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St. Louis Front Page presents St. Louis CitySide, an overview of the City Government of Saint Louis. From time to time, we will take an indepth look at many of the projects in which the city is involved and how these projects will affect residents and visitors.
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Former Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr. spoke at a press conference for Advance Saint Louis held at the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park, May 28, attended by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, three former mayors of the city, an eight-person Conveners' Group, members of the board of directors of Citizens for Home Rule, representatives from the Comptroller's Office, the Board of Aldermen, and various neighborhood and community organizations.
Advance Saint Louis Launches Citizen Planning Process to Change St. Louis City Government
by Bob Moore, SLFP.com
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), May 28, 2003 - The board of directors of Citizens for Home Rule have launched the beginning of a comprehensive public engagement process to study charter reform in the city of St. Louis.
The city's charter dates back to 1914, when city voters created the current government structure. In November 2002, a statewide vote gave the voters in St. Louis the comprehensive opportunity to change the structure of the city government.
The planning process, known as Advance Saint Louis, was unveiled in a press conference held at the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park, attended by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, four former mayors of the city, an eight-person Conveners' Group, members of the board of directors of Citizens for Home Rule, representatives from the Comptroller's Office, the Board of Aldermen, and various neighborhood and community organizations.
Mike Jones, a former member of the Board of Aldermen, deputy mayor under Mayor Harmon, will head the conveners of the public engagement process.
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Following the press conference, St. Louis Front Page took the opportunity to speak with Mike Jones, who will head the conveners of the planning process.
"It has been in real discussion for the past four months. It was an academic discussion until Home Rule actually passed last November," stated Jones. "I have thought about the structure to the government on a personal level for the past six or seven years, ever since I worked for Mayor Harmon," said Jones.
"The current structure does not maximize the opportunities that are available to the city," emphasized Jones. He noted that sustainable neighborhood and economic development requires effective local government. "What we hope is that this will give us an opportunity to review that process and come up with what are the most effective structural changes to make going forward for the next fifty years or even twenty years."
"This is a completely open process," stated Jones. "We are not coming to this with an agenda that we are trying to sell. We are coming to this with the notion of engaging people in a conversation or dialogue about what the changes should be."
Former mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr., told St. Louis Front Page that the idea of charter reform came about nearly ten years ago. "When I first came into office in April 1993, I convened what I called a 'blue-ribbon' task force to examine the city's finances. They came back with two things. They said, one the city is broke and you got to raise some taxes. Two, the city structure is also very cumbersome and very bureaucratic and you have to try to do what you can to do some charter reform," stated Bosley.
"We went about the business of raising those taxes early on in 1993, but it's taken some time to get the process going to bring about some real charter reform," Bosley continued.
"We're halfway there with the people passing the proposition. Now the real work begins with trying to give people the chance to determine what kind of changes they would like to make, if any," continued Bosley.
"I'm glad we're at this point," stated Bosley with enthusiasm. "It's been ten years, and I hope it doesn't take another ten."
This summer, the organization hopes to create a 150-person Stakeholders Assembly that will be the focal point of the planning process. All city residents are invited to a public meeting at Forest Park Community College on June 28, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, to learn more about how they can participate in the planning process to improve their city government.
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