Positives and negatives of living in St. Louis (Maryland Heights, Creve Coeur: restaurants, prices)

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

that would be true of almost every state

take out the big cities, and almost the whole country is red.

President - Election Center 2008 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com

Allow me to rephrase. Chicago is so big that by itself it can overwhelm the rest of the state of Illinois. As far as swing states go, the cities are just big enough to either be able to overpower the rest of the state or be overpowered...it can go both ways. There is a relatively even split between blue and red. Swing states like Missouri and Ohio are split when it comes to politics. North Carolina and Virginia voting blue were very surprising...usually it is never that close of a call in those states. Same with Indiana, although Indiana I think could be a more likely case for a border state than the other two.

[aaronstlcards]

Originally Posted by joanie55

To quote Joni Mitchell, "You don't know what you got till it's gone." This is so true of native St. Louisians, who long for nearby mountains and ocean and feel, in part, the lack of these things makes St. Louis vanilla and spurs us to seek greener pastures. Honestly, the only thing I don't miss about my hometown is the weather. I've lived in New Mexico (beautiful mountains, desert, sky and sunsets) and Florida (ideal weather if you like it warm and beautiful beaches) and I'd take St. Louis over these places hands down. St. Louis has a LOT to offer, most of which has been cited on this thread - ala culture, major league sports, free amenities, low cost of living, good colleges, etc. South Florida has ZERO culture, New Mexico has only Indian and Hispanic culture. Neither area has half to offer of what St. Louis does. I admit it's a bit conservative, but nothing like the deep south. I think it's a great place and I miss it alot and I, too, think those that don't appreciate it should move. Negativity benefits no one.

St. Louis city is very heavily liberal, independent St. Louis County is mostly liberal and the entire metro area is fairly liberal. Calling St. Louis conservative is very innacurate.

Originally Posted by TNRyan23

My wife and I visit fairly often and have considered moving to St. Louis.

Pros for me include the Cardinals, The greatest NL team of all-time playing in one of the better, new stadiums in the league. Nothing's better then a MLB game on a warm summer day. The fact that the Rams play in a dome is great too, Nothing worse then a football game outdoors in late august/early september.

The park is great, the zoo is great, the free art museums are awesome. having a Six-Flags close by and having casinos are great too.

The only cons I know of are St. Louis County schools and crime.

I've heard there is a huge split in race relations between white/black but being in an I.R. marriage, My wife and I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary, granted, we haven't looked for it either.

St. Louis County schools are fine and unfortunatly are much better than mostly all of the city schools.

[TNRyan23]

Originally Posted by aaronstlcards

St. Louis County schools are fine and unfortunatly are much better than mostly all of the city schools.

Yeah, I meant City, not County. Sorry for the mistake.

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Missouri and Kansas are in the Bible Belt, and big chunks of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio definitely are as well (I would say mainly the southern halves of these states.) Nonetheless, you still have liberal cities in these states. If you want to know the truth. Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Springfield, Missouri are much more conservative than St. Louis is. Kansas City is overall more liberal. Missouri is not even the most conservative state in the Midwest. Indiana is far more conservative. Up until this past election, Indiana had been voting Republican for almost 60 years. Illinois I think without Chicago might be a red state as well.

I agree that STL is very liberal compared to the cities you mention. I just think that Missouri is perceived to generally be a conservative state and that people jump to the conclusion that the whole state is conservative. I also think that Illinois would definitely be a red state without Chicago. There are liberal enclaves in the Metro East area, Peoria County, and a fair amount of conservative democrats in the far south. But most of the rest of the state is solidly red. Frankly. without Chicago, Illinois would be a "40 something state" (as in "40 something" in education, "40 something" in health care, etc.). The tax base would be paltry.

[ajf131]

Btw, when I mentioned Kansas City being more liberal, I meant that it leaned more to the left than to the right. It is NOT as liberal as St. Louis, it is much more conservative than that.

[joanie55]

Originally Posted by aaronstlcards

St. Louis city is very heavily liberal, independent St. Louis County is mostly liberal and the entire metro area is fairly liberal. Calling St. Louis conservative is very innacurate.


St. Louis County schools are fine and unfortunatly are much better than mostly all of the city schools.

When I said conservative I wasn't talking about politics (I won't do that on this forum). I was really speaking about behavior. Please understand, I haven't LIVED there in 20 years so I know things have changed (mostly for the better from what I read on this forum). But, it's just not a place where I picture people throwing blood on you for wearing fur, having green or orange hair with spikes, etc. Know what I mean? In other words, it isn't San Francisco. From what I remember, the people there are kind of reserved in their behavior. But since Sl. Louis is now home to the second largest Mardi Gras in the country that's probably changed as well.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by 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.

1. I'm not going into #1 anymore. I see what I see and hear, you see what you see and hear. End of story.

2. When I meant Metro, I meant the light rail system. That is what is called in most areas that actually have a functional light rail system.

I totally agree with you regarding the exburbs. That trend has slowed down a bit, but will show up again as the economy recovers. But most of the people that do live in Wentzville tend to work no farther than Chesterfield which it is less than a twenty mile commute

[Keethler]

Just wanted to add one more "positive" to the list. I rode the Riverfront Trail yesterday north from downtown to Riverfront Park. Nice trail, definitely worth a ride.

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by Keethler

Just wanted to add one more "positive" to the list. I rode the Riverfront Trail yesterday north from downtown to Riverfront Park. Nice trail, definitely worth a ride.

I second that, but be careful in the wintertime. We ran a 5K in November along that and about halfway through we were greeted by a nice cadre of dead, rotting fish. Ugh.

[sixtwobaldguy]

They are not moving to Wentzville to get away from hustle & bustle, get real. The reason they move out there is to be as far away from the nearest black person as possible. I'm usually the guy saying people get too worked up about race, but after hundreds of convos I must admit it is what it is.