urbanSTL

"Ron Jackson and Shelley Welsch: Future of the region is better decided together"

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/column ... 78b41.html

Never say die.

Stltoday - Few Bel-Ridge officers remain following decision to eliminate force, contract with Normandy

“I’m going to do whatever I can to see the city survives,” Fair said last month. “We’ve got to fix the budget, and that’s the bottom line.”

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... b5e02.html

Didn't think this deserved its own thread but...

There are two propositions for the Kinloch Fire Protection District on the ballot today: Proposition S and Proposition K. They are exactly the same.

The county website washes its hands of it, saying:

The Kinloch Fire Protection District submitted and certified propositions K and S to the Board of Elections using the same language for each proposition. Please call the district at 314-521-0448 with any questions. 

The language is:

• Prop K in the Kinloch Fire Protection District: This proposition asks to authorize a tax increase of 25 cents per $100 for assessed valuation to pay for the district’s services.
• Prop S in the Kinloch Fire Protection District: This proposition asks to authorize a tax increase of 25 cents per $100 for assessed valuation to pay for the district’s services.

But I can't find a real explanation of why they have two of the same things on the ballot. Is it just incompetence?

Three people voted for K, two for S. Lol

Is it possible that they really wanted a 50 cent / $100 tax increase but thought that maybe if they split it up into two 25 cent requests they might at least get one passed?

^That could be, but if you do it that way you risk splitting the vote because nobody knows which one to vote for. Crestwood did something similar not too long ago and the method they used would have been to have one ballot measure for 25 cents and another for 50 cents with language that if the 50 cent one passes, the 25 cent one is null and void regardless of votes.

Stltoday - Lawsuit says Bel-Ridge police falsified reports in a political feud

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... 5642f.html

ah, the great city of jennings.

Will that be built in the downtown Ballwin financial district or in their booming retail corridor?

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Stltoday - North St. Louis County neighborhoods grow more diverse, but local government representation lags

"if it weren’t for CARES Act and other federal government support, Hazelwood would be facing bankruptcy"

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... ad9ae.html

https://www.hazelwoodmo.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=180

Mayor of Hazelwood Matthew Robinson basically says that the town's bankruptcy is inevitable.

^Pardon me as I sit here and merge municipalities in my mind. But I could easily see Bridgeton, Hazelwood, and potentially Florissant merged. As Florissant. (Let's kill this "Cahokia Heights" renaming trend where it started. Merge the municipalities, but not the names. The munis whose names are not chosen can become neighborhoods in the newly enlarged one, like Carondelet in St. Louis.)

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Jun 24, 2022

^Pardon me as I sit here and merge municipalities in my mind. But I could easily see Bridgeton, Hazelwood, and potentially Florissant merged. As Florissant. (Let's kill this "Cahokia Heights" renaming trend where it started. Merge the municipalities, but not the names. The munis whose names are not chosen can become neighborhoods in the newly enlarged one, like Carondelet in St. Louis.)

St. Louis is avoiding the inevitable that eventually the city and county will have to merge into one unigov system (at minimum regional service districts) to stay solvent. It may take 50 years, but most of  St. Louis County outside the wealthiest municipalities are likely in big trouble. 

^ I disagree. The city is in a much better place than most perceive and has more control over its future. I could argue that it benefits from not being attached to less efficient land use and sprawling infrastructure. Quality of leadership is the primary issue and being merged with the county wouldn’t help.

I agree that the county munis need to be the focus of consolidation. They’re the most duplicative/wasteful of any government structure in our region. They also have the most to gain from cutting cost. A lot of county infrastructure is reaching the critical 50-75 year mark… at the same time.

More communities like Hazelwood will buckle as they realize single family housing and sales tax doesn’t cover asphalt, fire, police, and a parks department.

addxb2 wrote:^ I disagree. The city is in a much better place than most perceive and has more control over its future. I could argue that it benefits from not being attached to less efficient land use and sprawling infrastructure. Quality of leadership is the primary issue and being merged with the county wouldn’t help.

I agree that the county munis need to be the focus of consolidation. They’re the most duplicative/wasteful of any government structure in our region. They also have the most to gain from cutting cost. A lot of county infrastructure is reaching the critical 50-75 year mark… at the same time.

More communities like Hazelwood will buckle as they realize single family housing and sales tax doesn’t cover asphalt, fire, police, and a parks department.

I actually agree and have been making that case to folks as of late. The financial situation Is fairly bright for the city itself and it doesn’t have the weight of all that poor land use in the County. It also has some major institutions within its limits that theoretically will continue to provide some stability.


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^ & ^^ yep, another argument that City is in a decent spot that more give credit for is that it is also a recognized county in itself.   So the city also see the benefits on flowdown of Federal and even state funds as well as the fact, in part to being also recognized as a county, its 300k residents enjoy some consolidation under radar vs residents of some odd +90 muni's in the county.  As example, when we lived in Shrewsbury it was nice to have the police department not to far down the street from our house but reality as a resident we were paying for both a City Police department and a the Sheriff or you could be saying the same to a lesser extent for parks, so on. 

addxb2 wrote: ↑

Jun 24, 2022

^ I disagree. The city is in a much better place than most perceive and has more control over its future. I could argue that it benefits from not being attached to less efficient land use and sprawling infrastructure. Quality of leadership is the primary issue and being merged with the county wouldn’t help.

That may be true to a point, but the city doesn't benefit from being surrounded by bankrupted municipalities.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Jun 24, 2022

^Pardon me as I sit here and merge municipalities in my mind. But I could easily see Bridgeton, Hazelwood, and potentially Florissant merged. As Florissant. (Let's kill this "Cahokia Heights" renaming trend where it started. Merge the municipalities, but not the names. The munis whose names are not chosen can become neighborhoods in the newly enlarged one, like Carondelet in St. Louis.)

Honestly I think any muni that goes bankrupt should be forced to dissolve or merge otherwise they're just kicking the can down the road to the next bankruptcy. Being financially solvent is literally not structurally feasible for many of them (ie. there is no way to balance the books with their current needed structures and infrastructure even if all current debt were erased).