Lawsuit Raises Question

I’ve asked City Counselor Patricia Hageman to follow an interesting new lawsuit filed against St. Louis County’s Productive Living Board by Project Workshop, a non-profit agency in the City that hires people with developmental disabilities.

Project Workshop officials note in their filing that 40 percent of their employee-clients are county residents. Because of that, they ask that the Productive Living Board, which administers a $16 million budget funded by property taxes, treat the City-based operation the same way it treats similar groups in the county.

I am not going to comment on the merits of the lawsuit, but I certainly sympathize with the City plaintiffs. Many City-based organizations that serve or advise people with disabilities, chronically homeless people, and other disadvantaged populations report that substantial percentages of their clients are from the county.

Is there any compelling reason why people who live in the suburbs should not participate in important programs that give their neighbors a hand up to self-sufficiency?