By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 1:52 PM
We all know that St. Louis City is in a unique situation of being a city not within another county. Most agree that that arrangement has not worked out so well for the city. Labels: Development
As whites, upper-and middle-class blacks left the city in droves during the second half of the 20th Century, the city has been left with a tax base which is only a shadow of its former self and little financial support from its neighbors -- neighbors which take advantage of the city's infrastructure and amenities as much as, if not more than, actual residents and taxpayers.
Now the people of Atlanta, a city often referred to as the "City Too Busy to Hate" -- a place which unlike St. Louis confronted its issues of race head-on during the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s and beyond, is now debating whether to divide its Fulton County so that its affluent white suburbs can separate from its poorer, majority-minority urban core.
According to the AP, supporters say it is a quest for more responsive government in a county with a population greater than that of six states. Opponents say the measure is racially motivated and will pit white against black, rich against poor.
Click here to read the AP story.
7 Comments:
"We all know that St. Louis City is in a unique situation of being a city not within another county."
That is not true. San Francisco has always been its own city/county and does quite well. New York City itself is comprised of 5 counties (referred to as borroughs which have no functioning government). Baltimore, MD and Carson City, NV are also independent cities. Another interesting concoction is the Consolidated city-county. You can see more about these here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_city-county
I've recently been to Tyne and Wear in the UK where they dispensed with city councils and elect instead joint boards for certain functions that tend to look at the health of the metro area instead of worrying about individual cities.
Anyway, thought you should know St Louis is not that unique. Other people have faced similar situations and dealt with them
1/24/2007 6:30 PM
Equals, I think it is fair to say that St. Louis' situation is rather unique -- or perhaps rare. Being one of maybe 5 American cities and towns out of thousands, I think is rather unique.
Maybe you'd prefer the "rare". Potato, potàto.
1/24/2007 6:39 PM
I read that article in today's paper as well. Gees, if something like that happened in St. Louis....
I grew up being told not to go north of highway 40.
Black/white or rich/poor. It still smells of discrimination.
What I read said that when the two counties combined back in the 30's it was because the Milton county was going broke and the Fulton country rescued them....how convienent it is for them to kick them away from the table now that the tables have turned.
1/24/2007 10:19 PM
St. Louis was on pace to have more growth or at least the same amount of growth as Boston. No doubt our fragmented government and lack of regional solidarity served as a catalyst to our massive urban depopulation.
1/24/2007 11:59 PM
Most residents who wanted the city to join the county have voiced their opinion, by joining the county personally.
I don't really think the powers that be, whoever they are, want a merger. They like having their own fiefdoms that no one can disturb. They will be voted into office no matter how often they up at the office, ala Ron Leggett, reportedly.
As for the people of St. Louis, I am not sure. The people of the county, I seriously doubt they want to feel a part of the high crime, sub-standard schools etc.
1/25/2007 8:37 AM
We don't need to join the County. Joining the County assumes suddenly that we will be a driving force in County Government. The fact is that we do not have a strong lobby in the Region nor does this entire Region have a strong unified force in the State Legislature. Blame historical malapportionment then depopulation.
Our leaders in City Hall say "Oh we can't do this," while our County friends say "Its up to the State." Well, we do not even assert our will therefore how can we expect anything from the State? Do we expect our rural friends to suddenly give us what we need?
Redrawing the boundaries will make no difference if we do not have a business elite, or revolutionary public officials with new ideas, who are willing to be an advocate for the City. Our business "leaders" ask for incentive rather than work for the public good. This is historically in line, yet so is innovation which we seem to lack. Our public subsidy is not being spent on innovative draws but largely suburban sprawl or stadiums. Public subsidy needs to be spent on new forms of transport, communication, housing, or entertainment not the same old styles which exist elsewhere. We cannot compete with suburbia by emulating their existing features.
St. Louis, long ago, lost out to the suburbs. We pursue a suburban agenda in order to compete. Our greatest assets like historical housing and the walkable environment are being destroyed for old policies and design. The City asserts the niche loft market while promoting suburban design, some of which is created through demolition of historical housing. Which is it?
Redrawing boundaries will not change anything when contradictory precedent exists in our City. If we cannot agree internally then how can we expect a strong lobbying force in County government?
1/25/2007 9:13 AM
While I was nitpicking, I also provided a link to consolidated city/counties which have interesting examples of what has been done in other places. Why shouldn't St Louis look at other cities and learn from what worked and did not. My point was that we are not unique. Being rare is a lot different than being unique. In our case there are other examples we can profit from should we choose to learn from their experiences.
BTW, I left off my list the 29 independent cities just in Virginia.
1/25/2007 12:33 PM
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