St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer joins Erik and Jacob to take stock of downtown's momentum — and confront the city's toughest structural questions.

Six months after calling on the business community to plant a flag downtown, Mayor Spencer returns to the Arch City Report to assess what's changed. With the Rams settlement bill moving through the Board of Aldermen — potentially allocating $55 million for downtown redevelopment, the riverfront, and North City — Spencer breaks down exactly how those dollars would be deployed and what private matching investment could follow.

But the conversation quickly turns to the harder questions: a state-appointed police board demanding a 22% pay raise with 24-hour notice, the strain on city services from a declining tax base, and whether St. Louis can realistically meet all of its pressing needs without a bigger structural fix. Is it finally time for a serious conversation about city-county merger?

Topics covered:

• Downtown development progress — Millennium site, Ballpark Village Phase 3, AT&T Tower, and Mansion House
• How the $55M in Rams settlement funds would be allocated across downtown, the riverfront, and North City
• The city's role as facilitator vs. doer in redevelopment
• The breakdown with the state police board and the battle over officer pay and benefits
• The case for regionalizing government functions — and whether opposition to merger is softening

Arch City Report is sponsored by Maryville University and Cass Commercial Bank.