Better Together Pulls City-County Merger Plan, Will Aim For Local Vote If Revived

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/better-together-pulls-city-county-merger-plan-will-aim-local-vote-if-revived



Updated 7:30 p.m., May 6 — Better Together is withdrawing its effort to merge St. Louis and St. Louis County through a statewide initiative petition, instead regrouping to focus its efforts on trying to get only city and county residents to approve a plan sometime in the future.

For now, it’s the end of an ambitious proposal that would have reshaped regional government — but also stoked opposition from across the political spectrum.

“I find that many people do not attend to things that they hear about until it’s right in front of them and confronts them,” said Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton, who was leading the effort to implement the merger plan. “And it’s evident that our community needs more education about what is necessary, the problems we face, and how best to solve them.”

The Better Together plan would have a “metro government” oversee what is now St. Louis and St. Louis County. That government would be in charge of public safety, economic development and infrastructure needs for the 1.3 million people that encompass the city and county.