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Fragmented by Design: Why St. Louis Has So Many Governments
St. Louis is a rarity in that it's metropolitan area is split not only into the usual political parties, but into a large number of political entities as well. Citizens here distrust government but seem to love governments. The book begins with the split between the City and County of St. Louis in 1876 and goes on to how St. Louis went from one dominant government, the City of St. Louis, to more than 300 in the region today. It also touches on the ramifications of having that many individual municipalities, some tiny and some huge. This book explores the suburban explosion, the rise of regional districts, and the outlook for the future. We have rejected being like someone else and, instead, decided to be distinctively St. fragmented by design.
168 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2000
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August 19, 2015
St. Louis City is not part of St. Louis County. St. Louis County has 90 municipalities plus a number of unincorporated areas. The City separated from the County in 1876 at a time when the City had 80% of the population and more educated and sophisticated residents. St. Louis City didn’t want to be saddled with the expense of infrastructure developments in the County at a time when it was mostly rural and filled with country bumpkins.
This instinct to create more governments played out in the suburbs that developed over the next century in St. Louis County, when the population exploded. Rather than allow themselves to be annexed into existing County towns, new neighborhoods joined together to form their own new municipalities.
Over the years, a variety of attempts have been made to restructure things. The business community finds the plethora of governments onerous to deal with and would love to see a streamlined system. In our fragmented system, governments compete with each other when, from a more regional viewpoint, it’s obvious that cooperation would work better for all involved. The efforts to reunite the City and County had two things in common — they failed and they didn’t even attempt to touch school districts, “the third rail of metropolitan reform.” (p. 81)
More thoughts on my blog, including the discussion in our book club and thoughts about the current state of K-12 education in St. Louis and America: Fragmented by Design.
This instinct to create more governments played out in the suburbs that developed over the next century in St. Louis County, when the population exploded. Rather than allow themselves to be annexed into existing County towns, new neighborhoods joined together to form their own new municipalities.
Over the years, a variety of attempts have been made to restructure things. The business community finds the plethora of governments onerous to deal with and would love to see a streamlined system. In our fragmented system, governments compete with each other when, from a more regional viewpoint, it’s obvious that cooperation would work better for all involved. The efforts to reunite the City and County had two things in common — they failed and they didn’t even attempt to touch school districts, “the third rail of metropolitan reform.” (p. 81)
More thoughts on my blog, including the discussion in our book club and thoughts about the current state of K-12 education in St. Louis and America: Fragmented by Design.
Displaying 1 of 1 review