So I accidentally caught an episode of "Truck Stop Missouri"… (St. Louis: crime, living)

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by MoSouthernMan

I hate to say it, but it seems most on the west and east coast if they don't associate Missouri with St. Louis and the Arch, they tend to associate it with Rednecks, bigots, white trash, trailer parks and meth.

Unfortunately a lot also associate St. Louis with Detroit-esque urban blight and crime.

[MoSouthernMan]

Originally Posted by MUTGR

Unfortunately a lot also associate St. Louis with Detroit-esque urban blight and crime.

Agree! I personally don't like living in big cities. I wish I could live in far southern Missouri in a Dixie area of the state.

St. Louis is dangerous in many areas and yes many buildings are falling apart. Parts of the city look like the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin or Dresden.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by MoSouthernMan

Agree! I personally don't like living in big cities. I wish I could live in far southern Missouri in a Dixie area of the state.

St. Louis is dangerous in many areas and yes many buildings are falling apart. Parts of the city look like the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin or Dresden.

It's not completely fair, but that perception is out there and certainly parts of the city are blighted and parts experience a lot of crime.

[MoSouthernMan]

Originally Posted by MUTGR

It's not completely fair, but that perception is out there and certainly parts of the city are blighted and parts experience a lot of crime.

True. I don't feel safe in the city at all unless it's somewhere like "The Hill" as South City is now not to good as well. The city overall is just a trash pit.

[Flyover_Country]

Originally Posted by MUTGR

It's not completely fair, but that perception is out there and certainly parts of the city are blighted and parts experience a lot of crime.

When I moved to the area in 1990, St. Louis really was a pit on the order of Detroit or Gary, Indiana. You had to go through a huge amount of dirty, nasty slums to get to the handful of things downtown worth going to, such as (the old) Busch Stadium, the Arena, Union Station, or the Arch. The 1980s were about the lowest point in the city's history as the productive citizens had largely all left for West County and the crack-fueled gangs ran rampant. In my opinion, the time when the city started to pick itself out of the slump was in the mid-90s when the three current arenas were starting to be built (Kiel Center, Trans World Dome, and the new Busch Stadium). The downtown is now much cleaner and it looks a little more vital when you drive in on I-44, I-64, or I-70 with fewer obviously abandoned buildings and such. It still has a long way to go to match somewhere like Kansas City that never had the boom-and-bust cycle that St. Louis did, but they are heading slowly in that direction.

[STLviaMSP]

"True. I don't feel safe in the city at all unless it's somewhere like "The Hill" as South City is now not to good as well. The city overall is just a trash pit."

???

Well, someone never gets out, does he? Soulard? Lafayette Square? Midtown? Wash Ave? Shaw? FPSE? TGE? TGS? Dogtown? Old North? Lindenwood Park? St. Louis Hills? Holly Hills? Bevo? Skinker Debaliviere? Wydown? Fox Park? Benton Park? Cherokee? That, without even trying. And while KC has plenty going for it, it ultimately pales next to STL.

[MoSouthernMan]

Originally Posted by STLviaMSP

"True. I don't feel safe in the city at all unless it's somewhere like "The Hill" as South City is now not to good as well. The city overall is just a trash pit."

???

Well, someone never gets out, does he? Soulard? Lafayette Square? Midtown? Wash Ave? Shaw? FPSE? TGE? TGS? Dogtown? Old North? Lindenwood Park? St. Louis Hills? Holly Hills? Bevo? Skinker Debaliviere? Wydown? Fox Park? Benton Park? Cherokee? That, without even trying. And while KC has plenty going for it, it ultimately pales next to STL.

Most of those places you just named have been having issues with crimes the last few years. Holly Hills for example you would hear about shootings, Wash Ave has issues too etc.

While I have a conceal carry permit I still will not go into most places in the city. It's just not worth taking a chance being a victim. Other than sportings events I stay clear of the city.

[STLviaMSP]

^ Paranoid! Unless you're a poor black male under 25 and somehow involved in gangs/drugs, your likelihood of being the victim of a violent crime is extremely low.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

The 1980s were about the lowest point in the city's history as the productive citizens had largely all left for West County and the crack-fueled gangs ran rampant.

The people fleeing the city by 1980 were more likely moving to North County, South County and St. Charles.

I disagree slightly, perhaps because I've lived here longer. The low point had to be in the early to mid 1970's.

[stepka]

Originally Posted by mes_00

My husband and I have been DVRing episodes of Truck Stop Missouri.

IMO it gives everyone in Missouri a bad reputation as a bunch of backwater, uneducated, rednecks. Just my two cents.

Reminds me of the time I had a conversation with a Canadian woman in New Zealand (now there's 15 min I'll never get back) and when I told her I am from MO, she said, "Oh, you're those ones they make jokes about!" I said , and she said, "You know, like Pollack jokes only dumber and more redneck." Well I may be from MO but at least I'd never be rude enough to say such a thing to anyone but this one went on about the US in general until I got sick of her and walked off.