“Team Four” Architect to Take Leadership Role at Metro?

Following today’s resignation of Larry Salci as head of Metro, the region’s public transportation system, speculation has quickly grown about who will replace him. Several sources say Robert Baer, former head of United Van Lines, has been offered the job. And the Arch City Chronicle reports that a controversial former St. Louis alderman may be given the Number 2 spot:

Serving as Baer’s top lieutenant will be former alderman John Roach. Roach is said to have the confidence of the Illinois component of the Metro Board, as he was deeply involved in the expansion of Metrolink to the East side. Roach also served on the National Commission on Intermodal Transortation during the Clinton administration.

Many older African-American politicos also know Roach as one of two aldermen, the other one being Richard Gephardt, who introduced legislation back in the 1970s to effectively kill north St. Louis in order to save south St. Louis.

Click to enlarge this 1975 article

From the August 7, 1975 edition of the St. Louis American:

John G. Roach, an original proponent of the so-called “Team Four Plan,” has resigned as Alderman from the Twenty-Eighth Ward to become the first director of the Community Development Agency…

Known as one of the “Young Turk” faction of the Board, Roach, along with Alderman Richard A. Gerhardt (sic) of the 14th Ward, proposed an early version of what is now known as the “Team Four Plan” in the fall of 1973. The Bills, numbered 19 and 20 provided for the preservation of 74,000 buildings in South St. Louis which is predominantly white, and the demolition of 70,100 in North St. Louis, which is predominantly black.

Since that time, the plan to cut off services to the city’s north side and allow that section to die was turned over to the Team Four consulting firm. More recently, the plan has been published and opposition to it has mounted.

Roach and Gephardt’s 1973 bills called north St. Louis “an insignificant residential area not worthy of special maintenance effort.”

It will be interesting to see if St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay supports Roach’s new appointment.