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PostAug 15, 2016#651

KMOV - Vinita Park, Vinita Terrace hoping to be approved for consolidation

http://www.kmov.com/story/32758988/vini ... solidation

PostAug 16, 2016#652

Baby steps. Of course we have to have a study, before maybe doing the obvious.

KMOX - St. Louis County Municipalities Consider Joint Fire Departments

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/08/16/ ... partments/

PostOct 04, 2016#653

Baby steps


StlToday - Several municipal courts in St. Louis County to consolidate
Several municipal courts in St. Louis County are consolidating, in a program announced today by the Missouri Supreme Court.

Municipal operations from Charlack, Northwoods and Vinita Park have consolidated into the St. Ann municipal division (now called the St. Ann Consolidated Municipal Courts, or CMC).
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... c00d2.html

PostOct 26, 2016#654

Baby steps

Stltoday - Kirkwood to take over fire, EMS dispatching for Des Peres

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... f1ce9.html

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PostOct 27, 2016#655

It would be nice if there was one place chronicling all these baby steps, so someone can get a sense of all that's been done. It seems we're starting to get news more frequently, I get a sense momentum is picking up. The municipal league batting around the idea of rolling out the welcome mat for the city is pretty big.

I wonder how long it'll be before we see something like the 9 borough plan put up for a vote. Getting the city back in the county will most likely need to happen before that.

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PostOct 27, 2016#656

You would think Bettertogether or STLStrong would have a section on their websites, I don't see one but a list of updates showing the benefits in small phases would give people a better idea on how it benefits the region

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PostOct 27, 2016#657

Des Peres was contracting to the county previously, I think? So this isn't really a consolidation.

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PostNov 09, 2016#658

Vinitas merge! Passed big time.
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VINITA PARK - PROPOSITION 2
**MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATION**
(Vote for ) 1
(WITH 4 OF 4 COUNTED)
YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 77.34
NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 22.66

VINITA TERRACE - PROPOSITION 1
**MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATION**
(Vote for ) 1
(WITH 1 OF 1 COUNTED)
YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 87.12
NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 12.88

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PostNov 25, 2016#659

The city-county re-entry/merger/consolidation talk seems to have cooled off lately. Does anybody know of any activity behind the scenes? Does anyone know of the long term strategies of the powers that be or stakeholders involed? Just curious, I'd like to see the conversation continue.

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PostNov 26, 2016#660

LordOfLindenwoodPark wrote:The city-county re-entry/merger/consolidation talk seems to have cooled off lately. Does anybody know of any activity behind the scenes? Does anyone know of the long term strategies of the powers that be or stakeholders involed? Just curious, I'd like to see the conversation continue.
Some say those popped up just to get Daly out of the mayoral race. His office would be eliminated if the city was a county muni.

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PostNov 27, 2016#661

StlToday - Muni courts: Many reforms in effect but poor still feel pinch

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... 070fa.html

PostJan 15, 2017#662

Another example of how development patterns that force everyone to drive backfires and makes being poor all that harder. And then it synergizes with fragmentation.

StlToday - Report looks at national impact of municipal court fines and fees on poor, people of color
North St. Louis County resident Charles Davis, 38, is among those who have experienced firsthand the hardships associated with debt from fines and municipal court fees. In 2002, Davis said he started receiving multiple tickets from an officer when leaving his Hanley Crossing apartment to go to work in St. Peters.

“All together, he probably gave me 25 tickets,” Davis said, for violations such as driving without insurance or vehicle registration, costs he said he couldn’t afford with a baby on the way and working a job that paid $9 an hour.

Eventually, Davis said he received several more tickets in other municipalities, his drivers license was revoked and he ended up spending a month in jail for driving without one. Davis, who believes he has warrants in at least 15 municipalities in St. Louis County, attributes some of the traffic stops he experienced to racial profiling.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... 64ee6.html

PostFeb 01, 2017#663

More tax dollars being spent to promote more job sprawl.

Stl Today - Wildwood adds economic development manager position

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... 253dd.html

PostApr 13, 2017#664

Stl American - Jennings, moving past impeachment, elects new mayor in Yolanda Austin
In our reporting last week on the April 4 municipal general elections, we did not cover every election, which is, indeed, impossible in the St. Louis metropolitan area. In St. Louis County alone, there were elections in 81 municipalities, 17 school districts, 12 fire districts and a community college district. St. Louis County had 499 candidates file for 267 different offices, as well as 22 different ballot propositions. No news organization in St. Louis has adequate news staff to cover all of these elections intelligently – and that’s just St. Louis County. But there was some more news of interest in municipal elections that needs reporting.
http://www.stlamerican.com/news/politic ... c1479.html

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PostApr 20, 2017#665

For improved government efficiency, how about a new state law with these provisions:

All counties in Missouri larger than 500,000 population, in which more than half the population live in incorporated towns, shall meet the following requirements:
1. No town may be smaller in population that 30,000 persons, after 5 years from the approval of this law.
2. Towns smaller than 30,000 must consolidate with one or more neighboring towns or form new or consolidated towns of at least 30,000 people within 5 years of approval of this law.
3. Any Towns of the County still under 30,000 after 5 years from approval of this law shall be added to an existing neighboring town by vote of the County Council within 1 year.
4. Any portions of the County not annexed into an existing town after 5 years from approval of this law shall be added to an existing neighboring town by vote of the County Council within 1 year.

Towns would be free to determine how and with whom they wish to merge in the first 5 years of this law. After that, any town or unincorporated area not in a town of at least 30,000 people would be added to one by the County Council. There are currently 5 towns in St. Louis County that are 30K or larger: Ballwin, U City, Wildwood, Florissant, Chesterfield, and Oakville.

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PostApr 20, 2017#666

BTW, don't think that this excellent letter slipped by us: :wink:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/ma ... e83e3.html

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PostApr 20, 2017#667

framer wrote:
Apr 20, 2017
BTW, don't think that this excellent letter slipped by us: :wink:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/ma ... e83e3.html
Oh, uh, yes. I just assumed nobody reads letters-to-the-editor except me. Or checks to see who wrote them. You caught me. Hope I didn't sound angry, but I was a little.

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PostApr 20, 2017#668

gary kreie wrote:
Apr 20, 2017
Ballwin, U City, Wildwood, Florissant, Chesterfield, and Oakville.
Oakville isn't a municipality.

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PostApr 21, 2017#669

quincunx wrote:
gary kreie wrote:
Apr 20, 2017
Ballwin, U City, Wildwood, Florissant, Chesterfield, and Oakville.
Oakville isn't a municipality.

Wikipedia lists it as a Census Designated Place with a population of 36,000. So it could incorporate and meet the 30k requirement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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PostApr 21, 2017#670

gary kreie wrote:
Apr 20, 2017
I just assumed nobody reads letters-to-the-editor except me. Or checks to see who wrote them.
RIP Harvey Meyer.

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PostMay 16, 2017#671

MO Supreme Court tosses 12.5% cap on ticket fines and fees in St. Louis County. It's 20% statewide.

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PostMay 16, 2017#672

It's only fair.

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PostMay 28, 2017#673

I was curious about the population center of the Metro Area of St. Louis. I could not find it anywhere online. So I computed it myself. I did find a site that showed the Latitude and Longitude of the Geometric Center of each Metro area.

I found the formula the Census Bureau used to compute the Population Center of the United States. So I used their formula and applied it to each of the top 50 metro areas in the US to compute the metro population centers from zip code population and zip code lat/lon data. Here is a Google map showing the St. Louis City Hall downtown, the Metro Area Geographic Center near I-170 and I-64, and the Population Center of the Metro area in Ladue, as I compute it.



1-3 Dromara Road in Ladue is the population center of the St. Louis Metro Area based on 2010 census data. This is about 8.6 miles from St. Louis City Hall as the crow flies.
8545 Everett Avenue, Richmond Heights, is the geographic center of the St. Louis Metro Area.

In 16 of the 50 largest metro areas, the population centers are no longer in the core city - city limits. St. Louis is one of them. Usually, the population has grown away from the core city due to geography constraints, such as a major river, mountains, valley, or a flat shoreline. Miami's metro population center has moved furthest from it's core city - City Hall. St. Louis is about 10th out of 50 in the distance the metro population center is from the core city - City Hall.

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PostMay 29, 2017#674

That's really well done Gary. Nice analysis. Thank you. :) That's about where I would have guessed it would lay. (I think there was an article I read somewhere years and years back suggesting something similar.) It also makes it seem probable the center would still be in the city had the city not jumped ship and left the county. Interesting.

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PostFeb 20, 2018#675

Village of Mackenzie set to disappear in 2018 — its trustees hope

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... a6a62.html

KPLR - Citizens lead the charge to unincorporate Hanley Hills

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/201 ... ll-planned

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