Better Together - Reincorporation and Mergers (St. Louis, Kirkwood: neighborhood, school district, taxes)

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by ISurvivedStLouisWarZone

This will NEVER come to fruition, nor should it. There is a reason people live deep into West/South County, they want no part of the city's wanton and uncontrollable crime:


St. Louis police officer fatally shoots would-be robber at gas station off I-55 at Arsenal | Law and order | stltoday.com

Yep. Except that crime is slowly spreading out into south county now. I used to lived by the south county mall and the last couple years crime slowing spreading out. Still low though of course but would notice a gradual uptick in stuff going on.

[FrankMiller]

It's been a phenomenon that poverty is spreading into the suburbs. But where would one get the idea that criminals will be more inclined to head to West County, if not for being stymied by that impermeable county border line? The only difference would be that now County voters would be able to have some say in fighting urban crime, rather than just having to live with it silently.

[OyCrumbler]

This only makes sense if St. Louis and the metro thinks growth and being an attractive place to relocate from elsewhere compared to other metros should be important, and that's not something that everyone does or should want.

[FrankMiller]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

This only makes sense if St. Louis and the metro thinks growth and being an attractive place to relocate from elsewhere compared to other metros should be important, and that's not something that everyone does or should want.

You're inevitably going to lose some people and investment no matter what you do, so if you aren't attracting replacements then your town will eventually evaporate. St. Louis doesn't need to be New York, but we do need some investment, and nobody* is sitting around saying "I'm so glad we don't have direct flights to Europe because our local government is too dysfunctional to attract one".

*Who am I kidding, there's probably somebody saying this in the stltoday.com comments section as I type this.

[1grin_g0]

If municipalities wanted to join forces and consolidate services, then wouldn't it be happening already? What is stopping them? The borough system is interesting nonetheless.

[glamatomic]

Originally Posted by 1grin_g0

If municipalities wanted to join forces and consolidate services, then wouldn't it be happening already? What is stopping them? The borough system is interesting nonetheless.

Some are. Take the North County Police Co-Operative for instance- an amalgamation of what used to be a number of smaller cities police departments.

[FrankMiller]

Originally Posted by 1grin_g0

If municipalities wanted to join forces and consolidate services, then wouldn't it be happening already? What is stopping them? The borough system is interesting nonetheless.

I think the point of Better Together is to persuade municipalities and voters to want it, partly by quantifying the benefits.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by FrankMiller

You're inevitably going to lose some people and investment no matter what you do, so if you aren't attracting replacements then your town will eventually evaporate. St. Louis doesn't need to be New York, but we do need some investment, and nobody* is sitting around saying "I'm so glad we don't have direct flights to Europe because our local government is too dysfunctional to attract one".

*Who am I kidding, there's probably somebody saying this in the stltoday.com comments section as I type this.

Btw I miss the days of TWA and being the hub. It was so easy to get direct flights. Even to Ft Myers and it was never fully booked so could move around. Southwest still does two direct flights a day to Ft. Myers.

I never had a problem flying TWA. Flights on time and decent service. I went through a big gap not flying commercial until 2013 and it sucked. Tickets were free so I had to fly American and no direct flights to had to stop in Dallas. The whole thing sucks. TSA, less leg room and crammed planes. I'd rather just drive.

Can we send some of this Florida growth up that way? We don't need more people in the major cities down here. We got terrible drivers and Yankees from New England keep moving down here. The jobs don't pay as well down here and many of them are service. People either retire here or willing to take a massive pay cut because they're wimps with the cold.

I don't find the southern half of MO to be bone chilling cold, especially the southern quarter.

[1grin_g0]

Originally Posted by glamatomic

Some are. Take the North County Police Co-Operative for instance- an amalgamation of what used to be a number of smaller cities police departments.

I was not aware of that. Do you know if the county played a role in making that happen?

I know that the city of Fenton has a service agreement with the STL County PD. Fenton no longer has its own police dept. I think a few other municipalities have contracted with the STL County PD as well.

[FrankMiller]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Can we send some of this Florida growth up that way? We don't need more people in the major cities down here.

I suspect climate change will take care of it by flooding people out of the at least the southern third of Florida.