St Louis - The 51st State? (St. Louis, Springfield: employment, buy, private schools)

[aliasfinn]

Originally Posted by carloslevy

I thought the "fit" people (a relative adjective taking into consideration the geographic area) live in STL City and not the county? Based on the posts of many locals/long timers, I thought that County dwellers were just ignorant fat ****s that ate at Applebee's and the Pasta House all the time?

Population loss - an interesting topic:

Understanding Population Change and Density in St. Louis (UIC & nextSTL @ PXSTL) - nextSTL

County dweller here, for almost 50 years. I have a 32 inch waist and have never eaten at those places, to tell you the truth, when I first drove by an Applebee's I thought they only sold apple pie. I usually eat whatever I can microwave or throw in a crock pot. I do pretty good on Jeopardy, depending on the category.

[FrankMiller]

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

The official U3 unemployment numbers are a great case of "lying with statistics"

This is a pet peeve of mine. There's no "official unemployment rate". What you're complaining about is media simplification, not an official conspiracy to mask "real" unemployment. U3, U6, participation rate, etc. all have pros and cons as statistics.

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

Therefore I don't buy the fact that St. Louis and KCMO are the end-all be-all in the state and thus worthy of the rest of the state propping them up with tax dollars.

I certainly don't think the major metros are the be-all end-all of the state, but they are financial necessities. Rural areas are important, but they aren't economic engines. Trade requires concentrations of people; it's not political, it's just a physical fact.

[carloslevy]

Originally Posted by aliasfinn

County dweller here, for almost 50 years. I have a 32 inch waist and have never eaten at those places, to tell you the truth, when I first drove by an Applebee's I thought they only sold apple pie. I usually eat whatever I can microwave or throw in a crock pot. I do pretty good on Jeopardy, depending on the category.

I was being sarcastic, referring to a thread from a while ago that ridiculously theorized that STL City residents were fitter than STL County residents. I honestly don't think there's any correlation whatsoever.

I ran in Clayton (where I work) Sunday morning - nice to see a lot of people out and about, and good hillwork. Stopped into First Watch and enjoyed breakfast.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by carloslevy

I was being sarcastic

I think it's simply your "New Mexico Passive/Aggressive" coming out.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

Therefore I don't buy the fact that St. Louis and KCMO are the end-all be-all in the state and thus worthy of the rest of the state propping them up with tax dollars.

The rest of the State doesn't "prop up" St. Louis and KCMO.

Those metropolitan areas generate most of the tax revenue in the state.

[STL2006]

St. Charles County is the wealthiest county in Missouri now for median household income:
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/b...st-county.html

That being said, St. Louis County has almost 700k more people. While St. Charles County's r economic role in the region continues to grow rapidly, St. Louis County is still the driver.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I think both KCMO and StL City should split away from stupid Missouri.

Oh, so states are now considered smart and stupid, these days?
What are the smart states? And which are the stupid states?

Where on earth did you go to school they taught you something like that? Public school?

Sounds like the very same people that blame the "stupid" coffee table when a toe gets stubbed.

[FrankMiller]

Nobody said there are smart states.

Edit: stupid coffee table should stay out of the way.

[carloslevy]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Oh, so states are now considered smart and stupid, these days?
What are the smart states? And which are the stupid states?

Where on earth did you go to school they taught you something like that? Public school.

Most important is where they went to high school.

[RisingAurvandil]

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

Have you ever driven through St. Louis on I-44? Once you hit where the old gasometers were at the city limits it's very cruddy with a bunch of abandoned and semi-abandoned buildings until you get right to downtown. They cleaned up downtown a bunch since the 1980s crack days but a handful of blocks out it is still pretty tough looking. I-70 is a little better since you are below grade for a while and then pass by the airport. I-64 (oops, "Highway Farty") is about the same as I-70.

Good gawd. I70 = I64? I70 > I44? You're in an alternate universe. I guess it's an exercise of opinion though.

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

I don't value Bi-State buses and Metrolink (or KCATA) one iota, they have zero worth to me as I furnish my own transportation with an automobile like the vast majority of the state does. Therefore all of the money spent on publicly-funded mass transit is near worthless and it would be far better spent on something like widening I-70 to six lanes like has been proposed since 20+ years ago as that would actually benefit more Missourians rather than giving Clay Chastain his light rail funding in KCMO.

And this is the problem with your thinking. It's always ME, ME, ME. Discrediting an entire mode because it has "zero worth" to yourself is terrible. I may as well claim that I don't value anything west of Eureka.

That's ridiculous.

And lemme' say this, you do not furnish your own transportation. You did not design our roads. You did not build them. You do not maintain them. And our gas tax does not fully pay for them.

And the state of Missouri pays almost nothing for public transit. Less than 9 cents per capita, to be precise. I pay more tax on a single gallon of gas.

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

St. Louis has UMSL which is largely a commuter school. Ditto with KC, they have the very much a commuter school in UMKC. Yes there is Washington University and St. Louis University but those are far less relevant than the University of Missouri system, or even a second-tier institution like (Southwest) Missouri State University due to the fact they are very expensive and fairly small private schools.

So let me get this straight, being a commuter school or being expensive somehow make a university less worthy? And you forgot Webster, Lindenwood, McKendree, StLCOP, SIUE, and Maryville, and probably a dozen others.

None are Yale or Harvard, but you don't have such a breadth of choices in out-state Missouri. Not even in Columbia.