Decharter East St. Louis???

That's what a reader suggests in her comment in response to yesterday's post, "CeaseFunding for CeaseFire?": The North Coast said... Tom, Blago could scarcely cut CeaseFire funding for St.Louis. St. Louis is in the state of Missouri (pronounced "misery"), outside his jurisdiction. This is Gov. Blunt's turf. I believe you mean East St. Louis, a place that has devolved to a ghetto village of fewer than 20,000 people, and that hasn't been able to pay its police or firefighters on a regular basis since 1970, when my family and I sat on the River Queen boat eating dinner and watched a 7-story warehouse go from having a little fire in the basement to being totally involved in flames before the E. St. Louis fire dept responded. I guess Blago figures it would be a better idea to fund what passes for the local police dept before funding useless groups like Ceasefire. However, a better idea would be to just de-charter East St. Louis and relocate its few remaining denizens either to other municipalities or to the state lockup, where most of them belong. We are talking about a place that doesn't even have street signs, and where buildings burn to the ground because the fire dept doesn't respond, because they haven't gotten their paychecks weekly and won't show for work until they do. To which I respond: Yes, of course. Saying "St. Louis, Illinois" is just easier. Few of us specify "South Beloit," but that is its proper name. Your otherwise interesting comment quickly devolved into a weird assumption that most residents of East St. Louis are criminals, and that the governor can ignore both the Illinois and U.S. constitutions. In writing that it would be a good idea "relocate its few remaining denizens either to other municipalities or to the state lockup, where most of them belong," you ignore the Constitution of the United States of America. Are you suggesting a massive use of eminent domain, to force the residents of East St. Louis (including property owners) to be relocated? The Soviet Union used that tactic successfully for decades. Thanks again for pointing out to us that Blagojevich's powers are limited to the State of Illinois. Now, had I written "St. Louis, Missouri," your point would have spurred me to write a correction.