Sunday Poll: Would A Consolidation Of City & County Be Too Extreme Or The Perfect Solution?

In 1876 the City of St. Louis left St. Louis County, an act known as the Great Divorce. Four years later the city’s population was over 350k and growing rapidly. In the 140+ years since, a lot has changed in both the city & county. The two sides are open to discussing a reconciliation.

The St. Louis Mayor and St. Louis County Executive side-by-side was a signal, perhaps, of changing attitudes. The two are both now supportive of a group called Better Together.

Mayor Lyda Krewson has long been open to the idea of taking the separate entities, the city and county, and combining or merging them.

County Executive Steve Stenger says he was once skeptical of Better Together. He now says he’s willing to hear more.

“It doesn’t hurt to look. We can only benefit from the information and the data the study provides,”

Monday, Better Together released a study that says in the last five years, municipalities and fire districts around the region passed 100 new tax increases. (KMOV)

What a reconciliation could look like is still be researched, but it might be as simple as a few agreements to combine some services to a making the city & county one big consolidated government entity — eliminating all municipalities in St. Louis County. Lots of choices in between, as well as keeping the status quo are options as well.

Today’s poll seeks to find out the mood for the consolidated government option.

This poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should Large Non-Profits Remain Exempt From A Local Payroll Tax?

On Fridsy a bill was introduced at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to increased revenue to pay for more police, and increase their salaries.

Alderman Stephen Conway says he’d like to end the city’s exemption of the half percent payroll tax granted to nonprofits.

“We are losing officers,” Conway says referring to the higher salaries being offered in nearby St. Louis County.

Conway estimates the payroll tax on large nonprofits could generate over $8 million a year to go towards giving police officers a raise and hiring more. (KMOV)

The official summary of Board Bill 58 is:

An ordinance pertaining to the payroll expense tax, repealing, subject to voter approval, those exemptions from the tax in section nine of ordinance 60737 for religious and charitable organizations and institutions, not?for?profit civic, social, service or fraternal organizations, not?for?profit hospitals and not?for?profit educational institutions that employ more than twenty (20) employees; submitting to the qualified voters the question whether the exemptions to the payroll expense tax for religious and charitable organizations and institutions, not? for?profit civic, social, service or fraternal organizations, not?for? profit hospitals, and not?for profit educational institutions that employ more than twenty (20) employees shall be repealed and a payroll expense tax of one?half of one percent (0.5%) imposed; with an emergency clause.

Which brings us to today’s poll:

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: When Should Drivers Turn On Their Headlights?

For more than a dozen years now this blog has been about issues that interest me, the things I experience as an urban dweller. Automotive lighting is one such area of interest — been thinking about future posts on headlight & taillight design.

Driving at night without headlights might sound extremely undesirable at the moment, but in the future, it might be the norm.

Luc Donckerwolke, head of design for Hyundai luxury offshoot Genesis, believes that headlights will soon be unnecessary. Talking to a group of Australian journalists, Donckerwolke said autonomy might negate the need for headlights in the future, since the cars won’t need to “see” the road ahead.

In fact, that reasoning is why the latest Genesis concept, the GV80 fuel-cell crossover, only has tiny little peepers up front. “All Genesis [cars] will have those quad lights eventually, but as you see we are reducing the size because we are anticipating the fact that, slowly, cars won’t need lights anymore,” Donckerwolke told Motoring.com.au. (CNET)

Future autonomous cars might not need headlights, but those driven by humans do. Today’s poll is related.

This poll will close at 8pm. On Wednesday I’ll discuss the issues surrounding headlight use and share the results.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Millions Being Spent On Arch A Good Investment Or A Waste?

Forty years ago today the iconic St. Louis Arch was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was first nominated in 1966, but this 1976 nomination was approved the following year. Work began on clearing the site back in 1939. Previously I’d thought it was listed in 1987 — off by a decade.

It’s still popular, with millions visiting each year:

A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 2 million visitors to Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in 2014 spent $173 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 3000 jobs in the local area, and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $270 million. (May 2015 press release)

Currently a lot of money is being spent on changes & improvements:

Construction of the $380 million project is funded in three ways:

$69 million – Public funds from federal, state and local sources such as a USDOT TIGER grant, MoDOT funds, other federal grants and funding from Great Rivers Greenway District
$90 million – Proposition P bond proceeds – On April 2, 2013 voters in St. Louis County and St. Louis City approved Proposition P: The Safe and Accessible Arch and Public Parks initiative. Great Rivers Greenway is the steward of the taxpayers’ investment in the project.
$221 million –  Private funding from gifts, grants and donations raised by the CityArchRiver Foundation. The Foundation will raise another $29 million to seed an endowment that will help maintain and improve the project area into the future. (CityArchRiver)

Which brings us to today’s poll.

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should Gov Grietens Sign The Minimum Wage Bill?

On Friday May 12th, in the final minutes of the session, the Missouri legislature sent a bill to Governor Greitens that would nullify St. Louis’ recent increase in the minimum wage. 

The House failed to adopt an emergency clause on the bill, meaning it won’t immediately take effect should Gov. Eric Greitens sign it, which sponsoring House Rep. Jason Chipman said he had promised to do. The new minimum wage in St. Louis would instead be nullified in August if the measure becomes law. 

Speaking to reporters after session’s end, Greitens said he’d have to take a close look at the bill before making a final decision. (Post-Dispatch)

Missouri’s minimum wage is $7,70/hr while St. Louis’ new minimum wage is $10/hr.

Which brings us to today’s poll:

The poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson