What We Believe

STL World Class City Group

Mission: The Mission of our organization, STL--World Class City, is to lay the foundation for two possible unification scenarios for Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County, Missouri.
  • Full Unification: This approach would extend the boundaries of Saint Louis County to include the City of Saint Louis; consolidate all government functions within Saint Louis County departments that are now exercised by Saint Louis City; eliminate municipal governments within Saint Louis County, including the former City of Saint Louis government, create a representative County legislative body; and create an elected County Mayor. The unification process would be completed within four years, phasing out overlapping County and City departments.

  • New Municipality ("Re-entry"): This approach would extend the boundaries of Saint Louis County to include the City of Saint Louis; make the City of Saint Louis the 91st municipality in Saint Louis County (like Kirkwood or Florissant, for example); phase out duplicate City of Saint Louis departments (the so-called County offices); and maintain municipal control of the police and fire departments and local land-use zoning.
We would like to accomplish at least one of these two scenarios no later than the 250th Anniversary of the City of Saint Louis in 2014. Serious regional and statewide non-partisan conversations will be established by widespread communication to residents in the City and County and statewide regarding the advantages of unification and to accomplish the legal steps necessary for re-entry.
  • We believe that in the end we are all "Saint Louis" whether we live in the City or the County. The first step for either scenario would be the addition of Saint Louis City as the 91st municipality of Saint Louis County. It will define more clearly our regional identity as "Saint Louis" and allow us to compete with the world outside of "Saint Louis" instead of competing among ourselves.

  • We must ask ourselves this simple question: Why is Saint Louis City one of two independent cities in the USA that is not part of a county (the other is Baltimore, Maryland)? Has this arrangement worked well for us over these past 136 years? We think not.

  • We are in favor of autonomy and self-determination for our schools. We want our communities to keep their local schools and some form of local government if they choose to do so. If consolidation of schools and selected other services should occur over time it will be because the people in those areas choose to do so, not because Saint Louis City joined Saint Louis County.

  • Statistical reclassification is needed to truly represent the actual geographical size and population of our community. If Saint Louis city and county population were counted together, we would be the equivalent of the 8th largest city in the U.S.

  • We are committed to undoing the colossal mistake of 1876 -- the separation of the City from the County. It is time to atone for the mistakes of the past and reunify our City and County. We should settle for nothing less! Such a move will better position us to compete more effectively in the global economy, create more jobs for our state, reduce wasteful and unnecessary duplication of services, and save substantial taxpayer dollars.