First, I think a lot of the animosity rests in the fact Clayton solely exists because of the separation. This is a fact that is almost entirely unmentioned in the broader debate not on forums where people are decently well informed. The average person doesn't even consider how unnatural it is that the city and county are separate and lay the blame on the "dysfunction" of the city when the city is being tasked with more jobs and responsibilities than any other municipality in the region all while the state, other counties, and even federal government work to destroy it while siphoning its tax revenue to pay for its destruction. ***** Clayton btw.stlokc wrote:Let's pretend there is some future date when STL City and Clayton are part of the same jurisdiction (a complete merger if you will).
Assuming the one square mile of the current downtown Clayton isn't bulldozed to make a park, and assuming the high-income neighborhoods of Ladue, Webster, Kirkwood, Frontenac etc (which may be part of this bigger theoretical jurisdiction) are still in existence, isn't the region still faced with more or the less the same fundamental problem that exists today? There will still be a second high-density office environment closer to more affluent neighborhoods where the building owners are trying to fill their spaces with any comers? I mean, doesn't Midtown Manhattan compete against Downtown Manhattan even though they are in the same city?
If the goal is to revitalize the core of the current old city east of Jefferson, I just don't see where this changes very much except at the margins with a few firms that need to be near the official county seat. I write this even though I am in full support of a merger anyway.
Second, a merger of some kind would begin the process of mending this issue. You're correct that it will never be solved fully, there is no getting rid of the leech called Clayton, but taking away that barrier would do wonders for retaining businesses downtown and directing more tax revenue downtown. Transit is something that we all know St. Louis can't properly do in part because of the divide, and downtown would be one of the single biggest recipients of the benefits from an expanded transit system, for example. Another example would be the convention center expansion. Also, putting the county's headquarters downtown would be a massive boon for downtown no matter how you cut it.
Finally, there's still good reason to oppose a merger of any kind because yes, the benefits today are far reduced from what they once may have been, but also, the ONLY reason those that wield power in the county want a merger is because the stream of wealth that once flowed from the city to the suburbs has slowed significantly in recent years, causing population stagnation/decline and a growing tax deficit. They just want to get access to the city's relatively stable fiscal situation to subsidize their own deficit that exists because they lived and breathed off of leeching from the city. But now it's overwhelmingly poor people who are leaving the city, the office market is in shambles post-covid, and there aren't too many large businesses to steal anymore.
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