>Baltimore City and St. Louis are the only cities in the country not part of a surrounding county and not counties in and of themselves
>This fragmentation results in some stunning inefficiencies that have had a profoundly negative impact on the quality of life for residents in the St. Louis region. For example, not only do St. Louis County and City compete against each other for economic development, so do the 90 different municipalities. This results in massive corporate subsidies as municipalities try to outdo each other in order to attract businesses.
Yes, and no. In general in the most overview sense, Baltimore City has governing authority of a county, it is effectively a county jurisdiction.
However, Baltimore City actually has LESS autonomy over a variety of things than any other of the several cities I have previously lived in (even those which were in counties) -- the state government in Annapolis controls so many things that I'm used to being controlled much more at municipal level in other cities I've lived in. From liquor licenses, to schools, to the police department, many decisions are made at the state government legislative level. (The Baltimore City council has pretty much NO authority over the police at all -- it's all the state government in Annapolis).
I don't think this is necessarily related to Baltimore City being an independent county-level jurisdiction (although it might be). I think there are a variety of historical factors, stretching back to colonial times (when the Maryland colonial elites were in Annapolis, and never intended Baltimore to be a big city or power center at all, and viewed Baltimore's growth as a threat to their power), to Civil War times (the majority of Maryland, and Baltimore, (white of course) elites sympathized with the confederacy, but the union federal government basically took control of the MD state government -- cause if Maryland went confederacy, DC would be surrounded -- and made sure that confederate-sympathizing Baltimore had limited autonomy), to more recent times (white flight, racism and white supremacy, white people don't believe majority-Black Baltimore can be trusted to run itself).
Correct, cities in Virginia are independent [1]. Falls Church, for example, is an independent city, and has the governing power of a county, but is not in and of itself a "county" [2].
This is why so many articles pick up on "the most dangerous cities" and St. Louis leads the pack but most of these "news" articles are oblivious to the city/county division. Most of the residents who would call themselves St. Louisans do not live in the city of St. Louis but do live in one of the 90 municipalities within St. Louis county--as I do. However, most of the crime statistics come within only the much smaller city limits.
There is a movement now to combine the city with the county which would make St. Louis the ninth largest city in America. Crime statistics, obviously, would no longer be headline "news" for tabloid journalism.
They should be used to lift up communities that aren't doing well but then they should stop. For example, places New York that are already doing well should never offer subsidies.
I guess this should be a general principle. Give subsidies only to entities who need them and take them away once things are better,.
>This fragmentation results in some stunning inefficiencies that have had a profoundly negative impact on the quality of life for residents in the St. Louis region. For example, not only do St. Louis County and City compete against each other for economic development, so do the 90 different municipalities. This results in massive corporate subsidies as municipalities try to outdo each other in order to attract businesses.
http://www.cphabaltimore.org/2019/03/a-merger-between-baltim...