Editorial: Want fewer aldermen? Here's your chance. : Stltoday

Editorial: Want fewer aldermen? Here's your chance. : Stltoday

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At the bottom of what will be a very long ballot on Nov. 6, St. Louis city voters will find Proposition R.
If you think that 28 is too many aldermen, Prop R (for Reduce) is your chance to do something about it. The measure, which needs a 60 percent majority to pass, would amend the City Charter to cut the number of aldermen in half.

“The first thing out of the box, whenever we talk about amending the charter to make government more efficient, people say, ‘Why don’t you cut the number of aldermen first?’” said Alderman Phyllis Young, D-7th Ward, who sponsored the legislation that put the measure on the ballot.

“Maybe, if we pass this, we can go onto other things,” Ms. Young said.

Ms. Young’s Board Bill 31 passed last July by a 3-to-1 margin. The reduction would not take place until 2023, after ward boundaries are redrawn following the 2020 Census. It can be assumed that many, if not most, of the current aldermen will have moved on by then.