-like departments in addition to city departments. And in doing so, the City wastes resources that it doesn't have.In addition to preventing efficient operation of government, the City-County separation also prevents the St. Louis region from looking at the big picture . . . what's good for the region instead of what's good for the City or Hazelwood or Wildwood or Florissant or Creve Coeur.
True unification of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County would be good for our community. Is the time right? According to this story from the Suburban Journals, City Mayor Francis Slay thinks so, though County Executive Charlie Dooley thinks Slay's all talk.
Let's all hope that it is more than that this time.
1 comment:
I've thought this should be done for quite a long time. Aside from the inefficiencies mention, the statistics that are used to portray the city nation wide would benefit considerably. We go from being a city of 300,000 to 2 million. The St. Louis crime stats would go down considerably when the county stats are figured in. So many stats would be improved if the metro area were considered instead of just the city. And maybe we'd finally get some decent public transportation if the city and county would stop bickering.
That being said... it ain't gonna happen. The county and county residents will not allow it. The county and the 200+ municipalities won't ceed control to the city. The county residents don't want to be lumped in under the soap opera that is the city government.
The city residents won't let it happen either. The democrat liberal majority within the city would loose their voice and their power to the 2 million county residents.
It's a pipe dream that will never be a reality.
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