Metropolitan Fragmentation in the USA
Introduction
Metropolitan fragmentation is intensively discussed by academics as well as politicians and economists, after tragic events in Ferguson, St. Louis County, Missouri in August 2014. The term “metropolitan fragmentation” refers to those metro areas that are politically fragmented, where each locale has own municipality.
Metropolitan fragmentation is considered as negative phenomenon with overlapping of city and county functions. In small municipalities where taxes are tiny town's budget rely on court fees, and police departments on traffic tickets. In addition, some author suggests that the whole metro area is not efficient while other authors give evidences that it is not related to the level of metropolitan fragmentation. The mergence of city and suburbs, and also consolidation of small adjacent municipalities is considered by some researchers as a way to resolve economical and social problems. However, the process of mergence and consolidation is hard, and results could be even negative or uncertain. What is clear that metropolitan fragmentation is only a part of more complicated social problems in American society, and the focus should be on the questions of power distribution, on segregation and the way governing is conducted.
While plenty of discussions, especially in magazines and Internet publications, are focused mainly on the economical side of metropolitan fragmentation, in the essay I partly consider also cultural geographical circumstances/settings. Thus the main goal of the essay is to find out what is the impact of metropolitan fragmentation on society. In essay I answer the following questions: how fragmented U.S. metro areas are and what common characteristics they have? What are economic and social consequences of metropolitan fragmentation, and are they really caused by fragmentation? How metropolitan fragmentation emerged and what social processes were behind it? Finally, I consider ways to reduce negative effect of metropolitan fragmentation, namely if the mergence of local government will solve metropolitan economic and social problems? Particularly I focus more detail on the question of mergence of St. Louis city and St. Louis county, and also on consolidation of adjacent municipalities in St. Louis county. In order to find answers to the questions I use predominantly information from Internet magazines. As profound studies show the fragmentation itself is not the primary causes of economical and social problems, but power disproportion and the way in which governing is conducting.
Fragmentation of the U.S. Metro Areas
Richard Florida (2015) in his article about metropolitan fragmentation shares data of political scientists Rebecca Hendrick and Yu Shi. The researchers analyzed 51 largest metropolitan areas, with population more than one million, and elaborated the Fragmentation Index in order to check out the level of fragmentation. The Index takes into account “the number and types of local governments on a per capita basis, by land area, and by other factors that reflect the distribution of population between a city and its suburbs” (Florida 2015). According to them, Chicago has the highest level of fragmentation, then Pittsburgh, St. Louis, New York and Philadelphia. The researchers conclude that “fragmented regions tend to be older, industrial regions in the Midwest and eastern portions of the United States” (Florida 2015). Mike Maciag (2013) with reference to David Miller’s metropolitan power diffusion index, which includes the number of governments and distribution of expenditures, prove that “Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill., metro area is the nation’s most fragmented, with Pittsburgh close behind” (Maciag 2013). For instance, St. Louis County comprises 90 municipalities (as to 2015) including a large unincorporated area, and the county does not include the city of St. Louis that is separate, known as “independent city” (Renn 2015b). The population of municipalities is usually small, and Ferguson, well known for its dramatic events, with 22,000 residents is relatively big (Renn 2015b). Some of them have less than 1,000 people (Renn 2015b).
If to consider state fragmentation, Mike Maciag (2013) with reference to The Census Bureau provide the number of 6,968 governments (with special districts) in Illinois, the most “fragmented” state, followed by Pennsylvania (4,905) and Texas (4,856). The highest number of governments relative to population is in rural states such as North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska (Maciag 2013). Mike Maciag (2013) explains that in North Dakota, more than 1,300 civil townships with small amount of people, often represented only by few families that farmed for awhile, spread across the state. In Illinois high level of fragmentation is because of significant amount of special-purpose units (4,000), that were created in the time of “a previous version of the state’s constitution that moved municipalities to create new governments to get around state-mandated debt requirements” (Maciag 2013).
Richard Florida (2015) in his article focuses on commonalities that exist between fragmented metro areas in the USA. In order to check out this, he with Charlotta Mellander elaborate the Fragmentation Index and use key economic, social and demographic variables. Authors of the research stress that correlation between different variables does not mean causation, it shows only “associations between variables”. According to the investigation, more populated and denser metropolitan tend to be more fragmented. Also, there is a correlation with political views, namely fragmented metro areas are more likely to be liberal as analyze of votes for Obama in 2012 shows. Authors suggest that “more liberal places also demand more government” and “many more conservative metros in the South developed later, so they often have more unified structures and fewer municipalities” (Florida 2015). Additionally, correlation shows the relation between Hendrick and Shi’s own Population Sorting Index, that shows distribution of such characteristic of population as education, income, poverty, race and ethnicity, and the Fragmentation Index. With reference to Hendrick, Richard Florida (2015) comes to conclusion by supporting earlier ideas of economist and geographer Charles Tiebout’s that segregated metro areas have more fragmented governments. Author also with reference to Hendrick suggests that relation of fragmentation with income and racial segregation could be explained “by the desire and ability of more affluent groups to separate themselves and demand governmental agencies and services that reflect their needs” (Florida 2015). Interesting find is that metropolitans where whites compose majority are more fragmented than metropolitans where blacks are majority. The case of three most fragmented metros, Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, proves it as the cities have low number of blacks — St. Louis is 18.4 percent black, Chicago 18.2 percent, and Pittsburgh just 8.4 percent. In opposite, “seven of the ten large metros with the least fragmentation—Memphis, Norfolk, Baltimore, D.C., Greensboro, Charlotte and Jacksonville—have sizable African-American populations” (Florida 2015). Another unusual relation found by Richard Florida (2015) and his colleague Charlotta Mellander is high correlation between the way people commute to work and fragmentation, namely in fragmented metro areas people more tend to walk or use public transport than in less fragmented metro areas.
Researchers explain the phenomenon as metropolitan with higher level of walk and public transport use are also bigger and denser, while those where people drive private vehicles are less populated and more sprawling. Dan Silver explained it could be also related with more closer community ties and higher organization form in places where walkability is significant.
Economical and Social Consequences of Metropolitan Fragmentation
Problems related to fragmentation have been discussed for a while, but became a hot topic after the unrest in Ferguson, St. Louis County, Missouri in 2014 and other American cities such as Baltimore and Cleveland. The discussions about unrests and metropolitan fragmentation often go side by side, and some authors refer to fragmentation as causes of unrests. In some articles authors go deeper and explain economical and social problems not by fragmentation, but by racial segregation of American society and consequences of housing discrimination (Coy 2014; Ehrenfreund 2014; Smith 2014).
Some authors stress that metropolitan fragmentation has negative impact on economy as well as on efficiency of whole metropolitan that lead to social tensions (Capps 2014; Badger 2015). In the same time, the dominant discussion in Internet media about fragmentation has lack of focus on American social and cultural settings with deep root in history of spatial and social inequalities, that initially caused the fragmentation and related current socio-economical problems.
Aaron M. Renn (2015b) in his article What's the perfect size for a city? analyzes different views which size of the city is the best and how fragmentation affects efficiency of metropolitan area. He points out that the issue with municipal fragmentation has been discussed for decades, and refers to a book of former mayor David Rusk Cities Without Suburbs, where author provides conclusion that Rust Belt cities in the US were unsuccessful, partly because they did not have opportunity to expand as they were sounded by independent suburbs. Aaron M. Renn (2015b) also cites the observation from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that “often, administrative boundaries between municipalities are based on centuries-old borders that do not correspond to contemporary patterns of human settlement and economic activity”. Aaron M Renn (2015b) presents the OECD calculation that if to double the number of governments for the region with the same population, efficiency will decrease by 6%, and the OECD recommendations to manage this by creating regional coordinating body that could reduce also city sprawl, improve public transport and decrease air pollution. According to the World Bank fragmentation and unregulated urban sprawl is also an issue in the East Asia region.
Emily Badger (2015) in her article, discusses the impact of governmental fragmentation on the whole metropolitan efficiency from the economical perspective relying on data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She stresses that “fragmented government, in short, makes entire metros horribly inefficient” and “it hamstrings their ability to solve collective challenges” (Badger 2015). In addition to maintain a lot of governments is costly. Emily Badger (2015) by comparing the growth, productivity and social mobility of different U.S. metros, stresses that the fragmentation of government is one of the factors that lead metro area to stagnation. Author concludes “the more little governments you have, the less productive the entire local economy is” (Badger 2015). The reason why it is inefficient is that small local governments expense weak budget on keeping police force or fire trucks when they might share it. According to the OECD, metropolitans that have upper level coordination are more successful with less sprawl, bigger population grow and are less polluted (Badger 2015).
Mike Maciag (2013) with reference to Myron Orfield from the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota Law School, provides overlook of other problems related with fragmentation. According to Orfield “divided regions often experience disparity in quality of services” (Maciag 2013). He gives example from education of “long-running statewide battles over education that pit cash-strapped school districts against their more affluent neighbors” (Maciag 2013). According to him, “government fragmentation contributes to racial segregation in urban areas” and “competition among municipalities potentially hinders land use and economic development” for example when there is a battle “between units of government to move shopping centers” (Maciag 2013). He stresses that in contrast, “consolidated governments, such as the city-county systems of Indianapolis and Lexington, Ky., create more effective incentive packages to lure employers” (Maciag 2013).
Kriston Capps (2014) with reference to Better Together, a project sponsored by the Missouri Council for a Better Economy (Better Together 2013) with aim to consolidate governments in St. Louis metro area, stresses that St. Louis spend more than united governments in such cities as Indianapolis and Louisville (Capps 2014). Namely, Indianapolis pays $1,328 per capita for government services, while the St. Louis region spends $1,918 for these services (44 percent more). He concluded that black residents in the St. Louis pay more and get less. With reference to Jim Buford, Better Together board member, Kriston Capps (2014) shows that 49 of 90 municipalities do not have debt, however north part of St. Louis County with mainly small, African American communities, is in debt.
Mike Maciag (2013), that focuses on how local governments are resisting to merge, provides David Miller, director of the Center for Metropolitan Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, thoughts that “centralized metropolitan regions with fewer local governments typically perform best economically, as long as the state affords them a broad range of powers”.
The Case of St. Louis
In 1876 the city of St. Louis in order to stop provide services to the outskirts, separated from St. Louis County. Since 1970 St. Louis has lost almost as much of its population as Detroit what is one of the biggest depopulation in all Rust Belt cities (Smith 2014). As a result, suburbs remained with mostly middle-class people that surround an urban core with poverty, where white people moved out from the city that ended in the 1980s. However since 1980s, blacks begin to left the inner city and settle in suburbs. For instance, demographic of Ferguson, municipality in St. Louis county, changed drastically from 74 percent white and 25 percent black in 1990 to 52 percent black and 45 percent white in 2000, and 67 percent black and 29 percent white in 2010 (Smith 2014). Currently suburbs of St. Louis experience the same problems as urban core previously.
The significant problem is budget fulfillment of small independent municipalities. As taxes are tiny (Badger 2015). As a result, towns rely on court fees, and police departments on traffic tickets and petty fines (Capps 2014; Smith 2014; Badger 2015). Such conditions are conventional for everyday life of residents of such places as Ferguson where they feel insulted and antagonized by local authority (Capps 2014; Smith 2014; Badger 2015). In addition, the most of governments have own police departments, and small elected governments that usually do not represent drastic demographic change that happened in last 20-30 years (Renn 2015b). As a result “the US Justice Department has specifically accused Ferguson of using its police department as a revenue-raising arm, with a racial bias” (Renn 2015b).
Jeff Smith (2014) and Max Ehrenfreund (2014) in his articles with reference to St. Louis nonprofit organization Better Together, stresses that one-quarter of budget of Ferguson is fulfilled from court fees, and some adjacent towns it is even more, close to 50 percent. Police force, that is primarily white, rely on traffic citation revenue, is particularly strict to blacks in the way that numbers of black arrested people is much higher than white. Jeff Smith (2014) with reference to report from Missouri’s attorney provides following numbers “in Ferguson last year (2013), 86 percent of stops, 92 percent of searches and 93 percent of arrests were of black people — despite the fact that police officers were far less likely to find contraband on black drivers (22 percent versus 34 percent of whites)”.
According to Jeff Smith (2014), in Ferguson majority of black has white power structure, namely (as to 2013) “white mayor; a school board with six white members and one Hispanic, which recently suspended a highly regarded young black superintendent who then resigned; a City Council with just one black member; and a 6 percent black police force.” Jeff Smith (2014) and also Peter Coy (2014) suggest that the drastic change of racial composition in suburbs towns create a tensions. Peter Coy (2014) with reference to historian Clarence Lang, explains the tax base decrease when blacks moved into a town and whites moved out, and “blacks feel cheated that the amenities they came for quickly disappear”. The racial composition of Ferguson changed so quickly that the racial structure of government and police force doesn’t match that of the population. Jeff Smith (2014) explains such situation, that is also common for many other towns of North St. Louis County and inner-ring suburbs nationally, by higher longtime consolidation of white residents, especially in the City Council and school boards, in spite of racial and income changes in town that happened in last decades. In contrast in St. Louis city blacks have “methodically build political power” and elected a black mayor in 1993. Some important city institutions had also Afro-Americans in its composition. Churches, Democratic ward organizations an other civic institutions helped to consolidate black for voting. However, this is not in the case of St. Louis suburbs. Peter Coy (2014) with reference to historian Clarence Lang claims that the power disproportion “was a key factor in the tense race relations that contributed to the riots and, perhaps, the shooting itself”.
Peter Coy (2014) in his article with reference to Colin Gordon and Robert Cohn investigation conclude that fragmentation is not the main causes of events in Ferguson, but is only a part of more complicated conditions of St. Louis area. Namely, the problem lies in inequitable development, result of broader American urban dicey with depopulation, deindustrialization, and segregation, what Colin Gordon shows on the maps with information about changes in race, income, poverty, municipal zoning and urban renewal projects since 1940 (Gordon. Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the American city). Thus, fragmentation per se and economical problems are not causes of social tensions in suburban towns, but power disproportion and abuse of power by white.
Peter Coy (2014) explains the root of problem is back to 1876 when so known “great divorce” of St. Louis downtown and outskirts happened. In this time it was beneficial for the city, as it was thriving. Because of separation through time city could not expand by annexation, and “people who moved to then-rural St. Louis County, which was largely unincorporated, formed the patchwork of municipalities that exists to this day”. In addition “many of those small communities tried to keep blacks out with restrictive covenants on deeds”.
Why Fragmentation Should not be the Central Issue
Aaron M. Renn (2015b) points out, it could be supposed that the fragmentation play a role in creation such conditions that led to economical problems and social tensions. As we see from the articles above some authors focus more on fragmentation as a cause of economical and social tensions, other - on racial and income segregation. He stresses it is not clear if fragmentation causes economical problems of whole metro area, and that mergence of small municipalities will solve all problems related to fragmentation (Renn 2015b). According to Aaron M. Renn (2015b), focus should be more on the way of governing and on problems of existing governance models.
Richard Florida (2015) in his with Charlotta Mellander research did not find evidences that could support statement of negative effect of fragmentation on economy. He points out “the Fragmentation Index is positively associated with high wages (.27) and even more so with the concentration of high-tech industry (.35)” (Florida 2015). According to them, although fragmentation may be inefficient and duplicative, it does not have negative impact on local economic growth. As results of comparison show in fact the opposite is true (Florida 2015). Mike Maciag (2013) with reference to David Miller claims that fragmented metro area “doesn’t mean regions can’t successfully pursue ambitious projects, especially with involvement from nonprofits and the business community”. He adds that “this type of alliance has contributed to Pittsburgh’s revival” (Maciag 2013).
Finally, Aaron M. Renn (2015b) points out that the perfect size of local governments is unknown. He cites from the OECD report: “Even if policymakers try to reorganize local governments according to functional relations within urban agglomerations, it is often difficult to identify boundaries between functionally integrated areas”. He concludes that “nobody really knows where to draw the lines” (Renn 2015b). Aaron M. Renn (2015b) provides example of opposite to fragmentation process of Toronto amalgamation in 2010, when suburbs were incorporated to jurisdiction of city with negative consequences. Namely, public transport, streetcars and bike infrastructure was deteriorated as result of mayor politics of suburban politician Rob Ford (Renn 2015b). As a result, he stressed in the article What's the perfect size for a city? no one know what is the perfect size of local government (Renn 2015b). Author is confident that the primary problem is more related to the existing governance models and not to fragmentation per se (Renn 2015b).
Discussions about mergence of St. Louis city with St. Louis county exist for decades (Capps 2014). Some authors (Capps 2014) and the NGOs, such as Better Together (Better Together 2013) suggest that mergence is a way to solve the problem with municipal budget and to rise efficiency of whole metro area. Kriston Capps (2013) in his article exemplify the Unigov, consolidated regional government that was set up by mergence of Indianapolis and Marion County in the 1960s, as a model. He explains how to merge in effective way. Via the vote municipal consolidation is more likely to fail, as “it would in all likelihood require the county's municipal governments to vote themselves out of existence” and only 27 of the 105 merger referendums across the USA were successful (Capps 2013). Kriston Capps (2013) suggests the process of mergence should be conducted by state authority as with using the statewide ballot or state legislature it will avoid the micro-governments “frictions”. Although author is aware that Unigov was used to keep Republican control of Indianapolis, and that it only enhanced the city’s racial inequities, he is convinced that consolidation will decrease “structural barriers that prevent black residents in St. Louis County from succeeding” (Capps 2013).
However, there are thoughts that show mergence could not be a solution. Aaron M. Renn (2015b) considers Richard Florida idea about amalgamation, creating one organization, “mother of all organizations”, that will cover all small agencies, as not appropriate way. Aaron M. Renn (2015b) stresses amalgamation does not mean metropolis will succeed, but will rather cause downsides. According to author, “people living in cities and those in their suburbs often have different values, priorities and even a different culture” (Renn 2015b). And it is not good idea to put them into one “governmental box”, as Aaron M. Renn call it. Aaron M. Renn (2015b) points out that in Ferguson there is underrepresentation in government, and with changes related to amalgamation disproportion will be even bigger, as “St Louis County plus the city of St Louis together are about 70% white”. With reference to University of Louisville professors Hank Savitch and Ronald Vogel, Aaron M. Renn (2015b) points out that votes from former suburban and unincorporated areas residents for the government of the city, shift “the locus of control from urban to suburban residents”.
Aaron M. Renn (2015a) in his other article The Myths of Municipal Mergers stresses that in fact many consolidations that happened, were not consolidation at all. From his point of view in well known case of consolidation “Unigov” in Indianapolis “virtually none of the existing municipalities in the county were legally eliminated during consolidation”. In the end police and fire departments, and also 11 school districts were not consolidated (Renn 2015a). The same situation is in Louisville, Kentucky. According to Aaron M. Renn (2015a) tax sharing is also limited as it is in Nashville/Davidson County and also in Louisville, where there is separate “urban services district” with a higher tax rate.
In addition there are evidences that shows the cost savings will not happened. Aaron M. Renn (2015a) provides an example of Indianapolis’ final consolidation of police departments in 2007, when it was supposed to save $8.8 million per year. With reference to audit by the firm KSM Consulting, Aaron M. Renn (2015a) states that “savings were “negligible”. He explains that analogy of consolidation is taken from corporations, but it does not work (Renn 2015a). In case of corporation “they can pare costs by eliminating redundancy and harmonizing salaries” (Renn 2015a). However, “in the public sector, nobody is likely to lose his job, and salaries tend to be harmonized to the high water mark” (Renn 2015a). Other researcher Justin Marlowe (2013) has the same opinion about economical ineffectiveness of mergence. He focuses on “10 true city-city consolidations over the past 30 years”, when usually “two rural municipalities of fewer than 2,500 people that merged to form a new entity” (Marlowe 2013). Justin Marlowe (2013) by use of the Census data and interviews with experts stresses the consolidation affects to taxes and spending is not clear, and in most cases taxes and spendings have increased. He concludes that “consolidation is hard work, and the benefits of it are not yet well understood” and “the political benefits are much more obvious than the chance for lower taxes” (Marlowe 2013).
Finally, Aaron M. Renn (2015a) thinks that “expansive or consolidated governments are often less responsive to citizen and neighborhood needs”, and the interest of richer citizens and corporate players will be more represented. However, Justin Marlowe (2013) with reference to interview with some politicians says that they have better idea what are the needs of residents when municipalities are consolidated.
The is one more factor that makes mergence of St. Louis city and county not relevant any more for the city. From the recent years St. Louis city is growing and suburbs are experiencing those problems that urban core had previously (Renn 2015a).
Beside mergence of St. Louis and St. Louis county, there are discussion about consolidation of small municipalities with adjacent one which experienced the same problems with budgets (Smith 2014). According to Jeff Smith (2014), an assistant professor of urban policy at the New School and a former Missouri state senator from St. Louis, “consolidation would help strapped North County communities avoid using such a high percentage of their resources for expensive public safety overhead, such as fire trucks”. Jeff Smith (2014) is convinced that consolidation will give more power to black citizens of Ferguson as it was in the case of St. Louis city where “size partly facilitates broader coalitions and alliances”. He think that consolidation will also “increase political talent pool”, that is new leaders with bigger ambition will be interested in running bigger municipality (Smith 2014).
However, the process of consolidation is complicated. Mike Maciag (2013) with reference to the 2012 Census of Governments provides an information about failed consolidations in American metropolitan areas. In 2012 there was 89,004 general and special-purpose local governments across the U.S. and 89,476 five years prior, that is the difference is not significant (Maciag 2013). Mike Maciag (2013) with reference to O’Neill explains that officials are more likely to cooperate in order to solve mutual problems than to merge, for instance “to share services to curb inefficiencies, an attractive option for economic development, transportation and other large-scale initiatives”. Thus, even if “consolidation cuts costs and allows officials to better coordinate efforts”, citizens are often “emotionally attached to their local governments”, and as a result in public referenda about consolidation residents tend to vote against consolidation (Maciag 2013).
Aaron M. Renn (2015a) concludes that mergence and consolidation of county and city, or small municipalities with adjacent one will not resolve racial and other problems in St. Louis region. However, the main problem with abuse of low-income and minority residents (in meaning who have lack of power) by “fiefdoms” will end (Renn 2015a).
Conclusions
The effect of metropolitan fragmentation on economic as well as social problems is unclear. Fragmentation could be considered as phenomenon that causes negative economic and social conditions. However the root of those problems lies not in fragmentation per se, but in deep social and spatial inequalities of the American society with its roots in history. And they are rather causes of fragmentation, not opposite. Peter Coy (2013) points out, although evident racism is mostly gone, however the legacy of past racist practices are still notable, and present-day minority group suffer. For instance such housing discrimination practice as redlining, now illegal, when “lenders marked out certain neighborhoods as unsuited to black buyers” was common technique for keeping out blacks (Coy 2014). Rothwell and Massey (2010, 1141) stress that “along with potential property right infringements, zoning has also been criticized as a means to promote social and economic segregation through exclusion”. By exclusionary zoning practices such as maximum density requirements high housing costs was maintained, that low income people were excluded from the community (Rothwell and Massey 2010, 1141).
Making region less fragmented by mergence of city and suburbs is complicated process, and benefits of its are unclear. However, consolidation of adjacent municipalities with similar issues, as it is relevant for St. Louis county, could resolve some problems with budget debt. The one is sure, that the attention of academics, politicians, officials, policy makers, entrepreneurs and residents should be focused more on the way governing is conducting, and also on causes that lead to racial and income segregation. Although consolidation of different administrative entities is hard and complicated process, it is the easiest way to solve the economic problems of small municipalities, as segregation and racial problems are much more difficult to solve.
References
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