The University of Missouri–St. Louis Community Partnership Project will present, as part of their Seminar Series, “One Year Later: Lessons from the Passage of Prop A” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. April 6 in the J.C. Penney Conference Center.

The surprise approval of this public transportation tax changed the course of public transit in St. Louis. The seminar will explore the factors for its success and implications for the future.

On April 6, 2010, the voters of St. Louis County approved a one half-cent sales tax for public transportation with a 63 percent majority. Two years earlier a similar initiative had lost with 48 percent of the vote. Given that the economy was in a recession, unemployment was high, and the anti-tax Tea Party movement was rising across the nation, the large majority for Prop A was unexpected.

The seminar series discusses the factors that were responsible for Prop A’s success, what roles key stakeholders and civic organizations played, and what lessons have been learned for future tax initiative campaigns and civic coalitions.

Todd Swanstrom, the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor in Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration at UMSL, and David Kimball, associate professor of political science at UMSL, will share their research study of the 2010 initiative. Eddie Roth with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will lead a panel discussion of representatives involved in the campaign.

A reception will follow the event. The J.C. Penney Conference Center is located on UMSL’s North Campus and is accessible by the UMSL North MetroLink Station. Free parking is available in Lot C.

The seminar is free, however registrations are required. E-mail info@cmt-stl.org to register. For more information call 314-516-6392 or visit umslce.org/index.php/seminar-series.

The event is sponsored by the UMSL Division of Continuing Education, the Des Lee Collaborative Visiion and Citizens for Modern Transit.