Louisville's Metro government merger proves to be a success.(city and county merge )

Metropolitan government merger ideas are bubbling up from Buffalo to Kansas City to Fresno. Small wonder then that Louisville, Ky., its city and county combined last year after decades of foiled consolidation bids, has suddenly emerged as the prime national laboratory of what 21st-century-style government merger can portend.

So far the result is highly positive, argues Jerry Abramson, former mayor of the City of Louisville, prime advocate for the merger and now mayor of the merged city and county:

"We've had a coming together under an umbrella called 'Community.' (The) merger's energized us with new self-esteem, belief in ourselves." Gone, says Abramson, are the years spent "pulling apart, disagreeing, playing one-upsmanship games." Now that the entire community is "on the same page," …