City-County merger talk--is it just talk? (Carrollton, Houston: house, go bankrupt, construction)

[STLviaMSP]

My understanding is that black flight to the burbs is a nationwide trend, and that it will continue for a while regardless of what happens locally. White flight is generally over. The accelerating flow of twentysomethings into cities, and gentrification of many parts of STL including the east loop, and the huge amount of development and startup activity occurring in the central corridor and near south side - not to mention the measurable decrease in all components of the crime rate - will bring increasing numbers of transplants, with demographics that look like the whole country's demographics, into the city limits. I don't think the white population will greatly exceed the black population, but I can see a 145k white to 140k black outcome by 2020. That will have psychological importance.

[flynavyj]

Originally Posted by Dawn10am

It's encouraging to see the Asian, Hispanic/Latino, and "other" categories gaining so much. It'd be a nice breath of fresh air to have more racial diversity than the old white/black paradigm. We should try to get a few thousand Syrian refugees and give them a chunk of North City and see what they can do with it.

They'd likely have a war with each other...

[silibran]

One thing that could happen with a merger, perhaps, is more money available to spiff up poor down at the heels Lambert International. That might be a pipe dream, but wouldn't it be nice to have a good airport? Instead of what you have?

Even though I cannot list off advantages to a merger, I do know that the city cannot exist as it is indefinitely. It has to change. It should change. With the population in the city and county, it could be a much greater city than it is now.

[STLviaMSP]

Lambert has improved drastically recently. It doesn't look or feel like the same airport, inside at least. If they could just simplify the parking situation so you weren't reliant on 15 different randomly located parking companies...

[flynavyj]

It's "better" but not good...to many vacant gates, an entire concourse closed, and no international travel for an international airport. Sadly, those things aren't going to come back because we make the airport look "pretty"...Until an airline decides to make Lambert a home base (and I don't see that happening anymore) this place isn't going to be much of anything. They'll funnel you through Chicago, Dallas, Denver, etc to make your international flight...gone are the days of direct flights to Paris, Hawaii, Berlin, and numerous others...that time has come and gone.

[silibran]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

It's "better" but not good...to many vacant gates, an entire concourse closed, and no international travel for an international airport. Sadly, those things aren't going to come back because we make the airport look "pretty"...Until an airline decides to make Lambert a home base (and I don't see that happening anymore) this place isn't going to be much of anything. They'll funnel you through Chicago, Dallas, Denver, etc to make your international flight...gone are the days of direct flights to Paris, Hawaii, Berlin, and numerous others...that time has come and gone.

I agree. The population cannot support the longer flights. I do wish SW would make us a hub, instead of the awful KC airport that doesn't have enough restrooms, or places to eat! But yes to all of that above.

I haven't been in Lambert since Feb 2012. Has it changed for the better since then?

[Provelkative]

So many claims, so few facts...

[marigolds6]

Originally Posted by silibran

I agree. The population cannot support the longer flights. I do wish SW would make us a hub, instead of the awful KC airport that doesn't have enough restrooms, or places to eat! But yes to all of that above.

I haven't been in Lambert since Feb 2012. Has it changed for the better since then?

Southwest doesn't really have hubs anymore; only 20% of their flight traffic connects now. KC connects to Portland and Oakland while STL does not. But KC connects to only 25 cities total, while STL connects to 36. We are just outside the top 10 for SWA's busiest airports, and I think have the 8th most connections of any SWA served airport. I think Southwest will continue to treat STL well, but we need other airlines as well, especially connecting to LA, Silicon Valley and New York for business.

[jskirwin]

I just went through a month ago. It's definitely a shadow of what it was in its heyday, but the same could be said about the entire air industry right now. I think the industry is going to change, perhaps in reaction to the merger between American and US Air, and a facility of high quality like Lambert won't go to waste forever.

In the meantime we should be avoiding making it another hub - putting our eggs in one basket. We tried that with TWA and things didn't work very well. Encourage smaller airlines, especially those flying between secondary airports, to come instead of handing out taxpayer funds like candy to a big company to come, only to pull up stakes or go bankrupt a few years later.

[flynavyj]

Don't forget the 1500 homes they removed, and the lifetime worth of memories they destroyed to cater to an airline who armed the ejection seat before construction even began.

Went to the local school carnival with my wife and daughter the other day, it was at my wife's old grade school which of course was fun and enjoyable...then i felt pretty depressed when I remembered that all of those memories of fall festivals in my old neighborhood would never be shared w/ my kiddo. THANK YOU STL AIRPORT COMMISSION!