Positives and negatives of living in St. Louis (Kansas City, Springfield: neighborhood, military)

[AJohnston_STL]

Dinsdale...

#1. Your saying that the locals love it while the transplants don't is flat wrong. It's just the opposite. Shortly after you said I was wrong in saying this, another poster said the exact same thing. I have friends that I have made in the local park here from Colorado, Chicago, and Bulgaria. They all love St Louis and have been pleasantly surprised by it.

#2. You are almost making a joke out of St Louis "metro" only stretching 25 miles...I find it to be a shame. I wish it only stretched about 10 miles. Unfortunately, the "metro" now includes Wentzville which is over 40 miles away. It's a shame to see acres of trees torn down so people ca be as far away from the "hustle and bustle" as possible.

I know a young couple who lived in O'Fallon IL and just built a house in Mascoutah (23 miles from the city) because "Mascoutah is a small town." Unfortunately, thanks to epoeple like them, it will not be a small town in 5 more years.

[davey123]

Originally Posted by mklein49

I like :

• that it's very easy to get around.
• the Great Parks!
• that it is a Great Sports town
• that the residents are generally very friendly.
• the diverse communities
• 4 distinct seasons
• Free attractions like the zoo

I dislike:

• Parts are very rundown and abandonded
• Although there are diverse neighborhoods, it still seems very segregated between black and white.
• The Crime!
• smoking in restaurants
• I'm concerned about the region in general as it loses more and more jobs and Lambert has less and less direct flights available.

Overall, I love St. Louis! I grew up in a small town in Illinois and lived in Houston for a few years and a Seattle suburb for a few years as well.

I would agree with many of the points that mklein49 listed. I will definitely echo the point that Stl is extremely segregated. In fact, it is one of the most segregated cities in the nation. That can never be a good thing.

I also think that Stl is very "cliquish." People seem comfortable with their own groups and it's not very easy for new-comers to permeate those groups.

Finally, I think the fact that Stl city competes with Stl county will always be a negative. This competition is also reflected in the attitudes of the people that live in the city and the county. I strongly believe that this competition will inevitably prevent the full revival of the downtown. And sadly, it has created a negative interdependence (i.e., a win/lose situation) between the city and the county.

[joanie55]

Originally Posted by ajf131

St. Louis is among the most liberal cities in the United States...St. Louis and St. Louis County are NOT conservative places.

I disagree. I don't think St. Louis is among the MOST conservative cities but I certainly would not call it liberal. I've been to and lived in more liberal places, don't know about you.l

[Keethler]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

It could be worse. I could be in Nebraska or Kansas.

There are some places you just don't connect to. This is one of them. Just not feeling it in the midwest.

Can someone start a thread titled "I hate where I live, hear me roar!" That way we can avoid your posts. Seriously man, its becoming a joke.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by joanie55

I disagree. I don't think St. Louis is among the MOST conservative cities but I certainly would not call it liberal. I've been to and lived in more liberal places, don't know about you.l

Look up the top 100 most liberal cities in the nation. You will find St. Louis to be in the top 20, so technically what you think doesn't matter in that respect because it's wrong. I agree that St. Louis isn't the most liberal city...not like Minneapolis, Seattle, or San Francisco. It is at least as liberal as Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. The county and the city have both voted blue in politics over most of my lifetime. If you think St. Louis is a conservative place, you must have a strange definition of it. St. Louis City proper is very liberal. St. Louis County might be more moderate, but it definitely is not conservative. St. Louis is moderate at minimum, liberal at maximum.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by davey123

I would agree with many of the points that mklein49 listed. I will definitely echo the point that Stl is extremely segregated. In fact, it is one of the most segregated cities in the nation. That can never be a good thing.

I also think that Stl is very "cliquish." People seem comfortable with their own groups and it's not very easy for new-comers to permeate those groups.

Finally, I think the fact that Stl city competes with Stl county will always be a negative. This competition is also reflected in the attitudes of the people that live in the city and the county. I strongly believe that this competition will inevitably prevent the full revival of the downtown. And sadly, it has created a negative interdependence (i.e., a win/lose situation) between the city and the county.

St. Louis is far from being the only city that is segregated between black and white. Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee are every bit as segregated. Almost all of the industrial cities during the Great Migration that blacks migrated to for better opportunity are for the most part segregated between black and white. THis is true in NYC, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, etc. Part of the reason the Reverse Migration took place is because all the cities that were attractive during the Great Migration have now become unattractive through segregated housing, a pattern very much established in all of the cities blacks went to in the Great Migration, including St. Louis.

[davey123]

Originally Posted by ajf131

St. Louis is far from being the only city that is segregated between black and white. Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee are every bit as segregated. Almost all of the industrial cities during the Great Migration that blacks migrated to for better opportunity are for the most part segregated between black and white. THis is true in NYC, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, etc. Part of the reason the Reverse Migration took place is because all the cities that were attractive during the Great Migration have now become unattractive through segregated housing, a pattern very much established in all of the cities blacks went to in the Great Migration, including St. Louis.

I agree, Stl is not the only segregated city in America. It is, however, one of the top 5 most segregated cities in America.

[rgb123]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Ummm..Chicago is pretty unique like that too. St. Louis is the secondmost unique city in the Midwest behind Chicago.

Well, I wasn't putting down Chicago (my hometown). But St. Louis is far more unique in history. Chicago is a lot like a little New York or Boston, it has a lot in common with other east coast cities that immigrants poured into.

St. Louis is actually older, was a grander city in earlier American history, ha rich history from the birth of the nation and western exploration and expansion, and the civil war. Chicago doesn't have a similiar history at all really, except that they both became immigrant places later on. St. Louis was far more established than Chicago in the earlier days, when Chicago was still just a swamp backwater.

St. Louis has more French influences, and older architecture. It's a river city and you can really see cultures from east west, north south crashing there.

Tons of famous people from American history have lived in St. Louis or came from there.

Chicago...well Chicago was more planned than St. Louis, and has it's own history, but by comparsion, Chicago's roots are not nearly as deep and rich as St. Louis.

St. Louis is far more haunted and far more interesting to someone like me who always passed it by for the bigger cities.

But then, I am a huge Mark Twain fain, and I like to get deep into American History and geography.

Chicago doesn't compare on that level.

I also have family roots from that area, and Southern Illinois. They were living full lives there, commiserating with Indians, farming, joining the military, and running routes to Texas and Montana long before Chicago was on the map.

[stlcitygirl]

Originally Posted by davey123

I agree, Stl is not the only segregated city in America. It is, however, one of the top 5 most segregated cities in America.

Do you have any actual stats to back that up? I'm not saying that it's not segregated, but have you been to some of the southern cities? My south city neighborhood is WAY more integrated than my florida neighborhood.

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Look up the top 100 most liberal cities in the nation. You will find St. Louis to be in the top 20, so technically what you think doesn't matter in that respect because it's wrong. I agree that St. Louis isn't the most liberal city...not like Minneapolis, Seattle, or San Francisco. It is at least as liberal as Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. The county and the city have both voted blue in politics over most of my lifetime. If you think St. Louis is a conservative place, you must have a strange definition of it. St. Louis City proper is very liberal. St. Louis County might be more moderate, but it definitely is not conservative. St. Louis is moderate at minimum, liberal at maximum.

I agree 100% with your post. But I think that outsiders who have never been to St.Louis often perceive it as being conservative, bible belt because it is located in Missouri. (which, of course, isn't viewed by most people as a liberal mecca). If St. Louis were located across the river in Illinois, the perception would be different I think. Obviously, outstate MO is very different than St. Louis socially and politically. But, oftentimes, outsiders don't make that distinction. I ran into alot of people with this view of St. louis in both California and in midwestern cities further north including Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee.