What you hate about St. Louis (Kansas City, Kirkwood: credit, place to live, airport)

[wustu87]

As for Chinese restaurants, just drive down Olive from around I-170 through Hanley. The restaurants are everywhere (Lu Lu's, In Soo, Royal Chinese BBQ, Wei Hong and many more).

[arch_genesis]

is st. louis the only city-data message board with a self-loathing thread?

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by arch_genesis

is st. louis the only city-data message board with a self-loathing thread?

LOL, I bet Cali has more than one!

[DeBaliviere]

Originally Posted by arch_genesis

is st. louis the only city-data message board with a self-loathing thread?

Good question. Not a fan of this thread.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by DeBaliviere

Good question. Not a fan of this thread.

Neither am I. I honestly wish the moderator would close it, as all it is doing to St. Louis is diminishing its image to possible newcomers to the city. Having lived here all my life, there is definitely a lot more to love about this city than there is to hate.

[HCC]

I want to start off by saying, I actually love St Louis and miss many things about it. See here for more on that: I love St. Louis because...

However, here is what drove a talented, ambitious, energetic 25 yr old (and many of his peers) out:

-Racism-You can play dumb, act like it doesn't exist, feign ignorance, brush it under the rug, paint it, rehab it, luxuriate in it, but IT IS THERE and it effects EVERY aspect of life there. St Louis' social history and urban development is built around it! You can put up as many sculpture parks and sexy lofts as you like, but until St Louis really addresses its absolutely criminal, horrific racial divide, you're goin' nowhere! (Good book to check out: Mapping Decline | Gordon, Colin)
-Classism
-Oneupsmanship-My father from the E Coast says he has never seen such a "keeping up with the Jonseses" mentality-ANYWHERE!
-Insularity-A feeling that STL lacks connection to the outside world
-County v City nonsense-Truly detrimental
-"Where'd you go to HS?" as a credential for legitimacy
-Cliquiness-especially disgusting in adults
-Wariness/standoffishness-My 5th grade teacher once proudly stated, "St Louisans are as stubborn as Missouri mules!" Well ain't it the truth!
-Uptight, bland conservatives and humorless liberals. I understand what you're up against there my liberal brothers and sisters, but lighten up!
-Phyllis Schlafly lives there (and went to my parish! ewwww....)
-An almost rigid dress and social conformity- In 1997 I bought a pair of square toed shoes when I went to London and remember people being shocked by them in STL. (Though I do love that you'll see lawyers down by the court house on a summer day in seersucker suits)
-Joining/getting involved in new groups, volunteering, sports teams, ect is difficult
-Being single in St Louis
-Most things seemed geared to 'people of a certain age' and families
-Being taken seriously as a young adult-Never encountered that in Chicago or NY, in fact, it was an asset
-A lack of opportunities for young entrepreneurs-I felt like, "Why waste my ideas here, when they won't be valued?"
-Lack of amenities in the city
-Car culture-which I think lends itself to other social problems in STL, especially accepting differences.
-A lack of respect and opportunities for the creative community-YOU ARE LOSING YOU'RE GREATEST ASSETS TO BIGGER CITIES! (I will say I have noted some significant improvement here)

I know it hurts to hear, well, it hurts to say these things and it was hard to leave. I realize there have been many changes and improvements in 9 years and I see a lot of great progress happening. I say all this because as I said, I really love St Louis and I want to see it continue to grow and root out its weeds. I am much more forgiving of it than any of my friends who left and defend/praise it to all my NY friends and friends who have vowed never to return. I hope to again make St Louis my home one day, but despite all the good things, those were the major reasons I left.

**Couldn't have said it better myself: UrbanReviewSTL » Blog Archive » Ten Things I Love About St. Louis, and Ten Reasons Why I Left:

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by HCC

I want to start off by saying, I actually love St Louis and miss many things about it. See here for more on that: I love St. Louis because...

However, here is what drove a talented, ambitious, energetic 25 yr old (and many of his peers) out:

-Racism-You can play dumb, act like it doesn't exist, feign ignorance, brush it under the rug, paint it, rehab it, luxuriate in it, but IT IS THERE and it effects EVERY aspect of life there. St Louis' social history and urban development is built around it! You can put up as many sculpture parks and sexy lofts as you like, but until St Louis really addresses its absolutely criminal, horrific racial divide, you're goin' nowhere! (Good book to check out: Mapping Decline | Gordon, Colin)
-Classism
-Oneupsmanship-My father from the E Coast says he has never seen such a "keeping up with the Jonseses" mentality-ANYWHERE!
-Insularity-A feeling that STL lacks connection to the outside world
-County v City nonsense-Truly detrimental
-"Where'd you go to HS?" as a credential for legitimacy
-Cliquiness-especially disgusting in adults
-Wariness/standoffishness-My 5th grade teacher once proudly stated, "St Louisans are as stubborn as Missouri mules!" Well ain't it the truth!
-Uptight, bland conservatives and humorless liberals. I understand what you're up against there my liberal brothers and sisters, but lighten up!
-Phyllis Schlafly lives there (and went to my parish! ewwww....)
-An almost rigid dress and social conformity- In 1997 I bought a pair of square toed shoes when I went to London and remember people being shocked by them in STL. (Though I do love that you'll see lawyers down by the court house on a summer day in seersucker suits)
-Joining/getting involved in new groups, volunteering, sports teams, ect is difficult
-Being single in St Louis
-Most things seemed geared to 'people of a certain age' and families
-Being taken seriously as a young adult-Never encountered that in Chicago or NY, in fact, it was an asset
-A lack of opportunities for young entrepreneurs-I felt like, "Why waste my ideas here, when they won't be valued?"
-Lack of amenities in the city
-Car culture-which I think lends itself to other social problems in STL, especially accepting differences.
-A lack of respect and opportunities for the creative community-YOU ARE LOSING YOU'RE GREATEST ASSETS TO BIGGER CITIES! (I will say I have noted some significant improvement here)

I know it hurts to hear, well, it hurts to say these things and it was hard to leave. I realize there have been many changes and improvements in 9 years and I see a lot of great progress happening. I say all this because as I said, I really love St Louis and I want to see it continue to grow and root out its weeds. I am much more forgiving of it than any of my friends who left and defend/praise it to all my NY friends and friends who have vowed never to return. I hope to again make St Louis my home one day, but despite all the good things, those were the major reasons I left.

**Couldn't have said it better myself: UrbanReviewSTL » Blog Archive » Ten Things I Love About St. Louis, and Ten Reasons Why I Left:

There are alot of great truth-isms in this post. I was raised in the STL area and overall, really like the area alot. However, it does have its weaknesses and limitations and I think that you really hit the nail on the head about what some of those are.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Neither am I. I honestly wish the moderator would close it, as all it is doing to St. Louis is diminishing its image to possible newcomers to the city. Having lived here all my life, there is definitely a lot more to love about this city than there is to hate.

FWIW - this mod sees nothing at this time w/in this thread that is against the letter or the spirit of the ToS... and while I do NOT like the thought of someone 'hating' St Louis, I do believe that the vast majority of the posts within this thread can instead be taken as what ailments and imperfections that should be, could be improved to make this wonderful city even more better. The city/region has flaws, yet it has great people that COULD help improve it, if the pols would have increased vision, long-term, and then stick w/ the plan. Just to use my own previous post in this thread as an example http://www.city-data.com/forum/st-lo...ml#post7001044 - take what some herein may say as a negative, and show how the city can turn it around.

[aaronstlcards]

Originally Posted by Hephaestus

(8) A Lack of Pickup Basketball - No one likes shoot hoops around here.

Go up to the north side or some of the southside and you'll see lot's of pickup basketball. Have you seen the small park a few blocks south of downtown; everytime I pass it there are like 20-50 kids playing basketball.

[ajf131]

All I'll say is that what I hate about St. Louis is how much trust people are willing to place in the stereotypes about it instead of looking deeper. People will take East St. Louis and North St. Louis, most places tourists and locals who don't live in the areas never visit or stay in, and use those two areas to stereotype the entire city. Furthermore, in the metro area, the percentage of crime drops dramatically to where St. Louis doesn't even rank anywhere close to the most dangerous metro area in the country.