How do you feel about St. Charles??? (St. Louis, St. Peters: lease, lofts)

[CellarBelle]

I don't know if this is exactly what you want, but since you enjoy bike riding, I thought I would toss Edwardsville/Glen Carbon area. We are definitely a suburb/bedroom community to St. Louis, but we are growing and have some of the most awesome bike trails in the midwest. They are safe and well-traveled by bicyclists, joggers and walkers every day. Lots of easy access to it. Here is the Madison County Transit Trails Website: " + theTitle + ". Also, you can visit the Rails to Trails website to learn more about how the whole biking trail system got going. Here is the link to their website: Rails-to-Trails Conservancy:: Creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines:: Building healthier places for healthier people..

It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get to the airport, and it is an easy drive on I-270 to 170. We have a quaint downtown area, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a huge campus that is intertwined with the bike trails. See what you think. Here is some a link to info on the area:
TheAlliance of Edwardsville & Glen Carbon.

Good luck, and if you end up on the Missouri side, be sure to bring the bike and dogs over sometime to check out the trails! St. Louis is a great city, and I hope you find it to your liking.

Best of luck!

Originally Posted by Moacyr

Greetings and happy new year!

I am looking at relocating to STL from Durango, CO in the next few months and am trying to decide where to relocate to. I am a flight attendant and only have to go to work once or twice a week so a commute isn't an issue. I am divorced, forty-ish without kids - but I do have two dogs that need a yard. I like the idea of being in the city and don't necessarily want to strand myself in a suburb. BUT, I'm also a cyclist and have gotten used to riding my bike (road) from my front door. I heard St. Charles might be a happy medium.

Any ideas, suggestions would be immensley helpful.
Thank you

[Moacyr]

Umm, sorry. I didn't mean to set off a fire-storm.
Thank you all who offered their ideas.

I've been looking at Kirkwood as suggested, and will now be checking out Edwardsville. Being a sort of an adult tweener (for lack of a better word - REALLY, for want of any other word) 41, no kids and no spouse, dogs but no cats, and cycling, take me to the suburbs for yards and roads. My ideas of lifestyle take me to the city for restaurants, bookshops, character, chain-free, etc. OH, and of course, the prospect of meeting unmarried folks that aren't in their twenties.

Where is this place??

[ShadowCaver]

Moacyr - please do NOT take some of these posts to your thread/question personally.

If you haven't, maybe take a ride [in your vehicle] to Edwardsville, St. Charles, and then out Hwy 100 [Manchester Rd], getting a feel for the Ballwin/Wildwood and nearby areas of 'em all. To me, I would think that the Wildwood area, for example, would be quite advantageous for someone as yourself - close to many state, county, city parks and KATY trail, along w/ just a short bop over to I-44 to open up other destinations [ie: Ozarks! ], StL itself, the MO River Valley towns/wineries, etc.

Again, based on what I've heard/read, the StL city has some pockets of great/fun bike ridings, but between various points, quite difficult. Whereas the IL side offers more in that regards. ps: the Pere Marquette IL State Park is very nice...

[STLCardsBlues1989]

It's hard to find a big yard inside the city, but you can usually find some good places just outside the city in a variety of places. The city is awesome. You have a lot of culture and nightlife there. It can be hard to find both in a place. There are some beautiful houses in St. Louis, but not all have large yards if that's what you want.

This place
STLtoday - For Sale (http://realestate.stltoday.com/RealEstate/Sales/Listing.asp?lid=184-760373 - broken link) appears to have a large yard, and the house looks decent. I'm not sure how close it is to downtown. It's currently being rented, so I don't know when it will be available. You also probably don't need 2 bedrooms. It's currently on sale for $100,000.

It's hard to find a decent-sized yard with any less than 2 bedrooms usually, though.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

This place STLtoday - For Sale (http://realestate.stltoday.com/RealEstate/Sales/Listing.asp?lid=209-756752 - broken link) looks like it has a decent-sized yard and isn't extremely far from Tower Grove Park and the Botanical Garden. $124,900.

This one has a large yard. $149,900. 2 bedrooms. You probably won't need the swingset in the backyard, though. It's also kind of on a hill. It also looks like it's near highway 44, which will take you into downtown. If you plan to let your dog run around I would advise adding a fence along the street. It would make me feel better anyway.
STLtoday - For Sale (http://realestate.stltoday.com/RealEstate/Sales/Listing.asp?lid=197-761944 - broken link) It's near Shrewsbury, which according to another poster on here is a nice area. It's surrounded by a hospital and some parks. There's also a road you can take north to Forest Park (just judging by the map). According to Google Maps it's about 15 minutes to downtown St. Louis and about 10 minutes to Forest Park.

Good luck!

[CellarBelle]

Originally Posted by stlsteved

Great quote, I could not have said it better.

St. Charles is full of a bunch of boring, middle class families who have nothing better to do all day except feud with each other and smell their own farts. Hypocritical Sunday morning Christians abound there...by Sunday night they are sleeping with the neighbors wife and by Wednesday they are at the local chain pub puttin down Budweisers talking about the next big purchase they are going to make.

There is nothing unique about St. Charles County; nothing exciting; chain restaurants and overpopulation comes to mind when I picture it. Sprinkled among the transplanted St. Louisans who moved there because they could afford a bigger house there on their mediocre salaries than they could in Chesterfield and now think they are upper class, are the pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks who vote republican because they "ain't votin fer no pu$$y demokrat"...Not suprisingly, this type of cretin was the only face of St. Charles 20 years ago before the St. Louisians started to run over there for cheap real estate, lack of minorities and an Applebees on every corner. (On edit: Come to think of it, a lot of the transplants have taken this persona on as well)

If hell has a suburb, it is exactly like St. Charles.

Oh my... please, a little diplomacy and decency. This is a great site to provide valuable information, but the anonymity of it does make it easy to not be so nice. I think your point could have been made quite well without the insults. Tact, think tact... .

[stlsteved]

Originally Posted by jojojohnson76

Actually, I live in Illinois, not St. Charles. I don't like the STL county or St Charles county suburbs either. I am looking to move to an inner-ring suburb like Maplewood/Richmond Heights/U City or STL city in March.

And you were provoked because you ARE being an ass. Oh, and if my religious beliefs and moral convictions make me a pick-up driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-redneck in your book, that's fine with me.

Oh, and by the way, I guess your argument canceled me out as a pick-up driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-redneck since I am typing this from a desk as well.

Listen, I am not one to want to offend anyone so I will say that I don't know you...and I am not one to enjoy making enemies...online or not...so peace to you and your family and I really do wish you nothing but the best in the future. Sincerely - Steve


The title of the post was "How do you feel about St. Charles" and I answered it.

I am sorry if I offended anyone.

[bilikins]

People appreciate St. Charles for a lot of reasons -- better public schools, lower crime rates, accessibility to grocery stores and such. It IS convenient for many families with children. I found it to be very lovely and safe. My husband and I considered it for a while, but we're far too addicted to the urban lifestyle and can't imagine not living in the city (though I'm starting to regret having to pay so much money to send our kid to school...).

[photobuff42]

I was just offered a job in St. Charles. These posts about St. Charles seem kinda scary. I've lived in Las Vegas for the past nine years, which has become overcrowded with streets and neighborhoods decorated by gangs, traffic choked freeways and rude demanding people from almost every state in the union, and beyond. They say about 2,000 people move here every month. Every school has portables, inexperienced or long term subs as teachers and are overcrowded. The newest park, The Springs Preserve, charges $17 bucks for admission to the exhibits. (I understand that St. Louis' art museum and zoo are free.) Clark County does have an excellent library system that I enjoy. I also have friends here and I love my home with it's view of the city and strip.

I am seeking greener pastures, friendly "normal" people and a safe community where people are cooperative and more genuine than here in Vegas. I work very hard during the week, so weekend time is valuable to me. I want it to be well spent. I would like to find a neighborhood where I'll be close to leisure activities, shopping and maybe make some new friends. I would like to be able to do things like be outdoors on the weekends, take photos of nature and architecture, go to museums and movies on the weekend, use the library and take short trips on weekends and holidays. I'm single and will be coming by myself.

Do you all think I would improve my quality of life by moving to St. Charles? I don't want to move and be less satisfied than I am in Vegas, but other than seeing Elvis impersonators, I think I can do everything I currently do in Vegas in St. Charles.

Thanks for any replies.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Originally Posted by photobuff42

I am seeking greener pastures, friendly "normal" people and a safe community where people are cooperative and more genuine than here in Vegas. I work very hard during the week, so weekend time is valuable to me. I want it to be well spent. I would like to find a neighborhood where I'll be close to leisure activities, shopping and maybe make some new friends. I would like to be able to do things like be outdoors on the weekends, take photos of nature and architecture, go to museums and movies on the weekend, use the library and take short trips on weekends and holidays. I'm single and will be coming by myself.

St. Charles is pretty good from what I understand. I have heard that it doesn't have the same architecture as the city of St. Louis (as in St. Charles has a lot of subdivisions).

It shouldn't take too long to get to nature from St. Louis. Missouri has a lot of parks, and St. Louis has a few small lakes and some parks as well. You can find shopping, leisure, and probably friends in the city, although I'm not sure what St. Charles offers. I think it offers some of that as well.

St. Louis has a few different museums, much of which are cheap. You can park for a decent price in Union Station and take the metro to a lot of places downtown, including Busch and the Ed. The St. Louis zoo is free. St. Louis is general is a cheap place to live. I think you could get a decent 2 BR house in St. Charles for $1000/month (you probably won't need a 2-BR, though), and a decent condo in downtown St. Louis for about that.

St. Charles sounds fine for you, and if you want more to do, it's not a long trip into St. Louis, and once in the city you can take the metro to a lot of places $2 for a one-way ticket (and obviously $4 for a 2-way ticket).