Because decisions about transportation infrastructure determine where development occurs, the dispute between Mayor Francis G. Slay and County Executive Steve Stenger on the future direction of MetroLink is a critically important decision with long-term consequences. Their public disagreement on this issue is also illustrative of two iron laws of the political universe.
“A broke clock is right twice a day.” I’m not a political ally or apologist for Steve Stenger, but on this particular issue he is right on both the policy and the politics. Any light rail expansion in St. Louis will have to scale a mountain the height of Everest to win federal approval. The paucity of projected ridership and lack of population density make a difficult argument for St. Louis being in the front of the line for federal funding.
There are only two possibilities that wouldn’t get you laughed out the building if you proposed them. One is the “Daniel Boone,” which would run from Clayton to Westport. The justification for this route is this is the densest job corridor in the metropolitan area. The other is the “Metro North” extension that would run from the airport to Florissant. The argument for this route is population density.
The reason you build transportation infrastructure where you do is because you have a lot of people in one place who need to get someplace else, or you have someplace that a lot of people are trying to get to. You have to start with demand on one end or the other. Mass transit is not a field of dreams. It’s not “if you build it, they will come.” You build it because they’re here already.
The city’s expansion proposal can’t be justified on either population or job density criteria. Nobody is demanding to get from Florissant to Butler Hill via light rail. Metro currently operates two transit technologies, bus and light rail. This would add a third, basically a surface street car from Florissant to Butler Hill. Surface light rail through environments with population densities like St. Louis make very little sense. It is expensive, takes forever to build, and is slow.
I would suggest that a multi-tiered bus system would better serve St. Louis, city and county, than chasing expanded light rail. We could divide the city and county into integrated transportation sub-districts that each have an internal bus system, then create an express bus service that would traverse the metropolitan area and allow people to move between districts, thereby giving people access to the entire metro area.
The sub-district approach would connect the natural organic geographies that make up the region. It would allow people who live and work within these geographies and whose destinations are primarily within these districts to have a public transit option. The routes within the sub-districts would be customized to meet the internal demand and needs of the users. And because they literally are not set in concrete, they could be adjusted and changed as needed over time.
That’s policy. Now, let’s talk about the politics.
There are no 100 percent federally funded projects, which means there will be a local match of up to 50 percent of the total project cost. St. Louis County passed a quarter-cent sales tax for Metro capital expansion projects, which raises about $40 million annually. The City of St. Louis, shall we say, is broke as Job’s turkey. There is no political calculus that will get the county to use that tax revenue as a match for a city-based Metro expansion over two county routes.
St Louis County represents 75 percent of Metro’s Missouri funding. The county is the big dog on this issue. City talk about expansion is a puppy barking from the porch.
Advocates for the city will cry “foul” about that kind of political gamesmanship. They will say that it’s not right, that it’s not fair. And they will be correct. This brings us to second iron law of the political universe.
Thucydides stands at the very start of reflective thinking about politics in the Western tradition. Here is how he would summarize this issue of who is right on this difference between the city and county: “Right, as the world goes, is only a question between equals in power. The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”
Mike Jones, who has held senior policy positions in St. Louis and St. Louis County government, is a member of the St. Louis American editorial board, as well as the Missouri State Board of Education.
