St Louis Doesn't Suck (Kansas City, St. Louis: middle-class, homes, neighborhood)

[billiken]

Originally Posted by orangefuscia

you can make it work with public schools - you might have to work a little harder as a parent but its doable.

SLPS student earns perfect ACT score - St. Louis American: Local News

You realize that Metro is arguably the best HS in the state, right? Nobody should be all that shocked that one of their students had a perfect score on the ACT.

[orangefuscia]

Originally Posted by billiken

You realize that Metro is arguably the best HS in the state, right? Nobody should be all that shocked that one of their students had a perfect score on the ACT.

But students do have to test into the school, correct? And still its a testament that you can raise a kid in the city. People just assume your dooming your kid to failure if you put them into public schools. I'm just saying with the right parenting you can make a huge difference. At least that's my thinking and I wasn't aware that Metro was that highly ranked, I'm originally from Pittsburgh

[flynavyj]

The right parenting, the right faculty, and the right student can make any school work. If you remove any one of those things from the equation, and the likely hood for that student's success drops off dramatically.

If I felt that any of the above were lacking, i'd compensate the best I could...Parents have the ability to control two of the three things mentioned above. You can hope your kid is a stellar student, but the child needs to want that for his or herself. Essentially, if I was a betting man, i'd just want to stack the odds in my favor.

[zoomzoom3]

I would tend to disagree. Traffic in STL is horrendous to the point where I'd almost rather put up with a commute in Chicago or LA instead. The weather is awful. The job market is awful. Those are the worst things in my opinion. All is not lost though, the place has a great baseball team, good food, and very good microbreweries.

[aragx6]

^This makes me think you've never commuted daily in Chicago or LA. I have, and they're truly not even in the same ballpark. If you can avoid 270 as well as 70 out in St. Charles it's really not that bad at all.

And complaining about the job market here when you now live in Florida seems odd to me -- everyone I knew who moved down there has come back because jobs are so scarce -- that is, of course, if they're not heinously underwater on their house as many people are.

[gotigers123]

Depends on the person....

For me (young professional, well-educated, into arts/culture/food/nightlife), St Louis does in fact suck. I was born and raised there and have thankfully moved on to greener pastures.

For a young family with a household income of less than six figures and a desire to live the suburban life, St Louis wouldn't suck at all. They could easily send their kids to a good public school, own a nice affordable home, and live in a safe environment.

The problem that St Louis faces moving forward is that it does not attract more people like myself. The talented and educated young people from the area (by and large) want to leave the area as soon as they get a chance. Not good.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by gotigers123

Depends on the person....

For me (young professional, well-educated, into arts/culture/food/nightlife), St Louis does in fact suck. I was born and raised there and have thankfully moved on to greener pastures.

For a young family with a household income of less than six figures and a desire to live the suburban life, St Louis wouldn't suck at all. They could easily send their kids to a good public school, own a nice affordable home, and live in a safe environment.

The problem that St Louis faces moving forward is that it does not attract more people like myself. The talented and educated young people from the area (by and large) want to leave the area as soon as they get a chance. Not good.

Almost every single regular poster here who loves St. Louis is one of those people and we all want to be here so thankfully I know that's not entirely true.

In fact there was nothing like moving to Chicago and then to Kansas City to make me realize all St. Louis had to offer.

Can I ask where in St. Louis you grew up? How much time have you realistically spent in the city -- for me, it was only post-college that I spent significant time exploring the city and what I found was an urban, vibrant walkable city full of diverse and interesting neighborhoods.

What cultural activities would you say St. Louis is lacking?

This is not an attack on you but genuine questions that I'd love to hear the answers to, honest!

[zoomzoom3]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^This makes me think you've never commuted daily in Chicago or LA. I have, and they're truly not even in the same ballpark. If you can avoid 270 as well as 70 out in St. Charles it's really not that bad at all.


And complaining about the job market here when you now live in Florida seems odd to me -- everyone I knew who moved down there has come back because jobs are so scarce -- that is, of course, if they're not heinously underwater on their house as many people are.

I-70 from the Blanchette Bridge on out to Wentzville probably rivals LA's 405 stretch from the 105/LAX to the Ventura Freeway. It's the worst in STL by far, 270 probably 2nd worse, and 40/64 next worse. I haven't commuted daily in LA or Chicago, but have visited enough to notice there's not much difference there.


Maybe it's just me, but I spent nearly 2 years unemployed in St. Louis. I moved to South Florida and found a decent job here in 3 weeks. I actually even had multiple job offers here. There's not nearly as much cronyism/nepotism here as in STL I think. I was able to get job offers here based on what I knew rather than who I knew.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by zoomzoom3

I-70 from the Blanchette Bridge on out to Wentzville probably rivals LA's 405 stretch from the 105/LAX to the Ventura Freeway. It's the worst in STL by far, 270 probably 2nd worse, and 40/64 next worse. I haven't commuted daily in LA or Chicago, but have visited enough to notice there's not much difference there.


Maybe it's just me, but I spent nearly 2 years unemployed in St. Louis. I moved to South Florida and found a decent job here in 3 weeks. I actually even had multiple job offers here. There's not nearly as much cronyism/nepotism here as in STL I think. I was able to get job offers here based on what I knew rather than who I knew.

Really, have you ever been in LA? Traffic in St. Louis is delightful compared to LA / OC. Even rush hour isn't a full hour.

[moorlander]

^ I'd have to agree DP.
St. Louis rush hour is but a mear hour in a few select locations. 99.9999999% of the time it's smooth sailing.