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PostJun 16, 2017#751

bprop wrote: ↑
Jun 15, 2017
MarkHaversham wrote: ↑
Jun 15, 2017
bprop wrote: ↑
Jun 13, 2017
(emphasis mine)

Most of the savings would be attributed to purchasing power - something that I agree SHOULD be done TODAY - and does not require unification or "bringing salaries into parity" (i.e. paying firefighter/EMTs well into six figure salaries).

They're going to have to do a lot better with lyrics if they want to sing the Efficiencies tune.
How much of those past salary increases were due to inter-district competition that would no longer be an issue going forward?
I have no idea - by asking, are you implying that you have some data? Municipal fire departments haven't seemed to face this issue and I'm not aware of widespread personnel or staffing issues. And I don't see the need to propagate the absurdity and bake it into the salary structure of a unified metro-wide fire district.
I don't have any specific data, but it seems like salary raises are often justified as needed to attract talent; having a single department would remove some upward pressure on salaries just due to the nature of supply and demand.

I can see how some initial raises might appear as part of unification, but it's hard for me to believe it wouldn't reduce salaries a little in the long term. I also find it hard to believe you wouldn't save money on excess positions and infrastructure. A municipality was just in the news because they were building a new fire station due to not working out a deal with the neighboring fire district. Rock Hill, maybe?
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PostJun 16, 2017#752

I can see how some initial raises might appear as part of unification, but it's hard for me to believe it wouldn't reduce salaries a little in the long term. I also find it hard to believe you wouldn't save money on excess positions and infrastructure.
BT would want to present the best aspects of the plan in what is effectively their sales brochure. Even taking everything in this particular issue at face value, the savings are minimal to none, with a heavy downside for the taxpayers expected to vote on it. One would think it was authored by the IAFF and other labor unions for the sole benefit of firefighting personnel, the construction trades, and fire equipment manufacturers.
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PostJun 17, 2017#753

In the BT firefighter study we see the result of the other pillar of dysfunction that's bankrupting us- spreading out too much. They set a goal of 4 minute response time than try to provide it to low-productivity places. We see how fragmentation AND spreading out waste lots of money.
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PostJul 15, 2017#754

Everything east of 270 should be one city.
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PostAug 25, 2017#755

Stl Jewish Light - Seeking Detente in the Middle West

http://m.stljewishlight.com/opinion/edi ... cac0b.html
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PostAug 25, 2017#756

Reading the St. Louis Post Dispatch comment section (always a mistake) is probably turning me into an opponent of a merger. Beginning to think that I want nothing to do with all the fascists in St. Louis County.
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PostAug 25, 2017#757

A lot of prominent and influential people/organizations are coming out for some sort of consolidation. Now with the state legislature threatening merger by fiat, I think we will likely get some momentum going on this. If St. Louis wants it's own unique form of regional government, I think that local leadership needs to get in front of this (Probably why The Municipal League endorsed allowing the city back into the county). If the state government has anything to do with it, they will probably go nuclear and blow the whole thing up (not necessarily a bad thing in my mind). I actually think the borough plan with revenue sharing is a pretty good idea, that allows areas to keep their "identity" while also being part of a larger "St. Louis" (obviously NYC is the best example of this with Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, etc. having their own borough mayors while still being under the jurisdiction of a greater New York).
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PostAug 25, 2017#758

The five boroughs of New York are also their own counties though, (Kings, Queens, Richmond, Bronx and New York).
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PostAug 26, 2017#759

Ebsy wrote: ↑
Aug 25, 2017
 The five boroughs of New York are also their own counties though, (Kings, Queens, Richmond, Bronx and New York).
Yes, but they are still under the authority of once city. Atlanta and Kansas City are also cities that are apart of multiple counties.
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PostAug 26, 2017#760

goat314 wrote: ↑
Aug 26, 2017
Ebsy wrote: ↑
Aug 25, 2017
 The five boroughs of New York are also their own counties though, (Kings, Queens, Richmond, Bronx and New York).
Yes, but they are still under the authority of once city. Atlanta and Kansas City are also cities that are apart of multiple counties.
Heck, in an ideal world St. Louis could, indeed should, cross into two states. Which . . . is something of a problem. All that said, St. Louis County is easily more populous than four average Missouri counties. I don't necessarily see a need to split it, but I think the separate county argument is missing the point. Four to five boroughs in a single unified county seems about right to me. The point isn't to duplicate New York, but to create a workable metropolitan government that is locally responsive while globally efficient. New York just provides a partial model. And perhaps more importantly a bit of nomenclature.
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PostSep 13, 2017#761

Love the break-neck-speed line. It's only been 8 years since Mayor Slay called for reentry in his 3rd inaugural.

Stltoday - More St. Louis County cities oppose potential merger
Two more St. Louis County municipalities have added their voices to the effort to oppose any merger of St. Louis and St. Louis County.

At the Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night, merger opponent Jennifer Bird of Common Sense for St. Louis said the momentum to merge is happening at "break-neck speed" and it has become of "critical urgency" to stop the process.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... 389b9.html
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PostSep 14, 2017#762

quincunx wrote: ↑
Sep 13, 2017
 Love the break-neck-speed line. It's only been 8 years since Mayor Slay called for reentry in his 3rd inaugural.

Stltoday - More St. Louis County cities oppose potential merger
Two more St. Louis County municipalities have added their voices to the effort to oppose any merger of St. Louis and St. Louis County.

At the Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night, merger opponent Jennifer Bird of Common Sense for St. Louis said the momentum to merge is happening at "break-neck speed" and it has become of "critical urgency" to stop the process.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... 389b9.html
I liked the "The was no discussion" part.
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PostSep 14, 2017#763

I like that they flat out admit that they want to "stop the process" rather than "request additional time to review the facts".

Just one more town that I will refuse to live in, shop in, or visit. It's one thing to say "hey, we don't want to take on debt so let's get this right" and another to say "we'll never every allow this to happen under any circumstances".
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PostSep 14, 2017#764

Sucks because Sunset has such great restaurants:

1) Chick-Fil-A
2) Mellow Mushroom
3) Helen's (for wings)
4) Five Guys
5) Tokyo Sushi
6) Twisted Tree!
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PostSep 14, 2017#765

whitherSTL wrote: ↑
Sep 14, 2017
 Sucks because Sunset has such great restaurants:

1) Chick-Fil-A
2) Mellow Mushroom
3) Helen's (for wings)
4) Five Guys
5) Tokyo Sushi
6) Twisted Tree!
No love for JP's Corner? What kind of list is this?

It is so transparent that they are only protecting their place in these little fiefdoms when they come out against a potential unification before they see an actual proposal and can weigh the benefits and costs to their communities.
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PostSep 15, 2017#766

I really feel like there's some isolationist sympathies behind some of this. There's some anger down in that part of South County. I distinctly remember sitting at a Mexican joint in Crestwood several years back listening to the folks at the next table complain about immigrants and thinking that virtually everyone that had helped to cook or serve them their dinner was an immigrant. And in a lot of ways, that doesn't even feel like a particularly isolated incident. Things are slowly changing down there. For the better, I might add. But it is very very slow. Glacial at times. These are the very same people who use the words "good schools" as a kind of secret handshake to their little South County society. I'm about to go to a baby shower for a couple of friends. Half their neighborhood has refused to attend, apparently based on their gayness. (Even though they're the sweetest neighbors you could hope for.) And of course the city stands for all the stuff that a Sunset Hills or Crestwood has fought to escape so long: it's filled with immigrants, black people, poor people, and (gasp) even rich people. And beardy hipster kids! It's . . . a different world down there. I still have family that way, so I poke my toes in the water. And to be completely fair, most folks are reasonably friendly while you're standing there. They just . . . talk about you the moment you step away. Some of them. Some of my cousins and former co-religionists. (And sometimes they forget that other people can hear or that not everyone that looks vaguely similar to them necessarily shares their sympathies. Also mind, I do actually like those cousins, even if I think they need some part of their heads examined. They're not evil people, even though they commit evil acts out of ignorance or fear.)

And okay, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's about money. Maybe it really is about personal political fiefdoms. But I think there might be more to it.
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PostSep 15, 2017#767

Fear of invasion of poverty plays a big role as the basis for some opponents. They view a job of their muni is to protect them from that. See it materialize in the debate any time an apartment building is proposed

PostSep 29, 2017#768

Stl American - Regional Governance Benefits the African American Community

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columni ... 14e66.html
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PostSep 29, 2017#769

In an interview with Gershman's Steve Symsack about regional development in today's BJ
Is anything holding St. Louis back from making big gains? Our fractured municipal system is a huge barrier to entry for both occupants looking to expand and developers looking to accommodate that expansion. The division between the city and inequity of the tax base compared with 90 different municipalities must be addressed. The high-growth-rate cities that St. Louis desires to emulate solved their socio-economic issues years ago. It is incumbent on the corporate community to support the city with meaningful jobs and relocation of corporate headquarters into the downtown area. Support not-for-profit, high-profile projects are disingenuous patronage. Real jobs and commitment by the regional corporate community in the form of headquarters locations in the city would allow the region to pay for trails, parks, street landscape, bridges and other assets taken for granted by other cities that have a strong corporate tax base coupled with good government.
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PostSep 29, 2017#770

West News Magazine - Chesterfield City Council passes resolution, allocates funds for anti-merger efforts
Councilmembers in favor of the allocation stated that the funds would go further in benefiting the efforts of a larger entity with money and representation from multiple municipalities.

“We would probably reach more of the legislators than we could reach with either $10,000 or $12,000 on our own,” Councilmember Barry Flachsbart [Ward 1] said. “That’s why I would say that keeping with others is much wiser than trying to go it alone.”
https://westnewsmagazine.com/2017/09/21 ... er-efforts
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PostSep 30, 2017#771

“That’s why I would say that keeping with others is much wiser than trying to go it alone.”
The Chesterfield City Council isn't intelligent enough to understand irony, much less the need for unification.
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PostOct 04, 2017#772

Backers of a St. Louis city-county merger make their case

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... op-story-1
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PostOct 05, 2017#773

I went to that last night. Mayor Paul was sitting on a spring! Many people there were clearly fearful and threatened.

The handout from Jones is a hack job. More on that on nextSTL soon.
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PostOct 05, 2017#774

I've always wondered, what is the end game here for merger proponents? A vote in the '18 or '20 general election? A vote in the general assembly in '18? Years of endless studies to win over the hearts and minds of city and countians? Please feel free to speculate as I'd like to hear other's opinions on the topic.
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PostOct 05, 2017#775

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... efits.html
St. Charles wants a seat at the table. But it doesn’t want to pay the tab.

Just as economic development officials were zeroing in on downtown for St. Louis’ Amazon headquarters proposal, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann swooped into an East-West Gateway Council of Governments meeting last week demanding his county be a part of the process. It created some tense exchanges.

“Why would we not want to join?” Ehlmann said. “Why would we not want to be part of this?... We’re supposed to go stand in line somewhere to be part of the decision-making process?”

The answer is yes, and the line started forming years ago.

In its proposal for a second headquarters city, Amazon is looking for sites served by rail mass transit.

St. Charles County voters have rejected proposals to become part of the region’s Metro system of buses and MetroLink light rail.

Amazon is looking for leading cultural and community organizations.

St. Louis has world-class cultural institutions in the Zoo, the Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Science Center — all of which have free admission. The five Zoo-Museum District institutions are funded by about $70 million generated from property taxes collected in St. Louis and St. Louis County. The institutions need more money and have been exploring additional taxes and charging for admission.

St. Charles County has turned down repeated proposals to provide support for the Zoo-Museum District, yet its residents continue to benefit from free access.

Amazon is looking for community recreational opportunities.

The city, St. Louis County and St. Charles County passed sales taxes in 2000 to provide support for the Great Rivers Greenway — an organization working to create and connect hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails throughout the region. In 2013, the city and St. Louis County passed additional taxes to support the greenway. St. Charles aldermen never sent the measure to the public for a vote.

Ehlmann says he just wants to know who speaks for the region and how decisions are being made when it comes to the Amazon bid. He admits the lack of mass transit is a problem for any proposal from St. Charles County, but believes its low crime rate is a plus.

But, again, if you want a seat at the regional table, you have to pick up a bigger portion of the regional tab.
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