• What We Do
  • Conservation Initiatives
  • Federal Programs
  • TPL Services
    • Conservation Finance
    • Conservation Transactions
    • Conservation Vision
    • Park Design & Development
  • Climate Conservation Program
  • Working With TPL

 

St. Louis Metro Region--The Clean Water, Safe Parks

$23.8 Million Annual Sales Tax and Special Park District Referendum Historic Park District Campaign Wins in Two States

"An undertaking the size of Proposition C requires coordination and cooperation across party and jurisdictional lines - not to mention a lot of hard work. Fortunately, we had the help of the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit with national expertise managing land conservation funding campaigns. TPL studied the issues, understood the challenges, and helped us communicate the benefits of the regional park districts to voters throughout the St. Louis metro region." -- Former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth, Chair, St. Louis 2004

Two states, four counties, and one city all working together to create and fund joint regional park districts over a span of 40 miles on both sides of the Mississippi. Sound ambitious? Organizers of Proposition C in the St. Louis metro region thought so too, but it didn't deter them from trying. These local leaders envisioned two new regional park districts - one in Illinois, one in Missouri - that would work together using funds from a dedicated sales tax to create an interconnected park and open space system, complete with hiking and biking trails. The Confluence Greenway, a project that demonstrates the benefits of a regional park system, will stretch from the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to Pere Marquette State Park which overlooks the Illinois River's confluence with the Mississippi.

Proposition C was born out of the St. Louis 2004 effort, a series of civic projects undertaken to celebrate the bicentennial of the start of the Lewis and Clark expedition and the anniversary of the 1904 World's Fair. An extensive process of opinion polls, workshops, and public meetings was undertaken to determine the focus of the initiative. On the parks front, nearly everyone interviewed expressed their hope for safe neighborhood parks, green space, places to walk and ride bicycles, access to rivers and streams, and clean water. The 2004 Parks and Open Space Task Force, a committee of citizens, community leaders, and park professionals, conceived of legislation for parks and open space preservation, especially along rivers, and the formation of Gateway Parks and Trails 2004, a small nonprofit organization, with responsibility for producing a conceptual regional parks and open space plan.

In November 2000, after years of discussion, deliberation, and debate, the vision was realized: voters in 4 counties and the City of St. Louis approved Prop C, the Clean Water, Safe Parks and Community Trails initiative. Half the money raised - about $10 million a year in Missouri and $1.5 million a year in Illinois - is being used for regional parks and trails, administered through two new park districts. The other half of the money is returned to the counties and municipalities from which it is generated, although each state has slightly different local government distribution formulas.

What was the Trust for Public Land's role in this unique and complicated endeavor? From 1997 to November 2000, TPL helped local community leaders with polling, strategy, measure design, and communications. Now that the park district has been created, TPL continues to work with the local communities to help implement their programs and acquire targeted lands. Here's a review of TPL's participation in Prop C.

• Polling. TPL's role began with regional city and county polling that tested a variety of taxing vehicles and determined the public's park and open space priorities. Results demonstrated the strongest public support for a sales tax and for programs that improve water quality, provide community trails and wildlife habitat, repair existing parks, and provide public access to natural areas. From this polling came the measure's title: the Clean Water, Safe Parks and Community Trails initiative.
• Legislation. In order to create two new regional park districts with new taxing authority, St. Louis 2004 shepherded legislation through both the Missouri and Illinois Legislatures in 1999. TPL helped draft this legislation, which required that every eligible jurisdiction use uniform ballot title and summary.
• Community Organizing. Once legislation passed both state houses, TPL briefed community leaders in both states regarding public attitudes on open space preservation and the level of local support for a new open space district and tax.
• Communications. TPL oversaw all advertising efforts, both print and broadcast. Direct mail was targeted to voters in each county, highlighting local supporters and local park projects. Television spots aired for several weeks on stations in the St. Louis media market; radio ads aired on selective stations.
• Implementation. TPL is the land acquisition specialist partner in the Confluence Greenway Project, a demonstration project for the referendum. Now that the park district has been created, TPL will continue to work with and offer its services to the local communities to help implement their programs and acquire targeted lands.

Ambitious and untested, Proposition C raised some eyebrows along the way. Critics charged that the measure would create a new level of bureaucracy, unaccountable to voters, and some small cities worried they wouldn't get their fair share of the revenues. A well-designed measure and well-organized campaign allayed voters' concerns: Prop C won handily throughout the metro region, including landslides in St. Louis County (70 percent) and the city of St. Louis (75 percent).

Although its not the first measure to create a special district in the St. Louis area, Prop C breaks new ground. The district represents five jurisdictions and more than 80 percent of the metropolitan area's residents - much larger than the standard St. Louis city/St. Louis County special district model. Some believe that this size and the sweeping nature of the park project can in turn foster a sense of unity at the regional level. According to E. Terrence Jones, Professor of political science at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, Proposition C has implications far beyond other special districts: "It has the potential to build regional identity, to make more citizens think of their bonds with the entire area and not just their ties to individual neighborhoods or subdivisions. Its most likely signature project, the Confluence Greenway, will draw attention and activity back to the waterways that bind us all, the historic reason for our location and the common geographic thread among us."

This shared vision for the region coupled with the can-do spirit of its supporters make the St. Louis 2004 initiative a model for the country. The initiative was headed by St. Louis 2004 President Peter Sortino, who directed the unprecedented legislative and campaign efforts. Also leading the way were John Danforth, former U.S. Senator and Chair of St. Louis 2004 and Dr. Peter Raven, Campaign Co-Chair and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Prop C benefited from broad community support from such St. Louisans as Bob Costas and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, environmental groups, the labor community, and many large businesses. Gateway Parks and Trails 2004, led by Robert Hall, coordinated citizen participation during the campaign.