How do you feel about St. Charles??? (St. Louis, Chesterfield: sale, condo)

[jojojohnson76]

Originally Posted by stlsteved

Great quote, I could not have said it better.

St. Charles is full of a bunch of boring, middle class families who have nothing better to do all day except feud with each other and smell their own farts. Hypocritical Sunday morning Christians abound there...by Sunday night they are sleeping with the neighbors wife and by Wednesday they are at the local chain pub puttin down Budweisers talking about the next big purchase they are going to make.

There is nothing unique about St. Charles County; nothing exciting; chain restaurants and overpopulation comes to mind when I picture it. Sprinkled among the transplanted St. Louisans who moved there because they could afford a bigger house there on their mediocre salaries than they could in Chesterfield and now think they are upper class, are the pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks who vote republican because they "ain't votin fer no pu$$y demokrat"...Not suprisingly, this type of cretin was the only face of St. Charles 20 years ago before the St. Louisians started to run over there for cheap real estate, lack of minorities and an Applebees on every corner. (On edit: Come to think of it, a lot of the transplants have taken this persona on as well)

If hell has a suburb, it is exactly like St. Charles.

Do your knuckles scrape the ground when you walk?

What is a "boring, middle class family?" Is that a family who goes to work all day, the kids go to school, you come home, have dinner, watch TV, and go to bed? Make a trip to the zoo on the weekend, or go play some basketball outside? Sorry buddy, but not everybody lives the exciting life of a 19 year old college student, especially middle class families.

And I am also not voting for a democrat, and I am going to church on Sunday. I guess I'm no better than the "pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks" you describe. Seriously dude, get your head out of your butt and get a life.

[TGS]

Please don't think that my quote that most of St. Charles is a sea of vinyl subdivisions means that the residents are all the way stlsteved describes. St. Charles really shouldn't be judged that harshly. While most of it is subdivisions, there is a charming historic downtown, a great residential area around Lindenwood, and a new urban community at New Town.

Good people can be found everywhere, and so can bad people. Most of the people living in St. Charles County are good people. My husband grew up there, and most of our friends and family live out there (in the vinyl subdivisions). I prefer an urban environment, but I understand the lure of inexpensive, large houses with a decent school system. The fact that the houses and the street layout in most areas of St. Charles isn't appealing to me doesn't mean that bad people live there. My main critique of the area for the original poster is that biking isn't easy from people's front doors because of the layout of the subdivisions.

[aragx6]

TGS I agree completely and took no offense to your comment, as it really is, for the most part, true.

And I completely agree that despite the good and bad characteristics of the town, St. Charles doesn't seem like a great fit for the OP.

[stlsteved]

Originally Posted by aragx6

As I said before St. Charles has its issues if you don't like suburbs, but it's just dead wrong when looking at downtown St. Charles. Locally owned businesses in beautiful old buildings- don't take its history away from it.

And as far as complaining about people moving out there to try and eke out a nice existence for themselves on "mediocre" salaries - What in the hell is wrong with that?
My mother and father grew up in Creve Couer, went to High School at parkway Central, went to college and got married. My mother became a special ed teacher and went to grad school at SLU.

My dad majored in criminal justice and became a supervisor at St. Louis County jail in Clayton.

In 1984 they were pulling in less than $40k a year combined and living in an itty bitty old apartment in West County. My mom didn't want to leave, but also wanted to start a family - she was almost 30 and thought it was time.

So they started looking for houses. Do you think they could afford any near where they had grown up? I think not. They found a cute little house, less than 8 years old on a culdesac with a pond and wooded back yard and fell in love with it- and guess what?

For the first time in their life they could afford to own their own home.

What are people and their "mediocre" salaries supposed to do? Live in ****ty apartments for the rest of their life instead of being homeowners? That's just crazy.

...OK I'm done now.

Easy now...I don't make much money either so don't take the salary comment personally...I was more commenting on the big heads and motivations for moving that a lot of people have who live there...if you hadn't noticed I hate St. Charles for a lot of personal reasons, one of which is that I had to drive to work there for 3 years! But props to your family for getting you a nice place to grow up.

But don't tell me that isn't PLENTY of nice, affordable housing in STL County...its a lie if you do. St. Charles isn't THAT much cheaper than say Manchester or a bunch of other STL areas...I don't make that much and I do pretty well in STL County (house, cars, fun stuff)

Now I will say that I believe that the flight to St. Charles by a lot of folks from St. Louis County has contributed greatly to the downfall of a lot of the areas of it - particularly North County ... ie: the "Oh no, some minorities are moving in - lets run so our children don't see" attitude...

By the way, its happening it St. Charles now too...A tinge of different cultures pop up in St. Charles and people are running to Lincoln County...

Next thing you know Columbia is a suburb of St. Louis...where does it end?

[aragx6]

I hate sprawl as much as the next guy believe me. And there is a lot of truth to the NoCo fleeing. I think I might have said this before on this forum, but it's relevant here so I'll mention it again.

My mom was looking for houses in St. Charles at one point maybe 9 years ago and met some of the people moving into a new subdivision down off Dingledine. She loved the houses, but got from several people the distinct and overt impression that many were from the North County areas of StL because the 'n's had taken over their home.

That disgusted her, we didn't move.

I think that St. Charles now is not all that much cheaper than areas of St. Louis County, but 25 years ago it certainly was.

Even today to find a similar home to ours in Kirkwood, Webster or Manchester would easily be 30-50k more. My dad lived in a 2 br, 1 ba post war bungalow in rather lousy condition in Rock Hill and his house was worth more than my mom's 3 br, 2 ba that was almost twice as large. For many people, St. Charles just makes sense.

And for the record... I'd simply die if I lived there again. If I ever moved back to St. Louis I would live in the city.

[stlsteved]

Originally Posted by jojojohnson76

Do your knuckles scrape the ground when you walk?

No, but I bet yours do.

Originally Posted by jojojohnson76

What is a "boring, middle class family?" Is that a family who goes to work all day, the kids go to school, you come home, have dinner, watch TV, and go to bed? Make a trip to the zoo on the weekend, or go play some basketball outside? Sorry buddy, but not everybody lives the exciting life of a 19 year old college student, especially middle class families.

That is exactly what I think of as a boring middle class family...and I am no 19 year old..."dude"


Did I say there was anything wrong with that lifestyle?..No. I simply said I find it to be boring and St. Charles to be full of people who lead that life.

Originally Posted by jojojohnson76

And I am also not voting for a democrat, and I am going to church on Sunday. I guess I'm no better than the "pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks" you describe. Seriously dude, get your head out of your butt and get a life.

Well if you vote republican you are no better than the "pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks" ... Which I am sure you have and are going to.

Remember, I am the one with the exciting life, you are the one with the boring middle class life.



Are you really that upset because I steroyped your crappy neck of the woods on an internet board?

You could have broken the mold of the average St. Charlesian by understanding that there are exceptions to every rule and taking things that you read with a grain of salt...but you failed.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by stlsteved

Remember, I am the one with the exciting life, you are the one with the boring middle class life.

Wow... You're kind of an ass aren't you?

[stlsteved]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Wow... You're kind of an ass aren't you?

Not really, only when provoked...I actually don't lead an exciting life...if I did I wouldn't be living in a crappy area like St. Louis County - Which by the way is equally full of "boring, middle class families" and "pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks"

...and I certainly wouldn't be posting on this message board sitting at a desk right now.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Back to the question about cycling in the city.

This site may help you: Bike St. Louis - St. Louis MO

According to this site: City of St. Louis: Forest Park (http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/ - broken link) you can bike in Forest Park.

I assume you can walk your dogs there as well.

[jojojohnson76]

Originally Posted by stlsteved

Not really, only when provoked...I actually don't lead an exciting life...if I did I wouldn't be living in a crappy area like St. Louis County - Which by the way is equally full of "boring, middle class families" and "pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks"

...and I certainly wouldn't be posting on this message board sitting at a desk right now.

Actually, I live in Illinois, not St. Charles. I don't like the STL county or St Charles county suburbs either. I am looking to move to an inner-ring suburb like Maplewood/Richmond Heights/U City or STL city in March.

And you were provoked because you ARE being an ass. Oh, and if my religious beliefs and moral convictions make me a pick-up driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-redneck in your book, that's fine with me.

Oh, and by the way, I guess your argument canceled me out as a pick-up driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-redneck since I am typing this from a desk as well.