A new section of the website for the Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis features a wealth of data on the St. Louis metropolitan region. And that collection will continue to grow with regular additions.

The new Governance section in the center’s online publication, Metropolitan Mirror: Facts and Trends Reflecting the Metropolitan Region, went live this week. It presents a variety of municipal and regional documents, including city budgets, charters and other resources.

Initial data and reports will focus on the government structure in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County and digital versions of historic government documents, including the 1888 publication “The Scheme of Separation between St. Louis City and County.” The section will later expand to include information about municipal and special district issues in the St. Louis metropolitan region.

Metropolitan Mirror was created by the Public Policy Research Center as an information resource to provide data and reports on a wide variety of aspects that characterize the St. Louis area. The data and analysis range in geographic scope from the entire 16-county St. Louis metropolitan region to specific St. Louis neighborhoods. The publication focuses on a variety of issues including demographics, economic development, housing and foreclosures, evaluation and transportation.

Mark Tranel, director of the PPRC, said the goal of the Metropolitan Mirror is to provide useful information to elected officials, administrators in public and nonprofit agencies, and other civic leaders. The publication will continually expand and evolve with plans to post new information at least monthly and soon even more frequently, he said.

“Our reports have centered on issues related to foreclosure, but MM has a much larger scope,” Tranel said. “Our aim is to delve into a broad range of issues affecting the region, and we will be limited only by the available data.”

More information:
pprc.umsl.edu/