Positives and negatives of living in St. Louis (Washington, Ozark: 2011, low crime)

[Northwoods Voyager]

Thanks NBE for your post. Our youngest son and his family lived in San Diego for a few years and we visited before and after a big fire in the mountains. Horrible. Here, tornadoes scariest thing to worry about. I still miss the city but like the country life now.

St. Louis is like most cities that are older and have constricted boundaries. Some of the neighborhoods that I lived in as a child have become rundown. Others haven't changed too much. I still believe that you will find what your are looking for. Want positive? Then just look for it. Negatives? You bet, there are many. But please be part of a solution if you want change.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by Marksman84

It's extroverted and call me crazy but I think you've issued some judgements on other posters more than a few times yourself.

Another positive of living in St. Louis is that the wildfire danger is very low. Are any of our California transplants out there - can you please confirm this?

I allow all other posters to give their opinion about or near the topic at hand. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree and sometimes I learn something new, but I respect their right to speak however they want as long as it is on topic and respectful to the forum. That's much different from your post.

[whartonmba]

Low cost of living - Save money, live better

Some joke that the best thing about St. Louis is that it's 4 hours away from Chicago, LOL...

[northbayeric]

Originally Posted by whartonmba

Low cost of living - Save money, live better

Some joke that the best thing about St. Louis is that it's 4 hours away from Chicago, LOL...

Great comment! Yep, there's this St. Louis-Chicago rivalry in a number of C-D threads, and we just had a Cardinals-Cubs series a few days ago.

I'm so tempted, since you've mentioned Chicago here, to make a gratuitous comment about the presence of ACORN both there and in St. Louis, but I'd better not!

[suziq999]

I've lived here for almost 8 months now as a transplant from Houston (lived there 6 yrs) but I've lived in lots of places including Madison, WI. I really love it here so far. The summer was really mild compared to Houston. I live in a great neighborhood IN THE CITY (Tower Grove Heights). I walk my dogs in the TG park with no problem, no personal property has been disrupted. The worst begging that has happened is someone asked me for some money for his daughter for Panera right outside it (I offered his daughter half my sandwich but she didn't want it).

I have a beautiful old restored house that I could have never afforded in Houston or Denver.

People are nice and friendly. My brother lost his wallet at the city museum and someone returned it (full of money). Traffic is not bad, even with 64 closed (but I'm never up there). The train is awesome. After living in Houston where the light rail system goes NOWHERE I love being able to take the train to the airport.

If/when I have kids I will have to put them in private school, but that's okay. It's cheaper than living out in Clayton, and I prefer to have my children around all types & colors of people and experience city life.

I have been camping a couple times so far and had hikes in Castlewood and Pere Marquette SP. It's not the Rockies, but the hills and forestry are lovely and are a huge improvement over Houston. My next goal is to bike the Katy Trail.

So I give it 4/5 in terms of livability.

[Brickmama]

Glad you are enjoying the city!!!

[latetotheparty]

Originally Posted by suziq999

I've lived here for almost 8 months now as a transplant from Houston (lived there 6 yrs) but I've lived in lots of places including Madison, WI. I really love it here so far. The summer was really mild compared to Houston. I live in a great neighborhood IN THE CITY (Tower Grove Heights). I walk my dogs in the TG park with no problem, no personal property has been disrupted. The worst begging that has happened is someone asked me for some money for his daughter for Panera right outside it (I offered his daughter half my sandwich but she didn't want it).

I have a beautiful old restored house that I could have never afforded in Houston or Denver.

People are nice and friendly. My brother lost his wallet at the city museum and someone returned it (full of money). Traffic is not bad, even with 64 closed (but I'm never up there). The train is awesome. After living in Houston where the light rail system goes NOWHERE I love being able to take the train to the airport.

If/when I have kids I will have to put them in private school, but that's okay. It's cheaper than living out in Clayton, and I prefer to have my children around all types & colors of people and experience city life.

I have been camping a couple times so far and had hikes in Castlewood and Pere Marquette SP. It's not the Rockies, but the hills and forestry are lovely and are a huge improvement over Houston. My next goal is to bike the Katy Trail.

So I give it 4/5 in terms of livability.

this summer was unusually cool and mild for here......

i am also a houston transplant..... although its been 23 years for me.....

summers here can be and often are, every bit as hot and muggy as houston's..... just doesn't last as long......

that said..... glad you are settling in and enjoying st. louis as much as you are.....

[Jeenkies]

I think that if someone here is a transplant against their will, and the place that they come from is dramatically different, the change can be a bit traumatic. There is a huge difference between embracing a change for a reason, and changing behind circumstance.

I had a huge transitional issue when we moved here five years ago. Didn't want to leave, and it was a bit sudden. Didn't help that my dh was laid off months after we purchased a home.

I met many people here who asked where I was from and when I said "CA" they said 'oh God, why did you move?" which surprised me. I chalked it up to stereotypes. Here's what is even more surprising, last year we were given the opportunity to move back to CA (with an outrageous salary) and we turned it DOWN.

Why?

Because this is a superiorly fantabulous place to raise children. The schools in the county are the bomb. The lifestyle pace is slower and much less stressful. The air, cleaner. The traffic, non-existant (sorry folks but the 40 shutdown taint nothing, no offense!). The activities and opportunities for your kids are legion.

I've parallel parked exactly TWICE since I moved (still makes me laugh). If I want the city, I go to it. If I don't, I don't.

The neighbors are wonderful, the folks in general, sublime. Friendly, kind, honest, polite. I think that I darn near plotzed the first time that someone in my neighborhood that I didn't know, waved at me. That doesn't happen in urban CA. Holidays like Halloween turn into spotaneous block parties.

I like the idea of REAL seasons. Weather watching is exciting for someone who didn't get much weather unless there was a serious El Nino. Fall color, winter snow (could use more!) and the blooming of spring. Summer that is actually GREEN? WHAT? Cool!

Cost of living? WOOT! The first time a real estate agent here said 'the closets are a big small' I almost died laughing. Small is relative when you're trying to buy something in CA. Nothing here is small. The bang for your real estate buck is wonderful.

What do I dislike? August. Sorry, I could live here for the rest of my life and I think that August should be banned. LOL Need more salad places. Need more farmer's markets. I can find what I want but I have to search for it. More cheap and GOOD ethnic food, closer together. I don't dig IMO's but that isn't a big deal. We all have our local cultural icons. I wish that more emphasis was placed on gentrifying downtown...

I still miss family, friends and the food. I don't miss the traffic, the urban compression, the crime rate and the basic crush. I don't miss the stress, I don't miss fighting for parking (or even paying for it). I don't miss the whacky northern CA politics nor do I miss that insane cost of living.

I'm really surprised at myself, but I love this place. I knew that I would grow to like it, but I'm surprised at my level of affection.

For those who are new, you probably haven't been here long enough to see what I'm talking about. You have to live it before you can 'get it'. Give it a chance.

[kshe95girl]

Jeenkies, here is a link for all area farmers markets.....there are at least 30, and thats not really counting the ones in the outlying counties!
st louis missouri farmers market - Google Search

[Tao1]

The only thing that I like about St Louis is that My family and friends still live there, that it on the like side,
The things that I hate,
-Crime, St Louis has one of the worst Crime Rates in North America
-Job growth, well there isn't any, out of all major cities in North America it has one of the worst,-4%
-Smoking in restaurants, and Bars
-There are areas in north St Louis that look like a formation of B-17Gs bombed, and left abandoned
-It is still segregated
-City government, they all need to be fired, and replaced
-The Property tax, and City Earnings Tax
-North St Louis, Crime, It is safer in Baghdad,Iraq than North St Louis at night, 5Th District
-Also the fact that it cost more to fly into and out of St Louis than it dose New York, or Chicago or Toronto.
I could go on and on, that is why I moved away from that City.
I wish that one day that the state of Missouri and St Louis can get it together some day, and maybe I will come back, well I do not see that happening any time soon, maybe never.