St. louis Relocation Question (Springfield, Columbia: extended stay, rent, lofts)

[Daniel_T]

Hi, my name is Daniel and I am considering a move to St. Louis to attend a broadcasting school. I was wondering if anyone could give me information on St. Louis. Weather, crime, stuff like that. I have seen pictures of STL and it shows the city being kinda run down. Is that all over? What areas should I try to avoid.

The school I want to attend is located on Hampton Ave. near Elizabeth Ave which is just south of I-44. Is that a nice area? Should I be worried about crime in that area? Do jobs pay well in the city? I would appreciate all your feedback. Can anyone give me pros and cons too of STL? Thanks.

Daniel True

[stltova]

The weather is great from October- May, then it gets very hot and humid from Mid May until Mid Sept. But, you'll adapt and every place has a/c so you will find relief. The crime sounds worse than it it. North Stl city is where most of the crime is and the area you are looking at is south stl. The Hill, St. Louis Hills, South City, Tower Grove, South Hampton areas are all fine to live/rent. Dogtown and Maplewood are safe as well. I think most of the crime in the area you described would be car theft. I am a woman and I wouldn't feel scared to live there (lived in south stl, stl hills for 7 years) These areas will offer neat apts/houses and nice neighbors with a short commute to your school. Of course, you can always look in the County which is safe/affordable but you'll have more of a commute.
Downtown is rebuilding and offers many neat lofts. The only drawback i see to downtown is lack of grocery stores, but other than that, it's not so bad.

In the spring, their will be MAJOR construction occurring on Highway 40 . (I-64) So, my suggestion is to stay close to Hampton, south of Highway 40 (the areas i listed above).

Good luck in your decision. I moved to STL from Massachusetts and think this is a perfect place to live!!

[rachel_lucinda]

Stltova hit the nail on the head. I love St. Louis and think you will too! We moved here for school 3 years ago and are so glad we did. Our time here has been fantastic. The winters are fairly mild (although we've had some ice this winter). But we have wonderful Indian Summers late into the fall and Spring comes early! We have friends who live in both South City and Maplewood and they love it. I feel they are both safe areas. I personally am a suburb person, so the idea of living downtown does not appeal to me. They are trying to make downtown nicer, but for now, there isn't too much going on down there -- except when the cardinals are in town. But they are working to improve it. Stay far away from North St. Louis.. that's where you will find most of the crime.

I echo the feedback you got about Hwy 40. I work right at 40 & Brentwood and several business near us are moving in anticipation of that construction project.

The pros definitely outweigh the cons for St. Louis. We have LOVED being here. Lots of free things to do, mild climate, great friendly people.

[chants]

Originally Posted by Daniel_T

Hi, my name is Daniel and I am considering a move to St. Louis to attend a broadcasting school. I was wondering if anyone could give me information on St. Louis. Weather, crime, stuff like that. I have seen pictures of STL and it shows the city being kinda run down. Is that all over? What areas should I try to avoid.

The school I want to attend is located on Hampton Ave. near Elizabeth Ave which is just south of I-44. Is that a nice area? Should I be worried about crime in that area? Do jobs pay well in the city? I would appreciate all your feedback. Can anyone give me pros and cons too of STL? Thanks.

Daniel True

my name is jerry, 54-disable, all kinds of jobs here...i live near I-44 & Arsenal in the ST.LOUIS HILLS ARER. my apt. rent is 455.00 per mo.all elec. 1 one bedroom. city police officers must live in the city,so we have 3 here. If you want to check an area out for crime- go to police station, and ask for a crime report. 70%-*80% is north side [ not all north ].As for the city we have parks, free symphony concerts, park concerts, walking trails,great pizza, places to buy food from farmer's.Save up to 25% on food!!!!! over the supermarket. All cities have bad areas....can not much more info. if you what to talk e-mail-@ chantsjmt@msn.com

[RhondaHMo]

Hi! We've been 'back' for about 4 months now and couldn't be happier. Have to admit, didn't grow up in St. Lou, but across the river near Edwardsville but after spending almost 15 years in the Dallas area, St. Louis is the PERFECT size town for us!

Hot and humid they say?? Try Texas! Ewww...after that many years, we STILL didn't get used to the 10 months of heat. Two weeks of fall and two weeks of spring were all you got, the rest was a very short cold and wet winter and months of h*ll heat! I'll take these midwestern summers and FOUR full seasons any day. (Though I was grumbling a bit when our power was out for almost 3 days in the December ice storm!)

And people are so friendly here in general, compared to the Dallas area. Folks will just start up a conversation next to you in the grocery store, restaurant or post office! It was such a nice change.

And the Cards!! I stayed a fan no matter how far I moved away and it is HEAVEN to be back. It's so funny, I'd point out Cardinal jerseys etc. the few times I saw them on folks in TX, and my son STILL does that here! And they're everywhere! He still thinks they're such a novelty.

There's crime and school problems everywhere. You're never going to find the perfect utopia but I don't think you'll be pleasantly suprised with what StL is now and what it has the potential to become (DH grew up between Columbia and the bootheel and had memories of it being a 'diry', run-down city driving through it as a kid, so it took some convincing for him to even consider the area and HE was surprised at how it's blossomed since he'd been back).

-Rhonda

[Firefly12]

I am sooo happy to be in contact with people who love St. Louis!!! I grew up there and recently moved to the Springfield, MO area due to my husband's job and I miss it soooo much!!!! There may not always be a lot going on downtown, but we love our Cardinals and that right there makes St. Louis a great sports town. Also, Daniel, you are moving from Tucson? My husband grew up in central Tucson and I have visited several times for extended stays and he says he would never go back after living in the St. Louis area with the people being so much friendlier and he says the humid summer is much easier to cope with than the pure desert heat and we both agree it is easier to drive and get around in St. Louis than Tucson. In St.L you can jump on the highway and get where your going in a few minutes. But in Tucson you've got all those lights and UTurns, its very stop and go. Overall, I think you will like St. Louis to attend broadcasting school, we have some well known broadcasters here too.

[KCWKEN]

South St. Louis along Hampton Ave. is as nice a "city" neighborhood as you could find anywhere in the US. Nifty older homes, stable neighborhoods, close to great parks and all the St. Louis attractions. You'd be 10-15 minutes from the St. Louis Zoo (consistently rated one of the top 5 zoos in the country AND IT'S FREE), also about 15 minutes from the rest of Forest Park including the outdoor Muny Opera which hosts major road productions of broadway shows (you pay for "good seats" but Muny also has FREE seats in the back sections), you'll be 10 minutes from Mo. Botanical Garden (locals call it "Shaw's Gardens"), which is one of the top botanical gardens in the world and internationally reknown for it's research center on tropical rainforests, also just a lovely place to hang out and enjoy the rose garden or Japonese garden in summer. South Hampton & 44 is also right at the back door to "The Hill" which is THE place for great Italian restaurants... quaint older neighborhood of Italian immigrants, old-world style markets and bakeries etc. You're also a 10 minute drive to (IMHO) the absolute best frozen custard stand in the world; "Ted Drewes" on Watson Rd. is a real St. Louis landmark and tradition. You'll LOVE St. Louis... Hope we get to hear you on the Radio soon :-)

Ken